Strategy: A History by Lawrence Freedman Oxford University Press (1 November 2013) Amazon page What's it about?: The history of the concept of strategic thinking, ranging from primate warfare, to classical myths and legends of Greece and Rome, to the works of Sun-Tzu, Machiavelli, and Clausewitz, to Marx and Che Guevara, to big names in … Continue reading Strategy
Dora
Dora: An Analysis of a Case of Hysteria by Sigmund Freud Touchstone Books (1 November 1997) Amazon page What's it about?: Sigmund Freud's case study of a teenaged girl diagnosed with "hysteria." Her real name was Ida Bauer, but she was referred to as "Dora" throughout the text. This study is (in)famous for Freud's exploration … Continue reading Dora
Stratagems, Aqueducts of Rome
Frontinus: Stratagems, Aqueducts of Rome by Frontinus (translated by Charles E. Bennett) (1 January 1925) Amazon link What's it about?: Two books: a treatise on warfare, and an official report on the state of the aqueducts of Rome, by Sextus Julius Frontinus, civil engineer, author, soldier, and senator of the Roman Empire in the first … Continue reading Stratagems, Aqueducts of Rome
Winchell
Winchell: Gossip, Power, and the Culture of Celebrity by Neal Gabler Vintage (26 September 1995) Amazon link What's it about?: Neal Gabler's biography of tabloid columnist and broadcaster Walter Winchell. Written in the context of celebrity culture, and how this developed over time with Winchell as the celebrity columnist. My opinion: Probably the most readable … Continue reading Winchell
The Scapegoat
The Scapegoat by Rene Girard (translated by Yvonne Freccero) John Hopkins University Press (15 August 1989) Amazon link The Scapegoat is Rene Girard's study of collective violence, comparing persecution texts -- written from the perspective of the persecutors -- with ancient mythology. The ideas presented don't fit easily into any academic niche, which might be … Continue reading The Scapegoat
Faust
Faust by Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (translated by Walter Kaufmann) KNOPF US (31 March 1999) Amazon page What's it about?: Goethe's tragic play, Faust, in a volume providing the original German text, with philosopher Walter Kaufmann's English translation on the facing pages. Based on a traditional theme of making a deal with the devil, Mephistopheles, … Continue reading Faust
The 33 Strategies of War
The 33 Strategies of War by Robert Greene Penguin (1 January 2008) Amazon link What's it about?: The third book in Robert Greene's series on power, seduction, and war, The 33 Strategies of War draws upon thousands of years of conflict to deliver a modern treatise on war and strategic thinking. Political, philosophical and religious … Continue reading The 33 Strategies of War
We Are Not Alone
"It's okay to be discouraged. It's not okay to quit. To know you want to quit but to plant your feet and keep inching closer until you take the impenetrable fortress you’ve decided to lay siege to in your own life—that's persistence." -Ryan Holiday Breaking Benjamin released their second album, We Are Not Alone, on … Continue reading We Are Not Alone
No
Writing this piece was not what I imagined myself doing today, but here we are: No, I am not related to Catherine Deveny. You can stop asking about that. Thank you.
The 48 Laws of Power
The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene Penguin (1 September 2000) Amazon link What's it about?: Reportedly one of the most requested and banned books in American prison libraries, and cited by many in the entertainment industry. The 48 Laws of Power is presented as a how-to guide on the acquisition of power, drawing … Continue reading The 48 Laws of Power
Lawrence Deveney 