Alone ! Great Books About People and Leaders Truly Alone

If there is any one word to describe, in my humble opinion, is being alone. Alone in so many dimensions and ways that are hard to describe. These are just of the 20+ books read at home alone in 2020. Aside from the isolation, it was great time to learn about other times, people, great leaders, challenges, crisis's, challenges and so much more but certainly worth considering and even reading. Click on image for ibooks (but you may be available to find on other formats and sources).

This book while highlighting much about Churchill is really about how alone England was in fighting evil. With one of the most detailed discussions about Dunkirk, you really how really alone at home the people were.

Lincoln has been referred to more in 2020 than any other year I can think of. Yet, few know anything about him, this is a great book to learn about how alone he really was.

One of the great people in Lincoln's life without which the Civil War would have taken much longer, much longer is US Grant. I also read a great book on R.E. Lee but alas bowing to the times, it is not included. Grant was the opposite of Lee leading much more "alone" in his thoughts and strategies but winning by his conviction and determination, as expressed in the famous "flank to the left" battle plan. Now always but often leading from the front, as in Vicksburg, he was "all-in" in the battle.

Next, going way in history is the books on military leaders Alexander, Caesar and Hannibal. Unbelievable strategies without any military technology we have today yet showing their personal skills alone in winning, losing and more.

Winston Churchill was also alone because few believed in him, his causes, strategies, thinking and even how stood steadfast against the most evil ever known.

Still focused on England comes the story about the man who saved England (yes read the book) during was has been called the Battle of Britain. If you want to know how alone Dowding was in building the framework, infrastructure, radar network (which didn't exist before), organization and more that in the end, in my opinion, had he failed England would have been invaded and WWII would have taken a decade or more.

Saving England and the world also comes from a book about Alan Turing. First, I agree with his mother that it was an accident and he did not commit suicide as in the official police report. Second, if you had fathers, grandfathers or anyone else who fought overseas in combat, there is serious doubt they would have survived without what Turing did. Third, I agree with Alan on AI or artificial intelligence. He coined the term, the concept and what AI is and what we have seen today, it is the most overused and abused term of which there is NO AI today that Turing would consider AI, in my opinion. This is one of the many great books on Turing, once you read one you want to read the rest and you will surely find great fascination, mental challenge and Turing's great genius.

And, if you still don't believe how seriously important Turing was consider who's face is on the 50-pound note:

If you get fascinated by WWII, spies, counter-spies, crosses and double-crosses, sabotage, espionage and even Ian Fleming (James Bond), this is really good. Spies are really alone as they cannot trust anyone as if they do don't know who the other person is real or about to literally kill them.

This book is about D-Day and if no one can be more alone than on a beach with enemy machine guns, cannon and more hailing hellfire against you. Filled with survivors, leaders, hero's and the real GI-Joe's this brings you closer than ever to the battle on both sides.

Business is also about being alone even with a Board of Directors and hundreds of thousands of employees. This is a story about a boy who has a great family but who's father was always gone so he was alone most of the time. A great story about growing up and growing the world's largest computer business and bringing the first enterprise programmable digital computer to market. Written in great style and depth, this is really an enjoyable book for anyone in the IT, cloud, computing, internet and technology business.

Speaking of family businesses (which during the time of Jr. and Sr. Watson was during their tenure), it is doubtful that anyone across the world has NOT seen a movie produced by Warner Brothers. This is a great book supposedly written by Jack Warner. Written in first-person, I am sure he had some help bring all the interesting parts of his life together. Great fun and must-read for anyone interested not just in movies, but the movie business

If you want to know another view of the movie industry from the British film industry perspective, this is really good. And, anything by Michael Korda is also really good. This is a book about the British movie mogul Alexander Korda. Not known as much as the American side but the business of movie making has many of the same players and some you would have never thought of like H.G Wells.

There are many other books I have read or about on Lawrence of Arabia, Kennedy, Eisenhower, Mark Felt (deep throat), Darkest Hour about Churchill, many other books on Turing and AI, Claude Shannon (father of information theory) and others. Reading has taken on much more meaning as there are more and more a look at the world of people, events and challenges no one except the people themselves could experience.

Bottom-line - We all live alone and all too often as one great friend who died this year at 52 from a stroke was in his home alone along so many other coronavirus victims who died in hospitals estranged from their loved ones and family - die alone. Thank you for spending time today and enjoy these and all the great books in the world. If you have any thoughts or feedback, please email me at [email protected]