Amazon.com: Customer reviews: The Art Of War: Complete Text of Sun Tzu's Classics, Military Strategy History, Ancient Chinese Military Strategist (Deluxe Collection Edition, #1)

Top positive review

Good strategies

Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2023

This was a good read. This book provides strategies that can be used in every day life and business. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to navigate through this world with a purpose in life.

One person found this helpful

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R. Navarro

This version does not “flow”...

Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2021

While I’ve enjoyed revisiting The Art of War (I read it many years ago as a young Marine NCO), this publication is quite a bit different than that first experience in terms of layout. In this publication Sun Tzu’s rules were often broken into various elements, and in between the elements, very long passages citing other ancient Chinese warriors and their own perspectives as to what that particular element might have meant. And that isn’t to say those perspectives weren’t valuable or interesting. It just interrupted the flow of reading.

37 people found this helpful

3,678 total ratings, 450 with reviews

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From the United States

Kenny De Bique

Good strategies

Reviewed in the United States on September 26, 2023

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One person found this helpful

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Juan Caban

Great Seller

Reviewed in the United States on October 13, 2023

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Overall Satisfied

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S. Cranow

Learning the Art of War

Reviewed in the United States on November 2, 2017

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This is one of the all time great military classics on strategy put out by the Chinese. The book comprising of 13 chapters was penned by Sun Tzu and has been studied widely both with in and without China. Even business men are reading this great book of strategy.

The subject of Sun Tzu can be rather nebulous. Some historians find that there's sources that mention Sun Tzu in context of some event and then there are other historical sources that mention him in the same context as not being there. There is some speculation about his existence. There is also speculation about his role in Chinese society. It is widely believed that he was a general and a noble.

This book is a translation of Sun Tzu's famous text yet it also proffers a historical background and commentaries on what Sun Tzu wrote. The commentaries themselves are rather informative and help to give the reader clarity and background. However, sometimes they are placed right in the middle of the quote which makes it difficult to get the whole gist of the quote unless you go back and reread what you just read.

The original work as noted earlier consists of thirteen chapters which tell about almost every aspect of military planning, execution and post victory. The first three chapter talk about planning a siege, attacking by stratagem and waging war. The next 4 chapters discuss tactical design, energy, finding the enemies weak points and maneuvers. Finally there is variations of tactics, marching the army , terrains, nine situations and the use of fire and spies.

For the master strategist or someone aspiring to be this book will have several nuggets of wisdom. The importance of knowing yourself and your enemy are vital to your success. Variate your tactics and keep your enemy confused never let the enemy figure you out. Keep them guessing as to your actual plans and intention. Not only should your enemy be in the dark but so should your subordinates. There is plenty of people nformation about how to treat the troops and more.

10 people found this helpful

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Todd

As advertised

Reviewed in the United States on May 1, 2023

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Nice soft back book, easy read

3 people found this helpful

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Get There The Firstest With The Mostest

Reviewed in the United States on July 25, 2017

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That is the rather concise maxim of Civil War General Nathan Bedford Forrest. Obviously that may be slightly too concise. On the other hand, this really fine product, available free on Kindle is not an extremely easy read. It is an unbeatable value, and quality work. It does require effort. It is not an easy flowing, modern narrative.

Having said that, I like this Kindle product very much. I have a regular hard copy of this book and felt it was slightly opaque. The Kindle product has a lot of extra explanations. It is a harder read, but really helped me understand the work.

I have read this book twice. I am not a military commander. Therefore I have not committed myself to completely mastering this text, and I have have not done so. I had secretly wondered if it was just me, did everyone else get this and it was only I that struggled with it.

Then I encountered a fairly high ranking executive who had this book prominently displayed behind him on a bookshelf as he sat at his desk. I could not help but wonder who he was trying to impress or maybe cow. In any event I told him that I had read that book twice and began to discuss It's precepts with him. Without getting too detailed, suffice to say, it is not just me that has not mastered this text. Thank You...

8 people found this helpful

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War as an Applied Science

Reviewed in the United States on January 7, 2016

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War is a necessary part of statehood. Instead of waxing poetic on the horror, glory, or drama of warfare, Sun Tzu tells the would-be general how to win. He turns warfare into a science. This book deals with deception, terrain, espionage, morale, discipline, and the appropriate time for battle. It's a very straightforward manual for the would-be general.

For The Art of War to be as popular as it is, I was actually surprised at the contents of the book. It's an outdated warfare manual. I'm not sure how people are applying this to business administration. It's really only relevant for officers in the US Army or Marine Corps, and even then, much of it cannot be applied to modern warfare. As someone who is interested in history and warfare, I found the book insightful and fascinating. But to be frank I'm surprised The Art of War has such popular readership among the average public in 21st century America.

This edition of the book includes a poorly written introduction and heaps of commentary after every sentence written by Sun Tzu. I eventually ignored the commentary so I could get through the book.

13 people found this helpful

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Cheryl

Good book

Reviewed in the United States on March 14, 2023

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My son had to do a school report on this book it was good

One person found this helpful

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Vernon

A good war, a good fight, a good win!!!

Reviewed in the United States on February 12, 2018

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This ancient book by Master/ General Sun Tzu is a masterpiece of violent conflict strategizing! It is not a long endless tome which a reader may expect from a book on this subject. It is at once war, strategy, training, preparation, observations. And the myriad aspects Involved In ultimately winning Ones conflict.
There are simple, straightforward accounts of a General in charge of defending his country. And in so doing prepare his troops also to do their part, both physically and emotive in winning their conflicts.
"THE ART OF WAR" has been handed down as it was presented by him. Except for the hundreds of varying translations to which this book has been subject to; it retains it's fidelity to the original Chinese scrolls. It has been adopted into many contemporary business training in the spirit of Sun's strategy for training modern dealers in the cut&thrust nature of modern business. Sun is still quoted in modern business language in a universal frame of business dealings, sometimes conciously, other times not so consciously.

4 people found this helpful

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Dave

Good read

Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2023

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timeless

One person found this helpful

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Timothy

The Art of War is truly that!

Reviewed in the United States on March 11, 2017

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Even if not a student of war or history, this collection by Sun Tzu is a classic and is worth the reading. (Would also recommend that you read On War by Clausewitz) It's wisdom has lasted for years and is still required reading in our great nations war colleges. (Contrary to popular belief, the military's war colleges are not to promote war but by understanding history and war can use the knowledge to promote and/or maintain peace.) The wisdom in this book is also applicable to the business world as well as on the personal level. If I remember correctly, I purchased this book at the outstanding price of 'free.' I also have the written version in my library. It is certainly a great way to start understanding peoples, philosophies, cultures, and a perspective on war and winning it. It should have a place on your shelf of classics.

6 people found this helpful

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