Commentaries on the Art of War

The Art of War by Sun Tzu
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Learning the Art of War

This is one of the all time great military classics on strategy put out by the Chinese. The book comprising of 13 chapters was penned by Sun Tzu and has been studied widely both with in and without China. Even business men are reading this great book of strategy.

The subject of Sun Tzu can be rather nebulous. Some historians find that there's sources that mention Sun Tzu in context of some event and then there are other historical sources that mention him in the same context as not being there. There is some speculation about his existence. There is also speculation about his role in Chinese society. It is widely believed that he was a general and a noble.

This book is a translation of Sun Tzu's famous text yet it also proffers a historical background and commentaries on what Sun Tzu wrote. The commentaries themselves are rather informative and help to give the reader clarity and background. However, sometimes they are placed right in the middle of the quote which makes it difficult to get the whole gist of the quote unless you go back and reread what you just read.

The original work as noted earlier consists of thirteen chapters which tell about almost every aspect of military planning, execution and post victory. The first three chapter talk about planning a siege, attacking by stratagem and waging war. The next 4 chapters discuss tactical design, energy, finding the enemies weak points and maneuvers. Finally there is variations of tactics, marching the army , terrains, nine situations and the use of fire and spies.

For the master strategist or someone aspiring to be this book will have several nuggets of wisdom. The importance of knowing yourself and your enemy are vital to your success. Variate your tactics and keep your enemy confused never let the enemy figure you out. Keep them guessing as to your actual plans and intention. Not only should your enemy be in the dark but so should your subordinates. There is plenty of people nformation about how to treat the troops and more.

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