Welcome! Today we’ll be reviewing The Art of War by Sun Tzu.
Review Summary
- Length: 13 sections, 33 pages
- Cover Type: Hard
- Personal Completion Time: Three Days
- TL;DR Summary: One of the greatest and most well known short works ever created, written by one of the greatest and most successful military leaders to have ever lived, this book contains both concrete and abstract lessons that can be applied both on the battlefield and in daily life.
- Book Link: Amazon
- Final Rating: 5 / 5 Stars
Written by one of the most successful and brightest military leaders in Chinese history, in “The Art of War” Sun Tzu masterfully distills his vast number of first-hand experiences leading armies and mastering the art of warfare. It should also be noted that even the origins of “asymmetric warfare”, the idea that one should only attack when the enemy has no opportunity to counter attack or defend itself, can likely be attributed to Sun Tzu – surprising considering that, to this day, historians know so little about the identity of Sun Tzu outside of the era in which he lived. Most interestingly, “The Art of War” may well have been lost forever had the fragments of bamboo strips on which Sun Tzu wrote his thoughts were never been recovered.
This book, while primarily addressing the literal specifics of how war is to be optimally fought and won in the BC era, is historically important not because of the fame and mystery of the man behind it, but rather because the lessons within those pages can be applied to an almost infinite number of situations. When reading this book it becomes strikingly obvious that the lessons Sun Tzu teaches apply not only to warfare, but to life – for example:
- “Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest of valleys; look upon them as your own beloved sons, and they will stand by you even unto death. If, however, you are indulgent, but unable to make your authority felt; kind-hearted, but unable to enforce your commands; and incapable, more-over, of quelling disorder: then your soldiers must be likened to spoiled children – and they are useless for any practical purpose.”
And this is just one shining example out of many that have made this book historically immortal – the lessons inside serve as the bedrock to any great leader, parent, manager, or general. I think it goes without saying that I love this book (faithfully translated by Lionel Giles), and given that the entire book is less than 50 pages it definitely is a “must read” for any and all lovers of history, warfare, or novelty and receives my highest recommendation.