Sublime

John Boyd was probably the greatest fighter pilot to ever live. He revolutionized his field more than anyone before or since. A manual he wrote, Aerial Attack Study, incorporated as much math into the science of fighting maneuvers as engineers used in building the planes.

Boyd: The Fighter Pilot Who Changed the Art of War, which has now bumped Robert Greene’s 48 Laws of Power to the #2 spot in my Be Slightly Evil reading list. You should also check out Chet Richards’ Certain to Win, an application of Boyd’s ideas to business.

Burton learned from Boyd that if a man does the right thing, it does not matter how overwhelming the odds against him. There always is a way to victory. “No matter what the situation is, no matter how bleak or how dark things appear, how scary, there is always a way out,” Burton says. “It works every time. And it all goes back to Boyd’s ideas on

Boyd, borrowing from Sun Tzu, said the best commander is the one who wins while avoiding battle. The intent is to shatter cohesion, produce paralysis, and bring about collapse of the adversary by generating confusion, disorder, panic, and chaos. Boyd said war is organic and compared his technique to clipping the nerves, muscles, and tendons of an