The best book you have read recently

Just read an autobiography by Adrian Edmondson and was impressed with his sincerity and no nonsense attitude, well worth checking out- it’s called ‘Beserker’.

Him and Rick Mayall brought anarchy to the stage in The Young One’s and Bottom which prompts the question of how did a child brought up in a strict Methodist household and spent his formative years incarcerated in repressive boarding schools end up joining the revolution?

With the increase in military conflict over the past 3 years, I thought I'd read up on the how, why & when of the whole known history of war.
So I've just finished Michael Mann's "On War". He writes about the causes of war and the irrational decisions of Emperors, kings, Presidents, and Dictators who commit men to combat....from the Punic Wars right through to the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine. I wouldn't say it's an easy read, better suited to academic study, but nonetheless an interesting overview of this most violent expression of the human condition. In one form or another you can say all war has come about from nothing more fickle than male vanity.

With the increase in military conflict over the past 3 years, I thought I'd read up on the how, why & when of the whole known history of war.
So I've just finished Michael Mann's "On War". He writes about the causes of war and the irrational decisions of Emperors, kings, Presidents, and Dictators who commit men to combat....from the Punic Wars right through to the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine. I wouldn't say it's an easy read, better suited to academic study, but nonetheless an interesting overview of this most violent expression of the human condition. In one form or another you can say all war has come about from nothing more fickle than male vanity.

Fair play - you've got to give yourself a pat on the back when reading books all the way through like that - I'll so often start and get no further than half way! I've not read it but there's a new book out by General Petraeus about the development of war from 1945 to Ukraine. Looks good!