Excellent post and insightful review of @Adam Karaoguz’s The Infernal Tower. You nailed it. It’s a great a great story and like Dante’s Inferno it’s many layered.
When people talk about lack of imagination in 9/11, I’m always drawn to remembering that the hatches to the top of the building were locked so people who went up, couldn’t get to the roof to be rescued by helicopters. The little imagination didn’t want people on the roof for whatever petty reason, ignoring the larger vision that people might need to get up there in a crisis.
That’s a great example. Maybe it is that that organizations don’t fail to imagine, but they make rational decisions (at the time) that unintentionally remove options they may need later.
Yes, failure to prepare. I’m sure we can both think of a large number of reasons people would need to evacuate to the roof that didn’t involve flying an airliner into the building.
First, thanks for the outstanding book, Left of Bang and the CP JournaI. I am always glad to see and read new articles that you post. I was even more intrigued when you mentioned reading fiction was not always something you liked to recommend.
By this I mean reading provides a variety of benefits. Two of these are knowledge and the other is a way to develop your imagination. I am sure you are very familiar with both of these.
The development of a person’s imagination can help make them more aware and identify anomalies and/or develop schemas necessary to solve problems and with decision-making. The USMC Commandant’s Reading Lists include fiction titles (Starship Troopers, World War Z [I believe] etc.) and Marines are encouraged to read fiction.
Marshall Peterson mentioned imagination and 9/11. This immediately brought me back to almost 40 years ago while serving on active duty. There was a report which came across my desk alerting everyone of surplus airplanes being used to carry explosives with the intent of crashing them into buildings as the preferred targets.
Now speed ahead to 9/11 and we have a very similar tactic that was used to attack the United States. The idea of this being done was mentioned in the book, Black Banners by Ali Soufan. While Ali wrote the book, someone else he mentioned discussed aircraft being used exactly as they were on 9/11. Unfortunately the idea was submitted in a memo and ignored. Someone had the insight, but the recipient didn’t have the vision. The result now stands as history and makes one wonder if it would have prevented the attacks.
Thanks for your time and please continue the outstanding work your organization performs!
Sean - I should clarify something from the article. It isn't that I haven't recommended reading fiction in general (or don't read it myself), it is that I don't often recommend specific fiction books on The CP Journal.
One thing that I think connects a reader with a story is when the story provides a vision for what is possible. To me, that connection is deeply personal since it is so often closely connected to that particular reader's goals, or vision, or ambitions, or view of the world.
In so much of what I choose to write about, I want to keep the focus on readers and subscribers who are looking to learn something that can help them get left of bang in their job and life. Whether it is justified or not, one thing that has kept me from recommending fiction is the worry that it would tie an article back to my goals rather than to the readers.
And to your point about 9/11, this is one of the most significant ways my view of getting left of bang has evolved in recent years. Recognizing the threat is the first step, but being able to do something about it is the one that changes outcomes. One without the other is an incomplete capability.
As I recall Tom Clancy used it as well. It was the first thing I thought of when I heard about the towers. I agree that fiction has a real place in the Emergency Management Field.
Excellent post and insightful review of @Adam Karaoguz’s The Infernal Tower. You nailed it. It’s a great a great story and like Dante’s Inferno it’s many layered.
When people talk about lack of imagination in 9/11, I’m always drawn to remembering that the hatches to the top of the building were locked so people who went up, couldn’t get to the roof to be rescued by helicopters. The little imagination didn’t want people on the roof for whatever petty reason, ignoring the larger vision that people might need to get up there in a crisis.
That’s a great example. Maybe it is that that organizations don’t fail to imagine, but they make rational decisions (at the time) that unintentionally remove options they may need later.
Yes, failure to prepare. I’m sure we can both think of a large number of reasons people would need to evacuate to the roof that didn’t involve flying an airliner into the building.
Pat,
First, thanks for the outstanding book, Left of Bang and the CP JournaI. I am always glad to see and read new articles that you post. I was even more intrigued when you mentioned reading fiction was not always something you liked to recommend.
By this I mean reading provides a variety of benefits. Two of these are knowledge and the other is a way to develop your imagination. I am sure you are very familiar with both of these.
The development of a person’s imagination can help make them more aware and identify anomalies and/or develop schemas necessary to solve problems and with decision-making. The USMC Commandant’s Reading Lists include fiction titles (Starship Troopers, World War Z [I believe] etc.) and Marines are encouraged to read fiction.
Marshall Peterson mentioned imagination and 9/11. This immediately brought me back to almost 40 years ago while serving on active duty. There was a report which came across my desk alerting everyone of surplus airplanes being used to carry explosives with the intent of crashing them into buildings as the preferred targets.
Now speed ahead to 9/11 and we have a very similar tactic that was used to attack the United States. The idea of this being done was mentioned in the book, Black Banners by Ali Soufan. While Ali wrote the book, someone else he mentioned discussed aircraft being used exactly as they were on 9/11. Unfortunately the idea was submitted in a memo and ignored. Someone had the insight, but the recipient didn’t have the vision. The result now stands as history and makes one wonder if it would have prevented the attacks.
Thanks for your time and please continue the outstanding work your organization performs!
Sean - I should clarify something from the article. It isn't that I haven't recommended reading fiction in general (or don't read it myself), it is that I don't often recommend specific fiction books on The CP Journal.
One thing that I think connects a reader with a story is when the story provides a vision for what is possible. To me, that connection is deeply personal since it is so often closely connected to that particular reader's goals, or vision, or ambitions, or view of the world.
In so much of what I choose to write about, I want to keep the focus on readers and subscribers who are looking to learn something that can help them get left of bang in their job and life. Whether it is justified or not, one thing that has kept me from recommending fiction is the worry that it would tie an article back to my goals rather than to the readers.
And to your point about 9/11, this is one of the most significant ways my view of getting left of bang has evolved in recent years. Recognizing the threat is the first step, but being able to do something about it is the one that changes outcomes. One without the other is an incomplete capability.
Thanks for reading, subscribing, and the comment!
As I recall Tom Clancy used it as well. It was the first thing I thought of when I heard about the towers. I agree that fiction has a real place in the Emergency Management Field.
I love it Dan. I think I read all of Tom Clancy's books as a kid, but he absolutely got you thinking about what sort of attack vectors were possible.