Customer Reviews

The Samurai: The Philosophy of Victory

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The Samurai:The Philosophy Of Victory is a hodgepodge of fiction, history, and excerpts from several well known (if historically misleading) Japanese books such as Book Of The Five Rings and Hagakure. At its best, it provides the reader with entertaining light reading along with plenty of attractive illustrations. However, the book has several problems, the most serious of which deals with plagiarized material. The entire 'Famous Samurai' section along with the accompanying illustrations was taken uncredited and without permission from the informative samurai-archives. Other sections of the book appear to have been lifted from the website as well. In addition, other illustrations and text have seemingly been taken from noted Samurai author Stephen Turnbull's books-again, uncredited and without permission. In addition, the book is full of errors both big and small. For example, in the aforementioned 'Famous Samurai' list, the author has replaced the correct term 'Shugo' (meaning provincial constable or military governor) with the incorrect term 'Shogun'. The book Tanki Yoriaku is identified as Hi Ko Ben (which was in fact the subtitle). There's more, but that should give you a general idea. This being the author's first effort, one would hope that he would improve upon the accuracy of its content and especially upon receiving permission to reprint the copyrighted work of others before trying again.

"The Samurai: The Philosophy of Victory" By Robert T. Samuel is a so so book at best.Some of the information came from sources such as the Book of five rings and Hagakure, these sources are sometimes biased and often did not refer to samurai culture but just the lives of the author. A frightening note is that the rest of the material seems ot be directly plagarized from both internet rescources, such as the Samurai Archives and material written by Dr. Stephen Turnbull. Overall I defintly cannot recomend this book.

A mishmash of sections grabbed from various parts of the internet and a few random history books, squashed together for a quick buck. Swathes are taken from the samurai-archives website and books by Stephen Turnbull, although granted odds are that the author wrote this book while most of the plagiarized information was on wikipedia before it was removed. Although wikipedia allows free use of its materials, it is little defense for the author who apparently lacks basic research skills. Save yourself cover price plus shipping and use google instead. It's all on the internet anyway, and buying the book is an encouragement to potential hucksters who want to make a quick buck by cutting and pasting from the internet to their wallets (Or maybe I'll just copy a bunch of stuff from Wikipedia and publish it for a little pocket-lining myself). Skip this and buy the originals by Musashi, Turnbull, and Yamamoto Tsunetomo. Go to the source and skip the fluff. Major disappointment, but three cheers for Amazon's return policy.

This book is horrible! I am a samurai/ninja enthusiast and have done some reading on the subjects and this book is not of much use even as an introduction, in my opinion. I believe that there are much better works out there for a beginner. To start with Fall River Press needs a better editor to clear up inaccuracies like one I noticed in the timeline in the very beginning of the book. The book then proceeds to jump around from topic to topic, era to era, "philosophy" to concrete example, with no rhyme or reason. Any explanations given for terms or concepts are simplistic at best and confusing at worst. I wish I had not wasted my money on this book, shame on me for not looking inside when I first saw it at Borders. At least I paid less for it from Amazon Marketplace.

This book provides great basic information on various aspects of the life of the ancient Japanese Samurai. This text is beautifully illustrated with numerous color drawings. Each section is brief and concise, which makes it an excellent basic guide to Bushido (way of the warrior). Most of the information in this text is taken from Japanese classics such as Hagakuri, Book of five rings, Hojo Soun's 21 articles, and other sources. In conclusion, this is a book that will be of value to anyone who is intrested in some basic information on the life of the Samurai. However, those who want a more detailed historical perspective on this topic may want to conduct further research in Japanese history.

Rating: 3 stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Season of the Warrior: a poetic tribute to warriors).

Robert Samuel's book on samurai is a useful addition to the collection of anyone who is fascinated by samurai as historical (or dare one say romantic?) figures. The illustrations are well done, and the passages from primary source material offer interesting little glimpses into a world much unlike our own.

I have noticed some negative comments about the content of the book being plagiarized and having inaccuracies. To my mind some of these criticisms miss the point. This book is clearly intended as a supplemental part of someone's collection, not a stand-alone volume. I always get suspicious at charges of plagiarism when they're leveled at an author using primary source material; much of the information here is hundreds of years old, and has no copyright per se. Perhaps the translation is copyrighted, but more likely I would expect that a translation with an expired copyright is probably available and may be what the author is using. Presumably the book went through some editorial scrutiny...

The real value of this book is that it illustrates everday aspects of the society in which the samurai lived. This dimension can become lost in many samurai books, where the preoccupation with famous battles and warrior codes sometimes makes us forget the larger picture.

[[ASIN:B001DF7D9C The Samurai - The Philosophy Of Victory]

In my opinion "The Samurai: The Philosophy of Victory" is an introductory book to the philosophies, fables, stories, and values of the Samurai. Snippets of literature and Samurai manuals make it interesting reading for the newcomer to the traditions of the Samurai. Colorful stories, lovely illustrations and the manner it was presented made me feel I was seated at the feet of a wise man relaying bits of stories. This book has accomplished the task for which I purchased it and will be added to my shelf.

Magnificent Japanese Martial 'Art' fills this text with spectacular paintings, historical relations of Samurai history, with much of the 'philosophy' stemming from proverbs and military warriors' quotes.

This is one of those typical Barnes and Noble books put together out of scraps of sayings and pictures. The sayings and little stories are brief and to the point - zen-like. The pictures are colorful and charming. The interpretations of the sayings seem suspect to me, but thankfully there are few of them. Mostly it is a book of extracts from A Book of Five Rings, Code of the Samurai, and Hagakure. The reason to buy it is because it is a neat little book with colorful illustrations.