Reddit mentions: The best weapons & warfare history books

Hopefully it goes without saying that you can't learn something physical from the books.

But if you're the kind of person who likes to read a lot, and want to supplement your learning by reading about fencing theory, then here's what I would recommend.

First, read pretty much any general book about fencing. I've read quite a few books about fencing, but generally they're mostly all the same. Here's one that I've read that is indicative of most books, but there's loads

The only thing you're really trying to take away from it getting basic descriptions of the equipment, some basic nomenclature - "lunge", "fleche", "quarte", "disengage", "ballestra", etc. Maybe some basic history. You could also get all this stuff from wikipedia if you wanted, but maybe a book form might be presented in a nicer way.

A lot of these books will talk about mental game, perfect technique, and the great masters of whenever. This is mostly absolute garbage. Most of the history will be incorrect, and only semi-true 'factoids'. It often comes off as a bit of "mysticism". If you have any experience in the culture of martial arts you probably know what I mean.

So once you have a rough idea of what all the parries are, and what we call all the footwork movements, more or less, I would recommend reading Epee 2.0 (2.5 or whatever it's on now).

This book talks about a pragmatic based approach to fencing. No one makes a perfect lunge, and in fact, there is not even such a thing as a perfect lunge. Lots of moves that you learn aren't actually all that useful. etc. If you can internalize the themes of this book, that is very useful for approaching fencing in a way conducive to competitive success.

Then I would look at understanding fencing, which has a lot of very technical thoughts about fencing. E.g. Beyond just what is a step, or a lunge, he talks about different kinds of actions tactically speaking (e.g. pre-planned vs open eyes etc.).

If you read those three, you'll be in good shape

Other comments here are spot on.

The simplistic version that underlies all of them is humans are smart so they can identify a problem and approach the desired solution iteratively. This creates a feedback loop.

Before "modern" (the mid to late 1800's onwards) machine tools, you had people making a lot of things custom every time using files to get parts to mate together. There are some exceptions to this with specific measurement and manufacturing tools that were conceived and used but they weren't in wide spread use before the Industrial Revolution and they didn't look as similar to today's machines as everything after. We humans are really good at tweaking stuff slightly until it is far beyond the precision of the individual pieces itself.

Similarly, if I took any old lathe or mill, measured my part to be 0.100" and needed it to be 0.050", I could dial a cut in at 0.05" and take it but depending on the quality and rigidity of the machine, workholding, bearing surfaces and tooling, I would be hard pressed to hit that 0.050" dead on. However, I could take as many passes I wanted while remeasuring until I'm happy with the result. Cut 0.020" off, measure again, I should have 0.030" left but I actually have 0.027" left. Cut again this time at 0.010" and I should have 0.017" left but I have 0.015" left etc.

As others mentioned, the 3 plate method allows you to generate with time and effort, a very precisely flat surface. I could generate that surface, use it as my surface referenced plate and then hand scrape a piece to match it's flatness and squareness to the best of my willingness to work on it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_scraper if you're unfamiliar. The craftsman inks (blues) up a reference surface, imprints the work piece by rubbing it on that surface. Only the points in contact touch. Using a scraper and some training, you can remove .0002" with a scraper cut. Remove all of the high spots that are blue bringing the high spots closer to the average. Remark and do it again iteratively. Each time you bring your work surface closer to your reference.

The same thing was done with precision lead screws. Hand made screws were cut with primitive methods and put in early lathe like machines to cut more screws. These machines had error compensation methods built in that averaged the thread cutting across the original screw (or sometimes multiple screws) resulting in a screw that was more precise than what you started with.

For calibrating a reference surface for flatness, you can use levels or autocollimators for overall variations. The precision of your level can be increased by increasing the longitudinal radius of your glass bubble dial.

An excerpt from another post I made in /r/cnc:
Some source material to consider:
LINK A great site with collections of documents covering major works in the development of precision tools.

Precision Machine Design - Slocum more of a textbook on precision machine design but has tons of footnotes and talks about some of the developmental history.)

Inventing Accuracy: A Historical Sociology of Nuclear Missile Guidance talks about some of the accuracy needed in Oakridge etc to help make the atomic bomb and precision guided missiles before GPS existed even for the military. A number of military interests drove ultra precision development such as this and the large optical diamond turning maching (LODTM)

Rolling Bearings and their contribution to the progress of technology covers the history of bearings that allowed precision machinery.

Machine Tool Reconditioning is an older book and highly technical but is considered the bible for old machine tool rebuilding and goes into the processes of how one would make precision flat surfaces and check all of the geometry on their machines and fix them in a time before lasers and fancy computer controlled equipment.

Foundations of Mechanical Accuracy and the followup book Holes, Contours and Surfaces was written by Moore and his son (I believe, respectively), the first especially is considered a bible on the theory of obtaining super precision tolerances. The authors are part of Moore Tool Company which made amongst other machines Moore Jig Borers.

Mitutoyo has a pdf on the history of gauge blocks

You can further go down that rabbit hole and look at metrology books as one can achieve great tolerances by iteratively approaching a desired value and having proper metrology equipment to check your work as you go. For example, metrology standards

You can also look at old professional telescope building books and newer diy telescope making books as there's a lot of interesting information and techniques to obtain precision optics on the order of wavelengths of light.

As someone else here mentioned: How Round Is Your Circle

I can probably dig up a lot more. I've spent way to much money purchasing old out of print books related to precision machinery, machining and metrology.

From the iterative process of making basic tools, you can then use those tools to make even better tools through iteration. In many ways, it's similar to Moore's law in the electronics world; a exponential curve where we stand on the shoulder of giants and improve upon what already exists. Many have proposed technology as a whole as just that such as Ray Kurzweil in "The Singularity is Near" etc.

Edit: Thanks for the gold!

You are correct in that all of these things will help you enter and strike.

The manuals are a compendium of techniques, not a guide to "this is exactly what you must do". From the sounds of things, you are wanting more information into how to approach a fight rather than the actual techniques themselves. In that regards, there have been numerous books regarding fencing theory written for modern olympic fencing that would be of great use to you. The weapons are not the same but all preparatory actions translate very well into each other. The only part of the manual that talks about these (to my knowledge) are the naichraissens, the vor/nach plays and vaguely glossed over in the first part on the line, "All Art has Length and Measure".

Recommended reading:

• "The Onion - Vor & Nach flow exercises" by Roger Norling
  
  
• Understanding longsword - K. Ruokonen's blog
  
  
• Understanding Fencing - By Z Czajkowski. This is actually about modern epee fencing and fencing in general but works well as a modern take on fencing theory
  
  
• Epee 2.0 - by Johan Harmenber. Another modern book focusing on how to win. Essentially boils down to "do several things really really well instead of lots of things really well". And some other stuff.
  
  
• MS 3227a - "Hanko Dobringer" - a little more esoteric than the modern ones but at least its period. You may find it useful.
  
  
• The Art of Combat - By Joachim Meyer (trans by J Forgeng). This is out of print until next year but it is the best translation of Joachim Meyer's text available. It covers a wide range of plays intended, I think, for the instruction of fencers. It really is a wonderful resource and well worth getting your hands on.

This is one that I referenced a huge amount while growing up;

https://www.amazon.com/Weapons-International-Encyclopedia-5000-D/dp/0312039506/ref=sr_1_12

It is pretty dated by now. However, if you are interested in the history of weapons and the beginnings of the firearm, it is a place to start. Once you find an epoch that interests you the most, using a guide like this one, you can start looking into more specific eras and types.

As with just about everything, guns have a deep and storied history and there simply isn't one source that will give you all the knowledge there is on them. There is A LOT of ground to cover, it might be best to use an overview like this one to decide what you will focus on. Guns are like any tool; people have adapted them throughout history for their own needs and because of this, you'll find that there is so much to know that you'll never learn it all.

My personal favorite gun subject would be the AK. I have about a dozen books about it from technical manuals, to pieces that absolutely condemn it, to pieces that treat it as a marvel like it were part of a religion, to pieces that give a general history about it with no discernible slant at all.

I hope you enjoy whatever you end up finding.

North Korea is absolutely safe in this case, because like you said America values lives. And this has being the rationale behind China's minimal deterrence policy during the cold war. Because, during the game between the Soviet Union and the US, have nuclear weapon means it will be used as a easy game board for whatever political gains as the risks always outweigh the benefits. This is the game North Korea is playing now, basically North Korea is China during the cold war.

However, if the said country does pose a real threat, there is little qualms about taking the nuclear option, if there is little risk of return fire. See US plans to wipe the Soviet Union off the map in 1945, while the US has the nuclear advantage and the knowlege that the Soviets will soon have them too. US plans for first strike during the cuban missile crisis, while the US still the advantage of European and Turkish sites, while the Soviet haven't fully brought up the Cubans ones yet. And last the Herman Kahn's excellent book On Thermal War, where millions of lives lost is just statistic and can be calculated and sacrifice to pressed for an advantage.

Now the question is, what is China's position now. Does America see China on the same level as Soviet Union. Even worse, during the cold war, it quiet clears in the west (and in some circles inside the soviet union), long run the west will win. As long as the west contain soviet aggression and check soviet advances, then victory will be assured. This idea is vocalize most succinctly in the long telegram. In fact, the most dangerous time for nuclear exchange was in the 1980s, when the Soviet Union is clearly losing and the fear was the Soviets would go for it and hope a surprise a counterforce attack will prevail.

China, it seems that China is on the trajectory to to eclipse the US in the next two decade in terms of economical, comprehensive national power and even military power. And China is seeming to chart its own institution, national policy and governmental ideology that's different from the West and would not to controlled or guided by the west (this make it very different from Japan fear in the 1980s). So essentially, China no longer a north korea, but more like the United States, and the United State is a bit like the Soviet Union, with its leadership position erroting, the doubts emerge both about her exceptionalism as well as superiority of its ideology.

The United State currently have counterforce capabilities against China, while China only have limited countervalue capabilities. Additionally, the US is confident about it capability of tracking Chinese submarines. This means while a surprise first strike by the US will not only completely destroy China, it will also have a resonable chance of destroying most of China's nuclear arsenal as well. The US missile defense system could have catch the few missile missed by that first strike, leave the US mostly unscached (and in the views of a confident commander, completely unscached) in such an exchange and permanently stop a force that could not be stopped in the future. With other rational and moral leaders in power, this is very unlikely, even though RAND just recently published war plans with China. But with Trump in power, he might just wonna make it a reality.

With China archiving MAD, this places the possibility of a winnable nuclear war with China completely out of the windows, and would ensure the relative peace we all had since the end of WWII. And it is a policy that will not ending up saving Chinese lives, but American ones as well.

Glad you liked it! That’s Ryan Cleckner, and I agree with you. I’ve really gotten into his stuff. He has more videos on YouTube (try searching “NSSF Ryan Cleckner”) and I’m loving going through his book (I’m a beginner). Best of luck!

> What about economic programs? They turned Germany into one of the largest economies in the world in just a few years.

All smoke and mirrors: vast and unsustainable borrowing and a focus on militarisation with no long term economic benefits.

> All the amazing architecture they produced?

A subjective matter I suppose, but you might be interested in this documentary

> Military reforms that produced the most futuristic battle tactics the world had seen up until that point?

The German doctrine which came to be known as Blitzkrieg was in development before the Nazi Party came to power (see James Corum's The Roots of Blitzkrieg). It also worked once against an equivalent opposition: the Fall of France in 1940. It didn't work in North Africa, it didn't work in Russia, it couldn't defend Western Europe.

Under Hitler, Germany went from being the most powerful nation in Europe to the fifth most powerful nation in Berlin.

Anything relating to very recent firearms is going to be fairly dated as things change fairly quickly in the world of firearms.

The way I see it, there's electronic media for learning about the latest offerings from Ruger or Smith & Wesson.

I'd say get him a nice reference book. Ian Hogg was a prolific weaponry author, and he had many books on pistols, rifles, machine guns, artillery, what have you, and most are still in print or easy to get a hold of.

When I was a kid, my middle school had this book in the library:

http://www.amazon.com/Weapons-International-Encyclopedia-D-Updated/dp/0312039506/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1345619493&sr=1-3&keywords=weapons+encyclopedia

I basically had it checked out throughout fifth and sixth grade. It's a bit dated, but it's a fantastic read. I'm pretty sure I eventually bought a copy and have it somewhere in my garage.

Hermann Kahn's On Thermonuclear War & Thinking about the Unthinkable in the 1980s are still go-to texts for nuclear strategy.

The Parallel History Project is a good resource for Early to Mid Cold War era Warsaw Pact warplanning.

The CIA's Historical Collections contain declassified documents regarding US assessments of the WP and Soviet stances, The CAESAR, POLO, and ESAU Papers in particular.

For some interesting context, the GWU's National Security archive has some documents showing US intelligence failures.

Unfortunately, you will run into the secrecy wall really quick in this area, since nuclear strategy is more a political strategy, than a strictly military one, and grand strategy like this hangs around a good, long while (for example, I am not aware of any declassified Single Integrated Operational Plans).

I don't think he's got any guns like the AR-15, just 1-2 hunting rifles and a lot of handguns. Just a cursory Amazon search gives me some good starting points. This might be good for the history of handguns or maybe a more general interest history, like this one.

Hey there. This sub just masturbates all day long to the CMP. However the CMP has been known to provide rifles with serious issues. Oldschool M1 rifle Gurus hate the CMP. But, you can work with the CMP to get a nice rifle. So there are pros and cons, but the CMP is not the only route.

I am old school, and I seriously advocate for going to a place where you can personally handle a few rifles and talk to a few guys in person who know their stuff. Call a few shops and ask who knows antique Military surplus rifles. These guns are finicky even at their best and require some knowledge. We gets lots of dumb ass posts on this thread every week where some guys spent the money but didn't pick up a book or do a lick of research and then encountered a simple quirk of the M1 system that left them stymied.

So, I would first buy a good book on shooting the M1 Garand. They are cheap and plentiful. Here is one I own and recommend for a beginner: https://www.amazon.com/Complete-M1-Garand-Jim-Thompson/dp/0873649842

Second, go talk to some people. Internet does not count. You just can't get the kind of detailed info a 5 minute conversation with someone in person that you can get from an online post, like this one for example.

Third, compare the CMP to other options because there are other options.

Finally, just hammer the research. Look at every photo online you can find, read every article. If you are going to spend $1000 on a rifle, you must understand that knowledge is free and will put you far ahead of the pack. I hope this helps.

There are some great resources, like the ghfs text that are targeted towards HEMA that will help. "Fencing and the Master" ( http://www.amazon.com/Fencing-Master-Laszlo-Szabo/dp/0965946800 ) and "Understanding Fencing" (http://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Fencing-Zbigniew-Czajkowski/dp/0965946886) are great books about teaching modern fencing which are very useful. They have a lot of great stuff about running group classes, and also things to look for when working with someone individually.

With two years of training in longsword, you have the technical knowledge, but what you'll need for a study group is a plan to transmit that knowledge to student. I'd suggest visiting other groups - modern fencing clubs, kendo, akido, judo, etc... and observing how they are structured and taught. If you find something that you like, keep going, but also see if the instructor would be willing to mentor you while you run your own study group.

No, I'm not. I just read "the book". :D

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If you want to learn more about long range shooting, there's a great book by Ryan Cleckner called "Long Range Shooting Handbook." I highly recommend it.

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https://www.amazon.com/Long-Range-Shooting-Handbook-Cleckner/dp/151865472X

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He also did several great videos for the National Shooting Sports Foundation that are on YouTube. And he's got a podcast that's really good too.

Military Small Arms of the 20th Century is a great resource. It's amazing the amount of detail they have in there. It's not much on the way they function, but it catalogs basically every gun produced or used by a military in the 20th century, as well as a little bit of prior to and following the 20th C.

If you're interested in the function of guns this free to play game is actually remarkably good at teaching the functions and parts of a hell of a lot of different guns.

I've read this from multiple sources, most recently: http://www.amazon.com/Uranium-Energy-Rock-Shaped-World/dp/0670020648

I'm sure some uranium came from Canada, as they needed a tremendous amount of 238 to produce enough 235 to make a viable bomb (99.3% of all uranium is 238, and you only get .7% 235 from that if you process it as well as possible), but not all of it and more then likely not even most of it.

In fact Wikipedia details this saying most of the uranium was from Africa or possibly captured, Canada is not mentioned.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Boy Go down to Development of the bomb
"Most of the uranium necessary for the production of the bomb came from the Shinkolobwe mine and was made available thanks to the foresight of the CEO of the High Katanga Mining Union, Edgar Sengier, who had 1000 tons of uranium ore transported to a New York warehouse in 1939. A small amount may have come from a captured German submarine, U-234, after the German surrender in May 1945.[24] Other sources state that at least part of the 1100 tons of uranium ore and uranium oxide captured by US troops in the second half of April 1945 in Stassfurt, Germany, became 235U for the bomb.[25] The majority of the uranium for Little Boy was enriched in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, primarily by means of electromagnetic separation in calutrons and through gaseous diffusion plants, with a small amount contributed by the cyclotrons at Ernest O. Lawrence's Radiation Laboratory. The core of Little Boy contained 64 kg of uranium, of which 50 kg was enriched to 88%, and the remaining 14 kg at 50%. With enrichment averaging 82.68%, it could reach about 2.5 critical masses. "Fat Man" and the Trinity "gadget", by way of comparison, had five critical masses."

This book list may interest you.

Since you seem more interested in the Eastern Front, here are a few more books not on the list which focus on it:
[Stalingrad](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stalingrad_(book), and Berlin: The Downfall by Antony Beevor are must reads. Russia's War: A History of the Soviet Effort: 1941-1945 by Richard Overy is also a great summary of the entire Russian war from start to finish. Finally, for a good account from the perspective of Soviet tank crews, might I suggest T-34 in Action, from the Stackpole military history series. It’s a short read, but quite interesting. Hope this helps.

There is an argument using evolutionary theory that agriculture was only adopted to increase group fitness at the cost of indivual fitness.

Lots of civilisation diseases started with the adoption of agriculture.

So there is the argument that agriculture made civilisation possible but at the cost of pure indivual strength and physical prowess.

There is lots of evidence that early agricultural societies had less than healthy members compared to hunter gatherers.

When you think about it, the indivual skills of a warrior in a large army is less important than pure numbers, most armies in the past were farmers called to war once a year, and yet the prevailed most of the time against nomad societies whos way of life made them formidable indivual warriors like the steppe people, just by numbers alone.

Edit:

If someone is interested where these theories come from, I recommend these books:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0452288193/ref=dbs_a_w_dp_0452288193

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0996139516/ref=dbs_a_w_dp_0996139516


https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Our-Success-Evolution-Domesticating/dp/0691178437/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=joseph+henrich&qid=1558984106&s=gateway&sprefix=joseph+henr&sr=8-1

https://www.amazon.com/Not-Genes-Alone-Transformed-Evolution/dp/0226712125/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?keywords=not+by+genes+alone&qid=1558984151&s=gateway&sprefix=Not+by+ge&sr=8-1

Some good advice in the thread and I would echo the need for preparatory research before investing time and money in your endeavor. It may help you to look over a book like Don Mann’s The Modern Day Gunslinger which despite the provocative title is a sound resource for answering a number of your questions as well a providing the premises for CC based upon the writings of Colonels David Grossman and Jeff Cooper. Particularly significant to training is the Shooter’s Triad, comprised of skills in marksmanship/weapons handling, tactics, and arguably the most important of all, establishing & maintaining a combat mindset to ensure that you will survive an armed encounter.

Edit: url

Our skills are quite thick and rounded and evolutionarily optimized to deflect blows. The forehead is a giant arch to protect the brain. There are quite a few accounts of handgun and even occasionally rifle bullets glancing off. The ocular region is one of the obvious thin parts that leads to the brain.

The vital organs lie surprisingly high in the torso. I was taught to aim for a triangle comprised of the nipples and Adam's apple, which covers the heart and lungs. Below that you start hitting the digestive organs, which aren't going to bleed much during an adrenaline dump.

Check out The Ultimate Sniper for more on this.

A Basic Fencing Companion by Paul Sise is really good, specially for beginners/intermediate fencers. It reads easily and has a great glossary that I used to get ready for my moniteur exam.

Another good one is Understanding Fencing by Czajkowski (who sadly passed away just last week). This one is more advanced, but it doesn’t read as easily. I took my time reading this one.

OP Please educate yourself and read THIS book. I don't believe it's the ultimate training guide but it has a very good discussion of mindset. Also THIS book might be even a better starting point.

I get your point about being able to carry but you need to listen to the comments in this thread.

Hopefully you've tried contacting your target to ask them about their collections, their uses, stuff they want, and stuff they wouldn't like. Feel free to drop as many Phone Booth references as possible. You should be able to get some ideas.

If you can't find anything specific, the stuff you've mentioned will never go amiss. Some other stuff I could think of:

• Targets, be they paper, adhesive, or metal
  
  
• Gun bags, belts, storage and transportation solutions, either generic or tailored to what you know of their collection
  
  
• Magazines (specific to their gun and of legal capacity; you can never have too many)
  
  
• Some ear or eye pro
  
  
• Gift certificates or range memberships for businesses in their area
  
  
• Action movies with gun porn (anything with a long-ass entry on IMFDB)
  
  
• A nice coffee table book
  
  
• Generic tools, like a pocket knife, multitool, or tacticool flashlight
  
  
• If they're a gun-toting gamer, stalk their Steam/Xbox Live/Playstation accounts and pick out a game they'd like (reloaders will particularly enjoy Fallout New Vegas)
  
  
• Beef jerky

Great insight here and in your earlier post!

I just finished reading Inventing Accuracy: A Historical Sociology of Nuclear Missile Guidance. Great read on this very topic!

I also started by watching Sniper 101. This is a better source for all the information found there.
It's available as an ebook and physically. I largely consider the series useful to a point, but not worth the 40+ hour investment. You can learn everything you need in much less time, and without massive tangential ramblings and half an hour of self-aggrandizing per video.

His whole "thing" basically boils down to "record your shots under every known condition so you can hit on a cold bore shot by referencing what you've already done." Requires a notebook to go shooting, in addition to the logbook most snipers use.

A ballistic calculator will basically get you there with a lot less effort.

Some people know this, others don't- you might have heard it already- but don't clean your bore from the muzzle side. That's probably the best tip I can give you to protect you from making a mistake early on.

In the book, however, there is one thing I disagree with, that's my personal preference (and I am by no means an expert- check my flair). The author likes second focal plane scopes; I prefer first focal plane. It's mostly about how you use the rifle, and what you're comfortable with.

Get formal training. It has improved my coaching tremendously and I would not be able the think of any other way to achieve my current level.

Good books for a starting fencing coach are Szabo L. Fencing and the Master, Czajkowski Z. Understanding Fencing and Kogler A. One Touch at a Time.

The $20 spring kit for the Compass from Mcarbo helped me a lot, brings the trigger way down and does it safely from what I can tell. Before I installed that kit, I was actually moving the reticle just trying to squeeze the trigger on the lowest setting. With it installed it feels somewhere around 2-3lbs, breaks a lot cleaner, and there's no more jump when I squeeze the trigger. Also, if you're dialing distance with your turrets, you want a bubble level attached to the scope. A $10 one off amazon is doing fine for me. Without one, a couple degrees of cant between shots is inches (or feet) off at distance.

Also, even as an experienced shooter, when I started getting involved with long range this book from Ryan Cleckner taught me quite a few tips that made me even better.

I also bought a T/C Compass this year in 6.5CM, got a discounted shooting mat on Midway, a $20 bipod off amazon and a $100 UTG scope. I plan on upgrading to a Vortex, but the so-so UTG scope does okay for now. With that setup, I'm handloading Hornady ELD-X bullets and am doing a good job whapping golf balls at 300 yards currently.

Nice! If you haven't I'd recommend picking up a copy of the long range shooting handbook: https://www.amazon.com/Long-Range-Shooting-Handbook-Cleckner/dp/151865472X

It's not exhaustive, but it was pretty useful in coming up to speed (and cutting through the chaff).

There is an excellent book called By the Sword which illustrates the evolution of swords throughout history. I highly recommend it, but lochlainn has already done a brilliant job of tldring the info.

Edit: Formatting

Herman Kahn's "On Thermonuclear War" is a Wonderful (if dry) read. He was a badass, because when everyone else was talking OMG NUCLEAR APOCALYPSE, he was proposing timelines for nations restoring their prewar GNP. Can you imagine that shit? Sitting down and running the numbers for GNP? Anyway, the book's a fascinating read, and it's great to think of nuclear war as a "Now what?" kinda scenario, as oppposed to "everyone died".

This concept was actually a really big interest of mine in my graduate career (though specifically as it related to the Roman Empire). Peter Turchin has written some good and approachable books on how political instability rises as populations approach their maximum possible density.

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His first book on the subject that reads very nicely: https://www.amazon.com/War-Peace-Rise-Fall-Empires/dp/0452288193

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A short (though fairly jargon-y) article on these effects on Roman instability: http://peterturchin.com/PDF/Turchin_SDEAS_2005a.pdf

Check you local college and see if there are any classes you can take for it. For me I'm getting ready to take a cnc machinist class this semester. That should be a pretty good start.

Edit: If you have amazon kindle you can download this for free on a mobile device. http://www.amazon.com/Gunsmithing-Stackpole-Classic-Gun-Books/dp/0811707288/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1375751237&sr=8-8&keywords=Gunsmithing

Nice one. Thanks for your honest post. If you’re just starting out, I might suggest: https://www.amazon.com/dp/151865472X/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_c_api_i_0uATDb2WJJQG5

Read both. Thinking/talking points don't really change with time.

Then read "Principles of Personal Defense"[PDF Warning] and "To Ride, Shoot Straight, And Speak The Truth", both by the great Colonel Jeff Cooper.

Then look up Sentinel by Pat Mcnamara.

All fantastic reads.

Amazon link

Look through these and read the reviews on them. Amazon always has good books. I'm reading the Modern Day Gunslinger I'm still reading this one, but I think it would be a good book if you're looking into shooting for self defense.

1)Freedom from Fear: The American People in Depression and War, 1926-1945 - David Kennedy

2)From Colony to Superpower: US Foreign Relations Since 1776 - George Herring

3)History of Economic Thought: A Critical Perspective - E. K. Hunt and Mark Lautzenheiser

4)When Washington Shut Down Wall Street: The Great Financial Crisis of 1914 and the Origins of America's Monetary Supremacy - William Silber

5)Guns, Germs, and Steel - Jared Diamond

6)A People's History of the United States: 1492 to Present - Howard Zinn

7)20th Century Baseball Chronicle: A Year-By-Year History of Major League Baseball (what? you asked for history books sitting on my shelf)

8)Gunpowder: Alchemy, Bombards, and Pyrotechnics : The History of the Explosive That Changed the World - Jack Kelly

and currently I've just started working on U.S. Bank Deregulation in Historical Perspective - Charles Calomiris. Should be interesting since it was published in 2000...

edit: I like Drited's idea, so I'll take some time to add on some stuff. 1, 2, 4, and 6 give me perspective on how government institutions interact with each other and with the public they are supposed to serve as time and events take place, shaping the history of the US. 3 has given me insight into the evolution of Neoclassical and Labor-value (Marxian) economics. Though Hunt writes with a very heavy labor bias, his book has shown me how a persons beliefs affect there analysis, even when claiming to be value-free. In it he discusses the origins of marginal productivity and efficient markets, and his writings have allowed me to grasp in economic terms why certain ideas are flawed, even though I already knew them to be false after I had studied Psychology. 5 and 8 are a bit different because to me, they remind me that it's not what actually happened that matters, our interpretation of history relies solely on the importance we give those events. All and all, the above texts give me a longer time frame in which to view current events. In fact that's why I like companies such as GOOG and GS so much is because the above readings allow me to look beyond balance sheets, and gives me alternative ways to judge a potential investment. I understand GOOG's importance to the internet world, and the internets importance to our world, and how that relationship might continue on into the future. Stuff like that

YS(also)K about http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Von_Clausewitz - his book "On War" laid the foundations for the academic study of warfare. Many (many) years later, Herman Kahn wrote "On Thermonuclear War", an amazing book, as a follow-on.

For those interested in this most morbid of subjects, I can recommend:

• The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy
  
• The Utility of Force
  
• We Now Know: Rethinking Cold War History
  
• and of course On Thermonuclear War.
  
  For an antidote, Joanna Bourke's superb Fear: A Cultural History may also be enjoyed.

You'd be surprised. The CEP of the Peacekeeper is estimated to be 120 meters or less than 400 feet. I did screw up my units, PKs range is about 10,000KM, not miles. :P The AIRS (Advanced Inertial Reference Sphere) is considered the pinnacle of inertial technology. To really boggle your mind you have to consider that PK is not dropping 1 warhead within 400 feet, but up to 10 warheads, on individual targets, within 400 feet!

The 500 foot number I quoted is for Trident II (Trident D5) SLBM. It is not solely black box though. It takes a single star sighting during flight, which corrects for INS offset due to the launch platform having initial errors in INS calibration. It's CEP is between 300-500 feet (depending on the source you cite). Trident D5 is also suspected of having an upgrade to GPS sometime in the near future (if not already on some lots), which will improve accuracy even further.

I highly suggest reading Inventing Accuracy by Donald Mackenzie. The book is about the most detailed publicly available information on ICBM INS development in the US. It is a really good read.

You might want to read this.

The history of Uranium is actually pretty interesting.

High intensity, lots of "aliveness" in the drills.

At least a couple of possible outcomes for each action so that it doesn't turn into "I do this, you do that, I do this".

Working on setups instead of assuming ideal conditions so that it's possible to understand what leads to successful outcomes for given techniques in certain situations.

Basically, read Understanding Fencing and steal as much as possible.

> Two days later, the bombing of Nagasaki made it obvious to the entire world that Japan was defeated and had no choice but to surrender. The U.S.S.R. had no choice but to call off any invasion and join the Allies in victory.

This is completely wrong. It was not clear that the Japanese were going to surrender after Nagasaki, and it's not clear that Nagasaki had anything to do with their actual surrender. And I don't see any evidence that it stopped the Soviets' plans — they certainly continued invading Japanese territory on the Asian landmass, and even took the Kurils sometime afterwards. The USSR didn't "call off" anything. If the Soviets had plans to invade Hokkaido, they were called off later, when Japan actually indicated they were going to surrender. But even then, Stalin didn't order the invasion of the Kurils until after Japan indicated it would accept the Potsdam terms.

Great book on the uncertainty that reigned between August 9 and August 15: Michael D. Gordin, _Five Days in August: How World War II Became a Nuclear War_.

Lastly, the notion that this was a big "choice" for Truman is incorrect. Truman and his advisors did not see this as a "use the bomb, or invade" question. It was a "we have a bomb, of course we'll use it," and they were still planning to invade if they needed to. They didn't know if the bomb would compel Japan to surrender. And, in fact, there is considerable evidence that it didn't.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Louis_Michel

Wikipedia has one version of the story, but IIRC, By the Sword tells it a little differently. Guy's friend challenges him to a duel to the death. He can't turn down the duel and doesn't want to kill his friend, so he uses a training foil. Knocks the guy out, breaks his jaw.

Recommended reading: Peter Turchin's War and Peace and War where he spends quite a bit of time discussing this idea originally from Ibn Khaldun.

I'd translate loosely as "socially cohesiveness" / "tribal loyalty".

Wanted to, really messed my spine up playing football out here in West Texas. Kinda had to shift most of my physical goals after that. I can still walk etc, but I'm ordered to never do physical stuff. I bend the rules, but I was told I probably wasn't gonna make it from a recruiter. That book however really peaked my interest.

From there I picked up:THIS!

I also had been mastering running the prerequisites to become a sniper. Long distance runs..insane amount of pullups etc.

Some nice books for you to read describing the russian side:

• Red Road from Stalingrad: Reflections of a Soviet Infantryman
  
• T-34 in Action
  
• Panzer Destroyer: Memoirs of a Red Army Tank Commander
  
• Guns Against the Reich: Memoirs of an Artillery Officer on the Eastern Front
  
  On of the best documentaires i have seen about the eastern front is BBC's war of the Centrury, with interviews with russian and german veterans
  
  Enjoy
  

I'm not all that up to date on modern military theory since most of my knowledge is from military history and not contemporary theory (although the two are, as one would expect, highly intersectional) - I do read some modern war journals and listen to talks on modern war theory though, although relatively rarely.

I'm hardly an expert on the matter (although I'm fairly certain know enough to recognize when someone has no idea what they are talking about). I just read a lot in college, and sucked up whatever I could from the library. I also liked reading a lot of primary sources, including things like reports from field exersises/war games/intel reports/naval excercises. One time I even read the entire

One of my favourites was this book on inter-war German reforms during the Weimar era. Rise and Fall of the Great Powers is another favourite of mine (although I never got to read the whole thing, it's a fucking massive book and I never had the time so) - it's especially good if you want to see some of the economic factors of warfare and tracking them through history. Clausewitz' On War is a classic primer on military and is practically ubiquotous - but it's also old as fuck and is far more important for showing some of the roots of modern (in the broad sense of Victorian/post-Victorian, not 21st century) - treat it like you would The Wealth of Nations.

His book is a great read. Link below:

​

https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Fencing-Zbigniew-Czajkowski/dp/0965946886

As some one already suggest The Art of the Rifle, I will suggest another Jeff Cooper book, To Ride, Shoot Straight, And Speak The Truth.

Also Shooting To Live by W. E. Fairbairn and E. A. Sykes is also a interesting read.

EDIT: Also if you are interested in reloading, start with The ABCs of Reloading.

I have the book. I’m pretty set on what rifle I want. But he says in the intro “read the whole book before you buy if you’re serious”

on Amazon

What scope rings did you buy? I see Vortex. What height?

Long Range Shooting Handbook

​

Ryan Cleckner, former Ranger sniper, covers long range shooting (obviously), but the vast majority of the material is applicable to any kind of rifle shooting. He goes into a little history, terminology, choosing and setting up your rifle and gear, rifle maintenance, ballistics, calculations and scope adjustments, shooting technique, and a bunch more.

​

Despite the 'long range' label, he doesn't go overboard on the minutia of reading wind or correcting for Coriolis force. He has a follow up book ("Advanced Long Range Shooting") for the more esoteric stuff. It's all written for a layman, and anyone with two brain cells to rub together could understand it. Essentially, you can read the book with no previous knowledge and come out with a great baseline for getting started with rifles.

Well, firelock_ny, I think you'll find that this guy uses the term that way. So did this person. And, you know, this dictionary. Or this site, or this site, or this page.

But, no, you're totally right, firelock_ny, I'm the only one.

Edit: Also, nice job slipping "primarily" in there, knowing full well nobody said it was primarily anything.

You want studies or a book?

One of the most profound books i have ever read is this on how states rise and fall. It's the most enlighting thing I have ever read, it changed how I view the world fundamentaly

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0452288193/ref=dbs_a_w_dp_0452288193

Its a popular book without the mathematical models behind it

Here is the mathematical version

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0691116695/ref=dbs_a_w_dp_0691116695

But its quite expensive and only available as hardcover but there should be a different version coming out soon


For the study on cooperation this

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0996139516/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1517513099&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=Peter+turchin&dpPl=1&dpID=41Ux9xQvfIL&ref=plSrch


On cultural evolution this books makes an incredible strong argument

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0691178437/ref=dbs_a_w_dp_0691178437


On how religion influences pro social behaviour this

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0691169748/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1517513482&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=Ara+Norenzayan&dpPl=1&dpID=61TgLU80vIL&ref=plSrch

This reminds me of one of my favorite books growing up: "Weapons" from the Diagram Group.

http://www.amazon.com/Weapons-International-Encyclopedia-From-5000/dp/0312039506

> True story, look it up.

I hear you. You're preaching to the choir here ;) One of the books in my firearms reading collection is Silencer History and Performance, which talks about requiring silencers in some European countries, as you point out.

Gunpowder by Jack Kelly. It was fascinating to learn how many scientific discoveries, modern inventions, and social changes were influenced by the discovery of black powder.

Longrange shooting handbook - Chapter 5.2.6

• Magnification can make it harder to initially find your target
  
• With too much magnification, shooters are often tempted to jerk the trigger when they think that the reticle, shaky from excess magnification, is perfectly centered on the target
  
• Target re-acquisition, after being bumped by recoil, is often more difficult at higher magnification due to smaller field of view.
  
  I'm sure there might be a few more examples/reasons, but I'm only on chapter 6.4.1

http://www.amazon.com/Military-Small-Arms-20th-Century/dp/0873418247

This book is on the history and designs of Military Small Arms of the 20th Century. It is written by two very knowledgeable guys. (From Wikipedia) Ian V. Hogg (1926 – 7 March 2002) was a notable British author of books on firearms, artillery, ammunition, and fortification, as well as biographies of several famous general officers. During his career he wrote, co-wrote, edited, or co-edited about 150 books and sold well over 1 million copies. And John S. Weeks an American who also wrote and co-wrote many a book on military small arms

book

honestly this book will give you just about everything you need to get started on long range.

Here's a book called By The Sword. It's a history about swords. :) http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0812969669

If you're really interested:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0873649095/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

First I'm not an expert and have only read three books on the subjects of swords/dueling/fencing so I was hesitant to comment on it (since we are talking about an evolution of swordplay over a long span of time) but the most recent book I've read, "By the Sword" (http://www.amazon.com/Sword-Gladiators-Musketeers-Swashbucklers-anniversary/dp/0812969669), mentions it and since I just finished the book it was fresh in my mind.

Also, you should pick up this book and do some research before you buy.

Its better to spend a little more and get a state of the art can than it is to buy a cheaper/outmoded can.

How could there not be a mention of the true classic?

http://www.amazon.com/Thermonuclear-War-Herman-Kahn/dp/141280664X

I highly recommend Long Range Shooting Handbook by Ryan Cleckner. Also look him up on YouTube. https://www.amazon.com/dp/151865472X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_o3fPBbQPWJ6H3

I would assume that Winchester also had milled trigger guards, as they were producing the Garand early on. My knowledge of Garands doesn't extend much past knowing what would be accurate for which time period.

However, if you're really curious, I know there are several books about M1 collecting. I've been told that Scott Duff's book is the go to book for collectors.

If you are interested in learning more about its guidance system I suggest reading the book Inventing Accuracy: A Historical Sociology of Nuclear Missile Guidance

I'd recommend you check out the book Inventing Accuracy: A Historical Sociology of Nuclear Missile Guidance (Inside Technology).

For those that would like to order it

Again, lets compare reading lists and see who retained more. Here are the last 3 I read, how about you?

http://www.amazon.com/Uranium-Energy-Rock-Shaped-World/dp/0670020648

http://www.amazon.com/Candy-Machine-Cocaine-Took-World/dp/0141034467

http://www.amazon.com/Continent-Taking-Tragedy-Hope-Africa/dp/0375414614

Almost forgot the very last one I read, it even mentioned Reddit and subreddits!

http://www.amazon.com/Epic-Win-4chan-Army-Conquered/dp/1590207106/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1321971038&sr=1-1

Shot placement is important, for sure, but the first thing to go in a gunfight is fine motor control.

Also, rifle combat is much different than pistol combat. Another read I highly recommend that covers numerous topics:

http://www.amazon.com/Ride-Shoot-Straight-Speak-Truth/dp/0873649737

> I think humans have a natural aversion to violence, that just makes sense from a self-preservation aspect, I think the glorification of violence is something that is taught to us.


You have that backwards, violence is a base urge, it comes from instincts, a desire for peace has been in bedded through education and human conscientiousness.


Humans will also never change.


If you want a better understanding you could buy this book, I highly recommend it.

Ian Hogg's "Military Small Arms of the 20th Century"

https://www.amazon.com/Military-Small-Arms-20th-Century/dp/0873418247

Read this: http://www.amazon.com/Ride-Shoot-Straight-Speak-Truth/dp/0873649737

Only the greatest story ever told.

This one?

Do you paint the stock sight, or aftermarket one?

https://www.amazon.com/Long-Range-Shooting-Handbook-Cleckner/dp/151865472X

Long Range Shooting Handbook Paperback – January 31, 2016
by Ryan M Cleckner (Author)

http://wiktenauer.com/wiki/Johannes_Liechtenauer followed by http://wiktenauer.com/wiki/Nuremberg_Hausbuch_(MS_3227a) http://wiktenauer.com/wiki/Peter_von_Danzig_zum_Ingolstadt and http://wiktenauer.com/wiki/Pseudo-Peter_von_Danzig

In terms of actual paper books? http://www.academyofhistoricalarts.co.uk/publishing/german-longsword-study-guide.php

https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/The_Martial_Arts_of_Renaissance_Europe.html?id=keDBwirOTQwC

and

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Understanding-Fencing-Zbigniew-Czajkowski/dp/0965946886

First thing I'd get is a book.

Pickup Gunsmithing by Roy Dunlap

First few chapters are all about the workshop and tools you'll need.

I would suggest Ryan Cleckner's Long Range Shooting Handbook

https://www.amazon.com/Long-Range-Shooting-Handbook-Cleckner/dp/151865472X/

Just got this for Christmas yesterday.

Long Range Shooting Handbook https://www.amazon.com/dp/151865472X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_hntyybWQ3F683

Try the following:

Roots of Blitzkrieg.

The Red Army and the Werhmacht.

Edit: One more Storm of Steel

Throw this at them:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/159223304X

The Collapse of Complex Societies

War and Peace and War: The Rise and Fall of Empires

Historical Dynamics: Why States Rise and Fall

Genes, Peoples, and Languages

The Origins of Political Order: From Prehuman Times to the French Revolution

The Information: A History, A Theory, A Flood

Also when duelling started getting real big in europe it became a craze among the catholic monks at the time and the Church started getting worried partly due to the fame/ego and also the dead monks, and instituted the no dulling with bladed weapons thing in hopes of dissuading the young monks. - source By the Sword

Currently: The Twilight War: The Secret History of America's Thirty-Year Conflict with Iran

After this I will probably read

The Bear Went Over the Mountain: Soviet Combat Tactics in Afghanistan

On War

Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS

The Looming Tower: Al-Qaeda and the Road to 9/11

Illusions of Victory: The Anbar Awakening and the Rise of the Islamic State

On Grand Strategy

A fellow on the combined defense discord layed out his recommendations for books on nukes, so I'll list them here.

On Thermonuclear War By Herman Kahn

On Limited Nuclear War in the 21st Century by Jeffrey Larsen and Kerry Kartchner

The Evolution of Nuclear Strategy, Third Edition by Lawrence Freedman

Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces by Pavel Podvig

Nuclear Statecraft: History and Strategy in America's Atomic Age by Francis J. Gavin

Eating Grass: The Making of the Pakistani Bomb by Feroz Khan

Prevention, Pre-emption and the Nuclear Option: From Bush to Obama by Aiden Warren

Nuclear Deterrence in the 21st Century: Lessons from the Cold War for a New Era of Strategic Piracy by Thérèse Delpech

Analyzing Strategic Nuclear Policy by Charles L. Glaser

Making of the Atomic Bomb by Richard Rhodes

Dark Sun: The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb by Richard Rhodes

Nuclear Strategy in the Modern Era: Regional Powers and International Conflict by Vipin Narang

Building the H Bomb: A Personal History By Kenneth W Ford

The Logic of American Nuclear Strategy by Matthew Kroenig

Paper Tigers: china's Nuclear Posture by Jeffery Lewis

Arms and Influence by Thomas Schelling