I don't think I'm the intended audience for this book but I read it because it was on the Rory Gilmore challenge and my son happened to have a copy. It was much different than I was expecting. It's all written in point form. A lot of it just seemed to be common sense. I actually enjoyed the end much more when it talks about lots of different ways that these concepts have actually been used in war and business. For example when they captured/killed Osama Bin Laden.
I honestly found it to be a bit of a slog and didn't get a lot out of it.

A must read for everyone

Disliked it completely. Boring. Zzzzzzzz. Hard to get through.

An interesting read. Not sure how applicable the lessons are, but this book is influential so good to understand the ideological underpinnings.

Theme is how to win wars in ancient China. A few key takeaways:
-supreme military excellence is winning without fighting
-war is about misleading the enemy (appear strong when weak, weak when strong)

The classic book on warfare...the standard that all other books on warfare are measured against. To read this book is to begin to understand why the nature of warfare is so hard to predict; the tide of battle can turn on a small detail, victory can be snatched away because one critical detail was overlooked. Highest recommendation.

Interesting take on the strategy of war. Can see many applications that can be transferred to other types of endeavors.

Very good.

Sun Tzu- The art of war

''Cleverness has never been seen associated with long delays''

Moram priznati da mi je ova knjiga dugo na polici i da sam je u to vreme kupila jer se nekim ljudima toliko dopadala da im je čak bila među omiljenima. Pošto sam zagovornik onoga :'' reci mi šta čitaš i kazaću ti ko si '', već godinama me privlači da pravim paralelu izmedju tipa ličnosti i određenih knjiga.
Iznenađujuće je šta sve iznedri razmišljanje o određenim delima. Jedna od složenih a gotovo klasika svetske književnosti, jeste i ova knjiga koja govori o umeću ratovanja.

Ono malo što sam znala o Sun Zuu, bilo je da je general drevne kineske imperije u vreme pre Hrista, i da je za svog života uspeo da napravi jedan vodič o pristupu ratu i njegovim strategijama.
Uporedo sa time, oduvek sam bila izuzetan zaljubljenik u legendarnog Lao Cea, koji se smatra začetnikom Taoizma, a o čijem sam učenju već pisala nekom prilikom ovde, te moram otkloniti sumnju da se radi o rođacima ili dvojici zagovornika iste filozofije.

Ako ništa drugo, Lao Ce je suprotnost Sun Tzuovog učenja, i sklona sam da se priklonim toj vrsti filozofije koju Kinezi smatraju visokom mudrošću, jer je Lao Ce okrenut onome što čovek treba da spozna u SEBI, dok je Sun Tze, iako mlađi od Lao Cea, okrenut DRUGIMA i onome što se može osvojiti ratnom strategijom.

Lao Ce uči o smiraju uma i postizanju sopstvene komande nad svešću našeg bića, Sun Tze uči o otkrivanju tuđih mana , eksploatisanju istih i osvajanju nećega što nije naše.

Tako da je jasno, ako pravim psihološku paralelu, koliko su različiti ljudi koji čitaju jednog ili drugog. Iako su obe filozofije primenjive, znatno razdvajaju osobe koje su pristalice jednog ili drugog.
A da približim malo Umetnost ratovanja čitaocima, napisaću samo da je reč o pažljivo probranim tačkama koje jedno vojno lice treba da poseduje ako želi da postane komandir vojske ili vođa bilo kog naroda. Postoje određene moralne norme koje nudi Sun Tze, kao što su poštovanje prema brojnosti neprijatelja, odstupanje od napada ukoliko je neprijatelj znatno oslabljen. U tim slučajevima koriste se drugačije strategije nadmudrivanja , ali postoje propratni koraci kojim se svaki dobar vojskovođa bavi.

Ona čuvena rečenica jeste da je najbolji vojskovođa onaj koji je pobedio bez ulaska u rat. U tom smislu možemo videti i posebno formulisanu filozofsku stranu Sun Tzu-a, koji je, čak istorija nagađa, smelo koristio i po neku filozofsku matru Lao Cua , te pokušao da pristup ratu pretvori u vojno duhovne pripreme.

U knjizi ćete naići na opis morala i uma kakve vodja treba da poseduje, pa strategije terena kojima mora da pristupi. Detaljno je opisan svaki slučaj rata, od nošenja zaliha, zauzimanja tudjeg sela pa do banalnih prognoza koja vojska će nadjačati koju gledajući običnu logiku ko se prvi pojavljuje na bojnom polju. Strategije imaju planove, potplanove i brojne pod tačke koje se bave nepredvidivim okolnostima.Tu su govori koji treba da inspirišu vojnika, način pristupa vojsci i njenom moralu, nagradama kojima vojnik treba da se nada, strast koju treba potpaliti pred bitku i mnoge druge stvari.

Razlog zašto je ova knjiga opstala do dana današnjeg i idalje se prevozi na sve moguće jezike, jeste to da je ona primenjiva i u običnom životu jednog pojedinca. Može se preformulisati i upotrebiti za disciplinu života osobe koja nije vojnik, a posebno je korisna za poslovne puteve i velike korporacije jer nailazi načine i rešenja za dolazak na željenu poziciju bez velike štete i provociranja niza ratova medju zaposlenima.

Iako karisti neiscrpno pojedine humane i filozofske tačke taoizma koje pripadaju Lao Cuu, ona ipak besramno počiva na sferi manipulativnih veštinai ne može se meriti sa taoizmom.
Za mene solidno štivo, koje je služilo više nekom filozofskom razmatranju, paraleli ali i posebnom obraćanju pažnje na umove koji vole ovakvo štivo.
I dok se Sun Tzu drži svojih reči : ''All warfare is based on deception'', ja ću se ipak držati i dalje Lao Cua koji kaže : ''To a mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders''.

I listened to this on audible and it is my first venture into reading about War tactics. Let me preface this with the fact that I claim no expertise on the history of China or its military. I found the metaphors in this to be interesting philosophically, but, this is the type of book you read to learn not to be entertained. That is not a bad thing at all, but, I was not immersed in this the way I would be with a novel.

Everything feels like a battlefield these days—my thoughts, my emotions, life itself. So, I picked up The Art of War. Because when you’re caught in the chaos, why not turn to ancient military strategy for some clarity? After all, what’s more comforting than a 2,500-year-old text about how to crush your enemies—whether they’re real or just the mess inside your head?

Sun Tzu’s The Art of War isn’t a book about war as we imagine it today—no explosions, no bloodshed, no large-scale battles. It’s about strategy, discipline, and understanding the terrain. But the terrain he’s talking about isn’t just a field—it’s life itself, and the enemies aren’t always external. Sometimes, the hardest battles are the ones we wage within ourselves. And that’s where this book hits hardest.

What strikes me most about The Art of War is its focus on preparation, on knowing your own strengths and weaknesses. “Know yourself and know your enemy,” Sun Tzu says. It’s simple, but it feels like a punch to the gut every time. How many of us really know ourselves? How many of us are just reacting, moving through life without understanding why we’re doing what we do? I don’t have the answers, but this book makes me question everything, from my personal choices to my relationships. What am I fighting for? What am I fighting against? And do I even know the battlefield I’m standing on?

Sun Tzu doesn’t just teach you how to fight. He teaches you how to avoid unnecessary conflict—how to win without ever drawing a sword. “The supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting,” he says. There’s a lesson there, one that’s almost too difficult to accept: sometimes the best way to win is to walk away. Sometimes the best way to win is to not engage at all. But that’s not always easy. It’s easier to get caught up in the fight, to feel like you have to prove something.

Then there’s the idea of flexibility. “Water shapes its course according to the nature of the ground over which it flows,” Sun Tzu says. Flexibility—adapting to the circumstances instead of trying to force the world to bend to you. Maybe that’s the lesson I need most right now. Life is unpredictable. People are unpredictable. And trying to control everything only leads to frustration. But flowing with it—that’s power.

What I’ve realized after reading The Art of War is that this isn’t just about fighting. It’s about how we live. It’s about finding balance between strength and restraint, knowing when to push forward and when to retreat. It’s about understanding that every action, every thought, every word is part of the battle. And most importantly, it’s about knowing when to conserve your energy and when to strike.

If you’re looking for peace, The Art of War won’t give it to you. It doesn’t promise easy answers or quick fixes. What it does is force you to confront the conflicts in your life head-on—whether they’re external or internal—and teaches you how to navigate them with clarity, focus, and strategy.

This is a good manual. I feel like I can open any page and find wisdom that I can apply to any situation. That said, its hard to read and extremely boring.

A few grains of truth in a lot of chaff

Today many of Sun Tzu's quotas are floating around mixed with Shakespeare and the Bible. And as with many of the quotes they are out of context and misleading. The quoter usually thinks repeating the word is some sort of magic.

Most versions of this work spend more time trying to identify and qualify Sun Tzu's writings than just quoting them. I will not go through all the arguments as to who "wrote what when" or "translated what when" as you can read this for yourself.
Another distraction is the attempt to show how the book was applied or not applied in recent wars. This may be interesting to someone whose intention is to apply the theories of Sun Tzu; however, it is not his writing but someone else's interpretation of its application.

Now let's finally get to Sun Tzu. It is easy with hindsight and a closer look at the future to dismiss Sun Tzu as his practical tactical knowledge is of a time and place long gone. He spends a lot of time on the use of weapons and information-gathering techniques of the time. This can be interesting in a historical context; otherwise, it is quite amusing.

Oh yes, those grains of truth I mentioned, well they may sound like clichés but they are still viable. "Know your enemy and know yourself". Others are just practical sense and statistical outcomes that you learn in any military training. I could go through the list, but again that is why you buy the book.

Now just as you decide that the book is outdated for any practical purposes today, we have artillery and now stealth and precision, the reminder that "no two wars are alike" and "it is the flexibility that makes a difference" is being shown today to still be true. Even in today's wars, there is a need for good intelligence and deception. We put a lot of time and energy into Psy-Ops. Sun Tzu shows the advantage of specialized units and “crack troops.”

I have spent several years in the military and business and can say this book is a nice addition to history, otherwise of very little value to today's world for war or business.

The most abuse of this book is trying to use it for projects as project management is a science that was in its infancy at the time this book was written.