Book 9: The Art of War

The Art of War

Sun Tzu

Meh.  

 I don’t see what the big fuss is about.   

Is it because it’s old? Is it because his contemporaries just meandered about hacking and slashing with no plan or clear course? Is it because it’s a written work from a time when little works of this nature survived?

At least Beowulf had Grendel. 

To be fair to my dear readers, it should be noted that this is more of a pamphlet than a book. It includes wisdom nuggets like:

 "Mountain forests, rugged steeps, marshes and fens-- all country that is hard to traverse: this is difficult ground."

Ahh... the wisdom of the ages.

Who could forget this gem: "Security against defeat implies defensive tactics; ability to defeat the enemy means taking the offensive."

O! What revelation!

There are a few pieces of bumper-sticker philosophy that, while obvious when you think about it, are interesting anyway. For instance:

"To secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself."

If you take this out of  the military context, you can see how people might take some kind of life inspiration from it-- My ability to succeed lies in my own hands...

But that doesn't really mean anything.  I'm sure that if you tried hard enough, you could find this kind of pseudo-intellectual claptrap in the Twilight series or the The Raleigh Soliloquies.

Or on the trapper keeper of any 8th grader.

My advice: don't waste your time on The Art of War. 

Sorry, pudgy high school kid in fatigues with a collection of "ninja stars." It's overrated crap.