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Well, at 304 pages, it hardly seemed to be Management in Ten Words. Of course, those ten words refer to the chapter headings of the book. They are Truth, Loyalty, Courage, Values, Act, Balance, Simple, Lean, Compete and Trust. Developed into a book from a series of talks by the past CEO of Tesco, Terry Leahy, each chapter is illustrated by examples, not just from the author’s time at Tesco, but by other examples, to give greater relevance to a wider readership.

There are plenty of other books about management. What makes this one stand out is the thought that appears to have gone into articulating a vision of leadership/management. This thought has been developed from his experiences at Tesco, and other organisations, from when he first joined the company in 1979, being promoted to the board in 1992, to becoming its CEO in 1997. During this time, he has propelled Tesco from a small, struggling, grocery chain to the third largest retailer in the world. He was behind many innovations, such as the Value range, Clubcard, and taking Tesco away from just grocery retail into many other sectors, such as financial services.

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Teachings and Tales of Samurai Warfare

If you are fascinated by Japan in the Middle Ages, which in Japan’s case ended as recently as 1868; the year of the Meiji Restoration, this is a book for you. Even if you merely admire Japanese art and culture, you might enjoy it. The two editor-authors are experts: Anthony Cummins is an historian and archaeologist who has written several books on war, including True Path of the Ninja and Conversations with an Assassin. Yoshie Minami has written or co-authored a number of books on the Ninja tradition. Samurai War Stories is a primary source: an English translation of three classical Japanese works: Tales of the Foot Soldiers (1657-1684); Tales of the Samurai (1654) and The Story of Oan and of Okiko. The book is well-illustrated with contemporary engravings of the Japanese soldiers described in the text.

As the authors tell us, “history is best told by the people who were there.” This is true up to a point. Distance however can lend perspective: if you were ever a participant in a war – even a General – it is unlikely that you understood the full picture at the time. It is only much later that the complete picture emerges (in some cases it never does). Thereafter historians can add their own particular gloss. Samurai War Stories offer us both: a translation from original manuscripts as well as a learned commentary and notes by modern historians. These are very necessary, as the Samurai is a subject that we think that we know a lot about. We know what they looked like; we have seen the visually beautiful films of Akira Kurosawa (The Seven Samurai, Ran, Throne of Blood etc). Yet there is a lot that we do not know; do not understand. Here you can learn from primary sources about the Samurai themselves, their foot soldiers and the role of women in war. Like some sixteenth and seventeenth century European books (The Compleat Angler comes to mind), the text often takes the form of conversations between well-informed people.

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The raid on Bruneval and Johnny Frost are part of the myth and legend of the Airborne Forces and rightly so. The first successful raid of its type in World war Two used novel techniques for the time that we would now regard as the norm and gave the British a significant military, technological and propaganda victory. For those of you who don’t know the story, the short version is as follows: Paras drop close to German radar station, nick various bits of radar, fight way down to beach and extract courtesy of Royal Navy.

Taylor Downing has written a good book on this raid and its subsequent effect on Airborne Forces, the radar battle between the Allies and the Axis, the propaganda victory and the radar war between the two sides. When it comes to describing radar, Downing is very good. He has taken a well-known, albeit technical, story and told it in an accessible and simple way – even a technological muggins such as I could follow it clearly.

The portrayal of the preparation and training for the raid and its subsequent execution is well-researched and articulate. The style is clear and accessible and fully shows the problems that both the British and the Germans had, especially the Paras when they think the Navy aren’t coming to get them!

The descriptions of what happened after the raid, be they technical, tactical or the impact on individuals or groups, are excellent. I was fascinated by the detail that the author went to and this was most impressive.

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