In Which I (Sort Of) Review The Sniper Mind
In Which I (Sort Of) Review The Sniper Mind

In Which I (Sort Of) Review The Sniper Mind

I mean…why not, right? It’s only been 7 years, and if I’m going to catch up on some of the stuff I always meant to get around to putting here, I might as well do it properly. :D If I can remember how. :D

Disclaimer

Let’s see…some indeterminate time after I guerrilla-reviewed The Tribe That Discovered Trust (8 years ago), the author graciously sent me an advance copy of his then up-coming new book, The Sniper Mind. (That’s an Amazon link, but not an affiliate one, I get absolutely nothing if you use it and buy the book. :D )

I seem to remember that I read it at the time, and I might even have offered a little advance reader feedback, (it was a long time ago and a lot has happened since (in certain senses)), but I certainly intended to (sort of) review it, not least because I may possibly take some small pleasure from poking gentle fun at the author’s invariable optimism, indefatigable faith in human nature and fundamental honesty. ;)

Then Things Happened…

Anyway, then things happened…The end of days for G+ became writ large on the wall, my interest in the great social experiment flagged, as did my engagement with writing on this site, and it became another one of those things that I meant to eventually get to…(it’s getting to be a hell of a long list as I get older…). (I’d love to add Covid and lock-downs to the things that happened, but realistically it just wouldn’t be a legitimate excuse since we’re already talking a good 2.5 years prior. :D )

Anyway, the blog languished and eventually became inoperable, until just recently, as I’ve already chronicled.

And then a few days ago, (at the time of writing, not of publication), I made a rare visit to my X-Twitter page, and saw a tweet (wait, are they still called “tweets?”) from David Amerland, which made me think “wouldn’t it be funny if I finally got around to reviewing that book?” (Yes, I know he’s written others in the intervening years. :D )

So here we are…

The Sniper Mind

You know, if by some miracle, somebody managed to find some magical way of forcing me into brevity, and then, in that one, brief, improbable moment, asked me to sum up David Amerland’s writing in a single pithy statement, my response would be as follows:

No matter what you expect to get out of reading (any) one of his books, you will always get both something more, and something different.

If by any chance you’ve read my rambling before, you’ll know that my writing methodology can accurately (and possibly generously) be described as slap-dash. I revived the blog, saw a random tweet from David, and thought “wouldn’t it be funny if…”

I figured I’d skim through the book again to refresh my memory, maybe make a few notes along the way, bang out a (sort of) review, and be grinningly dropping the author a message in a few days, end of the week latest.

Let me tell you, this book does not lend itself to skimming. In chapter one, we go from the war in Afghanistan, to Rudyard Kipling, to the mechanics of ballistic calculation, (including the effect of Coriolis force thereon), to Muhammed Ali, to the psychological effects of extreme pressure, the technological / human skill paradox, Theodore Roosevelt and Alexander The Great, Vedic Literature, Confucianism, the study of virality in social media posts, and the plasticity of Reality Itself. And that’s only Chapter 1. And that’s before we even get to how those superficially disparate elements apply to the “business case.”

The Business Case

Ah yes…the business case. The part of each chapter where the threads are drawn together and applied to the challenges and requirements of running a successful business. Or being better in whatever business you’re involved in. Or whatever.

I made fun of the author’s fundamental honesty above, because that’s what I do (see: devil, don’cha know) but this really is something that has always stood out for me in his writing. Not for this author the marketing hyperbole of “buy my book and be a better CEO / manager / whatever.” No claims that his unique insights will improve your bottom line in 100 days, make people love (or trust) you, or convert your failing enterprise into a Fortune 500 company.

Magic Bullets?

No, perhaps appropriately given the theme of this book, this is a man who has always known that there is no “magic bullet” and has no qualms in telling you that. He can show you where the water is, but the rest is up to you.

Knowledge, he makes abundantly clear, is nothing without discipline. (A quality that I have sadly lacked for my entire life. :D ) Just reading this book will theoretically help you, in the sense that all knowledge is useful, but the only way it can help make your business (or approach to business) better, is if you rigorously apply the reasoning behind how these elements are relevant to the late-stage capitalistic environment, and keep on applying it.

Usually, I unashamedly skip sections like this in books, (see: not a businessman), but he’s made it difficult to do so this time, by continuing the overall narrative even into the section that is supposed to tell you what to do. Knowing what to do is just not enough…you have to know how to do it, and why to do it as well. Not to mention why it works.

Précis

I quickly realised that, if I stuck with my original plan and made notes about interesting, noteworthy or debatable points to raise in the (sort of) review, the review would end up longer than the book. So I deleted my first draft and started again. :D

There is just too much here to unpack and do justice to. From the Delphic admonition to know thyself, through Plato and Descartes, more Kipling, Frank Herbert, Star Wars, online games, and of course, lots and lots of military history, to psychology, sociology, neurology, neuro- and bio-chemistry (oh right, he has a background in chemical engineering) and I’m only scratching the surface.

It may be that the only way to get the most out of this book is to methodically apply the lessons of the book to the book itself. :D

The truth is, this is not a book about snipers at all. It’s not even a book about business. The title of the book does in fact reveal all, but in the best tradition of sniping, the true topic is disguised. Camouflaged.

This is a book about the mind.

Argument

Of course, this wouldn’t be a (sort of) review if I didn’t disagree with the author. :D That doesn’t mean he’s wrong by any means. But just because he is right doesn’t mean I don’t sometimes disagree. :D Most of my disagreement stems from mere quibbles. For example, the semantician in me can’t help but point out that “Impossible” (see chapter 1) is not actually an opinion. The real problem lies in the fact that people say “impossible” when they just mean “probability approaching zero.”

And as for multitasking, touched on in chapter 2, I think that there is a compelling body of evidence that it’s mostly really just very fast task-switching, with attendant costs in attention, performance, etc. rather than the actual processing of multiple tasks at the same time. (Which is not to say the brain can’t “think” about other things while you’re doing something, but in terms of actually carrying out tasks…the “Sources” section of this article about it has some interesting reading.)

Better Living Killing Through Chemicals

I was also a little disappointed that, in Chapter 8, another of the traditional methods for combatting fatigue in soldiers was not touched upon…namely drugs. :D

There is a long history of supplying soldiers with amphetamines in the military, and although in the last 20 years or so this has been replaced by modern “fatigue suppressants” (specifically Modafinil which has been approved by the militaries of several countries, including the USA for air force pilots and special forces operatives, the case for which is…eloquently argued for in this article by Commander Javier Gonzalez, U.S. Navy).

I’m sure that these days with things so carefully monitored and regulated, it’s much safer than when they just handed out speed to the troops, but nonetheless the thought of hopped up men running around with lethal ordinance and having firefights is scarcely more comforting than that of sleep deprived ones. ;)

On reflection though, the thought of (even more) hopped up CEO’s running around is probably rather worse, so I don’t blame the author for not wanting to encourage it.

It’s Elementary

Last of the irrelevant quibbles is that I fear that, in Chapters 6 & 8, our author has unfairly traduced the great Sherlock Holmes. :D While it is true that Watson once asked Holmes whether he was indulging in morphine or cocaine that time, (both being perfectly acceptable Victorian pastimes), morphine use was never mentioned again, and Holmes’ drug of choice was the intravenous application of a 7% solution of cocaine.

Furthermore, he did not indulge in it when blocked or at a dead end, but rather, when his remarkable mind had no case with which to occupy itself, and he thus became bored. (The relevant passages are quoted here. :D )

The Big One

Well, it’s not that big, but allow me some dramatic license. And it’s not a quibble or a disagreement, it’s really 2 things. One is an observation, and one a…concern…

As an observation, the attrition rate for applicants to those elite military units, the SAS, SEALs, Recon, etc. is greater than 80%. Only around 1% of active military have succeeded at qualifying as a sniper. This might suggest that, although in theory any mind can receive the training that lies at the heart of the sniper mind, not every mind is capable of implementing it. (Even without the insane rigours through which these applicants are put.)

Don’t misunderstand me…that is no reason not to learn these principles, and certainly no reason not to try and implement them. But as the author himself implies, the discipline required to turn this knowledge into your default operating system is significant. (Again, the key to doing so lies in the lessons of the book itself…break it down…analyse the steps…carry out the steps…be dedicated…persistent.)

And as always, there are going to be edge cases where certain things aren’t feasible for certain people. The heavy emphasis on visualisation for example, would be useless to me, a full-spectrum aphantasic. But that’s just edge cases.

Military Intelligence

The concern is perhaps a bit more nebulous. And indeed, the author addresses it in a sense where he acknowledges that this is not an ideal world, and that most companies (and people) cannot pivot like this. But if they could…

Not sure a world of militarily efficient corporations is something I’d contemplate with enthusiasm. Part of this is that I tend toward a jaundiced view of the military. I escaped conscription by the skin of my teeth and a fortuitous regime change. Had I been a single year older, I would have found myself called up to national service, or face imprisonment for refusal, and forced to act as the enforcing jackboot of an oppressive government, whose idea of the people that needed to be shot as enemies of the state was largely focused around those having the temerity to be born with the “wrong” colour skin, and then complain about how they were treated because of it.

My father, gods rest his benignly alcoholic soul, was a veteran of the interminable “border war” ostensibly fought between South Africa and Angola (although largely really a proxy war between the forces of “good capitalism” and “bad communism”) and as a result, raised me with a healthy scepticism of all things military. Including the aphorism that the sub-heading up there is an oxymoron. :D I find comfort in the thought that “the state, although it is an entity which manages small things badly, manages large things badly as well.”

Another part is that I tend to have a jaundiced view of big corporations. :D I did several months of contract IT work (through a 3rd party) for one once, when I was between jobs, and the experience left me with an abiding determination to never work corporate again. (And I never have. :D )

Super-soldiers and army-like businesses sound altogether too dystopian for me. A feeling, I might add, that the author’s books have more than once engendered in me. But maybe that’s just me. :D

In Conclusion

From the oracular fumes at Delphi to the magnetic resonance imaging chambers at today’s leading centres of biological study…from the lessons of Lao Tsu’s “dynamic inaction” and Sun Tzu’s exhortation to know your enemy and yourself, to the Napoleonic wars, the ruins of Mogadishu, and the battle of Fallujah by way of Finland, Stalingrad and Vietnam, The Sniper Mind takes us on a journey through the mechanics of driving the human mind / body duality to the very edge of (and perhaps beyond) what they are capable of.

Can we replicate for our own minds the techniques and rationale that make these feats possible, and transfer this knowledge into our modern and (hopefully largely) sniper-free everyday lives? Maybe we can. This book doesn’t give you the tools to do that, because we’re already in possession of all those tools. But it will suggest how you can hone them, use them, and benefit from them regardless of what you do.

Apology

Who am I kidding? :D I have no regrets.
And now, if you’ll excuse me…I have an author to bedevil…