≡ Read Gratis The Art of War Sun Tzu Thomas Cleary 9781590302255 Books

The Art of War Sun Tzu Thomas Cleary 9781590302255 Books

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The Art of War Sun Tzu Thomas Cleary 9781590302255 Books

The Baron Antoine Henri de Jomini's "The Art of War" is an early classic on military strategy and tactics. With von Clausewitz, he was one of the more widely read scholars on the subject in the 19th century. His book tends to have an abstract, scholarly air to it that suggests that he was more of an "arm chair" theorist than a man whom he learned much from--Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon may have had general perspectives on warfare, but he was also someone who was able to be improvisational on the battlefield, and Jomini cannot quite capture that in this work. Nonetheless, a classic.

Charles Messenger's Introduction does single out Jomini for mention, when he notes (Page v): "Nineteenth -century military thought was dominated by two men, one a German and the other a Swiss. . . . They were von Clausewitz and Jomini." Jomini argued that (Page vii): "Strategy decodes where to act; logistics brings the troops to this point; grand tactics determines the manner of execution and the employment of the troops."

As Jomini's actual work begins, he identifies the six key components of the art of war (Page 2):
"1. Statesmanship in its relation to war.
2. Strategy, or the art of properly directing masses upon the theater of war, either for defense or for invasion.
3. Grant tactics.
4. Logistics, or the art of moving armies.
5. Engineering--the attack and defense of fortifications.
6. Minor tactics."

The book itself, then, considers these elements of the art of war. No need to go into great detail. But some general points are in order. At one point, he emphasizes the importance of "lines"--interior lines, where one side has a more compact line and can move troops from one point to another with greater facility than the enemy; exterior lines, which are longer. If a smaller force, interior lines are critical; if a larger force, exterior lines may prove no impediment to success.

One facet of this book is his diagrams depicting various orders of attack (pages 188 and following). This tends, as noted earlier, to be pretty abstract. One hesitates to think that officers in the heat of combat will intellectually assess the various orders of attack and rationally choose one over another. Among these are straight linear orders (where the two forces approach one another in straight lines) to "en echelon" attacks, where the lines are arrayed in depth.

He notes in his conclusion that (Page 321) "War in its ensemble in not a science, but an art."

So, if one might be interested in an analysis of military strategy and tactics from the early part of the 19th century, this is not a bad starting point. It is a classic on the subject, and, even if too abstract and academic, can be a useful book to understand the military in that era.


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The Art of War Sun Tzu Thomas Cleary 9781590302255 Books Reviews

It’s a teeny tiny book. U can read it in no time. Talks about 8 chapters or something close to that. Lots of additional details from the author regarding the translation and the life of señor Sun. It’s s lot of what today might be considered normal or basic military tactics and principles. Standard reading in some military circles.
The author adds his own knowledge along with Sun Tzu's. And the author's additions are excellent. You might find Sun Tsu on the net in PDF or something, but I wanted a book form and the author was a pleasant surprise for his own good knowledge on these matters. Its a fairly short book, but that it compares so much with modern warfare and intelligence wars that you should get to know it.
NOT THE FULL TEXT....these are the cliff notes......product page sucks.
Just received the book. No where in the description does it say it is a shortened version of the book. I feel like I was ripped off
It’s clear that Mr. Gagliardi is extremely passionate about all things Sun Tzu. Through various repackaged books sold both here at and through the “Science of Strategy Institute” he set up to sell you Sun Tzu themed board games and videos, he has certainly created a virtual cottage industry of Sunzi-phernalia. In addition, he also offers personalized training packages for up to $1,500 to amp up your ability to unleash the power of Sun Tzu’s system of total and complete victory in all competitive endeavors you face, whether in the boardroom or the bedroom.

But all of this aside, how successful is Mr. Gagliardi at his most basic task competently translating Sun Tzu’s original text, The Art of War? The answer not very.

This book is a complete mess, with unforgivable errors in both translation and general knowledge concerning China and the Warring States era present in almost every verse. In lieu of a laundry list I will give you just a one line example where Mr. Gagliardi clearly shows that he is out of his depth in terms of translation competence. I maintain a database of 30 translations of The Art of War in English that I use to compare and contrast various efforts, and included the screenshot of the relevant verse so you can compare it to how others have approached the text.

In Chapter 11, Sun Tzu is concerned that his own soldiers might either break and run or else refuse to support the other flanks of his own army while in battle. To show how this can be remedied, Sun Tzu brings up the example of how a certain snake can provide a valuable lesson for his soldiers. As Gagliardi translates it, the line reads “Act like an ordinary mountain snake.”

From a novice’s perspective, this could be a defensible translation choice. The original Chinese characters for this line are

CHANG SHAN ZHI SHE

If you looked up each character individually via the internet you could definitely make a case that the line could read

ordinary mountain (of) snake

The problem is that professional translation doesn’t work this way (a one-for-one translation of characters), and you have to understand all of the nuances applicable to how these thoughts are put together, especially when you are talking about a millennia old text written in a language vastly different than its modern equivalent. What a competent Sinologist would easily understand, but Gagliardi obviously didn’t, is that the character CHANG isn’t functioning as an adjective modifying the noun “snake,” but instead is the proper noun indicating the name of the mountain on which the snake resides. So the line should read

“Act like the snake of Mt. Chang”

So while Gagliardi is perfectly content in his own ignorance that Sun Tzu is talking about an ordinary snake, what the text is really saying is that he needs his soldiers to be like an EXTRAordinary snake which possesses the magical ability to continue providing support to its endangered other half even after being cleaved into two separate parts.

Now if you are looking to really get beyond the basics of the translation (say like someone who is willing to shell out $1,500 for advanced personal lessons) and might be curious where this Mt. Chang is located and why it was relevant to Sun Tzu, you might be surprised. Sun Tzu never actually mentioned Mt. Chang, but instead was referring to a Mt. Heng, where this extraordinary snake supposedly lived (by the way, Sun Tzu gave the snake a name, the Shuairan, a fact that was completely missed by Gagliardi). It turns out that the oldest extant copy of the Art of War was transcribed during the Han Dynasty period. What professional Sinologists know but Mr. Gagliardi might not, is that in classical Chinese there was a prohibition on using characters that were the same as the personal name of the sitting emperor. At around the same time as we believe the earliest version of The Art of War was transcribed, Emperor Wen of Han was sitting on the throne and had a personal name of “Liu Heng” which means that “Heng” would need to be omitted from all texts. “Heng” actually means “Perseverance” and it turns out that “Chang” also carries the meaning of “Perseverance” so Mt. Heng was changed to Mt. Chang to get around this prohibition—an interesting tidbit for your next trivia night.

Of course the name change does nothing to impact your understanding of the Art of War, but does illustrate the difference between buying a copy of the The Art of War from a professional Sinologist who understands both the translation issues and can provide relevant historical and philosophical background, and the rank amateur who does this for a hobby and wants to pass off an inferior product hoping you won't know the difference. There are too many professionally done Sun Tzu translations available by qualified individuals (Ames, Griffith, Sawyer, Ivanhoe, Mair, Minford) to justify paying the same amount of money for Mr. Gagliardi’s lackluster effort.

You wouldn’t select a surgeon for your triple-bypass surgery simply because he was “passionate” about cutting people open and learned some things on the internet. You would want to select someone who has years of relevant professional experience under their belt, and just as important, board certified. Fortunately, the stakes aren't quite so high when choosing the best Sun Tzu translation, but the same principle should apply. Don't be an ordinary purchaser of this classic text, be an extraordinary one.
This is a ~15 page "summary" of the book. Ordered this thinking it was the full text because it doesn't say otherwise in the description.
I want to tell future readers of this book in this way. I read it first when I was 14 or 15. I thought it was a book on how to smartly fight a war. Then I re-read it when I was 28 and it occurred to me that it may be an instruction book on how to navigate an honorable life. Years passed and I recently found it at the bottom of a box in my closet. I read it again at age 56. I realized it has more to offer. If you read this book, you will actively have to replace Sun Tzus' ancient terms and placement of hierarchy and apply them to modern situations and people. Family, bosses, neighbors, employees and the list goes on. It is my belief that this "manual" can help solve minor and major disruptions in life if used correctly. It is a book meant for good.
The Baron Antoine Henri de Jomini's "The Art of War" is an early classic on military strategy and tactics. With von Clausewitz, he was one of the more widely read scholars on the subject in the 19th century. His book tends to have an abstract, scholarly air to it that suggests that he was more of an "arm chair" theorist than a man whom he learned much from--Napoleon Bonaparte. Napoleon may have had general perspectives on warfare, but he was also someone who was able to be improvisational on the battlefield, and Jomini cannot quite capture that in this work. Nonetheless, a classic.

Charles Messenger's Introduction does single out Jomini for mention, when he notes (Page v) "Nineteenth -century military thought was dominated by two men, one a German and the other a Swiss. . . . They were von Clausewitz and Jomini." Jomini argued that (Page vii) "Strategy decodes where to act; logistics brings the troops to this point; grand tactics determines the manner of execution and the employment of the troops."

As Jomini's actual work begins, he identifies the six key components of the art of war (Page 2)
"1. Statesmanship in its relation to war.
2. Strategy, or the art of properly directing masses upon the theater of war, either for defense or for invasion.
3. Grant tactics.
4. Logistics, or the art of moving armies.
5. Engineering--the attack and defense of fortifications.
6. Minor tactics."

The book itself, then, considers these elements of the art of war. No need to go into great detail. But some general points are in order. At one point, he emphasizes the importance of "lines"--interior lines, where one side has a more compact line and can move troops from one point to another with greater facility than the enemy; exterior lines, which are longer. If a smaller force, interior lines are critical; if a larger force, exterior lines may prove no impediment to success.

One facet of this book is his diagrams depicting various orders of attack (pages 188 and following). This tends, as noted earlier, to be pretty abstract. One hesitates to think that officers in the heat of combat will intellectually assess the various orders of attack and rationally choose one over another. Among these are straight linear orders (where the two forces approach one another in straight lines) to "en echelon" attacks, where the lines are arrayed in depth.

He notes in his conclusion that (Page 321) "War in its ensemble in not a science, but an art."

So, if one might be interested in an analysis of military strategy and tactics from the early part of the 19th century, this is not a bad starting point. It is a classic on the subject, and, even if too abstract and academic, can be a useful book to understand the military in that era.