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I actually have two copies of this book sitting in my loving room, one of which has a very beautiful manually-binded cover. Although I know it is a very well recieved book, each time I start reading it it gets me a little bit bored and I cannot really understand what the excitement is all about. I guess I will give it another go and try to keep an open mind and apply the strategies to real life situations while reading it. I will let you know how it went!

This is an interesting book, with some positive qualities.

If you know yourself, you have 50% of the battles won; If you know yourself and your enemy, you don't have to fear the outcome of any battle you face.

This books helps in growing oneself to survive in this world full of mind games . It have great tactics which are valuable till now . I would really love to learn them .

I read this book a long time ago, but I think I would be reading this book again.

I read this book a long time ago. There is a lot of lesson and ideas that you can take from it. Furthermore, in some other books, they mention Sun Tzu's Art of Wars in their books.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I read it as a college when I was thinking about joining the army.

I read The Art of War when I was at college. Many business owners applied principles in the book to their work.

ark200 wrote: ↑25 Nov 2014, 09:47 this is the oldest military treaties in the world. this is actually a collection of essays on warfare by sun tzu, a Chinese general, who lived around 500 bc. it is translated from chinese into english by lionel giles. he added a commentary to it.

this book is about how to win any war. actually it is about how to conduct a war in order to win it. it mainly deals with the question : how a general should conduct his army to win any war? this is the central question.

sun tzu deals with this question in a unique way. he divided the entire question into 13 parts. they are:

1. laying plan
2. waging war
3.attack by stratagem
4.tactical disposition
5.energy
6.weak points and strong
7.maneuvering an army
8.variation in tactics
9.the army on the march
10.classification of terrain
11.the nine situation
12.the attack by fire
13.the use of spies

each of this 13 parts deals with some questions. actually the parts are so arranged as if an actual war has started.
Chapter 5 to 13 are further subdivided into parts. The chapter energy is divided into parts called energy and decision releases force. The chapter weak and strong points is divided 3 parts: subtlety and secrecy, seeking enemy’s weakness and tactics are fluid. The chapter maneuvering an army is divided into 3 parts : losing tactics, gongs, drums and strength and finally self possession and strength. Variation in tactics is divided in to 2 parts: flexible tactics and preparedness pays. The army on the march is divided into 4 parts: advantage of terrain, ambushes and spies, military intelligence and signs of significance. Chapter classification of terrain is divided into 2 parts: calamities due to error and test of good generalship. Chapter nine situation is divided into 8 parts: using terrain,tactics of skillfull leader, when troops fight hard,shuai jan tactics,courage and secrecy, in strange territory, principle of importance and accommodate the enemy. The attack by fire has one subsection: use of fire and water. The last but not least the use of spies is divided into 3 parts: class of spies, method of espionage and aim and end of spying.
first chapter is about laying plans. second chapter is about how to wage a war. war has started. chapter 3 to 12 deal with things that happen in the battleground. chapter 13 actually should come before laying plan because it deals with spies.

now lets see in more detail which chapter deals with what question. laying plan says about what are the factors that govern warfare. based on these factors victory and defeat can be predicted successfully. it also said what is the basis of all warfare: deception and what that means. actually these are the basics of warfare. thus the first chapter deals with the basic question.

second chapter waging war talks about what is the cost of war, why prolonged warfare is bad,what are the economic impact of warfare on a countries economy, how not to carry out warfare.

third attack by stratagem says about strategy. it deals with the following questions: what are the forms of generalship: best to worst, what moves a general should adapt based on ratio of size of his army to his enemy army, what are the 3 rules of misfortune and what are the essentials of victory.

tactical disposition deals with the following questions: what a good fighter should do,what offensive and defensive moves mean, what is the sign of a clever fighter, what a strategist should do etc.

The 5th chapter energy deals with the following questions in 2 parts. First part deals with : what are the 2 methods of attack and when to use which method, what onset of troop and quality of decision like. The second part deals with : how to keep enemy on the move, what a clever combatant looks at, what is the relation between energy and decision.

The 6th chapter weak point and strong point deals with the following questions in 3 parts. The 1st part, subtlety and secrecy deals with the following question: how to impose your will on your enemy, how to make them move according to your will, how to divide enemy’s army into small units and why enemy should be fragmented. The second part, seeking enemy’s weakness deals with the following question : how to find vulnerable spot of enemy, how to know strength and weakness of army and what you should do to make good tactical disposition. The 3rd part, tactics and fluid deals with the question: what is the nature of military tactics.

The 7th chapter maneuvaring army deals with the following questions in 3 parts. There are some general question such as: how to maneuver according to distance, what is the difficulties of maneuvaring and what is artifice of deviation. The first part, losing tactics deals with the question what are the losing tactics. The second part, gongs drums and bells deals with the following question when to use them and how to attack according to spirit of the army. The third part, self possession and strength deals with various arts. It answers the following questions: what is the art of retaining self possession, what is the art of husbandry, what is the art of studying circumstances and finally what is the art of warfare.

The 8th chapter is variation in tactics. In the beginning there is a general question as to how to vary tactics as per situation. It deals with following questions in 2 parts. First part, flexible tactics deals with the questions: what are benefit of flexible tactics, what are disadvantage of static tactics, how to seize an advantage, how to treat hostile chieftains. The 2nd part, preparedness pays deals with the question: what are the 5 faults of general.

The 9th chapter, the army on the march deals with the question of encamping army. Generally it deals with where to camp and how to attack enemy in the river. The entire chapter is divided into 4 parts. The 1st part deals with question what will be the advantageous part of a territory to encamp the army. The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th part deal with several signs of enemy and what will be the meaning of those sign.

The 10th chapter, classification of terrain deals with the question what are different types of ground and how to win a battle in those ground generally. It has 2 parts. The 1st part says what are 6 calamities that arise from fault of a general and what are the results of those calamities. The 2nd part says what is the test of good generalship.

The 11th chapter, the nine situation states the following things: what are the types of grounds, how to secure victory in which ground, what are the tactics of a skilful warrior, what is the response of troops according to situation, what are the similarities between shui jan snake’s fighting style and good fighter, how to hide his plan from his own men, what are the important principle of war,and how to accommodate the enemy.
The 12th chapter, attack by fire states that what are the five ways of attacking by fire, what are the proper season and what are the five possible development by fire and some advices for conducting warfare in proper way.

The 13th and last chapter, the use of spies, states that why should we engage spies, what are the classes of spies, what are the methods of espionage and what is the aim of spying.

This is the full details of the book. Now the criticism.
The art of war can be divided into 2 broad groups: one deals with the duty of general. The other deals with the conduct of army. The second part is mainly limited to infantry part of army. It does not cover artillery, navy and air force. On the other hand the duty of general is universal. It is applicable to all generals. It never says anything about booby trap, mines, and other equipment of modern warfare. But the advice it gives to the generalship is applicable in this modern era.
This treaty does not mention anything about guerrilla warfare, shadow warfare, covert operation etc. These things were common in the time of sun tzu.
The last chapter on spying is quintessential to the Chinese art of war. Since nothing of the strategy or tactics can be employed without foreknowledge. Foreknowledge can only be gathered by spying.
The art of war opens up the mind of Chinese warriors. There are many war treaties but art of war is well known for its strategy part. It exerts importance on foreknowledge by means of spying which is unique in the world.

Master Sun’s book is a great book. It’s a perfect choice for learning about warfare. However, I feel the book has outlived its use. Warfare method has greatly changed. However, it’s knowledge can help one to better understand ones opponent

I've not come across this book, after reading this review I'll surely get the book.

I have heard a lot about this book but, being a peaceful person who prefers jaw to war, flawlessly reading it is not one of my priorities. I am looking for a book called the art of peace. But we all know that we have to discipline ourselves or the people who come under us in order to give them the best openings and direction to life. I recognise from this review that even a peaceful person should acquaint themselves with the Art of War.

I've read this story when I was in school, now when I'm an adult and try to read it again, I understand it better

This is one classic that would always interest me

A friend of mine has been sharing excerpts from this book with me and I can tell just from those that it's fame is undeniable

The book is awesome. It’s still a great philosophy. For nowadays readers Sun Tzu book “The Art of War” resembles a spectrum of which some wonder what does he mean, some whether is still applicable, and some that is just great philosophy of art.
To me, the book is a written by who knows how to win.