USAFA Library Guides: USAFA Reading Lists: USAFA Dean's List

Dean's Reading List 2020

Weapons of Math Destruction by Cathy O'Neil A former Wall Street quant sounds an alarm on the mathematical models that pervade modern life and threaten to rip apart our social fabric. We live in the age of the algorithm. Increasingly, the decisions that affect our lives--where we go to school, whether we get a car loan, how much we pay for health insurance--are being made not by humans, but by mathematical models. In theory, this should lead to greater fairness: Everyone is judged according to the same rules, and bias is eliminated. But as Cathy O'Neil reveals in this urgent and necessary book, the opposite is true. The models being used today are opaque, unregulated, and uncontestable, even when they're wrong. Most troubling, they reinforce discrimination: If a poor student can't get a loan because a lending model deems him too risky (by virtue of his zip code), he's then cut off from the kind of education that could pull him out of poverty, and a vicious spiral ensues. Models are propping up the lucky and punishing the downtrodden, creating a "toxic cocktail for democracy." Welcome to the dark side of Big Data. Tracing the arc of a person's life, O'Neil exposes the black box models that shape our future, both as individuals and as a society. These "weapons of math destruction" score teachers and students, sort résumés, grant (or deny) loans, evaluate workers, target voters, set parole, and monitor our health. O'Neil calls on modelers to take more responsibility for their algorithms and on policy makers to regulate their use. But in the end, it's up to us to become more savvy about the models that govern our lives. This important book empowers us to ask the tough questions, uncover the truth, and demand change.
Call Number: QA76.9.B45eb
ISBN: 9780553418811
Publication Date: 2016-09-06
Loonshots by Safi Bahcall Why do good teams kill great ideas? Loonshots reveals a surprising new way of thinking about the mysteries of group behavior that challenges everything we thought we knew about nurturing radical breakthroughs. Bahcall, a physicist and entrepreneur, shows why teams, companies, or any group with a mission will suddenly change from embracing new ideas to rejecting them, just as flowing water will suddenly change into brittle ice. Mountains of print have been written about culture. Loonshots identifies the small shifts in structure that control this transition, the same way that temperature controls the change from water to ice. Using examples that range from the spread of fires in forests to the hunt for terrorists online, and stories of thieves and geniuses and kings, Bahcall shows how a new kind of science can help us become the initiators, rather than the victims, of innovative surprise. Over the past decade, researchers have been applying the tools and techniques of this new science--the science of phase transitions--to understand how birds flock, fish swim, brains work, people vote, diseases erupt, and ecosystems collapse. Loonshots is the first to apply this science to the spread of breakthrough ideas. Bahcall distills these insights into practical lessons creatives, entrepreneurs, and visionaries can use to change our world. Along the way, readers will learn what James Bond and Lipitor have in common, what the movie Enigma Game got wrong about WWII, and what really killed Pan Am, Polaroid, and the Qing Dynasty. "If The Da Vinci Code and Freakonomics had a child together, it would be called Loonshots." --Senator Bob Kerrey
Call Number: HD 53 .B34 2019
ISBN: 9781250185969
Publication Date: 2019-03-19
Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink; Leif Babin An updated edition of the blockbuster bestselling leadership book that took America and the world by storm, two U.S. Navy SEAL officers who led the most highly decorated special operations unit of the Iraq War demonstrate how to apply powerful leadership principles from the battlefield to business and life. Combat, the most intense and dynamic environment imaginable, teaches the toughest leadership lessons, with absolutely everything at stake. Jocko Willink and Leif Babin learned this reality first-hand on the most violent and dangerous battlefield in Iraq. As leaders of SEAL Team Three's Task Unit Bruiser, their mission was one many thought impossible: help U.S. forces secure Ramadi, a violent, insurgent-held city deemed "all but lost." In gripping, firsthand accounts of heroism, tragic loss, and hard-won victories, they learned that leadership--at every level--is the most important factor in whether a team succeeds or fails. Willink and Babin returned home from deployment and instituted SEAL leadership training to pass on their harsh lessons learned in combat to help forge the next generation of SEAL leaders. After leaving the SEAL Teams, they launched a company, Echelon Front, to teach those same leadership principles to leaders in businesses, companies, and organizations across the civilian sector. Since that time, they have trained countless leaders and worked with hundreds of companies in virtually every industry across the U.S. and internationally, teaching them how to develop their own high-performance teams and most effectively lead those teams to dominate their battlefields. Since it's release in October 2015,Extreme Ownershiphas revolutionized leadership development and set a new standard for literature on the subject. Required reading for many of the most successful organizations, it has become an integral part of the official leadership training programs for scores of business teams, military units, and first responders. Detailing the mindset and principles that enable SEAL units to accomplish the most difficult combat missions,Extreme Ownership demonstrates how to apply them to any team or organization, in any leadership environment. A compelling narrative with powerful instruction and direct application,Extreme Ownership challenges leaders everywhere to fulfill their ultimate purpose: lead and win.
Call Number: DS 79.764 .A63 W55 2017
ISBN: 9781250183866
Publication Date: 2017-11-21
Adapt by Tim Harford In this groundbreaking book, Tim Harford, the Undercover Economist, shows us a new and inspiring approach to solving the most pressing problems in our lives. When faced with complex situations, we have all become accustomed to looking to our leaders to set out a plan of action and blaze a path to success. Harford argues that today's challenges simply cannot be tackled with ready-made solutions and expert opinion; the world has become far too unpredictable and profoundly complex. Instead, we must adapt. Deftly weaving together psychology, evolutionary biology, anthropology, physics, and economics, along with the compelling story of hard-won lessons learned in the field, Harford makes a passionate case for the importance of adaptive trial and error in tackling issues such as climate change, poverty, and financial crises--as well as in fostering innovation and creativity in our business and personal lives. Taking us from corporate boardrooms to the deserts of Iraq, Adapt clearly explains the necessary ingredients for turning failure into success. It is a breakthrough handbook for surviving--and prospering-- in our complex and ever-shifting world.
Call Number: BF 575 .F14 H37 2011
ISBN: 9780374100964
Publication Date: 2011-05-10
LikeWar by P. W. Singer; Emerson Brooking Through the weaponization of social media, the internet is changing war and politics, just as war and politics are changing the internet. Terrorists livestream their attacks, "Twitter wars" produce realâe'world casualties, and viral misinformation alters not just the result of battles, but the very fate of nations. War, tech, and politics have blurred into a new kind of battle space that plays out on our smartphones. P. W. Singer and Emerson Brooking tackle the mindâe'bending questions that arise when war goes online and the online world goes to war.  Delving into the web's darkest corners,LikeWar outlines a radical new paradigm for understanding and defending against the unprecedented threats of our networked world.
Call Number: HM 742 .S5745 2018
ISBN: 9781328695741
Publication Date: 2018-10-02
Harlem's Rattlers and the Great War by Jeffrey T. Sammons; John H. Jr. Morrow When on May 15, 1918 a French lieutenant warned Henry Johnson of the 369th to move back because of a possible enemy raid, Johnson reportedly replied: "I'm an American, and I never retreat." The story, even if apocryphal, captures the mythic status of the Harlem Rattlers, the African-American combat unit that grew out of the 15th New York National Guard, who were said to have never lost a man to capture or a foot of ground that had been taken. It also, in its insistence on American identity, points to a truth at the heart of this book--more than fighting to make the world safe for democracy, the black men of the 369th fought to convince America to live up to its democratic promise. It is this aspect of the storied regiment's history--its place within the larger movement of African Americans for full citizenship in the face of virulent racism--that Harlem's Rattlers and the Great War brings to the fore. With sweeping vision, historical precision, and unparalleled research, this book will stand as the definitive study of the 369th. Though discussed in numerous histories and featured in popular culture (most famously the film Stormy Weather and the novel Jazz), the 369th has become more a matter of mythology than grounded, factually accurate history--a situation that authors Jeffrey T. Sammons and John H. Morrow, Jr. set out to right. Their book--which eschews the regiment's famous nickname, the "Harlem Hellfighters," a name never embraced by the unit itself--tells the full story of the self-proclaimed Harlem Rattlers. Combining the "fighting focus" of military history with the insights of social commentary, Harlem's Rattlers and the Great War reveals the centrality of military service and war to the quest for equality as it details the origins, evolution, combat exploits, and postwar struggles of the 369th. The authors take up the internal dynamics of the regiment as well as external pressures, paying particular attention to the environment created by the presence of both black and white officers in the unit. They also explore the role of women--in particular, the Women's Auxiliary of the 369th--as partners in the struggle for full citizenship. From its beginnings in the 15th New York National Guard through its training in the explosive atmosphere in the South, its singular performance in the French army during World War I, and the pathos of postwar adjustment--this book reveals as never before the details of the Harlem Rattlers' experience, the poignant history of some of its heroes, its place in the story of both World War I and the African American campaign for equality--and its full importance in our understanding of American history.
Call Number: D 570.33 369th .S25 2014
ISBN: 9780700619573
Publication Date: 2014-04-08
Call Sign Chaos by Jim Mattis; Bing West Call Sign Chaos is the account of Jim Mattis's storied career, from wide-ranging leadership roles in three wars to ultimately commanding a quarter of a million troops across the Middle East. Along the way, Mattis recounts his foundational experiences as a leader, extracting the lessons he has learned about the nature of warfighting and peacemaking, the importance of allies, and the strategic dilemmas-and short-sighted thinking-now facing our nation. He makes it clear why America must return to a strategic footing so as not to continue winning battles but fighting inconclusive wars. Mattis divides his book into three parts- Direct Leadership, Executive Leadership, and Strategic Leadership. In the first part, Mattis recalls his early experiences leading Marines into battle, when he knew his troops as well as his own brothers. In the second part, he explores what it means to command thousands of troops and how to adapt your leadership style to ensure your intent is understood by your most junior troops so that they can own their mission. In the third part, Mattis describes the challenges and techniques of leadership at the strategic level, where military leaders reconcile war's grim realities with political leaders' human aspirations, where complexity reigns and the consequences of imprudence are severe, even catastrophic. Call Sign Chaosis a memoir of a life of warfighting and lifelong learning, following along as Mattis rises from Marine recruit to four-star general. It is a journey about learning to lead and a story about how he, through constant study and action, developed a unique leadership philosophy, one relevant to us all.
Call Number: E 748 .M414 A3 2019
ISBN: 9780812996838
Publication Date: 2019-09-03
Tribe by Sebastian Junger We have a strong instinct to belong to small groups defined by clear purpose and understanding--"tribes." This tribal connection has been largely lost in modern society, but regaining it may be the key to our psychological survival. Decades before the American Revolution, Benjamin Franklin lamented that English settlers were constantly fleeing over to the Indians-but Indians almost never did the same. Tribal society has been exerting an almost gravitational pull on Westerners for hundreds of years, and the reason lies deep in our evolutionary past as a communal species. The most recent example of that attraction is combat veterans who come home to find themselves missing the incredibly intimate bonds of platoon life. The loss of closeness that comes at the end of deployment may explain the high rates of post-traumatic stress disorder suffered by military veterans today. Combining history, psychology, and anthropology, TRIBE explores what we can learn from tribal societies about loyalty, belonging, and the eternal human quest for meaning. It explains the irony that-for many veterans as well as civilians-war feels better than peace, adversity can turn out to be a blessing, and disasters are sometimes remembered more fondly than weddings or tropical vacations. TRIBE explains why we are stronger when we come together, and how that can be achieved even in today's divided world.
Call Number: HM 716 .J86 2016
ISBN: 9781455566389
Publication Date: 2016-05-24
Mind and Matter by John Urschel; Louisa Thomas John Urschel, mathematician and former offensive lineman for the Baltimore Ravens, tells the story of a life balanced between two passions For John Urschel, what began as an insatiable appetite for puzzles as a child developed into mastery of the elegant systems and rules of mathematics. By the time he was thirteen, Urschel was auditing a college-level calculus course. But when he joined his high school football team, a new interest began to eclipse the thrill he felt in the classroom. Football challenged Urschel in an entirely different way, and he became addicted to the physical contact of the sport. After he accepted a scholarship to play at Penn State, his love of math was rekindled. As a Nittany Lion, he refused to sacrifice one passion for the other. Against the odds, Urschel found a way to manage his double life as a scholar and an athlete. While he was an offensive lineman for the Baltimore Ravens, he simultaneously pursued his PhD in mathematics at MIT. Weaving together two separate narratives, Urschel relives for us the most pivotal moments of his bifurcated life. He explains why, after Penn State was sanctioned for the acts of former coach Jerry Sandusky, he declined offers from prestigious universities and refused to abandon his team. He describes his parents' different influences and their profound effect on him, and he opens up about the correlation between football and CTE and the risks he took for the game he loves. Equally at home discussing Georg Cantor's work on infinities and Bill Belichick's playbook, Urschel reveals how each challenge--whether on the field or in the classroom--has brought him closer to understanding the two different halves of his own life, and how reason and emotion, the mind and the body, are always working together. "So often, people want to divide the world into two," he observes. "Matter and energy. Wave and particle. Athlete and mathematician. Why can't something (or someone) be both?"
Call Number: GV 939 .U78 A3 2019
ISBN: 9780735224865
Publication Date: 2019-05-14
What to Think about Machines That Think by John Brockman Weighing in from the cutting-edge frontiers of science, today's most forward-thinking minds explore the rise of "machines that think." Stephen Hawking recently made headlines by noting, "The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race." Others, conversely, have trumpeted a new age of "superintelligence" in which smart devices will exponentially extend human capacities. No longer just a matter of science-fiction fantasy (2001, Blade Runner, The Terminator, Her, etc.), it is time to seriously consider the reality of intelligent technology, many forms of which are already being integrated into our daily lives. In that spirit, John Brockman, publisher of Edge. org ("the world's smartest website" - The Guardian), asked the world's most influential scientists, philosophers, and artists one of today's most consequential questions: What do you think about machines that think?
Call Number: Q 335 .W446 2015
ISBN: 9780062425652
Publication Date: 2015-10-06

Dean's Watching List

Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly As the United States raced against Russia to put a man in space, NASA found untapped talent in a group of African-American female mathematicians that served as the brains behind one of the greatest operations in U.S. history. Dorothy Vaughan, Mary Jackson, and Katherine Johnson crossed all gender, race, and professional lines while their brilliance and desire to dream big, beyond anything ever accomplished before by the human race, firmly cemented them in U.S. history as true American heroes.
Call Number: QA 27.5 .L442 2017 DVD
ISBN: 9780008201326
Publication Date: 2017
The Martian by Andy Weir Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he's sure he'll be the first person to die there. After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he's alive--and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive. Chances are, though, he won't have time to starve to death. The damaged machinery, unforgiving environment, or plain-old "human error" are much more likely to kill him first. But Mark isn't ready to give up yet. Drawing on his ingenuity, his engineering skills--and a relentless, dogged refusal to quit--he steadfastly confronts one seemingly insurmountable obstacle after the next. Will his resourcefulness be enough to overcome the impossible odds against him?
Call Number: DVD MART
ISBN: 0804139024
Publication Date: 2014-02-11
All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque In this realistic depiction of the lives of ordinary German soldiers Paul Baumer and his school chums are encouraged to enlist by their bombastic, slogan-chanting teacher, but they quickly learn that actual war is more gore than glory, as they crawl through mud, huddle in trenches, suffer the ordeal of frenzied hand-to-hand combat and dodge screaming shells during World War I.
Call Number: DVD ALLQ
ISBN: 9780812985535
Publication Date: 2002
Band of Brothers by Stephen E. Ambrose Tells the story of Easy Company, 506th Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, U.S. Army, an elite rifle company that parachuted into France early on D-Day morning, fought in the Battle of the Bulge, captured Hitler's Eagle's Nest at Berchtesgaden, and suffered heavy casualties. Also includes a documentary about the soldiers in Easy Company.
Call Number: PN 1992.8 .W34 B36 2010 DVD
ISBN: 078312063X
Publication Date: 2010
In the Shadow of the Moon by David Sington In the Shadow of the Moon tells the story of the most exciting and challenging years in spaceflight, with two superpowers engaged in a titanic struggle to land one of their own people on the moon. While describing awe-inspiring technical achievements, the authors go beyond the missions and the competition of the space race to focus on the people who made it all possible. Their book explores the inspirations, ambitions, personalities, and experiences of the select few whose driving ambition was to fly to the moon. Drawing on interviews with astronauts, cosmonauts, their families, technicians, and scientists, as well as rarely seen Soviet and American government documents, the authors craft a remarkable story of the golden age of spaceflight as both an intimate human experience and a rollicking global adventure. From the Gemini flights to the Soyuz space program to the earliest Apollo missions, including the legendary first moon landing, their book draws a richly detailed picture of the space race as an endeavor equally endowed with personal meaning and political significance.
Call Number: XX(992737.1)
ISBN: 9780803211285
Publication Date: 2007
October Sky by Joe Johnston The true story of Homer Hickam Jr., a high school student in rural West Virginia, who seemed destined to repeat his father's harsh life in the coal mines, until he turned his attention to the skies.
Call Number: PN 1995.9 .B55 O38 2005 DVD
ISBN: 1417013958
Publication Date: 2005
Twelve O'Clock High by Henry King "This gritty World War II action drama ... is seen as one of the most realistic portrayals of the heroics and perils of war. Convinced an Air Force commander is an the breaking point, Brigadier General Savage (Peck) takes over the stuggling bomber group. But the stress of command soon takes its toll and the weary general reaches his own breaking point. Authentic aerial battle footage..."
Call Number: PN 1997 .T8458 2001 DVD
Publication Date: 2001
Inside Combat Rescue by National Geographic The elite Combat Rescue members of the U.S. Air Force, Pararescuemen, or PJs, have one mission: rescue American or Allied forces in extreme danger. Whether their targets are shot down or isolated behind enemy lines, engaged, wounded, or captured by the enemy, PJs will do whatever necessary to bring those in peril home. For the first time ever, camera crews go on a deployment to Afghanistan with this team, as they fly day and night, in any weather, to save those in danger on the battlefield.
Call Number: DVD 958.104 INS 2013
ISBN: 9781426345029
Publication Date: 2013
The Invisible War by Regina Kulik Scully A groundbreaking investigative documentary about the epidemic of rape within the U.S. military. Follows the stories of several idealistic young servicewomen who were raped and then betrayed by their own officers when they courageously came forward to report.
Call Number: UB 418 .W65 I58 2012 DVD
ISBN: 1422922006
Publication Date: 2012
Un long dimanche de fiançailles : A very long engagement by Jean-Pierre Jeunet In 1920, country girl Mathilde is living in Brittany with her aunt and uncle when she learns that her fiancé Manech was one of five French soldiers condemned to a barbarous death by their own side. Court-martialed for intentionally wounding themselves, their punishment is to be thrown into no man's land, unarmed and with their hands tied behind their backs. But Manech may have survived. Hiring a dogged old bird of a private detective and a lawyer to aid her, Mathilde is off on an adventure. She pursues her sleuthing through a flurry of letters, documents, and private interviews--hunting down the soldiers who were in the trenches with Manech--along with their lovers and relatives. She also discovers that she has a sort of doppelgänger: a Corsican prostitute pursuing a parallel investigation for another of the five, and murdering anyone who did her own beloved mate wrong. Mathilde will have to hurry to follow the clues piecing the story together before they are lost forever.
Call Number: PQ 2678 .O72 J36132 2005 DVD
ISBN: 0790795590
Publication Date: 2005