Military engineering Books

Shortlisted for the 2024 Financial Times Business Book of the YearA riveting inside look at an elite unit within the Pentagon—the Defense Innovation Unit, also known as Unit X—whose mission is to bring Silicon Valley’s cutting-edge technology to...

The first book to present the amazing swords and armour belonging to the most famous Samurai in Japanese history!In Japanese Swords and Armor, Samurai sword expert Paul Martin presents scores of magnificent blades, fittings and armor from the 12th to the...

The world of the 2020s is one where instability, war and societal breakup seem close. But, surely, we have learnt the lessons of the past? Surely, peace will continue?Are you sure? Do you even know what causes wars? Mike Martin argues that we don't...

This official U.S. manual is the complete guide to using and dismantling boobytraps.Little is more dangerous to U.S. forces fighting insurgents in hot spots around the world than improvised explosive devices. It's the weapon of choice for under-funded...

The ultimate guide to the Japanese martial arts by the world's foremost expert! Author Alexander Bennett is the ultimate insider, having lived in Japan for decades. He holds multiple black belts in Kendo and Naginata, as well as PhDs in Japanese...

A captivating and wonderfully illustrated chronicle of one of the most influential and legendary names in gunsmithing history.John M. Browning was born in Ogden, Utah, in 1855, into a world of gunsmithing. His father was a gunsmith who was already well...

Japanese swords, particularly those wielded by famous Samurai warriors, hold a continuing fascination for collectors of fine arts and historical military weapons. This book is designed to enhance one's appreciation for the wide variety of Japanese swords...

The Japanese sword is much more than just a weapon-it is a social and religious icon traditionally worn by the samurai warrior as an instrument of justice and courage, the sword was an embodiment of the soul of the person who...

Master the Japanese art of shuriken throwing with this illustrated martial arts guide.Japanese Throwing Weapons: Mastering Shuriken Throwing Techniques is a detailed instruction manual for learning authentic shuriken throwing techniques as practiced in...

At Scapa Flow on 21 June 1919, there occurred an event unique in naval history. The German High Seas Fleet, one of the most formidable ever built was deliberately sent to the bottom of the sea at the British Grand Fleet's principal anchorage at Orkney by...

Bousquet's book considers the impact of key technologies and scientific ideas on the practice of warfare and the handling of the perennial tension between order and chaos on the battlefield. It spans the entire modern era, from the Scientific...

As the People's Republic's seemingly inexorable rise to economic and military power con-tinues, never has the need for a better grasp of Chinese strategic thought by the West been more acute. In Deciphering Sun Tzu, Derek Yuen seeks to...

A set of highly renowned experts offer diverse new research and a analysis of today's proxy wars, focusing on the Middle East and its neighbours.Proxy warfare will shape the conflicts of the twenty-first century for the foreseeable future. Yet the...

**Selected as one of the 'Biggest Non-Fiction Books of 2019' by The Times**As one of theearliestArabs to join the Afghan Jihad, theAlgerian IslamistAbdullah Anas counted as brothers-in-arms the future icons of al-Qaeda's global war, from Abdullah Azzam...

How does the Taliban wage war? How has its war changed over time? Firstly, the movement's extraordinary military operation relies on financial backing. This volume analyses such funding. The Taliban's external sources of support include foreign...

Between South and Central Asia, in the high mountains and cold deserts, India, Pakistan and China have fought brutal wars over barren, uninhabited territory in a bid for control over their national peripheries, including Xinjiang and Tibet in China, and...

Discover the Lost Secrets of the Ancients and the Time When Stones Floated High over EgyptThroughout history, folklore, and mystery, tales have circulated of massive stones being moved through the air effortlessly by sound. Bizarre? Well, yes, it is...

An SAS soldier explains the battle history of this prestigious military service, while teaching how you can defend yourself in both hand-to-hand and military combat. Seventy years after its inception, the Special Air Service (SAS) is recognized by many...

The newest edition of the Special Operations Forces Medical Handbook is perfect and practical for both soldiers and civilians. Nearly 140 comprehensive illustrations show the proper techniques for medical care, from basic first-aid and orthopedics to...

A man's home is his castle, or so the saying goes, but could it withstand an attack by Attila and the Huns, Ragnar and the Vikings, Alexander and the Greeks, Genghis Khan and the Mongols, or Tamerlane and the Tartars? Backyard Ballistics author William...

The C-5 Galaxy is truly an effective military aircraft. It remains an essential, successful component of the U.S. military airlife capability. This book reveals the events that led to the C-5 requirement; and the controversies of its early operational...

As innovations in military technologies race toward ever-greater levels of automation and autonomy, debates over the ethics of violent technologies tread water. Death Machines reframes these debates, arguing that the way we conceive of the ethics of...

Written by a technical expert who has fired many of the guns featured, this book includes wide and varied assemblageof weapons from each of the world'smajor manufacturing countries.The Illustrated Directoryseries provide readers with a fully illustrated,...

All other factors being equal, it is your ability to read the wind that will make the most difference in your shooting accuracy. The better you understand the behavior of the wind, the better you will understand the behavior of your bullet. Now, champion...

In Great Hunting Rifles, firearms expert Terry Wieland leads the reader on a journey through the history of some of the most exquisite rifles made in the twentieth century.The rifles featured in the book, all personally owned by the author and described...

Here is a jam-packed visual encyclopedia of the armored vehicles used by the Nazi forces in World War II. With over six hundred photos, many of which never before seen by the public, David Doyle book offers military historians a unique look at the German...

Here in this critical guide is all the important foraging techniques that you'll need to know in order to survive in just about any situation. From selecting edible berries to trapping small game, The Complete U.S. Army Survival Guide to Foraging Skills,...

Tracing war's expansion beyond the battlefield to the concept of the human being itself As military and other forms of political violence become the planetary norm, On Posthuman War traces the expansion of war beyond traditional theaters of battle...

To the Japanese, the sword is a spiritual weapon. It possesses a particular divinity, reflecting the soul of its maker, owner, and user. Around its mystical powers has grown the centuries-old ritual and practice of Samurai swordsmanship which is still...

Samurai: An Illustrated History brings the violent, tumultuous, and, at the same time, elegant world of the medieval Japanese samurai to life. This book of Japanese history traces the story of a unique historical phenomenon: a period of 700...

The U.S. Army Intelligence and Interrogation Handbook provides doctrinal guidance, techniques, and procedures governing the use of interrogators as human intelligence collection agents in support of a commander's intelligence needs. It outlines the...

Do you have the locksmith's phone number on speed dial? Find yourself spending a fortune on new locks after someone lost their keys again? Forgot your keys in the car one too many times? Free yourself once and for all from ever having a keyless crisis...

The Japanese sword, a unique work of art in steel, can be appreciated from a number of viewpoints. Its functionality as a weapon, the sophisticated metallurgy and scientific thinking utilized by the swordsmith, the shape of the blade itself, and the...