The Art of War

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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".

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Summary: Once a battlefield must, now applicable to modern life.
Review: The Art of War, one of the classic works of strategy and battle, is a slim novel by Sun Tsu. While certainly not the biggest of works, it is the meanings behind the carefully chosen words that make it such a powerful read.

While it details much in the way of battle, many of its messages are applicable to life in any sort of competitive field. Be it a game of strategy, the business world, or even a friendly debate, knowing the philosophies that are brought up in this book will prepare you on how you should go into and conduct your affairs so that victory is yours.

Also, for any leadership position, there is much in how to deal with subordinates that makes this great for presenting a confident role when people are under you, and making the best use of human resources.

This is a book to be savoured, to read and then to think upon each piece, and try to tie it into situations in your own life. It's something that should be referred to if questions arise in any conflict you find yourself in.

And who knows? If you ever do make it onto the battlefield, you might surprise yourself.

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Summary: Practical Business Strategy Book
Review: This book is brief, efficient, powerful and complete. I have never seen anything that compares. If you know a book that even comes CLOSE, please click on my name at the top of this review and email me!

This is one of those rare books you never finish. I have read it four times and I have only begun my lesson. When I first read this book I felt like I had discovered an ancient magical secret. If I could only study and implement precisely his tactics I feel confident that I would never loose a competition.

Some often used quotes...

"Anciently the skillful warriors first made themselves invincible and awaited the enemy's moment of vulnerability."

"He who knows when he can fight and when he cannot will be victorious."

I would begin an MBA strategy course with this book and then move to Porter's, Competitive Advantage were you can learn tools to help you see the business terrain.

Enjoy!

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Summary: An excellent choice
Review: Sun Tzu's The Art of War is a great book about strategy and battle. It provides methods for beating your opponent by forcusing on Taoistic beliefs of peace. In other words beating your opponent with out even having to fight them by out smarting them.

This book is excellent in that it can be applied to politics and business, and for me, the stockmarket. All people can take many good ideas from this book.

The only down side, is that some of it gets repetative, and you often times need to read slow because of the philosophy behind it, in order to take it all in.

This book should be a must read on anyones list!

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Summary: Interesting and useful, to an extent
Review: Without question, Sun Tzu's thirteen chapters on The Art of War are some the most definitive commentaries on waging armed conflict ever written, at least until Clausewitz came along, and even then you would have a hard time discounting the importance of Sun Tzu's thought. This is such an influential peice of writing that many people have read it as a management manual or business guide. This is the nature of many of the writings in this book; they are not only useful from a military standpoint, they are truly universal in their utility.

This translation is interesting, in that Griffith provides some discussion on the origin of the thirteen chapters and the era in which they were written. Also included is a small chapter on the influence Sun Tzu had on Mao, and the extent to which Sun Tzu influenced Chinese military (and political) thought right up to the present day.

The one thing that bothered me was the abundance of footnotes, which, while informative, broke up the writings so much it was difficult to maintain a fluid sense of thought. This was abviously written as an academic endeavor, and as such is annotized relentlessly. The commentaries in the text were useful at some points, redundant at others.

All in all, this is a good book, whether you're looking for self-help or military history.

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Summary: Interesting and relevant
Review: I picked up a copy of The Art of War on a whim. The book is a collection of war-related proverbs by Sun Tzu, an ancient Chinese general. The information contained in the book is both interesting and quite relevant. The applications of Tzu's words of wisdom are limitless.

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Summary: Not an easy reading book.
Review: Reading this book reminded me of reading Dante's Inferno. Really well known book that wasn't particularly easy to read. I'm sure the philosophy in this book is very valid and useful but its the sort of book you should take a course on, not read on the way to work.

Rating:
Summary: Ok but not relevant!
Review: I guess all in all it was alright but I can't see any use for the information. It took me several days to read because I just couldn't get into it. I liked Shogun much better.

Rating:
Summary: not worth the time
Review: This book is very slow and tedious. I was very disappointed with it after hearing so much about the great Sun Tzu. Don't bother with it.

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Summary: Class
Review: The Art of War is a good book that applies to all aspects of life. Once you get over the layout of the book it is an easy read, and has some great insights. It was nice to get some history and practical examples to see how the strategies worked out in ancient warfare