Rating: 
Summary: Useful tips of maneuvering in Machiavellian world, but-
Review: This book contains many useful tips of how to be successful in a Machiavellian world. Robert Greene draws numerous examples from histrory to support/illustrate his "laws". As a student of Chinese history, I find this book not very satisfying that many of the stories from Chinese history contains various inaccuracy, from glossly simplying events to distorting facts to fit his agenda. While I am not familiar with the stories drawn from the Renaissance, the French Bourbon monarchies, Al Capone, etc., I have to wonder how much Greene has altered to make his points.In conclusion, Greene does presents Machiavellian wisdom in The 48 Laws of Power, but I have to take him with grains of salt.
Rating: 
Summary: Insightful
Review: The book deals with each of the 48 laws with a very wide selection of parables, myths, anecdotes and stories from all over the world and form all times, illustrating the unchanging dynamics of power over the centuries. It features Chinese warlords, Roman and renaissance-Italian power-mongers, American and European conmen, famous courtiers from the French courts before the Revolution, and even musings by Thomas Edison. And of course, the book pays tribute to the power-writer of all time, Niccolo Machiavelli. Learning the game of power requires a certain way of looking at situations and shift of perspective. To master the art takes effort, which requires certain basic skills, once mastered one is able to apply the laws of power. The most fundamental of this skill is the ability to master your emotions. An emotional response to a situation is the greatest barrier to power, a mistake that will cost you a lot more than any temporary satisfaction you may gain by expressing your feelings. Emotions cloud reason, and if you cannot see the situation clearly, you cannot prepare for and respond to it with any degree of control.
Anger is the most destructive of the emotional responses, for it clouds your vision the most. It has a ripple effect that invariable makes situation less controllable and heightens your enemy's resolve. Love and emotions are potentially destructive in that they blind you to the often self-serving interests of those whom you least suspect. The writings by Greene are an essential guide to power play. They can help one be astute, alert, manipulative, cunning and provide an ability to strategize with the end goal in mind. A clear grasp and understanding of the situation is a must. The rhythm of power requires an alteration of force and cunning. Too much force creates a counter-reaction; too much cunning no matter how well thought makes it predictable. The 48 Laws of Power is very cynical and depicts a world without mercy. The book is written in a manner so as to inspire the reader to achieve great power with an iron fist by talking directly to the reader, much like a self-help tape. Despite this belligerent and unabating tone, and the fact that it takes over 500 pages to get through all the laws, it is very readable, very clear in its message and the laws in it are not to be easily refuted.
Rating: 
Summary: How to write an "original" book
Review: Well, you may do like Greene. Firstly, buy one or two old books full of "strong" statements. In his case, the two books are "The Art of Worldly Wisdom: A Pocket Oracle" by Baltasar Gracián and "Art of War" by Sun Tzu. Then, select interesting and astonishing statements as new "laws". Let me give examples in the case of the present book: Law 1 - corresponds to aphorism 7 of Gracian;
Law 2 - corresponds to aphorism 84 of Gracian;
Law 3 - corresponds to aphorism 45 and 98 of Gracian;
Law 4 - corresponds to aphorism 160 of Gracian;
Law 5 - corresponds to aphorism 185 and 97 of Gracian;
Law 6 - corresponds to aphorism 277 of Gracian;
Law 7 - corresponds to aphorism 62 of Gracian; etc. It is important to not choose an "exact" number of Laws. 40, 50, 60 is not good. 48 is good. It gives an impression of a scientific study. "How did they find 48? Well, they discovered it!"
After doing that, you only need to find out enjoyable stories that confirm your "laws". Great, the book is ready!...
Rating:
Summary: Defense
Review: In some sense this book offended me. It is cold and ruthless and the opposite of an aloha spirit. However, it also prepared me. I am in business internationally and you meet a lot of sharks. It is important to understand the offensive mindset to fabricate a defense when needed. I just finished my second reading of the book and plan to read it yearly.
Rating:
Summary: Incredible, Well Reserached, and Dangerous!
Review: I must admit that when I first read this book I thought to myself, "Ooh, I have to keep this one a secret!" But that lasted all of...well...it lasted for weeks actually, but the point is I eventually realized the danger of this book. Unlike "The Art of War" (The book, not the Wesley Snipes film silly!) this looks at many, many, leaders, conquerers, and manipulators, and reveals how they accomplished what they did, and how one could use that information to do some pretty unethical (and even illegal) things. But, the most important thing to realize about this book, is that it shows you a huge variety of ways that one can have power in situations, with the choice being up to YOU as to how ethical you will be with this knowledge. If you like NLP or Persuasion/Sales materiel, this is something very much worth adding to your reading list! But be warned, a weak Jedi becomes tempted by the Dark Side. Choose your side wisely.
That's My Opinion, ut You're Welcome To It!
Rating: 
Summary: Optimize yourself and others
Review: This book shows you how people throughout the ages manipulate situations and others. You will gain insight into the real world with this book. Learn how to optimize yourself, others and every circumstance. Read books like The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People to learn how to lead yourself and get along with others and Optimal Thinking: How to Be Your Best Self, to learn how to bring your best self to any situation, make the most of it and bring out the best in others.
Rating: 
Summary: The 48 Laws of Power
Review: First, let me say that I have to wonder if Robert Kaplan, who wrote "Warrior Politics: Why Leadership Demands a Pagan Ethos," published after Greene's book, ripped off his entire thesis from Greene's book. I'm still searching for attribution. And, what's more bizarre is how Newt Gingrich, one of the Neo-Cons of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board praises Kaplan's book. Indeed, if Kaplan read Greene but did not give him attribution while benefitting from his research, isn't it possible that Kaplan himself obeyed one of the 48 Laws? Like a sword of impure steel is the lie. He who lives by the lie shall die by the lie. Having said that, and having read a friend's copy of "The 48 Laws of Power," it seems to me that Greene's book was well written and researched. However, I disagree with the first reviewer. The decision of whether to live and see through the "48 laws" is not that from "The Matrix" of whether to eat the blue pill or the red pill, but it is the question from "The Lord of the Rings" in which Smeagle / Golem constantly asks himself who he is, wondering whether to kill his master and put on the Ring of Power, the Ring to Rule Them All, or to obey his master and break the power of the Ring and its maker. The result if he takes the Ring is to then be drawn to Sauron, the fashioner of the Ring of Power. Not so good. Afterall, could you really trust a master who teaches you that lying is the way to live? Which law is a lie and which is the truth? Here the question is whether one will be drawn to obey the fashioner of the rules of power set forth in the book, and who can say what influences worked on the primary and secondary sources cited by Greene to make his points, or Greene's own influences, one of which may have begun as resentment and culminated itself in a silent pride. We may all know and empathize with where Greene seems to be coming from, however, does anyone seriously think that Greene knows where he is going?
Rating:
Summary: Master art of manipulation - based on 3000 years of history.
Review: For just a few dollars, a lot of time and practice, almost anyone can now learn to manipulate the world around them and gain power. All you have to do is acquire this book, read it and apply the 48 laws over and over again till you start seeing results. It is a small price to pay in terms of time, effort, and money but a big price in terms of morality, ethics, and values. If power is what you want and nothing else - look no further, get this book and put it to use. This book is based on historical research going back 3000 years! The author deserves tremendous respect and applause for such a monumental work. I used to be concerned about the clear lack of fairness and justice in the world but after reading this book, I just shut up. It is obvious from 3000 years of historical information that the easiest route to gaining power is through that of manipulation. The operative word here is 'easiest'. There are other routes that could achieve a fraction of the results at a much great effort. If one wants to pay the high moral price, the methods are clear and documented. If not, there is no reason to waste energy complaining that life is not fair. The only caveat to reading this book is that the alternative to power through manipulation is quite fulfilling. Though you may not have as much power as you think you deserve, you will be happy and have some of your higher emotional, spiritual, and social needs satisfied. So it comes down to a choice and only you can make that choice based on your individual situation. To be fair, not all of the laws involve sacrificing your personal values, ethics, and morality. For example, Law 9 says 'Win through your actions, never through argument'. This makes sense and is the same as the old proverb 'actions speak louder than words'. No great danger in following this law. There are hundreds of actual quotations by very famous and infamous people spanning the past 3000 years throughout the book. The 400+ page book has a very nice and readable format with the quotations on the side of each page in red. If you wanted to just read the quotes, you could open any page and read the notes on the side written in red. So explore this powerful journey of a book at your own risk! Good luck!
Rating:
Summary: It's a game
Review: Obviously no one book can explain the infinite nuances of social interaction, but "The 48 Laws" comes a lot closer to getting to the heart of the matter than other works of this nature. I try to read every book as objectively as possible, keeping an open mind and finding ways to disagree with the author. A rule here and there I found a little ridiculous, such as rule #27: "Play on people's need to believe to create a cultlike following". Maybe that applies to some but it feels a little out of my league. Aside from other complaints like the book being occasionally contradictory, I found it profound, true, and straight to the point. Robert Greene simply describes the power moves people play but rarely admit too, and he isn't too concerned whether these laws are moral or not. After all he didn't create these laws he's just describing them. That he doesn't have a Phd. in Psychology doesn't affect my opinion that he pocesses a profoundly deep intuition about how humans think. It's sad but true, life can be a merciless game at times, and once you take a step back and see that, you wont take things as seriously and join in on the "fun". The guy I work for (okay my boss) is your typical brash, agressive person. He's not afraid to speak his mind and he hides personal insults at people inside his joking manner. "Oh relax, I'm just kidding around with you." Really, it's a game he plays to see what he can get away with, I see through him. I've watched him peck away at others searching for hidden weaknesses to take advantage of. Actually he follows law #33 to the tee: Discover Each Man's Thumbscrew. He probes people continuously looking for ways to exploit them, perhaps to get them to do more work than they should, or to have control over them. I've always been wary of him but I couldn't fully
articulate what he was about, that is until I read this book. I was shocked at how many laws this guy follows. Robert Greene described him perfectly. The guy does have more power than the others around him, however he does transgress some laws which hampers his overall success. For one he not very good at Concealing His Intentions (law #3). Am I the only one who knows someone likes this? I doubt it, so if you don't already know what makes people like this tick, read this book. It easier to deal with power-hungry people when you have a deeper understanding of their motivations and techniques.
The overall theme can be summed with this insightful quote from the book: "Everything (in todays society) must appear civilized, decent, democratic, and fair. But if we play by those rules too strictly, if we take them too literally, we are crushed by those around us who are not so foolish."
How true.
Rating:
Summary: MBA Education Without the Cost
Review: This book is simply one of the most insightful, educational, and useful books I have ever read. It contains many ideas employed in your typical MBA program. I have used the concepts, ideas, and theories to great success. They are useful for business, career, and in personal relationships. Amazingly, it is strikingly easy to read due to it's ingenious format. The examples are clear, funny, demonstrative, and at times -- chilling. I have given almost a dozen copies to friends and loved ones. I applaud the author on an amazingly clear and helpful book. A more detailed and expanded follow-up book would be a great addition to my library.
|
