The Art of War

The Art of War by Sun Tzu

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I read The Art of War by Sun Tzu translated by Lionel Giles in 1910 as it had been suggested to me in a variety of ways for decades and this afternoon I thought, just do it and get it off this list of things other people think I should do.

Chapter one caused me to remember As A Man Thinketh by James Allen. For the record that actually is one of the best "self-help", "spiritual-growth", "wisdom-obtaining" books in the last century and I suspect there have been 2000 books written every year since that says what "As A Man Thinketh" says, except they didn't say it as well or as concisely.

After chapter one of The Art of War my natural habit of "thinking" kicked in to high gear and I started asking myself, "What?" and "Really?"


I am going to break with tradition here and not recommend this book. If you read regularly, and/or have three of four moderately intelligent friends who have not lost the ability to think (yet), you'll probably understand most of what this book "says" without having to read it. Tragically, for the massive majority of folks in this day and age, reading it might improve your life if you only learned that 2500 years ago folks had already learned about morality and discipline.

Stepping down from my soap box, the book is a little over an hour to actually read or listen to an audiobook and they are both free. I'll get to more of that shortly. Reading the book and thinking about what is says is worthwhile. There were times, like I mentioned above, where the book reminded of a really significant book of depth, and other times I thought, "Hey buddy, I spent my time in the military and in leadership positions and that little snippet is simply nonsense."

There you have it. I give it three and a half stars.

Here's the good stuff:
I listened to the Youtube Audiobook read and reviewed by Greg Wagland on a desktop computer. I have a "free" Librovox copy and have previously listened to that audiobook read by: Phil Chenevert also on a desktop computer following along reading the public domain "free" Feedbooks ebook on the Freda+ ebook reader app (and didn't mind paying $1.99 for the "not free" version). Here is where you'll find the Freda website, manual, and discussion forum.

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