Month: January 2008

Some interesting thoughts from Kaplan in the Atlantic 150th Year Anniversary edition

~ Eoin Purcell ~ Leave a comment

Eoin Purcell

Sea power in the modern era
Amongst a number of other great articles, the 150th Anniversary Edition has one thoughtful and exceptional one from Robert D. Kaplan. It deals with the imperative of the US have a function and effective navy. Given the excellent news that the Atlantic has opened its archive I can link directly to the piece:

“Regular wars” between major states could be as frequent in the 21st century as they were in the 20th. In his 2005 book, Another Bloody Century, the British scholar Colin Gray, a professor of international politics and strategic studies at the University of Reading, explains convincingly that these future wars will not require any “manifestation of insanity by political leaders,” nor even an “aberration from normal statecraft,” but may come about merely because of what Thucydides recognized as “fear, honour, and interest.” Wars between the United States and a Sino-Russian axis or between the United States and a coalition of rogue states are just two of the scenarios Gray imagines.

Are we prepared to fight these wars? Our Army and Marine Corps together constitute the most battle- hardened regular land force in the world. But it has been a long time since our Navy has truly fought another navy, or our Air Force another air force. In the future they could be tested to the same extent that the Army and Marine Corps have been. The current catchphrase is boots on the ground; in the future it could be hulls in the water.

As an added bonus the article in print carries references to two classic titles: Alfred T Mahan’s, The Influence of Sea Power upon History and Julian S. Corbett’s Some Principles of Maritime Strategy. The print version even offers brief aside on Mahan’s work written by none other than Theodore Roosevelt.

Worth reading all three!
Eoin

Bookseller Column: The Irish Blook

~ Eoin Purcell ~ 6 Comments

Eoin Purcell

I’m quite pleased with how this came out in the end.

The Irish blook

29.01.08

Blogging has been brewing up a media storm in the Irish media. Two weeks ago, well known commentator, John Waters, attacked the entire blogosphere on Newstalk, one of Ireland’s talk radio stations.

Following the lead of Andrew Keen in his book The Cult of the Amateur, John Waters said that blogs were “stupid”, “entirely cynical”, “entirely negative” and equivalent to the “wall of a toilet”. He also attacked the lack of authority and suggested that much of the internet was given over to pornography and self-gratification (of which he believes blogging to be an extension).

Unsurprisingly he was rebutted and lampooned by the blogging fraternity. Eventually he came head to head with one of Ireland’s more erudite bloggers Feargal Crehan (a barrister) and the results can be heard here.

Whatever about the merits of Waters’ arguments, they do raise the question of blogging’s role in Irish publishing. There are more than a few success stories in the field.

For more go Here

(Links are a bit tricksy for some reason though!

Enjoying P&Ls (is that odd?)
Eoin

Links of Interest (At Least to Me) 28/01/2008

~ Eoin Purcell ~ Leave a comment

Eoin Purcell

James Bridle always has interesting stuff to say and today’s point is as well made as ever.
Here

When we are on the topic it would be a shame not to mention today’s excellent post about e-book pricing on The Digitalist.
Here

Oh and on the blogger and books Damien Mulley has an interview with controversial blogger Twenty Major (the first Irish Blogger with a book deal if not the first to be released).
Here

And finally Laurence Orbach [CEO of Quarto) has a nicely considered post that recalls somehting that was said to me at a strategy meeting;
“Survival is not guaranteed!”
Here

All in all a fine mix today!
Eoin

The Equivoque Principle arrives on my desk: I’m pretty excited

~ Eoin Purcell ~ 4 Comments

Eoin Purcell

So I spilled the cash for The Friday Project’s tasty looking special edition of The Equivoque Principle and boy does it look sweet. I cobbled together a few pictures into a little video:

Sorry about the naff music, I’m still learning with these slideshows and what not!
Next time I’ll get it right!

I’ll have to hold off reading it for a bit. It is not just the huge TBR Pile:

tbrlefthand.jpg

But also as Penguin have kindly reminded me that I was sent The Waves SIX MONTHS AGO and need to get my skates on! Opps!

Worried and sorry, is it really six months already!
Eoin