The Art of War (Barnes & Noble Classics Series) (Military Strategy, Tactics, and Diplomacy, #1) (Sun Tzu, #1) (Capstone Classics, #2)

by Sun Tzu

Dallas Galvin (Introduction) and Professor Lionel Giles (Translator)

An ancient Chinese treatise on war stresses the importance of speed, sound tactics, subterfuge, discipline, appropriate form of attack, and accurate intelligence.

• ISBN10: 1411431758
• ISBN13: 9781411431751
• Publish Date: 1 June 2009 (first published 1 January 1908)
• Publish Status: Active
• Imprint: Barnes & Noble Classics
• Format: eBook
• Pages: 256
• Language: English

Reviews

[sa090]

I read this book as the Arthimancy prompt of the OWLs Readathon of 2020, read a book outside of your favourite genre and for a light read it wasn't as daunting as I thought it would be. Yes, I unfortunately struggle a lot with books that are not carrying the FANTASY tag.

Anyho, I do think that this would have benefited me a lot in a recent experience in my life where I came out as a total loser, I lost 95% of the battles and I'm still not sure about status of the war. I wish that I could have taken these teachings and engraved them in how I dealt with that experience because it might have gotten me a bigger win at some point. The Art of War is excellent if you are in a military profession or in a profession that requires you to think as Sun Tzu dictates. I'm neither at the moment, so while I did enjoy it, I wouldn't say it's something that I will carry with me for a long time.

I did enjoy the lessons, the way he depicts the strategies with the armies he's against, his point of view was extremely objective and it did make me somewhat interested to read more about him at some point. This brings me to my main gripe with the book, and why I couldn't love it. The lack of examples. To clarify, he does give one line scenarios on how armies are positioned and such, but I would often find myself wishing he expanded in these by retelling one of the battles he might have been in or someone else.

China is home to wartime history told in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms, if any of the battles there applied to what he was talking about (assuming he couldn't put any of his own), it would have been epic. Japan as well, I'm sure the Chinese had more than there fair share of battles with them.

Alas, I didn't get that at all in the book other than the first instance where Sun Tzu had the encounter with the emperor and his concubines. So it left a little too much to be desired.

It's a good book, no one denies that, but I needed a little more out of it before I could really enjoy it.

[manonblackbeak]

Pensé que sería aburrido, pero no, fue interesante y lo disfrute mucha más de lo que esperaba.

[Michael @ Knowledge Lost]

Sun Tzu’s ‘The Art of War’ is one of the most talked about books on war or even business strategy. It only took me a few hours to read but it feels like it would take a lifetime to fully understand. There is so much in this book, notable things like ‘one must choose one’s battles’, ‘research, planning, organization and a positive attitude are important to success’, ‘one should observe due diligence’ and ‘embrace change’. Many have used and applied The Art of War into many different aspects of modern art and it is easy to see how it would work in everyday situations. There really isn’t much to say about this book. It’s just a straight-down-the-line book on basic strategy for diplomacy and conflict.