The Art of War by Sun Tzu Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of The Art of War
Book Review: Art of War
Summary: 4 Stars
This book would be good to read if you are looking to learn something. If you are just pleasure reading, this would be a book to stay away from. "The Art of War", is basicly a text on how to fight a war in ancient Chinese times. Many of it's teachings can be applyed to our world today. It can give you an edge in sports, business, and actial war.Book Review: Art of war falls short of expectations
Summary: 3 Stars
The Art of War is a timeless classic written by a Chinese expert on war. Its principles can be applied to a wide variety of subjects and can be interpreted in a vast array of contexts. However, as musc as the book is praised and "hyped" it really fell short of my expectations. It is not a "Bible" of life, ie. rules to live by for success, but rather a collection of Chinese proverbs that are loosely organized and somewhat difficult to relate to at times. Moreover, most editions have prefaces and other "additions" by the person who translated the text, so in reality Sun Su's work was about 70 pages in my edition. I would not recommend buying the book, rent it at the local library instead and save it for a rainy day. For a great motivational book, I would recommend The Fountainhead by Aynn Rand.Book Review: Best Book on Leadership Ever Written
Summary: 5 Stars
For years I've heard people refer to this book as the ultimate tactical planner's guide. However, I never took the time to read it because I was turned off by images of greedy, yuppie stockbrokers refering to this book as their Bible. I didn't want to read anything recommended by corporate head-hunter types. I detested those individuals and any philosophy they espoused.However, when the war in Afghanistan started, I became fascinated with military tactics and questioned why we have to bomb everything in sight. Is that the only way to win a war and does bombing actually end the conflict or prolong it? I picked up this book hoping to glean some Eastern wisdom from the legendary Sun Tzu. I was not disappointed.
Sun Tzu confirmed everything my instincts had been telling me about this dunderheaded Clausewitzean approach to military tactics. The US's overrealiance on ordinance and smart munitions has resulted in us becoming more and more tactically and politically inept. Our military destroys infrastracture and imposes silly sanctions that only prolong the "total war". In the end we exhaust our resources, frustrate our troops, alieanate our public, and forever ruin the indigenous people's lives. The tragic irony being we do more damage to the people we are trying to save than the "enemy" could have done himself.
Individuals like Bin Laden could have been apprehended had we taken up the offers of the Sudanese or freed up the small tactical units that warned us of this nutjob years ago. Instead we blunder forward with our highly destructive and inevitably ineffectual answer which is attrition warfare. The same thing that probably got us in this mess in the first place.
Sun Tzu, amazingly enough, predicted 2,500 years ago that this total war approach (destroying your enemy's property, stealing the enemy's food and riches) was actually more destructive to the endgame and to the overrall political objective. He eloquently advanced the notion that the true art of war is to conquer your enemy without ever actually going to battle!
Sun Tzu's heavy emphasis on psychological warfare (using spies to spread rumors and cause division in enemy ranks, disguising troop movements by appearing more formidable than you actually are, and winning through skillful negotiation) all seem concepts lost on today political and military elite. Sun Tzu preached you must possess the victory BEFORE ever setting foot on the battlefield. Despite the book being a military manual, I was surprised at how much emphasis was placed on avoiding war and pursuing mental and psychological victories. When Sun Tzu preached "know your enemy" he wanted you to know the endgame. He wanted you to see the bloodshed and the loss and determine if it was even worth it to use military force in an effort to achieve a political objective.
Our "100 hour" wars have become decades-long nightmares. Our reliance on air bombardment is resulting in us ignoring many of the brilliant small unit tactics that Sun Tzu espoused, thus we've had to reign in even more fire from above because our troops down below are insufficiently trained. We've abandoned the principles of deception. Because of our overreliance on technology, we've abandoned using human intelligence (which Sun Tzu strongly espoused) thus we have no moles, no double agents, and inevitably, no reliable intelligence on our enemy. In short, we don't know our enemy. We've sold ourselves on Clausewitz' destructive theories of attrition warfare. We've forgotten that the most effective and most advanced weapon in our arsenal is our brain.
Book Review: Beyond War: Sun Tzu Explains Strategy & Politics
Summary: 5 Stars
Although Karl von Clausewitz stated that war is an extension of politics, Sun Tzu imparted that wisdom hundreds of years before. As a result, his book embellishes on politics and human behavior as much as strategy and warfare. Students and enthusiasts of political science, strategy, the humanities or military affairs will appreciate the wisdom embodied in Samuel Griffin's elaboration of Sun Tzu's timeless work. As Sun Tzu impresses throughout the book, "the supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting."Politicians and pundits would do well to heed the acumen found within the pages of The Art of War. In the foreword B. H. Liddell Hart, the famous British military strategist, highlights Sun Tzu's warning that "there has never been a protracted war from which a country has benefited." Hart also describes the prose as embodying realism and moderation beyond that of Clausewitz, with a constant emphasis on doing the unexpected and pursuing the indirect approach.
Sun Tzu's wisdom presents an opportunity for enlightenment to any that peruse the book. Students of politics, strategy or human behavior will find a wealth of knowledge within its pages. It proves especially beneficial and timely for those policy makers and military analysts currently engaged in the war on terrorism. The terrorists and their accomplices surely will continue trying to use the indirect approach. Our leaders would do well to understand and apply the same principles.
I highly recommend this book for everyone with an interest in politics or military affairs.
Book Review: Bobby Knight says so
Summary: 5 Stars
I was in a class taught by Bobby Knight at Indiana University last semster and he didn't talk about basketball. He talked about leadership and how to suceed in life. And the book he used to to explain all this was Tzu: THe Art of War. He told us that he used this book alot in life and read from it during classes. After that I read the book, I realized where his shade of greatness comes from.