I am in the habit of taking excerpts, indeed entire passages, from books I read. I do this primarily for role-playing ideas. Thus my notes are heavy with history, mythology, philosophy, and the supernatural. I convey some of these passages here for your enjoyment. All works cited in this section can be found on the bibliography page.

Do not forget to read my Book Recommendations.

On War A Vast Encampment Ancient Fortifications Ancient Infantry Formation Ancient Masters of the Siege Anticipating Surprise Art of Japanese Archery Art of Japanese Spear Fighting As Much Business As Art Assyrian War Machine (I) Assyrian War Machine (II) Assyrian War Machine (III) Backstabbing Assassins Battle Casualties Battle of Leuctra Before the Fencing Master Birth of Cavalry Bronze and Iron Byzantine Cavalry Basics Byzantine Horse Archer Capacities of Commanders Cavalry Has Ten Advantages Cavalry in China Chariot Tactics Combat of the Thirty Costly Sieges Coup D'oeil Covering a Withdrawal Decadence in Generals Deception in War Disease, the Wild Card of History Dueling for Honor Dueling with Swords vs. Pistols Early Firearm Tactics Early Iron Age Armies Elephants in War European Military Ranks From Ghazi to Sipahi From Hunting to Warring Gentlemen and Honor Greek Missile Tactics Hallmark of a Gentleman Honour and Trophies Hoplite Arms and Armor (I) Hoplite Arms and Armor (II) Horse Peoples' Horizon How Great Generals Win Hunting as War Training Imagining the Centaur Inside the Greek Phalanx Iron Age Logistics Javelins versus Chariots King's Armiger Lack of Shock Infantry Late Roman Cavalryman Looking At The Enemy Medieval Strategy Medieval Tactics Militant Clergy Military Systems Mission Tactics Money and Manpower Napoleonic Army Corps No Last-Minute Maneuvers No Match for a Well-Trained Aristocrat Not a General's Affair Not Just a Glorious Poem On Dragoons On Sieges Origins of European Army Ranks Outpouring from the Steppe Parthian Cavalry Persian Military System Pioneers with Iron Prepared to Die But Not to Kill Prerequisite For A Military Career Redefinition of Courage Regimental Proprietary System Rituals Of War Skills of Generals Soldiers of Greece and Rome Steppe Ponies, Not Horses Stone Age of Command Strategy Was All-Important Subject of Heroic Poetry Such A Reputation The Cost Of War The Decline of Cavalry The Despised Foot Soldier The Fickle Deity, Pan The God of Peer Opinion The Plastic of Its Age The Purpose of War The Rapier The Riddle of Steel The True Battlefield Enemy Theme of a Warrior Culture To Sleep Forever Among His Own Twilight of the Phalanx Types of Generals Warrior or Hired Killer? Web of Interdependence You And Your Enemy Zenith of the Castle

On Magic An Arsenal of Magic Implements Ancient Asiatic Spiritual Traditions Astrolabe: Gift Of The Arabs At The Inbetween Places Babylonian Divination Beginning of Science Birth of the Alphabet Demons and Spirits Earth and the Heavens Exorcism in Babylonia & Assyria Fire: the First Enshrined Divinity Forgetful Gods Gods from the Bicameral Mind Greek View of the Cosmos Journeys into the Mind Legal and Illegal Sorcery Magic and Nature Magic of Metallurgy Magicians as Intellectuals More on Demons More Tolerant of Failure Mystics and Magicians Not Superior To Man On Man's Side On Sacrifice Oracles Work Performing Miracles Polytheistic Spirituality Practices of Divination Sacred Power Spots Seeing the Gods Shamanic Paraphernalia Shamans and Their Inner Journies Stage of Undecided Combat Stay Awake to Death The Shaman, the Magician, and the Priest The Spiritual Hunt and Spiritual Warfare Unscientific Research Written On My Heart     On Rulership Administration of a Military Order Amir Grades of Rank Assyrian Bureaucracy Birth of the Caliphate Birth of the Persian Empire Breeding Ground of Honor – New! Condottieri Usurpation of the Princely States Damascus Decline of Iraq End of the Medieval System Flirting with Deification Fountainhead of Government God of the State House of Succession Ideology Of Monarchy Insuperable Problems Justice With Common Sense Mandate of Heaven Monasteries and their Patrons Money in Ptolemaic Egypt More Varied Crops Of Its Kind, The Last Of Princedoms Parthian Feudalism Pashas and Begs Princes and their Realms Rise and Fall of the Temple Rise of the Chiefs Roman Worldview Rule by Might Scattering Of The Pearls Seljuk Fiefs Silver and Gold Coinage Slavery in the East Slavery in the Ottoman Empire The Ancient Elite The Old Order The Persian Court The Wealth of the Persian Kings Three Checks to Autocracy Three-Fold Root of Monarchy To Undermine His Own Legitimacy Traditional Princely Activity Warfare In Early States     On Life A Limit Set A Warrior's Creed Domain of the Philosopher For Whom The Bell Tolls In Flanders Fields Invictus Reality Mapping The Way of Life

"The way of the superior man is like that of the archer. When he misses the center of the target he turns and seeks the cause of his failure in himself." – Confucius.