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PROFESSIONAL READING PROGRAM

These books have been selected by key leaders in the defense acquisition community to help inform and shape the strategic and critical thinking of our workforce. We encourage you to bring what you've learned from your readings into your defense acquisition experience.

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About the Professional Reading Program

Remarks from Senior Leadership

President James P. Woolsey profile picture

President James P. Woolsey
Defense Acquisition University

Defense acquisition has always been a dynamic process, and the Defense Acquisition Professional Reading Program is dynamic as well. The books in the program have been selected by key leaders in the defense acquisition community to help inform and shape the strategic and critical thinking of our workforce. We encourage you to bring what you have learned and recognized from your readings into your defense acquisition experience.

Reader's Suggestions

We encourage our readers to submit reviews of books they believe should be required reading for the defense acquisition professional. Your recommended books should be of general interest to the defense acquisition community and not specific to any one service. It should provide context and insight in order to develop critical and strategic viewpoints, and not be prescriptive in nature ("follow these steps and you/your office/program will succeed"). Your review should be 500 words or fewer, describe the book and its major ideas, and explain why it is relevant to defense acquisition. Please include links to related multimedia, if possible. Please send your reviews to the managing editor, Defense Acquisition Research Journal ([email protected]).

How to Access the Books in the Defense Acquisition Professional Reading Program

Many of the books in this program may be available, in electronic version at no cost, to defense acquisition workforce members via DoD websites. Their links provide electronic access directly to the book.

If electronic access is not available, most of the books in this program are available to check out, free of charge, at your local public or academic library. In some cases, your local branch may not have the book on the shelf; in that case, every library participates in an Interlibrary Loan (ILL) program which can get you the book you want for free or with a minimal fee. The WorldCat book links provide access to the names of libraries that have a particular book.

Suggested Sources for Accessing Electronic Books Outside the Defense Acquisition Professional Reading Program

DoD MWR Libraries: https://militaryonesourceva.rbdigital.com/

Air Force Libraries: http://www.myairforcelife.com/libraries/

Army Libraries: http://mylibraryus.armybiznet.com/search

Navy Libraries: https://www.navymwr.org/programs/libraries

The Defense Acquisition Professional Reading Program is maintained by the Defense Acquisition University. The appearance of a title on this reading list does not imply that any part of the Department of Defense endorses the author's or reviewer's views or interpretations.

Professional Reading Program

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Books By Topic Area
To Engineer is Human
To Engineer is Human
By: Henry Petroski
​This book reviews case studies of several catastrophic engineering failures and the design flaws that caused them.  
The Polaris System Development: Bureaucratic and Programmatic Success in Government
The Polaris System Development: Bureaucratic and Programmatic Success in Government
By: Harvey M. Sapolsky
​This book uses Polaris to illustrate how a government bureaucracy can manage a large, technologically challenging weapons acquisition program.   
Colossus: How the Corporation Changed America
Colossus: How the Corporation Changed America
By: "Jack Beatty, Editor"
​This book traces the rise of the American corporation, from its beginnings in the 17th century through 2001.   
The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business
The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business
By: Alfred D. Chandler Jr.
​This book focuses on the role of large-scale American business in transportation, communications, production and distribution from the 1850s to the 1920s.  
The Lexus and the Olive Tree
The Lexus and the Olive Tree
By: Thomas L. Friedman
This book looks at the global market forces that are driving today's economies and how they are affecting everything we do.