"The Art of War"

Big red book

I picked up "The Art of War and Other Classics of Eastern Thought" thanks to a $5 off coupon on Barnes & Noble classics. This volume includes "The Art of War," the "Tao Te Ching," various writings of Confucius, and more, but at this point I've only finished "The Art of War" (with commentary).

"The Art of War" describes principles of military strategy, including morale, terrain, authority, and more. Notably, Sun Tzu writes that war should be waged only as a last resort: it is an incredible drain on the state and people compared to diplomacy. The book actually reminded me quite a bit of Machiavelli's "The Prince." Both discuss how power should be used in practice rather than in some idealized way, both describe war as but one means of achieving a state's objective, and both are endlessly quoted in probably dubious ways by business leadership type books. I've definitely read this before:

If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.

Interestingly, there is apparently some debate amongst scholars whether Sun Tzu was a real historical figure or a composite of multiple individuals. The book was written over 2000 years ago and it's believed that some chapters in the middle were edited later or lost, so we'll probably never know for sure.

My subjective rating: a true classic with interesting insights into identifying strategic objectives, inspiring an army, and espionage, but probably not to be generalized to civilian life.