The Art Of War is truly an inspirational and informational piece of text written by Sun Tzu. The book goes through some of the best ways to execute a thorough and true war plan to conquer your enemies no matter what you are presented with. This book is truly something important that depending on your job and experience should be read at some point in your life.

Throughout the text Sun Tzu is taking the reader through some of the most applicable and descriptive quotes that can actually benefit you in a war situation or even a normal day battle or personal Challenge. This type of writing style is very easy to connect to and gives you a deep understanding about what is being said. There are a few such instances of these deep quotes that I would like to talk about. To start I see Sun Tzu as the almost standoffish type. He would rather not fight at all then be engaged in some sort of war that he can or can't win. He is a very wise man that came up with some ideas about fighting if he ever ends up encountering it in a war situation but he still would rather stay out of the conflict in general. Now onto the quotes. The first one that I read I now recite to myself all the time no matter what I’m or where I'm going. Danger is a sign something is not right or not safe: Sun Tzu says “Danger has a bracing effect.” This stays in my mind because It makes me feel at ease because even if there's danger it may be subtle or a pushing factor into doing something the right or safe way. Another one that sticks out to me is Sun Tzu saying “In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity”. This quotation sticks with me too because it means that no matter what comes your way or what attacks you there is always an opportunity to do the right thing or learn from it.

I truly believe that this book is an amazing book for many different demographics because of the true meaning behind it. It was a good read and I would definitely recommend it for anyone looking for an inspirational and informational book.

The Art of War" is a timeless masterpiece that transcends its historical origins. Sun Tzu's wisdom on strategy and tactics is as relevant today as it was when it was written centuries ago.

The clarity of Sun Tzu's principles is striking. His insights into the nature of conflict, leadership, and preparation are invaluable not only for military strategists but also for anyone seeking to excel in competitive environments, whether in business, sports, or everyday life.

The book is structured in a concise and accessible manner, making it easy to digest and apply its teachings. Sun Tzu's emphasis on the importance of understanding oneself and the opponent, adaptability, and the art of deception are particularly enlightening.

What makes this book truly outstanding is its capacity to provoke thought and inspire strategic thinking. It encourages readers to think beyond the immediate context and to consider how these principles can be applied in various aspects of life.

In conclusion, "The Art of War" is a must-read for anyone interested in strategy, leadership, and human psychology. Sun Tzu's timeless wisdom continues to be a guiding light for those who seek excellence in the art of conflict and competition.

This is one of the all time great military classics on strategy put out by the Chinese. The book comprising of 13 chapters was penned by Sun Tzu and has been studied widely both with in and without China. Even business men are reading this great book of strategy.

The subject of Sun Tzu can be rather nebulous. Some historians find that there's sources that mention Sun Tzu in context of some event and then there are other historical sources that mention him in the same context as not being there. There is some speculation about his existence. There is also speculation about his role in Chinese society. It is widely believed that he was a general and a noble.

This book is a translation of Sun Tzu's famous text yet it also proffers a historical background and commentaries on what Sun Tzu wrote. The commentaries themselves are rather informative and help to give the reader clarity and background. However, sometimes they are placed right in the middle of the quote which makes it difficult to get the whole gist of the quote unless you go back and reread what you just read.

The original work as noted earlier consists of thirteen chapters which tell about almost every aspect of military planning, execution and post victory. The first three chapter talk about planning a siege, attacking by stratagem and waging war. The next 4 chapters discuss tactical design, energy, finding the enemies weak points and maneuvers. Finally there is variations of tactics, marching the army , terrains, nine situations and the use of fire and spies.

For the master strategist or someone aspiring to be this book will have several nuggets of wisdom. The importance of knowing yourself and your enemy are vital to your success. Variate your tactics and keep your enemy confused never let the enemy figure you out. Keep them guessing as to your actual plans and intention. Not only should your enemy be in the dark but so should your subordinates. There is plenty of people nformation about how to treat the troops and more.

A Timeless Masterpiece Insightful and Elegantly Presented

This Wisehouse Classics edition of The Art of War breathes new life into Sun Tzu’s legendary treatise. The layout is clean and easy to read, with a thoughtful introduction that adds valuable historical context.

What stood out:

The crisp, modern typesetting makes the ancient text more accessible without losing its poetic power.

The included paraphrased commentary helps unpack the strategic ideas and their relevance today.

Compact and well-bound it feels sturdy and makes for a great travel companion or desk reference.

Even after so many centuries, The Art of War still offers profound lessons in leadership, strategy, and decision-making and this Wisehouse edition delivers them with style and readability.

Ideal for students, professionals, and anyone curious about timeless wisdom.

Highly recommended!

Excellent book. Thought provoking and insightful.

It's Art of War, what more do you need to know? Well, for starters, there's some expounding on various details added throughout/unless I am mistaken. It's size is a bit bulky for how much is on the pages (i.e. there's a lot of empty space). This is my first copy of the book so I need to learn more!

If you have questions about what exactly Sun Tzu (Wu) meant when he wrote something in his “Art of War,” you’ll often not find it in this book. True, as best I can tell, these are the words of Sun Tzu, as translated and edited by the renowned Lionel Giles in 1910. However, the book is stripped of Giles’ lengthy introduction, notes, sources, etc., which go to make his full book easily many times larger than the stripped-down version you’ll find here. Don’t believe me? Check out the online Giles versions downloadable for free. Other translations, most with valuable introductions, notes, and forewards (one by the famous military strategist Liddell Hart) include those by Griffith (1963), Cleary (1988), Clavell (1983-89), Gagliardi (1999), Minford (2002), Harris (2018), and several others.

So, why did I buy this book? I had been looking for an inexpensive print copy of “The Art of War,” and Amazon mentioned this version when I bought a related strategy book as “Frequently bought together.” Other print versions were two, three, four, and more times as expensive. This print book is priced more along the lines of what the other translations charge for Kindle copies. So, through a combination of “good” advertising, luck, or a fluke of Amazon “The Art of War” title aggregation (currently 12,078 ratings with 448,977 ratings on Goodreads for presumably all versions), this version of “The Art of War” is ranked at the moment as Amazon book #344. Also helping persuade me was the book description that said, “This edition approved by the Holden-Crowther Organisation for Asian Studies.” Unfortunately, other than the organization’s name being attached to this book, I can now find nothing else about it.

As a sample of the differences between Giles' stripped-out and versions of his translation, note in the two examples below the difference between just Sun Tzu’s words in quotes and what is appended to the quoted material in the brackets:

III. ATTACK BY STRATAGEM

4. …“the preparation of mantlets, movable shelters, and various implements of war, will take up three whole months;”

[It is not quite clear what the Chinese word, here translated as “mantlets”, described. Ts`ao Kung simply defines them as “large shields,” but we get a better idea of them from Li Ch`uan, who says they were to protect the heads of those who were assaulting the city walls at close quarters. This seems to suggest a sort of Roman TESTUDO, ready made. Tu Mu says they were wheeled vehicles used in repelling attacks, but this is denied by Ch`en Hao. See supra II. 14. The name is also applied to turrets on city walls. Of the “movable shelters” we get a fairly clear description from several commentators. They were wooden missile-proof structures on four wheels, propelled from within, covered over with raw hides, and used in sieges to convey parties of men to and from the walls, for the purpose of filling up the encircling moat with earth. Tu Mu adds that they are now called “wooden donkeys.”]

IV Tactical Dispositions

10. “To lift an autumn hair is no sign of great strength;…”

[“Autumn” hair” is explained as the fur of a hare, which is finest in autumn, when it begins to grow afresh. The phrase is a very common one in Chinese writers.]

General Comment: As a result of stripping out the commentary and leaving just Sun Tzu’s quotes, the book of 68 numbered pages has 10 that are totally blank so that following sections can begin on odd-numbered pages. These blank pages could have been used to explain why the publisher found it necessary to put section nine out of the original order, moving it up to right after section four. For as many reasons I can think to move it, I find the same number of reasons to let it stay. Humbly, I say, “If the honorable Sun Tzu put his sections in a particular order, I’ll respect his choice.” Still not content with Lionel Giles’ translation, the publishers have introduced a couple of typos. The book, however, does include all of Sun Tzu’s advice in his own words, so you’re definitely not getting a “CliffsNotes” version. And, I believe that any ascription of the translation to James Clavell is incorrect. He wrote a foreward, edits, and notes to the book, but I believe he used Giles’ translation.

Bottom-line, with this printed book, you will get a fair translation of Sun Tzu’s work (Giles’ 1910 translation is in the public domain). However, IMHO, you’ll often not get the full meaning, and thus wisdom, of Sun Tzu’s thoughts. If that's important to you, you may want to look elsewhere. Live and learn: always “Look inside” when you can!

Of possible interest for those interested in strategy, here’s a book on winning strategies used throughout history by 87 master strategists (includes an overview of Sun Tzu): Strategic Advantage: How to Win in War, Business, and Life

-If you have inconsistent or poor performances on your team, you NEED to read this book!

-If you are the type of leader that is "too nice" and you feel like your employees take advantage of you, you NEED to read this book!

-If your employees are terrified of you, you NEED to read this book!

This is how this book changed my life:

My first big promotion was getting the General Manager position of a restaurant at 21 years old, and I did everything I could to make my employees happy (bringing the principals from "First Break All the Rules- What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently" which is also imperative to help you measure and understand how to make an amazing work environment for your employees), and it worked wonders- at first. My employees were happy and my customer reviews sky rocketed!!

However, over time some employees started to push the lines of respect with me and others, and some just started to outright ignore me or give me attitude. I was devastated! How could they treat me disrespectfully after I had spent months bending over backwards finding out and giving them everything they needed to be happy at work??? I praised them tirelessly, I thanked them constantly, I encouraged them, I personally trained them, I got them equipment and supplies they need to do a good job, I was spending one-on-one time with each of them would ask how their lives were, etc! I was the "nicest boss...." who was also turning out to be a pushover.

You can have all the kindness in the world but it makes your team useless if you have no discipline at the same time! The Bible says God disciplines His children BECAUSE He loves us. Otherwise, we turn into monsters! Which is what I was beginning to experience with my team.

I HAD NO DISCIPLINE, and NEITHER DID MY TEAM. Why would they respect me? I thought discipline was bad- "punishment" you gave and "punishment" was mean. Nope... turns out every team needs it, and if you are CONSISTENTLY and FAIRLY giving predictable and fore-warned discipline all the time, along with kindness, which Sun Tzu talks about in the book as well, you will have an amazing team. This is my favorite quote from the book that finally turned the light bulb on for me:

Page 26 #42-45:

"If soldiers are punished before they have grown attached to you, they will not prove submissive; and, unless submissive, then will be practically useless. If, when the soldiers have become attached to you, punishments are not enforced, they will still be useless.

Therefore soldiers must be treated in the first instance with humanity, but kept under control by means of iron discipline. This is a certain road to victory.

If in training soldiers commands are habitually enforced, the army will be well-disciplined; if not, its discipline will be bad.

If a general shows confidence in his men but always insists on his orders being obeyed, the gain will be mutual."

AND YES IT WAS! Over time, not only did my employees love coming into work EVEN MORE, but they worked harder, my customers were happier, and so was I. People are comforted to know their boss will always be kind AND fair. If you never know how your boss will treat you, it creates uncertainty and anxiety with the team that always leaks out to the customers.

It took me only a couple weeks to begin fully implementing this mindset with my employees. At first, I'm not going to lie- it shocked them a bit and they didn't believe when me I would tell them I would be disciplining them if they didn't follow through or finish a direct order I had given them. I had to fire one manager who was undermining me to the team, and then everyone saw I was serious and fell right into line. Of course, I did all of this will extreme kindness.

Discipline should never be nasty or hateful or done when you are fuming angry. The employees need kind, proper and consistent warnings before they receive any consequences (which I learned to start doing right from onboarding them at orientation- saved me a lot of time and trouble), and then if and when the time comes for the formal discipline, they know by then that it was totally their choice, and you are only following through on what you said would happen.

There are SO MANY MORE GREAT QUOTES in this book. Just get it. Get a highlighter and pick out the diamonds that you need. Go over them time and again and become the amazing leader of your life and of your team you are meant to be!

Ready for war after reading and analyzing, and general strategies, also for the memes.

Bra bok

Dão ao grande general o seu sucesso.

Nunca persiga seu inimigo, encontre o terreno mais alto e o faça segui-lo.

Small but mighty.

Excelente lectura.