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Summary: Still one of the finest Sun Tzu translations around
Review: First published in 1963, this translation from General Samuel Griffith is considered the finest rendering of Sun Tzu since 1910. It has commentaries within the text itself; good history and much analysis. In fact, a lot of analyses. Excellent and unique section on Sun Tzu's influence in Japan. Just that section alone is worth acquiring the book. It has a superb rendering of Sun Tzu in which we can find few faults. A must have book on your shelf if you are interested in Sun Tzu and strategy.
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Summary: A good read
Review: If you enjoy reading stories about war and its place in history then you will probably enjoy this book. It can be a little difficult to finish because many things are repeated several times. Its the brilliant little "nuggets" here and there that kept me reading until the end. There are some key points that you could apply to every day life but I wouldnt recommend reading the book solely for that purpose. All things considered I enjoyed it and recommend it to anyone interested in history and or war stories.
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Summary: Fantastic story that still isn't out of date
Review: Don't let the age of this book fool you. It is still as valid and interesting to military enthusiasts as we can only imagine it was 2,000 years ago. I read this last summer while I had a broken leg that kept me on the couch all summer, and I must say it helped to make the summer a little more bearable.
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Summary: In Old China
Review: Sun Tzu's immortal opus has guided generals, militarists, and Chinese history for millenia. Reading this book now is an absolute joy--here you learn skills, tactics, gambits, subterfuges, and strategies to become a leader, to gain the real advantage over opponents, to organize and maintain a well-functioning and morale-filled group. How to win without resorting to fighting. How to keep calm and maintain sense. Essentially, how to become a more analytical leader! This book is recommended for anyone who likes strategy, or just being entertained by one of the most engaging books from ancient China.
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Summary: Good Book but not truly applicable
Review: I enjoyed the book. It was easy to read, but i found it difficult to project it to real life situations. One reviewer says that this book can be as helpful in the football field as in a romantic relationship! I think book is really about offensive military starategy. You cannot really use this book in business; especially not in business negotiations where the most fruitful attitude is win/win (Mutual benefit), if I win and you lose then you'll never do business with me again. This book in entirely about offensive warfare; not fully applicatable to today's business culture (although some parts are).
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Summary: The ideas on warfare in this book will never be too old.
Review: The theories presented by Sun Tzu in this book have just as much weight today as they did 2,000 years ago. The text is pretty short, and is extremely easy to read and understand considering it is in list form. The book is required reading at service academies and is on reading lists for U.S. military officers. Even Napolean studied this book. Chapters: Estimates, Waging War, Offensive Strategy, Dispositions, Energy, Weaknesses and Strengths, Maneuver, The Nine Variables, Marches, Terrain, The Nine Varieties of Ground, Attack by Fire, and Employment of Secret Agents. Also included in this version is Wu Ch'I's "Art of War"
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Summary: I was looking for another "Prince".
Review: Althought this book contains many valuable Gems, it is not what I was looking for. I thought it would be similar to "The Prince", in its applicability to modern life and business. But it turned out to be a book about "WAR", and what's more, a book about "Ancient Warfare".I would say that I found 20% of the book to be really valuable, 40% to be interesting and the remaining 40% to be an utter waste of time. I recommend you read the Prince by Niccolo Machiaveli.
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Summary: A must, but ...
Review: Sun Tzu's "Art of war" is a must to any reader who has any interest whatsoever in the ways of battle. BUT, to the reader who has read nothing before concerning war - it is a great revelation. To the one who has read and studied the modern rules and principles of battle the book is only an authorization to what you already know. the true wonder of the book is that this authorization was not given after a few field tests in some battle ground in europe - but more then 2000 years back. The one who reads "the art of war" must not come to reading it out of the blue - or it will be nothing more then a bunch of nice ideas. But if you have some background in the subject you will find it fascinating.
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Summary: With comments
Review: This book has some comments and very accurate analisys of the original text. And this analisys take the most part of the book. It is written in simple style by General Tao Hanzhang. It is also has the portrait of the author - Sun Tzu.
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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".
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