The Art of War

Not terribly applicable to my daily life but had to be read, right? ( )

Bought to read for required readings at TBS in 2012. Read sporadically throughout and while in Oki. Referenced on occasions since then. Not meant to be read through in large chunks at a time.

The art of war by Sunzi is by far the oldest book I've ever read.
It still surprises me how relevant it is today. Luckily military strategy isn't used as much in the western world, but the proses are still applicable to our daily lives. I was able to make connections to my daily life, friendships, politics and much more.
Never have I written so much of my thoughts in the margins of my books.
This book is worth a read for everyone who likes history and Chinese culture. (that's me) ( )

I admit to reading this out of curiosity - why did Dr. Melfi recommend Tony Soprano read this and how did he then apply it. Interesting reading but as I already knew, I would make a lousy general. ( )

Read large chunks of this before, but finally sat down and read, cover-to-cover, The Art of War, as well as The Saying of Wuzi appended. I was underwhelmed before, and not much changed on re-reading. There's some good advice in the book but almost all of it is vague, fairly common-sense stuff. It doesn't have the piercing insights of Machiavelli or the appreciation of war's fundamental unpredictability like Clausewitz. You're certainly not going to become Napoleon by reading it.

The introduction by Tom Butler-Bowdon was also very meh. It's vaguely depressing how so much classical literature is just being repacked into trite truisms for the M.B.A. crowd. Also he describes Clausewitz's On War as "simple technical manuals on the mechanics of waging war", which really raised my eyebrow, because Clausewitz is certainly no less abstract than Sun Tzu or Wuzi.

I can't help but suspect that a lot of the staying power of On War is due to a lingering Orientalist mystique, the old stereotype of the wise Chinese grandmaster. And sort of like the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius, it's now the sort of book people use to signal something. ( )