I'd like to read a book about a historical battle from the perspective of the people who planned it. This doesn't have to cover any particular battle or war (though 20th century would be nice). Ideally it would cover topics like: why that location was picked, estimating the amount of men and resources needed, predicting casualties, sizing up the opposing force, recon of the battlefield, time tables, etc. Basically all of the nitty-gritty details that popular military history never really bores you with.
Any war of time period will do, although my dream wish would be something in the Pacific theatre of WWII. Can anybody recommend me something along those lines?
Mark Healy's Zitadelle: The German Offensive Against the Kursk Salient spends at least its first third talking about respective German and Soviet plans for the Battle of Kursk, including alternatives to an attack on the salient (Manstein's proposed "backhand" counterattack versus the "forehand" attack on the salient preferred by Hitler and supported by Zeitzler), the Soviet preparations (not just defences, but their plans for the counteroffensive after stopping the German pincers, and the maskirovka they employed to conceal those preparations), and the role of air power and partisans. He also into some nice meaty detail on not just the tanks both sides employed, but also the armoured vehicle production of both sides.
More recent warfare but it is nevertheless interesting, 'Spec Ops Case Studies in Special Operations Warfare: Theory and Practice' by William H. McRaven.
The US Army Center of History has all sorts of great material. Same with the USMC.