The Art of War, By Sun Tzu

[stanislaw]

Has anyone read this book. it is an awesome book that actually can help you in the buisnes world, it is infinatly less destructive than clauswitz, any comments?

[incka]

If it is good for the business world I'm printing myself a copy!

[mazarane]

I've not read it, but would never have assumed it was relevant to the business world- I suppose in many ways it is logical though...

[incka]

I have heard alot about it, I am very interested in any kind of stratergy, whether it be business related or war related.

[stanislaw]

Well it was originally designed for war tactics, but much of what is there can be eisily aplied to the buisness world, it is a timeless classic.

For anybody who want to read it, The Literature Network has a good copy.

[Anonymous]

The strategie of surrounding works well. It come in use when playing Age of Empires

[James Bond]

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[Sycron]

I have a really nice copy that includes all 4 variations of the ancient text. I haven't completed the entire thing yet, but just by skimming around, you learn a surprising amount of strategy.

[nycteris]

I've heard of this, but neve read it; was the author the guy who said 'the first rule of warfare is to know your enemy'?

Is the language, being a transaltion, difficult to follow? I'm quite interested in this; i'd looked for a copy about six years ago, and couldn't find one within my then-limited sphere of access, but if it's worth it, i'll definitely look again.

@ sycron: who published your copy?

[jibbly]

it used to be the "big thing" in the business world to have read that book(according to my brother-in-law).

i read it a few years after he'd mentioned it. i'm in no way militaristically inclined, i've never been in the army etc. but when i read it, the info. seemed to be pretty common sense, no huge surprises really.

act strong when you're not, act weak when you're strong.
remember you need supplies (food, water, etc.). choose sure footed ground rather than boggy/swamp areas. have a good spy network.

granted, if you tweek the wording here and there it's an excellent book for cut-throat capitalistic businessmen who are willing to destroy competition for financial/economical gain.

and i really do like the name Sun Tzu, its pretty cool sounding.

[oceanflower]

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[follow_me_around]

it consists some of the world's greatest strategy. We used it as one of referrences in the strategic studies class.

complete strategies can be found here

http://www.chinapage.com/sunzi-e.html


cheers[/url]

[follow_me_around]

i posted twice, so i just edited this one :)

cheers

[Sisyphis]

I have read it, and it does apply brilliantly to business in the modern world - but the best businessmen recognise that the strategies apply against the consumers as well - not just the apparent competition. War, like business, is domination, so this text reads like a strategy for dominance.

[jcjc]

B.H. Liddell-Hart's Strategy is much, much better.

[Maduro_Scotty]

Excellent book, I picked this one up a few months ago and found it to be in the same league as The Prince. I was intrigued with how scholars debate as to whether or not Sun Tzu actually wrote it, not to mention the historical time *****(A picture goes into it, ooooooh-naughty!) of which it is purportedly written. No matter when it was written or by who, there is no doubt that it is highly influential. My copy of the book contains a big preface which meticulously plots how Mao Zedong revered the book and sought to use it to help his Red Army overcome the nationlist forces in China. You can also see some Tao and naturalist Chinese influences in the strategy as well. Considerations of the environment and terrain are most obvious to me. The musings in relation to not staying in a place for too long all but remind me of Iraq in recent days. I've commented on this in greater depth in a blog post of mine. (http://sfgmusings.blogspot.com/2006_02_26_sfgmusings_archive.html) The greatness of this book is some of the timelss advice that can be given. Advice that our leaders should've been wise to learn from had they been reading material other than My Pet Goat. :rolleyes: