I am not a prolific poster but I am a prolific reader. I keep intending to put entries into the "What are you currently reading" topic but somehow never quite get round to it. 

I thought it may be better if I started a topic of not what I am currently reading but what books have influenced me and changed my views of history, the world, life and everything.

I think it would both interesting and useful for us all to list the books that have influenced us. I'll start with my most recent:

There are not so many books these days that I can say I have learnt a lot from and have changed my views but I have recently read one which I think fits that description. To me this has put into context all of the conflicts I have found it difficult to make sense of since the end of WW2.

The book is: "The Utility of Force, The Art of War in the Modern World" by Rupert Smith.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Utility-Force-Modern-World/dp/0713998369

The crux of the book is to get people, politicians and generals to recognise that since 1945 we have had a new paradigm of war in existence; namely "War Amongst the People". Prior to this we had the paradigm "Interstate Industrial War" which ended when the atom bombs were exploded, and prior to that we had "Wars of Kings" which ended with the French revolution.

This new paradigm is caused by two things:
1.   Major industrial powers can no longer fight each other in a hot war as there would be no winners and only losers.
2.   The state as an institution is losing ground to organisations because of unrestricted availability of communications. These organisations are not limited by borders and fight their battles to control people either by intimidation (ethnic cleansing etc) or propaganda. Very often it is more important these days what is reported on the news channels rather than what happens on the ground.

The West has mistakenly been trying to win its conflicts by using armies designed for interstate industrial war and they are not always well adapted for the conflicts they are put into.

Al Qaeda and President Putin understand this new paradigm and are using it to gain the goals.

I'll post about another influential book soon.

Ooooh!

I must go for "Waterloo: A Near Run Thing" by David Howarth.  It started my love for the Napoleonic period.

"War Games" by the Blessed Featherstone.

I can't recall the title but it was about using computers for wargame simulations - it was mainly covered stuff done by the Rand Corporation and the US Military

That was in 1976 when I was doing my A Levels

I was intending to join the army but after reading that book I knocked that on the head and got a job in computing in 1977

Still doing it 37 years on

Alan

'A Bridge Too Far' by Cornelius Ryan. It was the first history book that really grabbed me and I literally couldn't put it down, much to my Dads annoyance whilst on holiday on the Isle of Wight.

I'm afraid my list would be a mix of philosophy, religion and psychology titles. Can't think of anything in the military line that made a major impact.

Featherstone's book followed by Chandler's 'Campaigns of Napoleon'.

Wargamed Napoleonics for years.

Then read Chandler's 'Marlborough as Military Commander'
and so started WSS.

Howard's 'Franco-Prussian War' significant as well.

Chad

No single book has inspired me but different books covering different periods have done:

Dupuy, T N, The Military Life of Genghis: Khan of Khans started my interest in the Mongols waaaaay back in about 1973.

Cottrell, L, Enemy of Rome got me interested in the Roman/Carthaginian wars.

Chandler, D, Campaigns of Napoleon gave me a lasting interest in the Napoleonic Wars.
Brett-James, A, his first hand account style from 1812 and 1813 is quite evocative.

Rogers, H C B, Battles and Generals of the Civil Wars started a lengthy interest in the ECW.

Tuchman, B, The Guns of August is a good opener for WW I

On the subject of wargaming, anything by Featherstone, Grant and Gilder always struck the right notes.

There are a few others but that'll do for now.

Finally: Any and all of the Pratchett, T, Discworld books have inspired me to be as daft as a brush for as long as I can get away with it and don't take things too seriously. (It seems to get a lot easier the older I get.) 

Too many! In order:
Douglas Reman
Tolkien
Larry Bond
Tom Clancy
Xenophon
Suetonius
Tacitus
Cassius Dio
The Notitia Dignitatum
Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee
Various books on Robert Bruce
Timothy Zahn
As much as I could find on The Maximillian Adventure
As much as I could buy on Wellington.
Too many books on WWI and WWII
David Ascoli and Howard for FPW

Quote from: fsn on 04 August 2014, 04:26:45 PM

"War Games" by the Blessed Featherstone.

Seconded

I'll have to go with Don Featherstone's Wargames followed by Michael Howard's Franco-Prussian War.

Featherstone and Grant- I wasted years trying to follow their examples until I realised that there were innumerable other books out there by historians who paid attention to sources, and rulesets by writers with analytical minds.

Influenced usefully, now: Xenophon's Anabasis, Duffy's The Military Experience in the Age of Reason, and Turnbull's The Samurai: a Military History.

Ought really to have mentioned F L Taylor's The Art of War in Italy 1494-1529. Still the best single volume on the military aspects of the Great Italian Wars, even though it was written in the 1920s. I've owned my copy since 1979.

Charge!: or, how to play wargames by Peter Young and J P Lawford. This was the book that first whetted my appetite for playing games with toy soldiers.

There have been many others since, some of which are mentioned above, but that was the one that sparked it all back in the mid sixties.

Too many books to mention really, but if I had to list just one it would be "The American Heritage Picture History of he Civil War" by Bruce Catton. I cam across this by accident in my local library in Fulham in about 1965 (yes, I am that old) and it helped to start me on my life long interest in wargaming and the American Civil War in particular (wife would say obsession). Apart from the narrative and masses of pictures it has what I can best describe as pictogrames/ maps of most of the battles with lots of little individual soldiers shown which was ideal for a 10 year old. I would literally study these 'pictures' for hours and try to recreate the battles with my Airfix figures. Oh happy days!

Cheers Paul