Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War | Robert Coram

Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War | Robert Coram | John Boyd: A Biography Of The Brilliant, But Complex War Strategist.

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Boyd: The Fighter ...

	Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War Robert Coram Back Bay Books, 2004 - 504 pages average customer review:based on 92 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

An Important Biography

For whatever reasons (some touched on in this biography), the work of John Boyd has gone virtually un-attributed. His ideas indeed transformed warfighting by the United States Marines but also altered the way others looked at business and a plethora of other disciplines. His energy and manueverability theories changed the way fighter aircraft were judged and transformed fighter design from an art to a science. His work on the theory of creative thinking and epistemology gave us new insight in metacognition. And, of course, his work on the observe-orient-decide-act (OODA) model enlightens how we view virtually ever human activity.

Acknowledging the source and impact of his thought on the world is well overdue. But John Boyd did not seek recognition for himself so much as for his ideas. And in that respect, he has been recognized for sometime as he had wished. This is a wonderful study of an imperfect human being who shifted the thinking paradigm of a generation while going unnoticed for his unmatched ability to think outside the box and challenge conventional wisdom across such diverse disciplines of study.

Mr. Coram has done a wonderful job of catpuring the essence of John Boyd's life by focusing on his ideas and their impact. At the same time, none of the personality quirks or shortcomings are glossed over to make him any less human. John Boyd remains a man with flaws yet able to make an incredible impact on the world.

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John Boyd: A Biography Of The Brilliant, But Complex War Strategist.

In "Boyd", author Robert Coram chronicles the rise of John Boyd, from his humble and destitute childhood in Erie Pennsylvania to the halls of the Pentagon and offices of some of the most powerful decision-makers in the country.

Boyd was a brilliant thinker and many of his closest friends were also. The followers of Boyd's theories of warfare were called Acolytes, and for awhile, I thought the author had become one of them too because of the flowery rhetoric in which he described Boyd. But as the story progressed, Boyd's foibles, of which there were many, were boldly brought forward for the reader.

Boyd was rude, profane, stubborn, and loud, with horrid table manners and personal neatness. Further, was his shabby and disgraceful treatment of his long-suffering wife Mary, exemplified by forcing her to raise 5 children (one of whom was handicapped) in a tiny 3 bedroom apartment where they lived for 22 years.

With that said however, Boyd was one of the most brilliant war strategist in the last half of the 20th century. Much of the book deals with his and the Acolytes' efforts to force new doctrine on the entrenched bureaucracy of the Pentagon.

So, the reader asks, how did it all work out? As world events would have it, a war came along. Everyone knows the results of Desert Storm, the stunning 100 hour victory by the Allies in that conflict, but the story behind the strategy, planning and execution alone was worth the reader's time.

A classic 5-star effort and I strongly recommend.

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Great read!

A book that I hesitated for a long time to dig into, but once I started it was difficult to put down.

I wanted to learn more about the man behind the OODA loop. This term is frequently used in self defense classes and "getting inside his/their loop" has become common language in today's military and business alike.

You will not only learn the background of this concept, but you will learn much about an eccentric and brilliant man who made an incredible contribution to our society. It will be another generation before his concepts are fully appreciated and I believe his fame and recognition will only increase with time.

Robert Coram does a fantastic job revealing the man behind the legend, including his many flaws. Unfortunately he comes across, at least to me, as someone who "drank the cool aid" a little too much during his research for this book.

Well worth the purchase price. A great book! Because of the wide range of applications possible for Boyd's theories, many can find something of interest in this book.

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An amazing story

I read this book because I wanted to read about the fighter pilot who could defeat his opponent in 40 seconds or less. While that was interesting, it was just a small piece of what this guy was all about. What I got was a book about a very complex man who was genius, warrior, obnoxious, loudmouth, and patriot all rolled into one. I found the section of the book that chronicalled his time in the pentagon to be the most interesting and most frustrating. How men of principle, ideals, and disregard for the status quo are considered dangerous and are fought at every turn is one of the more distubing aspects of this fine book.
I highly recommend this book, although you might not like the man, you will respect what he did and tried to do. His inflluence through all branches of the military is staggering and should be recognized.

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Don't Drink the Koolaid

As a Marine who met John Boyd in the early 1980's, I can attest to the fact that he was clearly brilliant, irrefutably abrasive, and undeniably anti-authoritarian. To his credit, Robert Coram has captured those aspects of his personality well, and his biography reads like an exciting novel.

Of note, the depiction of Colonel Mike Wyly's interactions with Major General Mike "Lancer" Sullivan does not meet the sniff test as I recall it. In my opinion, Colonel Wyly was not fired because General Sullivan did not accept his so-called innovative ideas, but because he was surreptiously and disloyally circumventing the chain of command. This opinion is shared by most of my Marine Corps colleagues of the era.

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