Episode · The Daily Stoic · 2021-10-29
Ryan Holiday & H.R. McMaster: books mentioned on The Daily Stoic
H.R. McMaster on the Power of Strategic Empathy
H. R. McMaster recommended The Obstacle Is the Way by Ryan Holiday, On the Origins of War by Donald Kagan, and A Sense Of The Enemy The High Stakes History Of Reading Your Rivals Mind by Zachary Shore, and discussed Ego Is the Enemy by Ryan Holiday, Lives of the Stoics by Ryan Holiday and others, and Infantry Attacks by Erwin Rommel and others. Ryan Holiday recommended Strategy by Lawrence Freedman and Dying Every Day by James Romm, and discussed Call Sign Chaos by James N. Mattis and others, History of the Peloponnesian War, The Future of War by Lawrence Freedman, The 48 Laws of Power by Robert Greene and others, First Principles by Thomas E. Ricks, and Deep Work by Cal Newport.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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The Obstacle Is the Way
Recommended“so so uh uh shake talk noon who's a friend of mine and we worked together on a number of initiatives in the middle east and beyond uh we he's he's an author himself he's very intellectually curious and he said hey i just i just read this great book called the obstacles the way and i and i'm going”
Where to get it
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Ego Is the Enemy
Discussed“and you know the and as well as the eagles the enemy and now the lives of the stoics you know so i'm um i'm a big fan”
Where to get it
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Lives of the Stoics
Discussed“and you know the and as well as the eagles the enemy and now the lives of the stoics you know so i'm um i'm a big fan”
Where to get it
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Call Sign Chaos
Discussed“i was thinking about that quote from from your friend and colleague general mattis uh it's in it's in call sign chaos he says it's not just that you have to read he's like if you haven't read hundreds of books about your domain of of battle or or or industry or specialty”
Where to get it
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History of the Peloponnesian War
Discussed“i find this particularly true for like philosophy or if i'm trying to read some like greek play or like let's say someone you know hears that you know history of the peloponnesian war might help you understand the the the jostling between the united states and china”
Where to get it
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On the Origins of War
Recommended“uh don kagan's one volume of that is brilliant or his essay on it in the book called on the origins of war and prospects for peace”
Where to get it
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Infantry Attacks
Discussed“now the rommel papers read that way as well very practical you know solutions or rommel's earlier book infantry attacks”
Where to get it
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The Future of War
Discussed“yeah i read um i read uh lawrence friedman's book and it's called the future of war”
Where to get it
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Strategy
Recommended“yeah i read um i read uh lawrence friedman's book and it's called the future of war i don't know if you read it but he wrote he wrote that great book strategy”
Where to get it
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A Sense Of The Enemy The High Stakes History Of Reading Your Rivals Mind
Recommended“so so but but uh but the historian named zachary shore wrote a great book called a sense of the enemy in which he develops this this idea of strategic empathy”
Where to get it
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The 48 Laws of Power
Discussed“so it's you know i think this is a key point in the 48 laws of power”
Where to get it
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First Principles
Discussed“yeah i had uh the historian tom rix on the podcast a couple months back and and uh his his book first principles”
Where to get it
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Deep Work
Discussed“one of the other books that i connected with uh sheikh tanoon about was was cal newport's book deep work which he said he reads on a regular basis”
Where to get it
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Dying Every Day
Recommended“and and there's a fascinating book called dying every day about seneca and nero's court by james rahm who's a writer i love and and you know he's just talking about um you know was was seneca motivated by selfishness or selflessness”
Where to get it
Other mentions in this episode (7) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
Passing The Obstacle Is the Way
“I was wondering, are you comfortable telling the story of how you ended up hearing about 'The Obstacle Is the Way'?”
Plugged Lives of the Stoics
“yeah it's interesting when i was writing lives of the stokes i was looking at some of the early greek stokes and i was it was interesting their relationship with these sort of kings and princes that they were advising”
Plugged Battlegrounds
“and i read about this in battlegrounds about how i took with me you know into the white house a determination to at least make different mistakes than those that i had written about during the uh during the period in which vietnam became an american war”
Plugged Battlegrounds
“i read about this in the conclusion of battlegrounds because i i tell the story of when i was when i was leaving uh to go to the white house quite unexpectedly right the president hired me on you know president's day in in uh 2017 after interview of mar-a-lago and uh and i flew back on air force one”
Plugged Ego Is the Enemy
“and the the ego is the enemy ryan seneca says you know to study philosophy is to annex all the ages into your own”
Plugged Battlegrounds
“it's essentially you know viewing you know these complex challenges that we're facing uh from the perspective of others and in particular as you mentioned our rivals and adversaries and our enemies and and and what he also argues for and what i argue for in the book is to also pay attention to the emotions and the aspirations and”
Plugged Dereliction of Duty
“and i i had really this this benefit as i mentioned of writing dereliction of duty you know the book about how why vietnam became an american war”