Someone wise once told me that to truly understand a topic you must read around it. I always try to have an eclectic stack of books around the house to read. My interests include National Security, the Broader Middle East, and good food and drink so here is a list of books that I enjoyed.

1.  From Rags to Riches: a story of Abu Dhabi. Mohammed Al-Fahim

2.  The Generals: Patton, MacArthur, Marshall, and the Winning of World War II. Winston Groom

3. ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror. Michael Weiss and Hassan Hassan

4. The Sun Also Rises. Ernest Hemingway

5.  Failure of a Mission: By the British Ambassador to Berlin 1937-39. Sir Nevile Henderson

6. Among the Mountains, Travels Through Asia.  Wilfred Thesiger

7. The Words of George C. Marshall. The George C. Marshall Foundation

8. My Life with the Taliban. Abdul Salam Zaeef

9. Generalship, it’s Diseases and their Cure. Major General JFC Fuller

10. Oman Reborn, Balancing Tradition and Modernization. Linda Pappas Funsch

11. Task Force Black. Mark Urban

12. An Unsung Soldier, the Life of Gen. Andrew J. Goodpaster. Robert Jordan