The Art of Wealth: Strategies for Success [Paperback]

Kautalya (Author), Thomas F. Cleary (Translator, Commentary)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1998

Based on the celebrated works of Kauthilya, an ancient philosopher popularity called the Aristotle and Machiavelli of India, this book sets forth strategies for success on issues of planning, personnel, productivity, problem-solving, conflict management, security, stability, and social relations that are still applicable today. Dr. Cleary's commentary is rich, with insightful parallels from Eastern and Western philosophical traditions no other living Western author/translator could draw with such clarity .

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English (translation)

About the Author

Thomas Cleary (born 1949) is a prolific author and translator of Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian and Muslim religious literature, and of the Chinese Art of War tradition of strategy and statecraft. He received a PhD in East Asian Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University, but has had minimal involvement with the academic world. Cleary's most widely disseminated translation has been of the Chinese classic The Art of War (Sunzi Bingfa) by Sun Tzu. Another major translation is of the commentaries of the 18th century Taoist sage Liu Yiming, who clearly explains the often impenetrable metaphoric coding of the main Taoist texts dealing with the transformation of consciousness and the fusion of the human mind with the Mind of the Tao. Cleary's recent translation of the Qur'an has been praised by Muslims who know English and Arabic. Another outstanding translation from the Muslim wisdom tradition is Living and Dying with Grace.

Product Details

• Paperback: 277 pages
• Publisher: Health Communications (March 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558745416
• ISBN-13: 978-1558745414
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,910,791 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars A decaffeinated version of Kautalya's _Arthashastra_, December 13, 2005

By 

Arturo Esposito (Natick, MA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Art of Wealth: Strategies for Success (Paperback)

Anyone who buys this title expecting an abridged version of Kautylia's economic and political treatise is up for a great disappointment. Actually, I don't understand why Amazon lists Kautylia as the author of this book. Its editor, Thomas Cleary, has taken some wisdom nuggets from the _Arthashastra_ to present them in a completely decontextualized form alongside some brief commentary. Although Cleary has some interesting insights, he verges on the ridicule in his tendency to "comment" Kautalya by recourse to other (de-contextualized as well) quotations from Chinese thinkers. That is to say: one text explains another text which explains another text... It is a permanent deferral that betrays the incapacity to confront the contents of the original text.

The _Arthashastra_ is a deep and complex work. Certainly, I understand the need for an abridged version in English (the average Joe or Jane in the West might not, after all, be interested in peculiarities such as forensic procedure or court etiquette in the time of the Gupta dynasty). But Dr. Cleary does Kautylia a tremendous disservice when he presents the _Art of Wealth_ as something it is not: a collection of idealistic, spiritual (one is tempted to say Platonic) perceptions of material life. Certainly, Kautylia and other Indian thinkers understood "artha" as something that encompassed far more elements than the narrow minutiae of the modern Western concept of "wealth", but the Orientalist rendering by Dr. Cleary falsifies the fundamental pragmatism of the original.

4.0 out of 5 stars Common Sense+++, November 9, 2009

By 

D. Young - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Art of Wealth: Strategies for Success (Paperback)

The other reviewers have stated that The Art of Wealth is simplistic. Nowadays common sense isn't so common and I think that The Art of Wealth is perfect for those of us that aren't so enlightened that we couldn't use a gentle reminder of some of life's most profound truths. I love the book personally because it is applicable to day to day life and the problems associated with ethics and morality when dealing with others. Having a wise uncle or grandfather on a shelf can never hurt, and that is just what this book is, wisdom of the years distilled into book form.

6 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars I'm not impressed..., March 6, 2004

By 

ReedFloren.com (ReedFloren.com) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Art of Wealth: Strategies for Success (Paperback)

This book is basically a bunch of old Sanskrit sayings (much like the things in Chinese fortune cookies) after each saying there is a small paragraph further clarifying the point. Basically I feel this book is worthless for anyone who has common sense.

Reed Floren