Art of War

Post by **TheLastRifleMan** » Thu May 26, 2005 7:26 pm

I think an essential book for every memeber of ths sight is Sun Tzu's "The Art of War." I read it about six or seven times a year.

It is not a very long book and what he states in each chapter will seem like common sense to some of us. Those without a military background would do well to study it. It is very hard to believe it was written 2500 years ago. Not many things written last that long or hold true over time like this little gem has.

Will it help you survive the intitial shock of when TSHTF? If you have studied Master Tzu, you will have been prepared before it happened. Will it help you fight of the hordes of Undead? Read Master Tzu, study him well and your chances will go way up.

Post by **DevastatorIIC** » Thu May 26, 2005 8:30 pm

Probably one of my all-time favorite books. I originally heard it through a fiction series (BattleTech (father of MechWarrior)), found it, read it, loved it. Lots of stuff to be taken with a grain of salt (three month siege will end up with a charge and 1/3 of your men dead... Nice and arbitrary there, Mr. Tzu

)

You can find the text online pretty easily. It's worth a good read. Some translations are better than others: Giles' 1910 translation I found to be... grammatically unsound. Not to say it wasn't poetic... *shrug*

http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/ ... les=118557

Has a download too.

Post by **Rooster** » Tue Jun 07, 2005 6:45 pm

I bought it about 3 years ago and STILL haven't read the whole thing. I think it's a little to poetic to hold my atention. That, and I was hoping it would give specifics:
"When your enemy is not looking, stab him in the kidney."

A book I really enjoyed is Infantry Attacks by Erwin Rommel.

Post by **marvin** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 3:24 am

Aint the writer SUN CU?
I read it a lot and refer to it many times, it saved me from some nasty situations so far and for gaming its indispencible (yeah I know I spelled it wrong)

Post by **TheLastRifleMan** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 10:39 am

Yes some of it does seem like common sense, but when has the military ever been accused of having a lot of common sense? Especially in Sun Tzu's time, when armies were controlled by a king who may have had no military experience. That is why they had generals who they hoped could prevail. Master Tzu wrote his treatise in hopes that after he was gone, the generals who succeeded him would be able to keep the kingdom he helped make powerful intact. One hundred years after Master Tzu was dead, his lessons were forgotten and the kingdom he helped create no longer existed.

Perhaps that is the ultimate lesson he never wrote.

Post by **SMERSH** » Wed Jun 08, 2005 3:18 pm

man, where were you guys a few months ago...

Post by **Occultist Geek** » Tue Aug 09, 2005 4:29 am

I personaly love the art of war...
but it makes me wonder how Sun Tzu would handle a Zombie outbreak... he was suppose to be such a great tactician I would just love to know how he would handle it.

Post by **TOGLE** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 1:22 am

I keep a copy in my car. I find it very comforting to randomly flip through when I'm having a rough day and feel like the odds are aginst me. Kinda puts day to day agrivation into prospective.

speeling getting too abstract, must mean time to sleep.

Post by **ednemo** » Wed Aug 17, 2005 2:23 pm

I have a copy that a friend gave me that I have never read. It's in Mandarin.

Post by **Jeriah** » Wed Aug 24, 2005 12:24 am

Thanks for the link to the e-text. An old favorite of mine I've meant to re-read.

Goes hand in hand with Musashi, A Book of Five Rings. Sun Tzu (spelled any one of a dozen ways) is strategy, Musashi is tactics. Outdated tactics, unless you fight with Daisho, but applicable in philosophical ways. They recommend it for businessmen/CEOS, apparently as metaphor.

Although I think corporate America would be more interesting if they took it literally.

Post by **Rac00n** » Thu Aug 25, 2005 6:33 pm

Ive read it over 20 times reading it almost 1 every 2 months. A lot of the stuff he says can be used in daily life.

Post by **Bear_B** » Thu Aug 25, 2005 7:19 pm

The Art Of War should be required reading in every school in America.

Post by **Jeff** » Thu Aug 25, 2005 8:09 pm

I think there should just be required reading in every school in America. Illiteracy makes us all more stupid.

But the Art of War is definitely worth a read.

Post by **bgaesop** » Fri Aug 26, 2005 1:16 pm

Bear_B wrote:The Art Of War should be required reading in every school in America.

+1. I'm going to go put it on hold at my library now.

Post by **Pain Train** » Mon Aug 29, 2005 8:21 pm

Short simple read that cut out the crap and got directly to the point, I enjoyed it and the lessons it offers. In fact I suggested it to a couple friends who were too lazy for AP english and just had to read a fiction and non-fiction book for summer reading.

I'm starting to find that school ruins the joy of reading... I pump out like a book week on my own when I'm not forced into it, and ironically it's not cheap sci-fi/fantasy trash but really well known classics.

Post by **ColemanJanuary** » Tue Aug 30, 2005 6:30 pm

Occultist Geek wrote:I personaly love the art of war...
but it makes me wonder how Sun Tzu would handle a Zombie outbreak... he was suppose to be such a great tactician I would just love to know how he would handle it.

the same way any other battle would be handled. know yourself, know your enemy, know the battleground. you will win. the book isnt specifically a battle plan, nor instructions on how to win a war, but how to prepare yourself in such a manner that any conflict (war, divorce, argument, et cetera) is winnable to you. dont think "war" when you read it. just remember that "the art of war" is a translation of the title, and translations are just one of many possible meanings.

my copy has thoughts and opinions of various chinese sages on each passage, after each passage.

Cole.