A few folks have been asking me what books I recommend reading for intelligence and security. I’ll make a list for that, but for now, let me tell you about three books I just finished reading or re-reading. These really aren’t reviews, just some notes on why I recommend them (or don’t). I recently saw an article in some leftist rag warning that weightlifting and body building will lead to right wing views, probably because 1) cause and effect become very apparent and 2) traditional aesthetics are preferable to modern monstrosity. The first two books are written by right wing figures who are into weight lifting, and their words will likely lead to right wing thinking for those who invest some effort into consuming them. Bronze Age Mindset by “Bronze Age Pervert” Bronze Age Mindset is a good read, if you can get through the Bronze Age syntax. I couldn’t get past it the first time I tried reading this book, but luckily there’s an audio version from Audible, and I quickly got through it during a road trip last week. If I could boil down this book into a couple sentences, it’s that modernity is failing entire generations of men. The prescribed solution is to go back… waaaay back to the era of Bronze Age heroes and mindset. The book should be enough to wake up the warlord within you. It was for me. Parts of the book are dry, but if you stick with it, BAP provides wisdom that’s sorely lacking today. I don’t agree with everything he writes, but I recommend this book to anyone who needs to go back and upgrade their mindset for the upcoming troubles. 4/5 The Way of Men by Jack Donovan This is another book that every man should read in his formative years. The Way of Men is tribal. Form a gang, writes Donovan, because brotherhood and intra-tribal competition breed the four masculine virtues of strength, courage, mastery, and honor. I noticed this in the difference between Army life and the civilian world. In the Army, there was camaraderie. If Army life sucked, at least it sucked for everyone. Adversity built character, and you learned a lot about yourself and the men who surrounded you. If you “sandbagged,” you were called out. You had a rank and a name, and respect was earned. You were surrounded by a group of men who would determine whether or not you were a shitbag by your actions, attitude, and behavior. The only way to overcome a shitbag reputation was to go above and beyond and prove your worth. (Or, alternatively, some just started their own tribe of shitbag outcasts that no one liked.) When it came time to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan, you or someone beside you may be called on to save a life. Everyone knew that and most acted like it. As a civilian, you could escape nearly everything. Work ended at 5pm. There were no enforced PT standards and no height/weight check-ins. You spent less time with coworkers and had little interest in the quality of an individual outside of the workplace. As long as you did the bare minimum, you got still got paid like everyone else. You had the option to not excel at your job. No one at your workplace would need to save anyone else’s life. Everyone knew that and everyone acted like it. Conclusion: If you want to build a culture among your peers that breeds strength, courage, mastery, and honor, then start a gang or build your tribe. Build a tribe of men who are willing to fight for you, and then network with other tribes who are willing to fight with you. This is a worthwhile book to read because Donovan outlines why a gang or tribe is a vehicle for navigating the coming troubles, and he does it through a clear writing style that you will likely find both entertaining and inspiring. 5/5 One book I don’t recommend I’ve seen Harassment Architecture float around since last year. Someone left it on the coffee table of a gun store I frequent, so I read a few pages. It was entertaining, so I ordered a copy and gave it a shot. The parts of the book that I found enjoyable were so few and far between that reading the entire thing became a chore. I can’t tell you how many times I wanted to put it down for good, and had to convince myself to continue, just in case the book got better. The book summed up: “Here’s an odd story, here’s another couple paragraphs that have nothing to do with anything else in the book; humanity should be destroyed, so harass modern society, accelerate collapse, and then watch the world burn as nature imposes its will back upon the earth.” It has some gems that could have been boiled down to couple of blog articles. Speaking of, it reads much more like a diary than a cogently written book. I guess I’m proud to say that I got through it, but I wish I would have spent the several hours reading something else. It’s quirky and I can see why it gets recommended. It wasn’t for me but, then again, I doubt that I am the intended audience. 2/5 Continue reading...
