"Learning to Eat Soup with a Knife: Counterinsurgency Lessons from Malaya and Vietnam."

It is brilliant and written to be read by anyone. I really recommend it. First three chapters on mil reform, Brit mil culture/history and same for U.S. are worth price of book alone.

But rest is even more amazing: everything we've relearned or got smart on in Iraq was previewed by the Brits in Malaya--right down to "ink spots." And every mistake and bad instance of non-learning was previewed in Vietnam.

Going into the book, I feared it would be too dry and academic, but it really is an exciting read for someone trying to think his or her way through this stuff.