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The Art of War
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The Art of War
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The Art of War
Audiobook2 hours

The Art of War

Written by Sun Tzu

Narrated by Scott Brick and Shelly Frasier

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

"All warfare is based on deception. Thus, when able to attack, we must seem unable. Hold out bait to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him. If he is in superior strength, evade him. If your opponent is quick to anger, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant."



Written before Alexander the Great was born, this Chinese treatise on war has become one of the most influential works on the subject. Read widely in the east since its appearance 2,500 years ago, The Art of War first came to the West with a French Jesuit in 1782. It has been studied by generals from Napoleon to Rommel, and it is still required reading in most military academies of the world.



Although it was meant to be a practical guide to warfare in the age of chariots, many corporate and government leaders have successfully applied its lessons to battles in the modern dog-eat-dog world. Sun Tzu covers all aspects of war in his time, from strategy and tactics to the proper use of terrain and spies. In this version, Sun Tzu's lessons are brought to life with commentaries from ancient Chinese history, which illustrate both the philosophy and the principles of his teachings.
LanguageEnglish
PublisherTantor Audio
Release dateJul 21, 2008
ISBN9781400178414
Author

Sun Tzu

Sun Tzu, also known as Sun Wu or Sunzi, was an ancient Chinese military strategist believed to be the author of the acclaimed military text, The Art of War. Details about Sun Tzu’s background and life are uncertain, although he is believed to have lived c. 544-496 BCE. Through The Art of War, Sun Tzu’s theories and strategies have influenced military leaders and campaigns throughout time, including the samurai of ancient and early-modern Japan, and more recently Ho Chi Minh of the Viet Cong and American generals Norman Swarzkopf, Jr. and Colin Powell during the Persian Gulf War in the 1990s.

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Reviews for The Art of War

Rating: 3.863214654095827 out of 5 stars
4/5

3,235 ratings75 reviews

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    you kind of have to read this, yah. so privately canonized.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I'm so glad I finally read this historic book. I found it very interesting and understand why it has been adapted to suit other fields -- notably management. And the version of the book I bought is beautiful in itself. Bound in traditional Chinese style, with each page folded in half and only printed on the outside. Hard to rate -- it is what it is as they say -- but I'm rating it highly because it has stood the test of time.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    An enduring classic, an absolute must-read for every business person and military mind the world over.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A very quick read of a classic. I had always been meaning to get around to this book, and I did not realize how short it was. The version I have contains more commentary than the actual writing, and I did not bother with the commentary.

    The book is basically a series of maxims that describe how to lead as a general at war. I think its appeal is universal, and many of the ideas can be applied as strategic thinking in other aspects of life. I don't think it was all that profound, but then again, its ideas have been used for centuries. It was nice to be able to read where a lot of them came from.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Sun Tzu's "The Art of War" is a great book.This ancient classic was written over 2,500 years ago by the legendary Chinese general Sun Tzu, being aa timeless masterpiece of interaction of power and politics this book teaches many good lessons to anyone who will ever have to command a group of people, in the workplace, in school, or on the battlefield.The Art of War is an ageless book that teaches human nature and how to deal with difficult situations in life and business.The lessons learned in this book can be allied to relationship, friendship, career and make you a more complete person in general. I I recommend this book to be read by all those who wants to succeed in anything they do, It is not just about lessons in war but can be used and applied for everyday life."The Art of War" is a must read.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I read this and let my mind wander a little, but not too much. Invariably whatever I think about mixes with the words, and elegant, clear observations come out. It's like guided meditation.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I wasn't sure what to expect when I picked up this book, to be honest. I just made a promise to myself I would read more classics and this was a short one to get in so I can reach my reading goal. However, I ended up really, really enjoying it. I'm not a soldier by any stretch of the imagination, but there is good, solid advice in this book that is still relevant thousands of years after it was written. It's worth a read for sure, and it's so short you can get through it quickly. I would recommend it. 5 out of 5 stars.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Indeholder "Making of Plans", "Waging of War", "Strategic Offensive", "Forms and Dispositions", "Potential Energy", "Empty and Full", "The Fray", "The Nine Changes", "On the March", "Forms of Terrain", "The Nine Kinds of Ground", "Attack by Fire", "Espionage"."Making of Plans" handler om ???"Waging of War" handler om ???"Strategic Offensive" handler om ???"Forms and Dispositions" handler om ???"Potential Energy" handler om ???"Empty and Full" handler om ???"The Fray" handler om ???"The Nine Changes" handler om ???"On the March" handler om ???"Forms of Terrain" handler om ???"The Nine Kinds of Ground" handler om ???"Attack by Fire" handler om ???"Espionage" handler om ???En glimrende klassiker om krig. Sun-tzu ved hvor ødelæggende krig er, så han foretrækker at undgå den.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I have read this several times in a variety of translations. This version is formatted like a poem and is a quick read. Interesting that Sun Tzu echoes many of the issues raised by Thucydides. I remember an Instructor Gunnery during my Regimental Officers Basic Course from the United States artillery beginning every lesson with: "Sun Tzu says...". And, "If a 155 round lands on a tank, the tank is toast". So much in such a short book and it was quite possibly written before Thucydides was born.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Pretty dull going, even by audiobook. The narrators were great, though, and there were times that the footnotes saved me.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A great translation. That was meant to be funny since I don't read Chinese and can't possibly really know how good his translation is. However, this is a great book and belongs right next to your other war strategy greats.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Very helpful!! I feel far more prepared for my generalship!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Awesome piece of literature and it was wonderfully narrated. Enjoy!!!
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Vapid martial homilies.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A great book. Can be hard to read at times but it’s one to read over and over as it’s quite applicable to the Christian battle
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    “Move not unless you see an advantage, use not your troops unless there is something to be gained, fight not unless the position is critical.”

    I read The Art of War by Sun Tzu through an app called Serial Reader, which breaks up longer books, novellas and short stories into manageable pieces that a reader can read in 12 minutes a day. I love to use Serial Reader when I’m waiting for the bus, in the line at the post office, whenever I feel like I have a few moments, but not necessarily long enough to take out a book and find my place.

    I also really like Serial Reader because I tend to read things I wouldn’t otherwise read, but so far I’ve really enjoyed all the stories and novels that I’ve read.

    I found The Art of War to be surprisingly readable, considering it was written around the 5th century, BCE and has been translated countless times since then. It’s much more philosophical than I had anticipated, and in a way, deeply spiritual.

    Of course it’s dry. It is. It is an ancient military self-help book, none of it is relevant to me. There are lots of lists about the different kinds of ground an army might fight on, different types of weather, how to traverse it all.

    And yet I found it interesting.

    I appreciated that this translator (and, I suppose, author) warned against fighting at all. If you want to occupy a town, best to get the enemy to surrender to you painlessly, so that the town is in tact and nothing is destroyed. Sun Tzu really speaks to the desperation of war, how the last thing anyone wants to do in a war is fight, but if you have to fight, this is what you need to do.

    I’m glad I read this text. I often found myself reading it and wondering about all the people, leaders, warriors, stay-at-home mothers who’d read it before, who were reading it with me. What did they learn from it? How did they feel reading it? Was it more relevant to their lives than it was to mine?

    That, in and of itself, is a fascinating thing to think about, don’t you think?
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    This is a manual and reads like one. Better to take in very small doses, digest and discuss rather than to read continuously.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5

    I decided to read The Art of War because of references to it in the best/only good general marketing book I read during my commerce education: Marketing Strategy and Competitive Positioning. I was curious to see why a modern marketing handbook would have references to a classic handbook in ancient warfare, and why The Art of War is such a famous book.

    I can see now why the book is famous: it is because its warfare principles are generally applicable to competitive situations - including marketing and politics (maybe office politics too?)

    I expected a heavy brick of an analytic strategy book, but it is the opposite: a thin, minimalist poetry book.

    It is a piece of art. The pattern of words is aesthetically pleasing and produces vivid imagery of ancient armies moving and camping in harsh terrains; yet the strange scenery and poetic style conveys core strategic principles for competition with great accuracy.

    Essentially, The Art of War encourages careful consideration of the dynamics of all situational variables (listing them), and discourages impulsive and dumb warfare, which is any warfare driven by an irrational motive, or which can not be won quickly with minimal loss.








  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I have other versions of Sun Tzu's Art of War, and the first one I purchased in Italian was actually a new translation published by the Army publisher, as a Chinese officer part of an exchange programme saw that all the Italian versions at the time were actually... translations of translationsI have also read the Sawyer edition, among others, but I picked up this one in a library as it was the only one I saw so far that, beside the translation, included also a rewriting in ChineseInteresting series of books, as they republished classics from Chinese history following the same approach- so, I was curious to see the differences (on the English side- my abilities in Chinese will be enough to read in Chinese... in few years- in modern Chinese)
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Defiantly some good tips in here. I can see why other countries armies are so well disciplined if they still use these tactics. Some of them could also work for dealing with people as well. Some handy things in here.

    It's easy to read, but he repeats things a lot, and some of the sentence are worded strangely. And then, some lines are written like poetry.

    It was a something different, and I'm glad I picked it up.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Classic, brilliant techniques put so simply. Yet, naturally, reading this as a modern day civilian, I applied it to my modern day battles such as in business, relationships, Los Angeles traffic...the typical. As a naturally paranoid person, I feel it did me more harm than good. In addition, I prefer to (perhaps ignorantly) avoid seeing things as if they are wars. Some things will never change though because I will always act shy and giggle right before I slaughter my enemy.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Inspiration comes from many places and The Art of War is one of those books mentioned frequently in my circles. It's one of those books I've been meaning to get to for years and, while I am not sorry that I finally got to it, its usefulness to me is limited.Most of the non-strategic advice is good leadership advice. Things such as being a leader means setting the standard for how the work should be done, including getting one's hands dirty with the lowliest tasks. I've read plenty of stuff about leadership, and setting the example, that there really wasn't anything new for me here.Since I'm not interested in military strategies, the rest was dry.From a strictly historic perspective, I can understand the importance of this treatise. But as an outstanding example of leadership and strategy in the 21st century? I'm not seeing it.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    There was a lot of repetition in this book, but maybe it's to enforce some of the most important things to remember when conducting a war.

    I was surprised by how much from this ancient text seems applicable today. I guess that can be chalked up to the knowledge and foresight of Sun Tzu, as well as our sad inability to change our violent ways.

    One particular bit of text seemed particularly relevant:

    When the army engages in protracted campaigns the resources of the state will not suffice.

    Good advice.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    It's amazing that this advice is still quite relevant 2500 years after the fact. Some of it, of course, isn't, but that'll happen. The historical allusions in Giles' translation/commentary are pretty useful, though occasionally it gets really deep into Chinese history and you forget who you are and what you're reading. What dynasty are we in again?
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Another translation (Ralph Sawyer) and lots of background history & hints of textual analysis - but fails to grab.Read July 2006
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A classic! Well worth the read, and looking forward to reading again in the future.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Everyone should read this.

    It tells you as much about motivation and human compunction than any other book Ive ever read. This should be required reading for teachers, businessmen, cops, everyone that every has to deal with a group of people in a possibly hostile setting.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Tactics and strategies that apply to everyday life. This book is excellent reading to make you think about how to deal with the day to day struggles of life. It helps you position you versus your opponent. Your opponent need not be any one person. It could be a corporation. It could be an establishment. It could be a situation you are facing. I was once told that what you get out of a book is the effort you put into a book. It is my hope that this book can help someone master how they deal with day to day life. Let me know what you think. By the way, how many Enron or Worldcomm employees do you think read this book?

    On another note, I would ask that you do not take this book literally. It is laced with allegory and a ton of symbolism. Please take its contents and apply them to your life for the good of all.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    The original book was interesting but the commentary portion of the book was insightful. I liked hearing perspective on Master Sun's work from other ancient military leaders.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A great translation. That was meant to be funny since I don't read Chinese and can't possibly really know how good his translation is. However, this is a great book and belongs right next to your other war strategy greats.