Baby Got Books

The Art of War

Having been absolutely blown away by Machiavelli’s The Prince, I decided to further feed my appetite for ages-old learning on strategy by reading Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, which dates back to at least 500 B.C. And my eagerness to read this book was further bolstered by the claims in the book’s introduction that it has served as essential reading for leaders including Napoleon, Patton, MacArthur, Stalin, Mao Zedong, and Castro.

Well, Sun Tzu is no Machiavelli. Which doesn’t mean that he wasn’t a smart guy — it just means that trying to apply the techniques and principles espoused in The Art of War to my everyday life is a bit more difficult than behaving in a Machiavellian fashion.

There are some pretty good nuggets here, though, which I think merit some credit because they were first articulated by Sun Tzu so long ago: “All warfare is based on deception.” “Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him.” “Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected.” These ideas are indeed useful in business, in sports, and in other areas in which you seek an advantage (including, I suppose, in war). And he even includes a couple of ideas that are all too relevant in our current world: “There is no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare.” “[T]hough we have heard of stupid haste in war, cleverness has never been seen associated with long delays.”

But many of Sun Tzu’s principles are either common sense (and would seem to have been matters of common sense even 2500 years ago), or are so specific to waging battle in China in Sun Tzu’s time that they are not really that enlightening or useful. “If it is to your advantage, make a forward move; if not, stay where you are.” Uhm, thanks for that tip, Sherlock. “One cartload of the enemy’s provisions is equivalent to twenty of one’s own, and likewise a single picul of his provender is equivalent to twenty from one’s own store.” “With this loss of substance and exhaustion of strength, the homes of the people will be stripped bare, and three-tenths of their income will be dissipated; while government expenses for broken chariots, worn-out horses, breast-plates and helmets, bows and arrows, spears and shields, protective mantles, draught-oxen and heavy wagons, will amount to four-tenths of its total revenue.” Okay — I’ll try to keep that in mind.

This is a very short and I think worthwhile read, but keep your expectations reasonable in terms of what sorts of ancient learning you might take away and implement in your life.

Books, Non-Fiction, Review | Shaft | November 10, 2008 8:35 am

8 Comments

By Mike, November 10, 2008 @ 10:12 am

Thanks for the review. I’ve had this sitting on my bookshelf for ages. Now I know to put it on the reading list.
By Tim, November 10, 2008 @ 11:47 am

Is Phil Jackson picking your books out these days?
By Mike, November 10, 2008 @ 2:34 pm

lol. Nah. I picked it up on a whim.
By Tim, November 10, 2008 @ 5:13 pm

Mike, I was actually giving Shaft a hard time here, since he was mentioning going from Machiavelli to Sun Tzu – two of the “Zen Master’s” personal favorites…
By Shaft, November 10, 2008 @ 9:21 pm

It’s all part of my master plan to take over the blog.
By Mike, November 10, 2008 @ 11:34 pm

I’m the new guy. Did I entangle myself in a blood feud?

lol
By Tim, November 11, 2008 @ 11:28 am

No blood feud.

But there can be only one…
By Shaft, November 11, 2008 @ 4:38 pm

Watch it, or I might set fire to your wagons and camp out upwind, soliciting your villagers to join my campaign.