Rating: 
Summary: The Best of the Best
Review: This book is absolutely brilliant, and reading it is a tremendous experience. Sun Tzu is the master, and the Art of War, though aimed specifically on military warfare, is a masterpiece on general strategy and tactics that can be used in many sitautions. In fact, I will bet you that many of the most succesful sports coaches, boxers, businessmen, politicians, etc. use tactics similar to those found in this book.
The Art of War is not a long book, but despite its size, it is totally packed with content. Some themes of the book include
- always ensuring you are prepared
- adapting and responding to circumstances
- knowing yourself, the enemy, and the environment
- being unpredictable, secretive, and deceptive
- making calculations
- exploiting opportunities
- avoiding your enemy's strengths, and attacking his weak spots
- causing disorder among your enemy
- using baits to manipulate others
- ensuring good teamwork through picking the right people to do the right job, good communication, and synergy
- knowing when to fight and when not to fight
The book is an absolute gem. It is invaluable and a must read. Sun Tzu has a beatiful style, and I really love the Lionel Giles translation, which although old, is still for the most part highly readable and among the best there is. Also check out my tranlsation and selection of passages contained in my book A Collection of Wisdom.
Rating:
Summary: The Best of the Best
Review: This book is absolutely brilliant, and reading it is a tremendous experience. Sun Tzu is the master, and the Art of War, though aimed specifically on military warfare, is a masterpiece on general strategy and tactics that can be used in many sitautions. In fact, I will bet you that many of the most succesful sports coaches, boxers, businessmen, ploiticians, etc use tactics similar to those found in this book.The Art of War is not a long book, but despite its size, it is totally packed with content. Some themes of the book include - always ensuring you are prepared - adapting and responding to circumstances - knowing yourself, the enemy, and the environment - being unpredictable, secretive, and deceptive - making calculations - exploiting opportunities - avoiding your enemy's strengths, and attacking his weak spots - causing disorder among your enemy - using baits to manipulate others - ensuring good teamwork through picking the right people to do the right job, good communication, and synergy - knowing when to fight and when not to fight The book is an absolute gem. It is invaluable and a must read. Sun Tzu has a beatiful style, and I really love the Lionel Giles translation, which although old, is still hihgly readable and among the best there is. I also recommend Rodney Ohebsion's tranlsation and selection and arrangement of passages, which is an adaptation of the Giles translation, and is in the book A Collection of Wisdom. In summary, I would just like to say that The Art of War is definitely one of the greatest texts ever written, and is a must for the student of life.
Rating:
Summary: The first bible of warfare
Review: This book is considered the first philosophical bible of war, before Clausewitz's monumental work. Althought it's not quite a technical manual, it is essential reading for military philosophy and history.
Rating:
Summary: Understand your conditions...
Review: War is not really based on honor... or glory, or even whose right. It's all about conditions, who has the advantage and how to dishearten your opponents while making sure your own resources are protected. It tells you what to look for through hundreds of various quotes and snippets of advice. This book was not entirely by Sun Tzu, but a collection of famous tacticians through-out history. Each seem to add another element to the concept of how to win in conflict. In life, you can see a little of this in each day... but just remember not too get too carried away... after all, even Sun Tzu himself said "A battle not fought, is a battle won." I would recommend this one... it can only broaden your prospective. I'd suggest adding this book to your collection as well as "The Book of Five Rings" by Miyamoto Musashi and the "Tao Te Ching" by Lao Tzu. All three of these books seem to compliment each other perfectly.
Rating: 
Summary: What Do Tony Soprano and Gordon Gekko Have In Common?
Review: What do Tony Soprano and Gordon Gekko have in common?
A. They are successful leaders
B. They are fictitious characters
C. They have been involved in illegal activities
D. They quote The Art of War by Sun Tzu
E. All of the above Both the HBO character Tony Soprano and the Wall Street maverick played by Michael Douglas expounded on the wisdom found in The Art of War by Sun Tzu. Reading this short book will provide you with interesting quotes at cocktail parties, such as "In peace prepare for war, in war prepare for peace." As you may be aware, The Art of War is not a recent edition to Amazon's list; it missed Amazon by 25 centuries. It is, however, a favorite of many contemporary executives who believe that its lessons on strategy and tactics of warfare may be applied metaphorically to business situations. In addition, since it is read and studied in Asia, it is thought by many to provide insight into eastern thought and philosophy, especially in business competition. As a reference for leaders, it provides timeless advice for dealing with conflict, especially in competitive situations. For example it provides advice to: End conflicts quickly: "In all history, there is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare." Conduct research thoroughly: "The general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple before the battle is fought." Build Esprit de Corps at all levels of the organization: "He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks." Beware of five leadership faults: recklessness, cowardice, delicacy of honor, hasty temper, and over solicitude for subordinates. By the way, the correct answer is "E".
| 
