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A review by jasperburns
Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War by Robert Coram
4.0
This is an excellent biography about one of the most famous fighter pilots in history. It is over-the-top and every story feels just a little bit too exaggerated. And it almost feels as if the author is engaged in hero-worship. But this hyperbole is part of its appeal; he sells Boyd as a figure to be admired and put on a pedestal. It is fun to read about such a figure.
From a Big 5 psychological standpoint, Boyd seems like he may have maxed out disagreeability. He seemed to love doing what he wanted, and screw whatever anyone else thought. I found his sense of purpose motivating, and his lack of fear of retribution from his seniors as freeing for myself.
While I have been cursorily exposed to E-M diagrams as part of our air-to-air threat study, I never really understood the depths of its origins, and learning about Boyd's hard-fought work in developing E-M theory was fascinating.
What was most valuable to me was learning about his paper Destruction and Creation, where he describes in clear and concise detail a theory of thinking that is very close to what I've been working on myself. This paper, which I've now read separately, would be a full five-stars from me. The next most important insight to me was OODA loops, which I knew from ROTC but had the importance drilled more deeply into me here. The more you think about it, the more subverting an enemy's decision cycle makes sense. I thought it was useful to understand that the "best" wartime tactic might actually be worse than the least expected one. This, and the development of maneuver warfare rather than attrition warfare, is a valuable insight.
Everyone else in aviation, especially tacair, should read this book. It makes me feel pride in our profession and was enjoyable to boot.
View my best reviews and a collection of mental models at jasperburns.blog.
From a Big 5 psychological standpoint, Boyd seems like he may have maxed out disagreeability. He seemed to love doing what he wanted, and screw whatever anyone else thought. I found his sense of purpose motivating, and his lack of fear of retribution from his seniors as freeing for myself.
While I have been cursorily exposed to E-M diagrams as part of our air-to-air threat study, I never really understood the depths of its origins, and learning about Boyd's hard-fought work in developing E-M theory was fascinating.
What was most valuable to me was learning about his paper Destruction and Creation, where he describes in clear and concise detail a theory of thinking that is very close to what I've been working on myself. This paper, which I've now read separately, would be a full five-stars from me. The next most important insight to me was OODA loops, which I knew from ROTC but had the importance drilled more deeply into me here. The more you think about it, the more subverting an enemy's decision cycle makes sense. I thought it was useful to understand that the "best" wartime tactic might actually be worse than the least expected one. This, and the development of maneuver warfare rather than attrition warfare, is a valuable insight.
Everyone else in aviation, especially tacair, should read this book. It makes me feel pride in our profession and was enjoyable to boot.
View my best reviews and a collection of mental models at jasperburns.blog.