Read Online The Art Of War Sun Tzu Books

Product details Paperback 68 pages Publisher Filiquarian; First Thus edition (November 7, 2007) Language English ISBN-10 1599869772

The Art Of War Sun Tzu Books Reviews

• I want to tell future readers of this book in this way. I read it first when I was 14 or 15. I thought it was a book on how to smartly fight a war. Then I re-read it when I was 28 and it occurred to me that it may be an instruction book on how to navigate an honorable life. Years passed and I recently found it at the bottom of a box in my closet. I read it again at age 56. I realized it has more to offer. If you read this book, you will actively have to replace Sun Tzus' ancient terms and placement of hierarchy and apply them to modern situations and people. Family, bosses, neighbors, employees and the list goes on. It is my belief that this "manual" can help solve minor and major disruptions in life if used correctly. It is a book meant for good.
• This is a ~15 page "summary" of the book. Ordered this thinking it was the full text because it doesn't say otherwise in the description.
• Just received the book. No where in the description does it say it is a shortened version of the book. I feel like I was ripped off
• It’s clear that Mr. Gagliardi is extremely passionate about all things Sun Tzu. Through various repackaged books sold both here at and through the “Science of Strategy Institute” he set up to sell you Sun Tzu themed board games and videos, he has certainly created a virtual cottage industry of Sunzi-phernalia. In addition, he also offers personalized training packages for up to $1,500 to amp up your ability to unleash the power of Sun Tzu’s system of total and complete victory in all competitive endeavors you face, whether in the boardroom or the bedroom.
  
  But all of this aside, how successful is Mr. Gagliardi at his most basic task competently translating Sun Tzu’s original text, The Art of War? The answer not very.
  
  This book is a complete mess, with unforgivable errors in both translation and general knowledge concerning China and the Warring States era present in almost every verse. In lieu of a laundry list I will give you just a one line example where Mr. Gagliardi clearly shows that he is out of his depth in terms of translation competence. I maintain a database of 30 translations of The Art of War in English that I use to compare and contrast various efforts, and included the screenshot of the relevant verse so you can compare it to how others have approached the text.
  
  In Chapter 11, Sun Tzu is concerned that his own soldiers might either break and run or else refuse to support the other flanks of his own army while in battle. To show how this can be remedied, Sun Tzu brings up the example of how a certain snake can provide a valuable lesson for his soldiers. As Gagliardi translates it, the line reads “Act like an ordinary mountain snake.”
  
  From a novice’s perspective, this could be a defensible translation choice. The original Chinese characters for this line are
  
  CHANG SHAN ZHI SHE
  
  If you looked up each character individually via the internet you could definitely make a case that the line could read
  
  ordinary mountain (of) snake
  
  The problem is that professional translation doesn’t work this way (a one-for-one translation of characters), and you have to understand all of the nuances applicable to how these thoughts are put together, especially when you are talking about a millennia old text written in a language vastly different than its modern equivalent. What a competent Sinologist would easily understand, but Gagliardi obviously didn’t, is that the character CHANG isn’t functioning as an adjective modifying the noun “snake,” but instead is the proper noun indicating the name of the mountain on which the snake resides. So the line should read
  
  “Act like the snake of Mt. Chang”
  
  So while Gagliardi is perfectly content in his own ignorance that Sun Tzu is talking about an ordinary snake, what the text is really saying is that he needs his soldiers to be like an EXTRAordinary snake which possesses the magical ability to continue providing support to its endangered other half even after being cleaved into two separate parts.
  
  Now if you are looking to really get beyond the basics of the translation (say like someone who is willing to shell out $1,500 for advanced personal lessons) and might be curious where this Mt. Chang is located and why it was relevant to Sun Tzu, you might be surprised. Sun Tzu never actually mentioned Mt. Chang, but instead was referring to a Mt. Heng, where this extraordinary snake supposedly lived (by the way, Sun Tzu gave the snake a name, the Shuairan, a fact that was completely missed by Gagliardi). It turns out that the oldest extant copy of the Art of War was transcribed during the Han Dynasty period. What professional Sinologists know but Mr. Gagliardi might not, is that in classical Chinese there was a prohibition on using characters that were the same as the personal name of the sitting emperor. At around the same time as we believe the earliest version of The Art of War was transcribed, Emperor Wen of Han was sitting on the throne and had a personal name of “Liu Heng” which means that “Heng” would need to be omitted from all texts. “Heng” actually means “Perseverance” and it turns out that “Chang” also carries the meaning of “Perseverance” so Mt. Heng was changed to Mt. Chang to get around this prohibition—an interesting tidbit for your next trivia night.
  
  Of course the name change does nothing to impact your understanding of the Art of War, but does illustrate the difference between buying a copy of the The Art of War from a professional Sinologist who understands both the translation issues and can provide relevant historical and philosophical background, and the rank amateur who does this for a hobby and wants to pass off an inferior product hoping you won't know the difference. There are too many professionally done Sun Tzu translations available by qualified individuals (Ames, Griffith, Sawyer, Ivanhoe, Mair, Minford) to justify paying the same amount of money for Mr. Gagliardi’s lackluster effort.
  
  You wouldn’t select a surgeon for your triple-bypass surgery simply because he was “passionate” about cutting people open and learned some things on the internet. You would want to select someone who has years of relevant professional experience under their belt, and just as important, board certified. Fortunately, the stakes aren't quite so high when choosing the best Sun Tzu translation, but the same principle should apply. Don't be an ordinary purchaser of this classic text, be an extraordinary one.
• NOT THE FULL TEXT....these are the cliff notes......product page sucks.
• The advice in this book still stands today, specifically regarding the use of spies and several of the land based tactics. Allow me to elaborate.
  
  As we do every Tuesday morning, I met with my local men's group for our workout on the local preschool playground, the only location where one can engage in the strenuous exercises of running up slides and seesaw step aerobics. And as with every other Tuesday, those darn preschoolers invaded, effectively smashing our vanguard and dividing our force, which spurned a tactical retreat that quickly turned into a rout.
  
  While checking for some first aid supplies to refill our field dressing kits, I came across this book. I spent the next 6 months reading it cover to cover, every night. Then I began to plan.
  
  Sun Tzu taught me that in order to overwhelm a force superior in numbers, a great commander must disguise his own numbers and employ subterfuge to sow doubt and terror among his enemy's ranks. To this end, we started a month-long psychological terror operation consisting of pictures of frowny faces drawn in crayon and constant blaring of vintage Barney recordings. The effect of this was to ruin nap time and exhaust the enemy.
  
  We then started to probe enemy supply lines, effectively cutting off all supplies of milk. Like nap time, snack time was also ruined. The enemy's desperation began to show, and their decision making processes became clouded. At their weakest point mentally, we infiltrated.
  
  12 of our best soldiers dawned velcro shoes and tiny people clothing stolen from distracted enemy backpacks, and slipped in amongst the preschool class. Talk of allegiances of bored grown up dads unifying under a single banner, superior in numbers, claiming the ancient rite of first dibs spread amongst the enemy much as a pox. A rumor of an eminent first strike began to spread. Action would have to be taken.
  
  The toddlers assembled their forces, calling in all allies, and marched under the banner of the PTA---a ruse already uncovered by our spy network---in an attempt to cause our forces to believe that the greatest of foes, that of angry and bored suburban mothers, may have been persuaded to take up arms.
  
  We created the illusion of superior numbers by meeting this frontal assault head on and melting away several times, followed by a false pincer movement that caused the enemy children to concentrate their forces along their northern flank and slowing their advance. We had taken the high ground including the big slide, and placed scouts on the monkey bars to monitor enemy movements. Through a brilliant plan by one of our commanders, we were able to turn on the soccer field sprinklers the night before and totally saturate the ground. Our enemy's tiny feet bogged down in the mud, causing further chaos and allowing our artillery, consisting of six 40mm water balloon launchers to rain devastation and sheer terror upon the remaining force. Our calvary executed a brilliant flanking maneuver and encircled the enemy, who exhausted, wet, and cranky, sued for peace.
  
  Our terms were very favorable permanent playground dibs and a 30% tariff on all snack imports and seizure of all chocolate milk, with harsh stipulations of wedgies for any violations of terms.
  
  We owe this great victory to Sun Tzu. As I peer over the freshly seeded green grass each morning that was once the site of our most grand of victories, and see the tiny enemy faces gazing sadly upon what was once their most holy patch of earth, I smile in satisfaction and gratitude for the Art of War's timeless teachings.
  
  And I wait. For our enemy force will soon graduate to elementary school, and a fresh force will take their place again. This battle is won, but the war may very well drag on. Our vigilance is our greatest asset, our hard earned wisdom our only hope. The spirit of Sun Tzu smiles upon us today, but we must never falter.
• This is ABSOLUTELY AWFUL. It should say PUBLIC DOMAIN as it is like a copy from someone who took notes off of someone who took notes who took notes off someone who doesn't even write in the English language! It is woefully abridged (to the max) looks like it was not edited or proofread and I loathe it. AWFUL AWFUL AWFUL
• The author adds his own knowledge along with Sun Tzu's. And the author's additions are excellent. You might find Sun Tsu on the net in PDF or something, but I wanted a book form and the author was a pleasant surprise for his own good knowledge on these matters. Its a fairly short book, but that it compares so much with modern warfare and intelligence wars that you should get to know it.