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The Art of War: Plus, The Amazing Secrets of Sun Tzu

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Sun Tzu's The Art Of War Plus Its Amazing Secrets is the second volume of an outstanding three-book series by Gary Gaglardi about internalizing and mastering the ancient wisdom of Chinese military strategist Sun Tzu. The first book, Sun Tzu's The Art Of War Plus The Ancient Chinese Revealed dissected the formula-like Chinese idiograms with which the original classic was written; Sun Tzu's The Art Of War Plus Its Amazing Secrets goes further to unlock hidden secrets of each stanza, along with key concepts carefully explained for readers of all skill and experience levels. Each two-page spread offers a passage from the complete, English-translated version of The Art Of War on the left-side page, and insights into how the secrets apply to modern problems in business and in life on the right-side page. Very highly recommended reading.

Sun Tzu is recognized as a brilliant military strategist from the ancient Chinese cultures when the world was much different than it is today. Yet, his principles still apply today, particularly in the conduct of business. There are many lessons to be learned.

Gary Gagliardi is acknowledged as America's leading authority on Sun Tzu, so he has a deep understanding of the teachings of the philosopher and his perspectives on war. The approach he takes is that the art of war is much deeper than just fighting battles. In fact, confrontations are best avoided, according to the concepts explored in the book.

The author explains that all ancient Chinese philosophy and science was based on diagrams. Those diagrams are included in the book with explanations and interpretations that relate the ancient teaching to today's environment. Gagliardi has already written about the application of Sun Tzu's teaching to sales, marketing, management, and other modern endeavors.

The organization of the book forces the reader to move slowly to gain understanding and appreciation of the Master's ideas. The teachings, the interpretation of the diagrams are presented on the left hand pages. On the opposite right hand pages, the author relates the insights to current applications. Reading and absorbing the contents of this book will give the readers strength to think and perform differently-more wisely-in managing both business and personal endeavors. Each of us is engaged in competition, the basis of Sun Tzu's teachings.

The writings include the Chinese words next to the concepts. While this gives the text an air of greater authenticity and linkage with the original thinking, it can be distracting as this writing technique interrupts the speed of flow of reading...which may be another benefit of the way the book is written. The greatest value from this book will be your contemplation of the application of the principles in your own life.

This is an interpretive book, written and presented by Gary Gagliardi, loosely based on Sun Tzu's classic material.

The book contains what the author asserts is the most accurate translation of Sun Tzu's work ever attempted. This description of the text is highly debateable based on the merits of the text itself. Mr. Gagliardi achieved his translation using an internet encarta program, in which you can do a simplified character search in Chinese, and see some of the interpretive meanings of each pictogram. Based on Mr. Gagliardi's word choices, the author appears to have selectively chosen what he believes to be the correct English terms. Unfortunately, these results are often wrong. Since he has no formal training or background in reading / translating Chinese, this comes as no suprise.

The book contains a large number of typos, spelling errors and mis-translated passages. It is far from the "definitive" English translation it aspires and claims to be.