TACTICS OF MISTAKE: Amazon.ca: Gordon R Dickson: Books

Product Description

Ingram

It's obvious that Cletus Graeme--limping, mild-mannered scholarly--doesn't belong on a battling field, but instead at a desk working on his fourth book on battle strategy and tactics. But Bakhalla has more battlefields than libraries, and Graeme sees his small force of Dorsai--soldiers of fortune--as the perfect opportunity to test his theories. But if his theories or his belief in the Dorsai lead him astray, he's a dead man.

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Customer Reviews

13 Reviews

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
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Average Customer Review

4.5 out of 5 stars (13 customer reviews)

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4.0 out of 5 stars Still A Classic!!, May 22 2002

By	"waymakerjim" (Mars Hill, NC United States) - See all my reviews

I first read this book years ago. Recently, I bought an used copy for a trip. It is still a classic!
THe plot is unusual-Grahme is a scholar/tactician assigned to a force fighting a guerilla war on one of the dozen colony worlds. Earth is divided into the Alliance/Coalition camps who fight their wars through these colonies. Grahme has some very unique ideas about fighting wars and, through deception and ruse, puts into into action and wins the war. Grahme's foil is Dow Castries, an Earth politician bent on world(s) domination. Grahme believes the new worlds should be free of Earth and chooses the Dorsai as his weapon. Grahme designs a novel training/strategy/tactics regime for the Dorsai to transform themselves into the best mercenaries in the universe. Using his Dorsai, Grahme wins several important successes that prompt Dow to unite the Earth into an all-out war. Grahme defeats Dow and paves the way for the new world's freedom.
The most interesting part of the story is not the military action-like most military amateurs Dickson is fighting the last war (Vietnam)- but Grahme's grasp and control of historical forces and his ability to manipulate people into his scheme, without their knowing it. It's a masterful attempt at persuasion and manipulation which sets in motion the novel's sequels.
Dickson, like his couterpart Grahme, has created an universe in which he controls everything according to a set scheme.
I'm just glad it's only fiction and that there's not really some super-powerful all-controlling force at work manipulating me and everyone else for its own designs. Now, where's the TV remote?

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5.0 out of 5 stars This book made me a Gordon R. Dickson fan, Aug 8 2001

By	R. Bagula "Roger L. Bagula" (Lakeside, Ca United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Herbert changed Dune in latter editions... Dickson changed the Dorsai in later books too. Books like "Alien Art" and " The Tactics of Mistake" should be read to understand why we bought everything he wrote for years! In later years he faltered and was dead intellectually before he died in fact. The idea that a people like the Scots mercenaries could become "super" people by generations of breeding and training: the environment and culture could combine to make superior humans was what made the Dorsai/ Childe series, but this book was all about how just one man could change a situation... win against the odds. With Microsoft taking it's case to the Supreme Court we sometimes feel that the forces of the evil empire have won. That the odds are stacked against us, but the Dorsai gave us hope!

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5.0 out of 5 stars execllent prequele to Dorsai, May 7 2001

By	U. Mikhli (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I have read and reread this story countless times. The structure of this book is very similar to dorsai right down to embarrassing moments on a spaceship. The perspective is very different though. Cletus is a gimpy war veteran with an desk job in the western alliance and some strange theories about warfare. What is he doing goading one of the leaders of the eastern alliance into a personal battle of wits?.

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Most recent customer reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars foreshadows the Dorsai...
...and Donal; I liked the novel but could have wished for Cletus to be more different from Donal than he was.

Published on Jun 7 2000 by Craig Chalquist, PhD, author o...

5.0 out of 5 stars Unrivalled Science Fiction!
'Tactics of Mistake' is a really enjoyable book. As Sci-Fi goes, this is one of the best - grand galactic epic writing. It is similar in scope to the E.E. Read more

Published on May 25 2000 by Otomo

4.0 out of 5 stars Continuing the Childe Cycle
The continuing adventures of the Dorsai. One of the best military adventures in science fiction.

Published on May 10 2000 by Raymond D. Curry