The Art of War ~ Books I Like

Friday, May 8, 2009

The Art of War

The Art of War is one of the oldest (6th century BC) and most successful books on military strategy in the world. The Art of War is a Chinese military treatise written by Sun Tzu during the Zhou dynasty. It is Composed of 13 chapters, each of which is devoted to one aspect of warfare.

It has had a huge influence on Eastern military thinking, business tactics, and beyond. It has long been praised as the definitive work on military strategies and tactics of its time, and one of the basic texts on the subject. It recognizes the importance of positioning in strategy. Also, strategy does not merely involve planning in the sense of working through a to-do list, but rather that requires quick and appropriate responses to changing conditions. Planning works in a controlled environment, but in a competitive environment, competing plans collide, creating unexpected situations.

The Art of War has been applied to fields well outside the military. Much of the text is about how to fight wars without actually having to do battle: it gives tips on how to outsmart one's opponent so that physical battle is not necessary. As such, it has found application as a training guide for many competitive endeavors that do not involve actual combat.

Other Books on war and military tactics

* 33 strategies of war
* Gears of war strategy

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