Sun Tzu's the Art of War: Plus the Ancient Chinese Revealed [With Free Download of the MP3 Audio Book]

By Sun Tzu

Book Overview

Improving on all other versions of Sun Tzu's The Art of War, this translation is an award-winning, gift-quality hardcover book priced like a paperback. The left-hand pages contain the original Chinese... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1929194420
• ISBN13: 9781929194421
• Release Date: September 2007
• Publisher: Clearbridge Publishing
• Length: 159 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.3" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

A few grains of truth in a lot of chaff.

Today, many of Sun Tzu's quotes are floating around mixed with Shakespeare and the Bible. And as with many of the quotes, they are out of context and misleading. The quoter usually thinks that repeating the word is some sort of magic. This volume at least tries to show the facts of Sun Tzu and not go overboard on popular cultural deviations as to how to apply them to other disciplines. There is an excellent index if you are looking for something specific. It is easy with hindsight and a closer look at the future to dismiss Sun Tzu as his practical tactical knowledge is of a time and place long gone. He spends a lot of time on the use of weapons and information gathering techniques of the time. This can be interesting in a historical context; otherwise, it is quite amusing. Oh yes, those grains of truth I mentioned, well, they may sound like clichés, but they are still viable. "Know your enemy and know yourself". Others are just practical sense and statistical outcomes that you learn in any military training. I could go through the list, but again, that is why you buy the book. Now, just as you decide that the book is outdated for any practical purposes today, we have artillery and now stealth and precision, the reminder that "no two wars are alike" and "it is the flexibility that makes a difference" is still true. Even in today's wars, there is a need for good intelligence and deception. We put a lot of time and energy into Psy-Ops. Sun Tzu shows the advantage of specialized units and crack troops. I have spent several years in the military and business and can say this book is a nice addition to history, otherwise of very little value to today's world for war or business.