Google Books Wargame Book - War and Games (Cornell and Allan)

Read this here for free: 

https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/War_and_Games/nQAXzSJsqKcC?hl=en&gbpv=1#ba_cen=lat_e7:%20544929887%0Alng_e7:%204283550906%0A&ba_loc=Skottowe%20Crescent,%20Great%20Ayton,%20Middlesbrough%20TS9%206DS

Zante - A Holiday Location with a Bit of Unexpected Local History

Zante is a small island off the Peloponnese of mainland Greece. A pleasant holiday destination, where there was the sweet holiday sun and sea.

The Wikipedia link to the History of Zante gives a rather formal historical description, until teh last lines: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Zakynthos

During the Nazi occupation of Greece, Mayor Karrer and Bishop Chrysostomos refused Nazi orders to turn in a list of the members of the town's Jewish community for deportation to the death camps. Instead they hid all (or most) of the town's Jewish people in rural villages. According to some sources, all 275 Jews of Zakynthos survived the war;^[65][66] however, other sources state that about thirty died of starvation,^[67] or state that some elderly Jews, incapable of fleeing the town, "disappeared" in a German SS truck.^[68] Statues of the Bishop and the Mayor commemorate their heroism on the site of the town's historic synagogue, destroyed in the earthquake of 1953.^[65]

In 1978, Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority in Israel, honoured Bishop Chrysostomos and Mayor Loukas Karrer with the title of "Righteous among the Nations", an honor given to non-Jews who, at personal risk, saved Jews during the Holocaust.^[65] After the war, all of the Jews of Zakynthos moved either to Israel or to Athens.^[69][70]

Another description: https://chrissieparkerauthor.wordpress.com/2017/04/30/zakynthos-under-world-war-two-occupation/

In short the people of Zante were nothing short of incredible by the way they protected their Jewish community from the Nazi holocaust. Where 80% of all mainland Greek Jews disappeared in the Holocaust, the ones on Zante were protected by absorbing them into rural villages and small towns, blending them into the background.

As the Greeks say as they drink a toast Yamas!

Yamas to the brave people of to Zante!

An AI Book from "Way, Way" Past (1986) and The Trillion Credit Squadron

What is there to learn from an old book? A book that is little more than an old technology review at that. A book that is a snapshot of the state of the art of Artificial Intelligence in 1986 (or rather a book published in 1986 about the state of the art circa 1984 - the publishing cycle was much longer to get to print then)? Technology was still pre-Internet. A "US based" state of the art, so Europe (where I studied in 1986-1991, BSc and MSc) in effect would have an information lag of two to three years to catch up. It was a time when the US was running scared of the Japanese Fifth Generation Computing initiative and the US Congress acted to mobilises "a whole of" US academic and industry sector response to what was perceived as an existential threat. Does that sound familiar? So familiar as what happened next was an AI Winter (the second) because of the stinging nettles of over inflated hype and unrealistic market  expectations. That was a winter I was caught up in as a graduate student, but took it on the chin and just bumbled off into mainstream commercial computing. 

The book is fascinating as it illuminates characters and personalities but shows the still unfulfilled dreams of Artificial Intelligence, from the mouths of the original pioneers who were at, or were taught by the delegates of the infamous 1956 Dartmouth Conference. Marvin Minsky's goal of that summer camp being to crack significant fields of AI (which still as to this day remain uncracked) within six weeks .. the craziness and the optimism of it. The field of Artificial Intelligence (although nobody was readily recognising it as a "field" in its own right at the time) was all things to all men, half the delegates did not even like the title. 

Marvin Minsky passed away in 2017. Late on in life, when asked of what he thought of today's take on AI, he remarked, "We seemed to be closer to success in the 1970's", which I think is a reflection on how much we have learned, that there is still so much yet to be learned, including many more "unknown unknowns". The book is called "Machinery of the Mind, Inside the new science of artificial intelligence" and I wish I could have somehow read it thirty four years ago (see below, written by George Jonson, who was given the chance to mingle with the AI scientists through means of an Alicia Patterson Foundation journalism fellowship in 1984):

Note: I have literally destroyed the book in act of reading it [sins of my marker pen highlighting and scribbling quick annotations (filling in with hindsight developments to know to have happened next) and there is also the age of the binding - the glue cracking as I turned its pages].

It is a good book, as it tells you as much about the "people" as the "things" they were trying to create and I learned a lot of stuff I had never dreamed of was actually happening, cool stuff. The funny, the bizarre and the quite, quite sad. There were many winners and losers, famous names galore from the annals of AI. There was also a tie into one of my long running science fiction wargaming projects, that of replicating Traveller's "The Trillion Credit Squadron" scenario, with Eurisko and Douglas Lenat's original fleet (Douglas Lenat sadly passed away in 2023). I came across the book because of an oblique reference to Douglas Lenat and TCS. 

The book stands for me as snapshot of an optimistic point in time, just before the cusp of the Second AI Winter (tied with the ultimate failure of the Japanese Fifth Generation Computing initiative and the political thawing of the Cold War). It is unbridled optimism, a freeze-pane of potential all the academic aspirational hopes, which had evaporated by 1991 but I still loved reading it.

Footnote: The original book cost $10 in 1986, a princely some forty years ago. I picked it up as a "second hand" book" from an internet shop, that shipped it six thousand miles for less that it's original price. In 1986 I would not have been able to afford the purchase, in 2024 it is less than the price of a coffee and a cake in a high street franchise shop.

Spring and Summertime Audible Reading: WWII (Early War from 1939 to 1941)

Thanks to Audible (via listening in the car and while I am doing the washing up) I am able to keep up with my "electronic book time" (and in all honesty, I usually buy a paper copy of the books I like and have listened to too).  It is nourishing when you can mine a consistent meme or theme, even as a background task. I have recently gone back to one of my first loves of history, the early war period of WWII (clanky tanks, Stukas and all that stuff), with some nice new author "finds" and their revisionist reviews of oft forgotten episodes of the early war.

Reading List (Done):

Starting at the beginning - Case White: The Invasion of Poland 1939 (see below, Robert Forczyk is a great new author find for me and the Poland 1939 Campaign is covered in greater detail that I have managed to find before):

Of interest were the "learning mistakes" of the German Army, as not everything went right for them and how an alliance which looks good on paper is, when tested (France and Great Britain supporting the Poles - allegedly), falls apart through lack of any tangible help Britain and France could give Poland in 1939! The Allies in short wanted everything to go much slower, but were simply not given this luxury.  

The open fighting war in Poland now over, we move onto Narvik .. the campaign before the Low Countries started and the site of the Allies first "land" victory in WWII. This was after a bizarre naval start to to proceedings, where we almost saw an  "Allied invasion of Norway" first and arguably "an Allied act or war on Norway" (courtesy of the RN) ! A beguiling episode of unfathomable "what ifs" that could have spelled out a very different outcome. Overall an excellent book (see below, where bizarrely the displaced Polish troops helped the French and British inflict the first Blitzkrieg era defeat on Germany by the recapture of Narvik in what was the final moments of this ill-prepared campaign [on both sides]):

Then back to more familiar territory of France 1940 proper, but with a twist, not the familiar and beloved Alister Horne's recount, (France 1940: To Lose a battle) and looking predominately at Case Yellow, but instead just a review of that and then greater focus on Case Red. This is looking at the battle of France post Dunkirk, and what was termed the Second BEF's brief campaign. This includes the 2nd Armoured Divisions "trials and tribulations "in what was a travesty of combat, or "How not to attack with a British cruiser armed tank division in 1940, thinking it was the same as a French tank division and had supporting infantry". Fascinating early war "cringe" details, again a story of what could have been (see below, subtext - how allies can hurt each other as much as the enemy):

Then a real focus on Dunkirk from the German view, illuminating when considering the operation from a German perspective (see below, a huge take away was that the German effort to take Dunkirk was uncoordinated and from a C3 perspective was horrifically fragmented and certainly not combined arms, a fascinating read):

After the fall of France how long could Britain stand? Many thought, including Joseph Kennedy, JFK's father and American ambassador to Great Britain, thought not long. Britain was doomed as it could not stand alone. "We March Against England". This gives a peculiar twist to viewing and understanding  this period. Absolutely fascinating stuff (see below, again its from my latest author find, Mr Robert Forczyk):

This information was especially interesting when reviewing it against Paddy Griffith's epic1974 Operation Sea Lion game and the capabilities (see below, Paddy's book is full of of detailed notes and is available from the History of Wargaming Project):

Yet one more thing leading to another, the Western Desert comes into focus and another book from Robert Forczyk fills this gap nicely (see below, those early Italian and DAK battles covered in fascinating details [still as yet only available in hardback - so note to self, it is a book still for me to get]):  

Again a great book and brings a new perspective on the early war Western Desert campaign(s) and specifically Rommel's character and leadership in particular (a tank commander is being very hard on a felloe tan commander). Logistics, logistics and logistics! It is no good getting something after a hard fought battle if you cannot supply yourself sufficiently to keep it.

The above might explain my lack of posting over the last few months (first half of 2024), coupled with increased WhatsApp-Facebook-X  usage (a trio of digital distractions) and heck, a busy work-family life balance.

Reading List (To Do): 

Where next? Historically, all eyes turn East (as did Hitler) and the war swings in a very dramatic fashion as an 'irresistible force' hits an 'unmovable object' (Germany invades Russia) and believe it or not there is a book for that (see below, in truth there are many books, but this one concentrates on tanks which is a leading draw to me, thank you Mr Forczyk): 

Although I think, instead of a picture of a sexy Tiger Tank on the front cover (which is "just" in period, but will sell books for sure), I would have preferred a picture of a weather-worn, workhorse PzIII, which would have been much more appropriate IMHO. 

Note: Any more book recommendations appreciated and welcome, as I seem to have come to the bottom of my list (ready-use locker). 

A Practical Use of Lego in Space!

https://notallnewsisbad.com/scientists-3d-print-lego-bricks-made-out-of-meteorite-dust/

Makes sense to me!

The Conference of Wargamers (CoW) 2024 - Initial Reports (from other Bloggers)

These are the early sightings of Conference of Wargamers (CoW) 2024 reports: 

• David Burden's Tweets https://x.com/hashtag/COW2024?src=hashtag_click
• Trebian's blog https://wargaming4grownups.blogspot.com/2024/07/conference-of-wargamers-2024.html
• Not Quite Mechanised blog https://notquitemechanised.wordpress.com/2024/07/18/conference-of-wargamers-cow-2024/
• Games We Play blog https://tgamesweplay.blogspot.com/2024/07/conference-of-wargamers-2024.html
• James Langham's YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@jameslangham9854

I also need to post my own in due course, but the Games We Play blog covers my War Plan Orange (The Great Pacific War of the 1920's [Hypothetical]).

Trevor Beevor - Russia: Revolution and Civil War 1917 - 1921

Again, an Audible listen, but on the follow up to get a paper copy too. So much in it just to be able to "remember" (see below, an appropriate picture as the cavalry [how can I not say Cossack (Red and White)] played such an important part): 

The book comes with a warning, it will change what you thought you knew about the RCW, well at least foe me ii did. A long listen (23 hours) - horrifically fascinating, absolutely cruel in detail and so pertinent for today’s understanding of where Russia came from .. as well as understanding the Allied politics of WW2 much better.

Highly recommended!