book 40 – The Art of War
I absolutely read this book because it’s on Neil deGrasse Tyson’s list of 8 “must read” books (the rest are listed at the bottom of this post, if you are interested). I picked up a free copy on Amazon that was translated and annotated by Lionel Giles, and he, in turn, has summarized and analysed the annotations of an additional 11 commentators. I wasn’t intending to pick up an annotated copy, but as it turns out, Giles includes many examples of actual battles in ancient China to demonstrate a point of interpretation which provides this particular copy with some nice tidbits of Chinese history.
The book itself is a very short, 50-odd page treatise on the proper execution of war and advises the reader in various strategies around how to win. In fact, one key strategy for engaging in war is to only do so if you are certain you can win, and that you can do so in short order because a long, drawn-out war is too costly (and risky). Essentially, the book advises that the general understand in detail the terrain, weather patterns, emotions of the army, and goals and strategies of the enemy. Because of how the book provides a template for winning a war with minimal battle engagement, the book has also become a guideline for business tactics such as trial strategy, negotiating and corporate tactics. I’m not entirely convinced the extension of The Art of War into business and law is a great idea since at the end of the day it describes a zero-sum game, whereas I believe there are strategies to be considered where neither party has to necessarily “lose”. But it is interesting and enlightening to think that war strategies from 2500 years ago have developed into applications in use today.
Rating: Buy it. I mean, it’s basically free (totally free electronically, in fact). The hardest decision will be whether to pick up an annotated copy.
The book list from NdGT:
- The Bible (public library; free ebook), to learn that it’s easier to be told by others what to think and believe than it is to think for yourself
- The System of the World (public library; free ebook) by Isaac Newton, to learn that the universe is a knowable place
- On the Origin of Species (public library; free ebook) by Charles Darwin, to learn of our kinship with all other life on Earth
- Gulliver’s Travels (public library; free ebook) by Jonathan Swift, to learn, among other satirical lessons, that most of the time humans are Yahoos
- The Age of Reason (public library; free ebook) by Thomas Paine, to learn how the power of rational thought is the primary source of freedom in the world
- The Wealth of Nations (public library; free ebook) by Adam Smith, to learn that capitalism is an economy of greed, a force of nature unto itself
- The Art of War (public library; free ebook) by Sun Tzu, to learn that the act of killing fellow humans can be raised to an art
- The Prince (public library; free ebook) by Machiavelli, to learn that people not in power will do all they can to acquire it, and people in power will do all they can to keep it
