Saturday, 18 February 2017

The 2017 Course Curriculum

I recently posted about my personal and professional development plans for 2017. I wanted to post my 2017 reading list. I don't have any illusions about finishing all of these readings - I absolutely won't. However, and as I mentioned previously, I hope that by changing a few aspects of my lifestyle (e.g., reading more) and organizing my various projects as if they were university courses.

I've divided my year into four academic quarters. I'll be engaged in ENG 199 ("General Literary Studies") and PAC 130 ("Conditioning") for the entire year, and ARAB 101/102/103 ("First Year Arabic") during the latter three quarters. In the first quarter, I'll be working on BA 480 ("Information Systems Security"), HST 406 ("Orcadian Gordon Highlanders of the Great War"), and REL 199 ("Introduction to Roman Catholicism"). In the second quarter, I'll switch to CS 406 ("Projects in Information Technology Management") and PI5502 ("Middle Eastern Security"). In the third quarter, I'll switch to HST 406 ("The Dhofar Rebellion") and PI5001 ("Remedial Advanced Strategy"). I'll round out the year with GIS/GEOG 151 ("Introduction to OSGEOINT") and HST 387/388 ("Remedial Islamic Civilization"). That's five "courses" per "quarter", and a lot of reading for each one. So, what will I be reading?

My list for ENG 199 consists of a bunch of books I've read and enjoyed in the past, a handful of books I've started without ever finishing, and a couple of books I've wanted to read and haven't gotten around to.

  • An Unorthodox Soldier: Peace and War and the Sandline Affair by Tim Spicer
  • Arabian Sands by Wilfred Thesiger
  • Armor by John Steakley
  • Dune by Frank Herbert
  • Moby-Dick; or, The Whale by Herman Melville
  • Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell
  • Orkneyinga Saga: The History of the Earls of Orkney
  • Quantum of Solace: The Complete James Bond Short Stories by Ian Fleming
  • Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
  • The Mysterious Island by Jules Verne
  • The Terminal Experiment by Robert J. Sawyer
  • The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells
  • The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard

    I don't expect to be a powerlifter or marathoner by 2018, but I'd like to ramp things up a bit for PAC 130. Here are the books and pamphlets I'll be consulting along those lines.

  • The Complete Guide to Navy SEAL Fitness by Stew Smith
  • Power to the People by Pavel Tsatsouline
  • Royal Marines Commando Get Fit to Apply Guide
  • Ranger School Prep
  • Naval Special Warfare Injury Prevention Guide
  • Naval Special Warfare Physical Training Guide
  • Special Operations Nutrition Guide
  • HSS PT Standards

    For BA 480, I have a handful of books to prepare me for a variety of professional certifications.

  • ATTP 3-39.32 Physical Security
  • CompTIA Network+ Study Guide: Exam N10-006 by Todd Lammle
  • The Design and Evaluation of Physical Protection Systems by Mary Lynn Garcia

    For my research on the Orcadian Gordon Highlanders' service in the Great War, I have two major sources yet to consult (aside from primary source documents that are too numerous to consult). At this point, Life of a Regiment is on course to be the first book I finish in 2017.

  • Life of a Regiment, Volume 4 by Cyril Falls
  • Daffodils on the Battlefield, and Other Sketches by Robert Annan Leitch

    I need to get smart about Catholic, so that means...

  • Catechism of the Catholic Church

    I have a bunch of Arabic resources, but I won't be reading any of them as if they're a formal book. I also don't have any formal books relating to CS 406. So, that brings us to PI5502. There are a couple of books, but the bulk of these listings are scholarly or semi-scholarly articles that relate to a scholarly article I intend to write during Spring term.

  • Globalized Islam by Olivier Roy
  • Tower of the Sun: Stories From the Middle East and North Africa by Michael J. Totten
  • China’s Reported Ballistic Missile Sale to Saudi Arabia: Background and Potential Implications by Ethan Meick
  • New alliances dynamics in the Gulf and their impact on the small GCC states by Jean-Marc Rickli
  • Arab Threat Perceptions and the Future of the U.S. Military Presence in the Middle East
  • The Future of the Arab Gulf Monarchies in the Age of Uncertainties
  • The Gulf Moment: Arab Relations Since 2011
  • The New Arab Regional Order: Opportunities and Challenges for U.S. Policy
  • The Saudi-Iranian Rivalry and the Future of Middle East Security
  • The Strategic Importance of the Global Oil Market
  • United States-Gulf Cooperation Council Security Coopeeration in a Multipolar World

    For my second installment of HST 406, I have a handful of books (that will probably be supplemented with more) about the Dhofar Rebellion, its background, and its aftermath.

  • Buraimi: The Struggle for Power, Influence and Oil in Arabia by Michael Quentin Morton
  • Oman and the World: The Emergence of an Independent Foreign Policy by Joseph A. Kechichian
  • SAS Secret War: Operation Storm in the Middle East by Tony Jeapes
  • The Secret War: Dhofar 1971/1972 by David C. Arkless
  • We Won a War: The Campaign in Oman 1965-1975 by John Akehurst

    I don't exactly need remedial strategic studies attention, but there were some resources that I wanted to read between 2012 and 2013, and didn't. So, I've made a few selections to that end.

  • History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides
  • MCDP 1-1 Strategy
  • Strategy in the Contemporary World by James J. Wirtz, Colin S. Gray, and John Baylis

    I didn't do anywhere near the volume of undergraduate reading that I should have. Two of the following are books I was supposed to have read in 2002, one was an assigned reading in a course by the same professor that I audited in Spring of 2012, and the book by Bernard Lewis is one that I picked up at a book sale in 2014 that seemed to fit (and isn't too long).

  • Islam: The View from the Edge by Richard Bulliet
  • The Age of the Caliphs by Bertold Spuler
  • The Crisis of Islam by Bernard Lewis
  • The Modern Middle East: A History by James L. Gelvin

    Finally, I intend to follow up on some 2016 investigation into open source geospatial intelligence. As I've mentioned elsewhere, I took a course in Strategic Intelligence at Aberdeen. This final course in Fall quarter will focus on the operational outlook on intelligence, as well as the specific "tactical" aspects of operating some of the open source GIS resources that I hope to use for future endeavours.

  • ATP 2-01.3/MCRP 2-3A Intelligence Preparation of the Battlefield/Battlespace
  • Getting Started With GIS Using QGIS by McCartney Taylor and Nik Freeman
  • Learning QGIS by Anita Graser
  • Mastering QGIS by Kurt Menke
  • MCDP 2 Intelligence
  • MCWP 2-21 Imagery Intelligence
  • MCWP 2-26 Geospatial Information and Intelligence
  • QGIS By Example by Alexander Bruy and Daria Svidzinska

    I have my work cut out for me. This is a total of forty-two books and fifteen pamphlets. Again, the prospect of reading all of this is pretty nonsensical, but I think that if I commit to reading in lieu of things like screwing around on Facebook or binge-watching shows on Prime or Netflix, I can demolish a big chunk of it. Here's to 2017!
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