"The Net Cutter - How a tiny island defeated the British Navy for fish" chronicles the "Cod Wars" between Iceland and the United Kingdom (1950s-1970s). It sounds like a joke, but it was a serious geopolitical conflict. Iceland, desperate to protect its only resource, unilaterally expanded its fishing waters. The UK refused to recognize the claim and sent the Royal Navy to protect its trawlers.Historian Magnus Pike details the asymmetric tactics used by the Icelandic Coast Guard. Too small to fight a shooting war, they invented the "net cutter"-a hook dragged behind their ships to sever the...