Book review: Red November: Inside the Secret U.S.-Soviet Submarine War
by W. Craig Reed
This book is a military tech thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat throughout—with real life anecdotes. Composed of material recently released from if-I-tell-you-I’ll-have-to-kill-you status, these stories are as sobering as they are entertaining. Reed superbly knits interviews into coherent narratives that bring out the full humanity of all of the players. Although the mid-20th Century technology described may appear primitive and crude by today’s standards, it was ahead of its time and is a testimony to the lengths adversarial nation states will go in developing their abilities to destroy one another.
The inside accounts of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis bring out through the experiences of those on the front lines how terrifyingly close the world came to nuclear annihilation—we are still just a bad decision away from it actually happening in our own time. In some respects, the addition today of advanced automation, drones, robots, cyber measures, and AI only add further factors complicating the environment for everyone, including decision makers, executing practitioners, and non-participants alike. There is much in these not-so-old stories that remain true now—as long as humans are still human.
There is more to take away from these exciting and suspense filled accounts than just the thrill of reading what is an enthralling novel written by real life events and people. Our current time needs people in all parts of society who are committed to technical excellence and also equally committed to empathy with every human being from any walk of life they come into contact with—let’s be that society.