بعید میدانم کتاب به غیر از کسانی که علاقه مند به تاریخچه دانش نظامی هستند به درد کسی بخورد. ممکن است شما هم مثل من با این پیش فرض سراغ کتاب بروید که مرواریدهای حکمت در کتاب می یابید که برای زندگی به شما بینش میدهد ولی واقعا چنین چیزهایی هم به ندرت در کتاب یافت میشود.
نکته جالب یا خنده‌دار این بود که برخی نکاتی که مطرح شده در کتاب با هم تناقض دارند. مثلاً یک جا می‌گوید هر قانونی گذاشته شود نباید به هیچ وجه از آن تخطی شود و کسی که قانون را زیر پا بگذارد باید به سخت ترین شکل مجازات شود، یک جای دیگر می‌گوید اگر مطمئن هستید در صورت جنگ شکست می‌خورید نباید از دستور سرلشکر پیروی کنید!
البته متوجه هستم که این تناقضات در نهاد انسان چینی حل می‌شود. این ایراد را به سعدی هم وارد کرده‌اند که دستورالعملهای او با هم تناقض دارد. (کسروی گویا این اشکال را وارد کرده!) به نظرم این تناقضات در زیست و فرهنگ مردم هر کشور حل و فصل می‌شوند.

“If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.”

This a short book which can be read in a couple of hours. I had been meaning to read it for some time. My curiosity was mostly due to the fact that The Art of War was written over two thousand years ago and is still read by many even today, having influenced people in leading roles not only today, but also in previous generations.

The Art of War was written by Sun Tzu, a former Chinese military general. Obviously, the book was written with the intention of helping someone with an interest in warfare strategy and planning, namely a general or sovereign, featuring different tactics and approaches recommended by Sun Tzu. Many of the different suggested approaches can easily be “translated” to everyday life, being then more relevant than only to warfare.

I found this to be an interesting book, even if many of the points made by Sun Tzu might seem kind of obvious for many people of our age. He wrote this book when our society was quite different, but surprisingly some of his “lessons” remain relevant and interesting, even if just for their philosophy and historical importance.

If you've ever picked up a self-help book where the author is repeatedly stating the obvious, then you've experienced the writing style of this book. The overall concepts could've been summarized in a short essay rather than a book. Its length is a testament to its antiquity, though the author has done a noble job of re-ordering and editing bits of the chapters to provide continuity and to delete repetition.

Oriental philosophy is often ripe with a kind of double-speak and this book is no exception.

The main idea, covered ad nauseam, are that generals must be wise, adapt to changing situations, and maintain order.

What people get out of this book is whatever they want to read into it. It was an alright read but, in general, the book is overrated.

Sun Tzu, general y estratega militar, concibió hace 2500 años uno de los más emblemáticos y atemporales tratados sobre el tema bélico. En este texto de singular brevedad pero implacable eficacia se nos exponen algunos de los principios elementales de la guerra destacándose nociones como aquella de que la mejor victoria es aquella que se da sin luchar.

Este resumen de sabiduría milenaria oriental reafirma su valía mediante el despliegue de un análisis que puede ser aplicado a los conflictos armados de la actualidad con capítulos claros, concisos, de fácil comprensión e ideas de inmensa efectividad. Su lectura es fluida y se percibe sorprendentemente actual.

This book from Sun Tzu has of course made the rounds of management literature for the last few decades but remains a highly readable account of strategy and warfare. It is, one again, very innately masculine and thus probably will touch female readers less - except if they read it to see how the male-dominated worlds of war and hierarchal management work because - besides perhaps Machiavelli's The Prince - this is the most unadulterated description of the male mentality in aggressive mode ever written. There are of course many one liners but the overall book remains a classic and can serve as a guide to how we got to where we are in many ways.

Some very powerful and tactful strategies which can be used in various situations.

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Years ago, I wanted to lose some weight, and I started a 60-day challenge. When I was at work, I was sure to tell a certain co-worker my goal. Why? Was he my friend? No way. I detested this guy. He was so disrespectful, talked over me, and lied. But I used that to my advantage. Because once I told this gentleman my goal there was no chance that I was going to let him see me fail.

Oh to have a great enemy!

The Art of War has several different translations. Some of them are better than others. Originally, I checked one out of the library (the Peter Harris translation), but I couldn’t get an audiobook to match that particular text. I ended up buying a copy from Amazon (the Lionel Giles translation) and an audiobook. However, I liked the original version from the library better.

This book offers 13 lessons for war. However, most of them are extremely repetitive. They usually boil down to some version of attack your enemy by surprise and think before acting.

The Poppy War seemed to have a better and more engaging discussion of strategy.

This book is a bit outdated because so much has changed since 5th century BC.

For example….

Once upon a time, there was a library called the Troy Public Library. During the recession, the city didn’t have enough money to keep the library running so it asked for a very slight tax increase. However, one political group went into overtime about taxes, taxes, taxes. The conversation became all about taxes and not about the library or reading.

The sweet, kind, loving, intelligent, and gentle library lovers had to come up with a plan to save the library. And quick. They made up a campaign, “Vote To Close Troy Library August 2nd Book Burning Party August 5th” Now, this enraged the Trojans, and the campaign reached the national level.

People turned out to vote 342% greater than projected, and the library was saved.

That’s how we do it in Troy.

2025 Reading Schedule
JantA Town Like Alice
FebtBirdsong
MartCaptain Corelli's Mandolin - Louis De Berniere
AprtWar and Peace
MaytThe Woman in White
JuntAtonement
JultThe Shadow of the Wind
AugtJude the Obscure
SeptUlysses
OcttVanity Fair
NovtA Fine Balance
DectGerminal

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Pues empecé a leerlo y aluciné. Sobre todo por la sensación de que podía aplicarlo a la vida actual, es decir, al trabajo, a las relaciones personales, a un equipo... A TODO. Teniendo en cuenta que sitúan su origen en torno al año 400 a.c, pues flipé mucho más.
La de frases que he subrayado son incontables. Pero... el libro se me empezó a hacer monótono y pesado. Me ha costado terminarlo. El último capítulo de espionaje me ha hecho reengancharme un poco.
Creo que hablaré más de él en el blog. Tiene algunos detalles curiosos que me gustaría contar.

I really enjoyed reading this, it was really interesting and insightful. I know I'll definitely be reading this again!

Who reads the Art of War?

OK, sure everybody, or anybody can, but who actually does and why?

If we could somehow take a survey and create a pie chart of who reads this 2500 year old Chinese manual, what would we find, who reads it?

Military professionals, sure; executives, probably – wanna be executives, almost certainly; sports coaches, law enforcement officers, school teachers, teenage gamers, etc etc.

The title will get attract and repel many all by itself. The text, full of philosophical musings and anecdotal asides, will lose and / or gain many more.

What will readers take from these words written so long ago? One thing, unfortunately, is that human nature does not seem to change – if Master Sun was a wise and great general 2500 years ago, people had been fighting long before then and enough for him to be considered a master of the subject. Even a casual observer of history will notice that there have been plenty of students of war ever since.

In history – how many humans have been killed in war, in battle, in organized conflict? Old age and cancer and heart trouble seems to account for a great many deaths, but throughout history there seems to be a virus that gets too many of our young people.

One thing that can be drawn from this tome is that if war is to be fought, if it is inevitable, if a line has been crossed (or a river in Italy) and there is no going back, then it must be fought to win. Military leaders are taught to be prepared and decisive, to act.

But for me, and I think the everlasting philosophy that should be taken from this work, is that war is costly, and brutal, and ugly and should be avoided if at all possible. Hawks in the congress and saber rattlers elsewhere seem to be conspicuously NOT in the military; rather the WE to which they ascribe is most frequently “we” in the collective sense, but in every sense a “we” that does not see them getting dirty or bloody.

What do readers other than military leaders take from this? To go for the jugular? To win at every cost? Not if they’ve actually read it. Preparation and contemplation and the ability to act when necessary are all elements attributed to the Art, and certainly decisiveness when the time is right, but not savage brutality or chaos for the sake of destruction. Ultimately this is about conflict, strategy and leadership – themes that are relevant to more than just the military.

An important work that should be read.

** 2018 addendum - this is at once a great source of quotes but also a work that is likely misquoted frequently. I heard a quote recently that made me wonder if the speaker had it right, misquoted, or was just making up a quote and attributing the statement to Sun Tzu for effect; and that made me think of Kevin Klein's character Otto from A Fish Called Wanda.

O operă foarte interesantă, e fascinant cum pare atât de actuală, deși e scrisă acum mai bine de 2 mii de ani. Nu trebuie să cunoști foarte multe detalii despre Rusia de azi pentru a realiza că multe dintre razboaiele sale au for duse având la bază strategia lui Sun Tzu.
Nu cred că evaluez această carte corect, e evident foarte bună, trecând proba timpului, dar poate nici nu am înțeles/o la adevarata sa valoare. Cred că ar trebui citită măcar o dată de mai multe persoane, pentru a înțelege poate puțin mai bine multe “războaie” care se dau în viața de zi cu zi, cu doar pe tărâmul de luptă.

“Întreaga artă a războiului este bazată pe ��nșelătorie.”

“În război, numai numărul nu aduce nici un avantaj. Nu înaintați biziundu-vă exclusiv pe forța militară.”

“Ordinea sau dezordinea depind de organizare, curajul sau lașitatea de împrejurimi, tăria sau slăbiciunea de dispunere.”

“Războiul este asemănător focului; cei ce nu vor să depună armele pier uciși de arme.”

“In război, cea mai bună soluție este să cucerești statul intact.”

“Dacă inamicul este puternic și eu sunt slab, mă retrag pentru moment și mă feresc de orice angajare.”

“Dacă armata este dezorientată și lipsită de încredere, suveranii țărilor vecine vor stârni dificultăți.”

“Cel care este prudent și așteaptă un inamic imprudent va fi victorios.”

“Cunoșteați inamicul, și cunoaște-te pe tine însuți… Când nu-ți Cunoști inamicul, dar te Cunoști pe tine însuți, șansele tale de victorie sau de înfrângere sunt egale.”

“În general, a comanda mulți oameni, e același lucru cu a comanda câțiva. E o problemă de organizare.”

“Dacă dorești să stimulezi dezordinea pentru a atrage un inamic, trebuie să fii, tu însuți, foarte disciplinat.”

“Acela care are sentimente de omenie și de compătimire și nu se teme decât de pierderea oamenilor, nu poate renunța la un avantaj temporar pentru un profit pe termen lung și este incapabil să abandoneze ceva pentru a se apuca de altceva.”

“Când trimiși lui vorbesc în termeni măgulitori, înseamnă că inamicul dorește un armistițiu.”

“A câștiga bătălii și a cuceri obiectivele fixate, dar a nu reuși să tragi foloase din aceste rezultate, este de rău augur și se numește “pierdere de timp”.”

“Dacă nu sunteți în pericol, nu vă bateți.”

“O armată fără agenți secreți este exact ca un om fără ochi și urechi.”

أُعيد قراءته اليوم مع ألاء
هل سيكون ثمّة فرق بين قراءتي الأولى والثانية؟
ربما.. لأرى

بعد ا��قراءة الثانية..
الفرق الأوّل:
التقييم ارتفع من 2 إلى 4 !
الفرق الثاني:
المرة الأولى قرأته ومرّتي هذه أشبه بالمذاكرة !

قراءتي هذه المرة تذكرني بشكلٍ ما بكلمات الفريق سعد الدين الشاذلي رحمه الله،
ومعاناته وأفعاله أثناء اعداده لحرب أكتوبر وما بعدها!
تُراه قرأ كتاب فن الحرب واستفاد من بعض استراتيجياته؛
أم هي أمور يدرسها المتخصصون !

حين خطَرَ لي لوهلة أنّ بعض نصائحة من البساطة والبديهيّة بمكانٍ؛ وتساءلتُ أيحق التحدّث عنها وتعليمها؟
ردّ قلبي على الفور بسؤال استنكاريّ: أليس خطأ قائد واحد كافٍ لزهق آلاف الأرواح!
خطأ واحد، سهو واحد، فرد واحد يصنع قرارًا فتتحوّل الساحة لـ كارثة!




#وللحديث بقيّة