Narrated by: Professor Gregory S. Aldrete, PhD
Series: The Great Courses: Military
Length: 12 hrs and 12 mins

Another amazing Great Courses lecture series.

I really enjoyed this, and I learnt a lot.  But as always with these lecture series I almost can’t wait to be done with it.

Why?  Because these lecture series are quite intense, and you really have to put time aside to listen to it properly and perhaps even take notes.

In fact, this is NOT a book for the car journeys.

Content

There’s lot of amazing information, lots of examples, and the Professor works through the reasons WHY they were blunders rather than just defeats and explains very adeptly how you might learn from these in future campaigns.

Ultimately of course, it seems people don’t learn from history, even though the main message is that they should.
The common themes are failure of planning,
failure of leadership,
failure of execution
& failure of adaptation.

Each of the Chapters (24 in total) contain a certain battle throughout history, and the Professor takes time to explain the particular situation, environment, and the thinking which was pertinent at the time, plus how a culture may have viewed itself and others, thus showing in the end HOW one should learn from those lessons, and why a particular action or decision was terrible in the 1st place.

I would advise taking notes, because not only is it interesting for anyone that loves military strategy, and the intrigue these stories bring, but you can also relate some of these lessons to everyday life.

Narration + listenability

The narration is done by Professor Gregory S. Aldrete, PhD,  this is his lecture material and his research area, and he is really excited by the stories and the lessons they teach, and so it makes for an enjoyable listen.

The fact that he takes time to not just explain what happened, but the situation, environment, and the particular time period thinking of the time really makes a difference.

Recommendation

Anyone that loves military strategy, or strategy in general would enjoy this, although I would advise taking notes.

Whilst you may enjoy the stories and may get a general sense of what TO do, and what NOT to do from all of these stories, especially in reflecting over the 4 main themes of the book being able to go over your notes and reflect on the lessons afterwards is really rewarding and saves you from going over the whole book again.

I will write a separate ‘Interesting points and lessons I learnt’ from this book later.

Get a free trial of audible with 2 free books, listen to books like this for free, & then if you want….just quit before 30 days & you get to keep everything… sounds like a pretty good deal to me.