Rating: 
Summary: How to run a war or Business
Review: Sun Tzu "The Art of War" was excellent. This book is a great book on strategy. Whether you command a nations army, war games or a moderen business. If the reader uses some of these war tactics and strategies in the modern world, they may find it easy to relate. Thus it is easy to relate to this book. Even rivals in sports and entertainment can be outwitted by the wisdom in this book. It also adds examples of some actions, which show how these sayings and writings apply to the real world.So no matter what you were looking for in this book, whether it be business, sports, war games, or actual wars, you can be sure to learn more on how to best deal with the situation through the strategies in this book. The book is timeless....and should be required reading for all persons.
Rating:
Summary: The Art of War..or Peace?..both.
Review: This is the first edition of "The Art of War" I've read and I'm glad I made the decision to pick this one up. Cleary does a remarkable job in the introduction of explaining Sun Tzu's philosophy. The peak efficiency of knowledge and strategy is to make conflict altogether unnecessary: "To overcome others' armies without fighting is the best of skills." Also, Cleary goes into detail of the Taoist aspect of the text by using quotes and examples from other ancient writings including the Tao Te Ching. A rather nice touch to this edition is that following each of Tzu's sentences or paragraphs (written in boldface to be indentified easily) are the further explanations of various Chinese commentators from Cao Cao in 155-200 C.E. to Ho Yanxi of the Sung Dynasty. These commentaries help to easily show the finer points of each ideology. Overall, a quality work that I'd recommend to anyone interested in reading "The Art of War".
Rating: 
Summary: Whatever you were looking for, you've found it here.
Review: In ART OF WAR, there is a rare thing in books in which all of it or most of it can relate to many things. If the reader uses some of these war tactics and strategies in the modern world, they may find it easy to relate. Business is war, but in a different scenario than actual battles. Thus it is easy to relate to this book. Even rivals in sports and entertainment can be outwitted by the wisdom in this book. It also adds examples of some actions, which show how these sayings and writings apply to the real world. So no matter what you were looking for in this book, whether it be business, entertainment, sports, war games, actual wars, or even travel, you can be sure to learn more on how ot attack life here. The book's age is hard and easy to see at the same time. You can tell that it was written thousands of years ago by what Sun Tzu tells of. (Chariots, gold pieces are currency, etc...), but some of the grammar and language are shown well in the translation in the book, making it easy to read in English as well as other languages you would be able to find the book in. The only weakness of this book would have to be its accented topic towards foriegn countries, and much older devices. The way to break through this is for the reader to be able to translate it into his/her life. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rating:
Summary: Great book on war
Review: Sun Tzu's essays on war make up the first known book on the subject. The translator has done a good job translating the original text and providing commentary. The writing is clear, however the order is somewhat confusing, which is probably due to the translation (it might have sounded more orderly in the original text). Also, you can tell by looking at a lot of what is written that the author assumes that the reader has knowledge of many of the circumstances and events in ancient China. The translator largley solves the problem through the use of footnotes, although the constant skipping between the footnotes and the original text becomes frustrating at times.
While many maintain that the content of the book can be applied to business or life or whatever, I believe that putting it that crudely is quite misleading. The book was originally written for the purpose of war and combat, and that is what most of the book deals with. However, one will occasionally pass through important wisdoms that one can apply in many fields of life, such as the importance of knowing one's adversary.
Overall this is a good read. Get it if you have the time to read it (which shouldnt be more than a couple of hours a day for a week max).
Rating:
Summary: How to run a war or Business
Review: Sun Tzu "The Art of War" was excellent. This book is a great book on strategy. Whether you command a nations army, war games or a moderen business. If the reader uses some of these war tactics and strategies in the modern world, they may find it easy to relate. Thus it is easy to relate to this book. Even rivals in sports and entertainment can be outwitted by the wisdom in this book. It also adds examples of some actions, which show how these sayings and writings apply to the real world. So no matter what you were looking for in this book, whether it be business, sports, war games, or actual wars, you can be sure to learn more on how to best deal with the situation through the strategies in this book. The book is timeless....and should be required reading for all persons.
Rating:
Summary: The ultimate point in strategy !
Review: Sun Tzu's 'The Art of War' is the best book ever written on earth. If I had a chance to read only one book in life, it would be The Art of War. Sun Tzu tels you how to crush your enemy but the book has deep meanings far beyond the violent side of the war. It teaches strategy, preparation, patience, timing, and basically the mind and the spirit of a real strategist. The best thing in this book is that it is completely transferable to many things in life: You can apply it to stock investments, to management and to interpersonal relationships and so on. One last thing as an example : Sun Tzu in some part of the book states the things common in winning armies. In this list one of the items is "[the winning army is] whose ranks are all animated by the same spirit". Here is what they tell you in MBA programs, in organizational behaviour courses : the importance of organizational culture. There are many others to discover in this book. I recommend you read it and see how a book can be so popular after 2500 years passed since it is written!
Rating:
Summary: A play only for pros
Review: The Art Of War, divided in 13 small chapters and in richly illustrated edition,is the second most important book ever written on how to wage a successfull war, only losing the first place to Clausewitz'On War. According to legend, it was due to the reading of a French version of the book from the Chinese philosopher turned general Sun Tzu that the great Napoleon had all the credits of his many victories. Whenever he did not apply the books precepts, also according to legend, he lost his bet and paid in human lives and shame. An English version was only available in the beginning of the 20 century, now digested, commented and explained by the James Clavel, author of the famous book Shogun and Gaijiin, just to name a few of his works. It is also said of this wonderfull small book that very few texts like it had so overwhelming a power to change things on human affairs, be them wars or business battles for competitive turf. But the conciseness of the text is fully intentional, alluding to the objectiveness Sun Tzu demanded from orders given by commanders to troops. A word less or a word more, and victory is in jeopardy and many lives were to be lost. In my opinion, the most important chapter of the book is the one covering the importance of the use of spies, something that is prevalent in world politics and in the business world. I liked also when he somehow alludes to a certain solitariness in victory, something akin to managerial solitude. This is certainly one of the best books ever to be written on the subject and I hope you enjoy it.
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Summary: Tactics to out maneuver
Review: Good book possibly something for everyone maybe even pacifists. This is the only edition I've read and thought Mr. Clavell did a fulfilling job with the translation. The book is written nearly 2500 years ago according to the author. Therefore I'm astonished the book pertains to modern warfare. The book is a very good read a little short but good. The Art of War seems to convey a message that relates to mobility of an army, of course their mobility falls far short of today's abilities to position forces. However the ideal of having a highly mobile army ready to move on brief notice is beneficial in any era. With officers knowledgeable enough to secure the most appropriate position is just one of the many points this book explains. Other chapters explain the assets such as spies, tactics, energy, planning, terrain, etc.
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Summary: Thanks for the news, neighbor!
Review: And for the rest of you, the Giles translation is trash! Although he deserves some credit for his early work (this edition predates Griffith's), it is a shoddy attempt to one-up an EARLIER attempt by another translator. And so I say...
CAVEAT EMPTOR!
Rating:
Summary: Astoundingly insightful, even after 2000+ years
Review: Written long before MBA programmes and graduate schools of management were formed, this book is often considered THE authority on managing people and competitive situations. Sun Tzu was a remarkably insightful man, who seems to have captured the psychology of combat and running a team. So many of the principles he espouses are applicable in civilian life that it is worth reading by anybody managing people. There are sections in the book that deal very specifically with fighting (especially the discussions on terrain), but many of the other chapters could replace the word 'army' with 'team' and the meaning would be the same. Whilst many of the lessons appear simplistic and obvious, experience tells us that sometimes common sense is not so common. Sometimes concepts need to be presented in a simplified fashion for their full power to be revealed. I think that any person either training to be a leader or is already one (military or civilian) should read this book and ponder it's meaning.
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