On the psychology of military incompetence - Hardcover

Dr. Norman F. Dixon, M.B.E., Fellow of the British Psychological Society, is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at University College London. After ten years' commission in the Royal Engineers, during which time he was wounded ( largely through my own incompetence”), Dixon left the Army in 1950 and entered university where he obtained a first-class degree in Psychology. He received the degrees of Doctor of Philosophy in 1956 and Doctor of Science in 1972, and in 1974 was awarded the University of London Carpenter Medal 'for work of exceptional distinction in Experimental Psychology'.

One does not have to share all, or even most, of Dixon's often rebarbative views to agree that this penetrating, self-knowing, often hilarious, and sometimes alarming book is a must-read. It is a classic of military history awaiting rediscovery today.”
Brendan Simms, author of Europe: The Struggle for Supremacy

An original, scientifically impressive and fascinating book . . . a minor classic.”
Tablet

An absorbing, perceptive and often very funny study in human frailty.”
Listener

It should be compulsory reading wherever future officers are selected or trained, and deserves a very wide readership among psychologists and laymen.”
New Society

An intelligent man's guide to the defects of the military mind... Its conclusions are incontrovertible.”
Books and Bookmen