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Rating: 
Summary: Self-promotion is obvious
Review: I am amazed that the original was written so long ago. Now maybe it is the fact that this book is written in plain English, but I felt like I was reading a self help book written by a modern motivational speaker. I had been having trouble with a few of my employees and wasn't sure how to handle it without breaking the team's spirit. I took the advice from this book and tried a couple of different suggestions on dealing with staff and within a week the problem started to disappear. Now it is gone and my team is running on supercharged focus. I guess it just goes to show that people don't really change. Today or 2500 years ago the same advice works. I am very impressed with this book.
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Summary: My Favorite By Far!
Review: I don't claim to be a scholar, or to know what Sun Tzu really meant, but I have read a couple of version of The Art of War over the years. I never really got a lot out of them and had given up on trying to understand all the hype. I found this book on line and decided to give it a try because I was encouraged by the In Plain English part of the title. I received it a few weeks ago and sat down to read it expecting to labor through tedious arguments about the meaning of this or that Chinese symbol. To my pleasant surprise it was very easy to read and understand. I feel like I got more out of this book and any other version I have read. I really liked it and plan to buy one for each of the managers who work for me. If you want an easy read that you can understand and apply then this is your book.
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Summary: Determination!!
Review: I found this book to be very helpful to me on several levels. I did see the strategy that everyone talks about, but I think I picked up a different lesson, well maybe. The striking thing to me through out the book, both Sun Tzu and Sun Pin, was the idea that no matter what situation you find yourself in there is always something you can do about it.If I had to sum up my lessons learned from this book it would be, NEVER GIVE UP, NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP. I needed that. It was almost a paradigm shift for me and I am determined to see myself successful in everything that I commit to. I believe that I also picked up the techniques to win as well as the attitude of a winner: Great book!
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Summary: Interesting!!!
Review: I have read Sun Tzu and enjoyed it, but now I think that Sun Pin may be more relevant. I had net heard a lot about Sin Pin until I bought this book, and I think the addition of his work makes this a unique version. This book is really easy to read and understand, but in my opinion Sun Tzu is pretty much the same in every version, some of which I like some I do not. I think Sun Pin is the most interesting part of this book but it's nice to have them both together.
Rating:
Summary: The abosulute best, no doubt!!
Review: I seldom write reviews for anything, but when I enjoy a book as much as I did this one I simply have to say why. I am a professor of Asian Literary Studies at a four year university and I use this particular translation as a textbook in my class, which is one of the reasons I feel the need to defend it. I think anyone who doesn't understand this book probably doesn't understand Sun Tzu at all. The idea here was to translate Sun Tzu in a manner that doesn't require commentary, or as the author said, "The way Sun Tzu would have written it if he were alive today." No easy task by any stretch of the imagination, but I think it was accomplished. D. E. Tarver has as an uncanny ability to break down complex issues into easy to understand language. This is demonstrated in all of his translations. Since I switched my students to this version the average grade has moved up and the overall enjoyment of the class has improved greatly. I cannot recommend this book enough. Read Sun Tzu the way Sun Tzu wanted, without opinion, commentary, or flowery misguided explanations from the authors. You will draw you own conclusions, learn your own lessons and fully enjoy the experience.
Rating:
Summary: A lot of information
Review: Our company just had its annual manager's meeting and we had Mr. Tarver come in to speak. We were given copies of this book several days before he arrived so I'd had the chance to glance through it. I didn't really read it because I had read The Art of War before and didn't get a lot out of it. After hearing the lecture I became highly motivated and tore into the text with a notepad and pen. I am not sure I would have gotten as much out of it without hearing the lecture, but I have to say that this book is full of "condensed wisdom" as the author would say, and requires some study to fully appreciate. Because it is easy read I think some people feel that they master the information after one reading. I can tell you from my own experience that you will benefit greatly by reading it several times and taking notes along the way. Good book, great speaker. I am determined to fully digest and apply these strategies to my life both professional and private.
Rating:
Summary: A solid translation!
Review: Reading over all the reviews of all the Art of War translations it is obvious that no one version satisfies everyone. So much is left to individual taste and opinion. Some like extra commentary some hate extra commentary. I do not purport to be an expert on Sun Tzu, nor have I devoted my life to the study of the various translations, but I really did enjoy this book. I have only read a couple of other versions. If you are looking for an in depth study of the Chinese language then Griffin's version is probably a good one for you, but if you want a clear, easy to understand lesson of the strategy of Sun Tzu then this is the book for you. It is important to remember that there is no perfect translation of Sun Tzu, and no single book can really approach every angle necessary to fit everyone's taste for this type of material. Just about every translation on line has reviews ranging from 5 stars to 1 star, this one is no different. Personally, I highly recommend this version. If you are a serious student of Sun Tzu and mean to devote decades to this study then you should be reading every translation available. If you want a thorough understanding of Sun Tzu without trying to become an expert on the intricacies of commentary and opinion, read this one.
Rating:
Summary: War does not make one great
Review: Said an other eastern philospher, which seems to sum up Sun's thesis that true leadership is achieveing your nation's goals without resorting to war. what is fansinating in this work though is the degree that western and eastern armies differ. While many eastern armies were crushed by the abstract and seemingly faceless beast of the western style (Rome's legions, the British empire, ect.) the West has had trobule countering both the stuborn and flexable nature of Eastern fighting "an army is like a snake, attack its head and the tail will strike you. attack its tail and its head will strike. attack the center and both the head and the tail will strike" (the Persians learned that the hard way at Marthon). The crux of Tzu is that of understanding human nature and how it effects an army. Like general Shermen, he believed that an army has a "soul" and that it is not the death of men or lose of men that win or lose wars, but rather the presivation or devestation of this "soul".
Another point he hits on is the use of unconventinal tatics. Intreastingly, I first came across his work in Once an Eagle, where Sam (the hero) goes to China (in the 40's) and sees first hand the extent that Tzu is revlent in today's world.
Rating: 
Summary: A few contrarian comments
Review: This is a legendary book and has gotten a lot of play these days, from Wall St. to Hollywood types--including such notables as writer James Clavell. While I respect Clavell and am very familiar with the book, frankly, I don't see what all the commotion is about. The supposedly profound psychological principles that can be used to outwit your opponent, among many other strategems discussed, I found to be pretty elementary and not particularly astute. Perhaps for it's time this qualified as state of the art, but not anymore. Most of them are, or should be, pretty obvious.
Sun Tzu's observations about military strategy also seemed of limited applicability today since they pertain to ground wars with very primitive weapons. For example, his point that one should obtain the superior vantage point and position from which to attack, while valid, would be understood today by the greenest officer just out of his military strategy and tactics course at the academy. There are some occasionally useful tidbits here, but overall, I suspect anybody trying to use these tactics in exactly the same way today in a confrontation with modern ground weapons wouldn't be a happy camper.
To give just a couple of examples of this, in John Keegan's excellent book on the history of warfare, The Face of Battle, he points out that in the Battle of the Somme in World War I artillery accounted for 90 per cent of the casualties--not the infantry. The importance of artillery has continued to this day, something which didn't exist at all in Sun Tzu's time.
As Keegan has pointed out, the first "modern" battle in the sense that it was the artillery that carried the day was in the 12th century Battle of Agincourt, where the much smaller English army using longbowmen decisively defeated a much larger French army, inflicting heavy casualties on the other side.
Secondly, the greater speed, destructive power, and maneuverability of modern armies, especially in the case of mechanized armor, dictates that the overall strategy and details of ground engagements will be substantially different from those in Sun Tzu's time. (I could cite other examples, since we haven't even considered the advent of air power, but I'll leave it at that).
The best way to appreciate this book is in the context of a classic that represented a high point in the military thinking of its time, but which has since been superceded. Basically this amounts to saying the work has historical value, and there is nothing wrong with that, but I wouldn't go too much further than that.
Also (assuming the story is true), anybody who would behead two of the Emperor's most beautiful concubines because they giggled during a marching exercise for the Emperor is a real jerk and should apply for membership in the Nazi Hall of Fame (more like Hall of Shame).
Finally, (and as seen from many of the reviews here) westerners continually misinterpret Oriental classics like this and apply them to situations where they are not applicable (and where even the Chinese wouldn't think of using them). This is a book about war, and has very little relevance to business.
You'd think people would have taken a clue from the title, "The Art of War." It's doesn't say, "The Art of Business." What part of the title didn't they understand?
For example, another reviewer very perceptively pointed out what is probably the worst problem with interpreting Sun Tzu's work in the light of business strategy, which is that the best strategy in business is a win/win situation: if I win and you lose, you will never do business with me again. I would certainly agree with this and again would reiterate that this is a book about war, not about business strategy.
In fairness, I would sum up by saying Sun Tzu's book represents an important historical contribution, but it has been over- hyped far beyond its real worth to the modern reader, and inappropriately applied in other areas, such as business, where it has very little, if any, real relevance or value. (However, I give the book 3 stars for effort, since anybody who was as busy as Sun Tzu was who also managed to ride a book deserves some respect).
(Brief postscript: Perhaps I would find B. H. Liddell-Hart's or Camille Clauswitz's books more profound as classics on war, as I did Kegan's books? I may try reading them and see if I find them more interesting and valuable than the Art of War. I have read articles about both books over the years, and they do seem more impressive, but I haven't actually read the originals yet. If I do, I will post a review on them on Amazon, as with the Sun Tzu book. Hopefully, I will have something more positive to say on these two also venerable classics.)
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