Archive of previous editions

by John Elledge I suspect that I may not be alone amongst the readership of the RSI Journal in having a fascination with both maps and geo-political history. I got the bug for maps from spending the formative years of my military career studying them intensely to understand the geographical and man-made features across the terrain in which I was about to deploy on exercise or operations. This in turn fed my quest to understand the nature of my surrounds in terms of society,

by Anthony King Anthony King's AI, Automation, and War: The Rise of a Military-Tech Complex showcases how war is changing and being adapted with the advancement of new technologies in the case of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Having served in the Military, King draws on his knowledge and experience of this area and provides a detailed overview of autonomous weapons and robotic combat. Initially, King starts the book referencing the movie Terminator, which was an iconic movie

by Duncan Weldon Duncan Weldon’s Blood & Treasure offers a compelling and thought-provoking exploration of the intricate relationship between economics and warfare throughout history. Structured in a clear chronological format, the book examines how nations (and their ‘violence specialists’) have harnessed economic power to wage war, and conversely, how the demands of conflict have driven innovation, adaptation, and, in more recent times, economic collapse. Weldon’s work offe

by Omar Santos, Savannah Lazzara and Wesley Thurner Redefining Hacking is a thorough break-down of red-teaming, the tools, techniques and procedures hackers use in the virtual and physical world. Think of it as a shopping list of exploits which a Cyber security consultant should be aware of, with the contents distilled down so anyone could understand it. If you are interested in learning about hacking then don’t be put off by the thought of this being too technical for you, t

by Richard Whitt This book is a manifesto for the reform of the World Wide Web. Its goal is the restoration of individual users’ confidence that they can trust and only benefit from their interactions with corporations and governments over the Web. The book exposes how we have become increasingly entangled in the aptly named Web: huge data-gathering companies have adopted business models premised on online surveillance, the extraction of personal data and biased algorithms. I

by Williamson Murray The Dark Path examines the last five hundred years of conflict and war, primarily in Europe and The West, though also offering insight elsewhere when required. Williamson Murray proposes that fundamentally, the nature of war is unchanging, however it is the intense competition for power and instability unique to Europe over the last few centuries which have constantly and unequivocally changed the character of war through the adaptation of new technology

by Dmitri Alperovitch and Garrett Graff Backed by decades of experience in politics and state-on-state cyber warfare research, Alperovitch and Graff’s World on the Brink offers a strategic lens on the intensifying competition between the United States and China, making it a valuable read for 21st century politicos. Opening with a hypothetical but sobering scenario where China has successfully invaded Taiwan, the book examines the birth and complex nature of this East-West riv

by Gijs van Wulfen Breaking Innovation Barriers by Gijs van Wulfen offers a refreshingly practical and highly readable guide to inspiring and sustaining innovation even in the most change-resistant organisations. Van Wulfen doesn’t glamorise innovation. Instead, he exposes the real, and often frustrating, obstacles that prevent good ideas from reaching execution, and then equips the reader with a structured methodology to overcome them. At the heart of the book is the FORTH

by Alexei Navalny Do you truly believe in your own principles? Do you really know how far you would go to fight for what you believe in? Are you someone who would challenge corruption, tyranny and autocracy? Would you stand against a dictator who had the ways and means to have you assassinated, imprisoned, or just disappear? If like me, you have no idea, ‘Patriot’ might be the book for you. Learning about Alexei Navalny and his patriotism to his country was utterly humbling