MINI REVIEW: THE ART OF WAR

All warfare is based on deception...

I'd received a copy of this classic as part of a holiday book exchange / Secret Santa situation. This is a pretty little edition and the book is fairly short in terms of overall word count, so I finally decided to give it a readthrough. 

HOW I RATED IT 

4/5 Though it would be weird to say that I love a book like this, I did find it quite enjoyable to experience and beautiful to read in spite of the dark nature of the subject matter.   

CONTENT

This Chinese classic is one of the more influential books in human history. It's been used by army generals, managers of sports teams, and top-level business executives in the formation of their strategies to win the respective types of conflict that each deal with. After reading, I can see why this little book is still considered relevant as it speaks about warfare in broad enough terms where it could feasibly relate to any time period and different types of "warfare." It's also surprisingly beautiful in its prose and I found myself consuming it almost more like I would read a poetry book. It speaks to some horrific subject matter with delicacy and poise, while never being at all apologetic about the brutality which it encourages. Though it almost feels like this could be a handbook for how to be a sociopath, I still found it fascinating to ponder the various points which Sun Tzu makes. Perhaps I will put some of these to use the next time I am involved in a game with some particularly competitive friends (insert an evil chuckle here...). 

HARDCOVER

This particular edition is quite pretty and I was very happy to receive it during a bookish Secret Santa even though Amazon slightly damaged it in transit. The cover itself has a lovely gold foil on the title and cover design which matches the sprayed edges of the paper. On the inside, everything is wonderfully formatted as well with some simple silhouette imagery adorning the start of each chapter and some nice endpapers as well. The text itself is elegantly formatted and this was just a pleasure to hold and to read overall.  

CONCLUSION

Technically this could be a book for anyone. It's not super long or even terribly difficult to read even though there is a distinctly poetic flair to the writing. It's certainly a little disturbing to contemplate what is ultimately quite a gruesome "art" but the applicability of these concepts to less violent endeavors is also fascinating to think about. Do I recommend using this as a self-help book to win more often at whatever you do? No, because then you probably won't have many friends, but it's still interesting to think about and there is probably some sound advice about navigating difficult situations or setting yourself up for success to be found here.

(+) Eloquent and poetic descriptions of what it takes to achieve victory

(+) Loads of points which are fascinating to think about

(+) A gorgeous hardcover edition that was a delight to flip through

(+) This is a widely read and highly influential classic

(-) Some of the suggested tactics definitely felt a bit sociopathic which made it a little weird to read