Art Of War
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Product Description
Product Description
A new edition of the trusted Lionel Giles translation of the Ancient Chinese treatise on warfare. It has defined the tactics and strategies on the battlefield and more recently the business world, for the last 2500 years.
About the Author
Lionel Giles used the Wade-Giles Romanization method of translation, pioneered by his father, Herbert Giles. Like many Victorian-era sinologists, he was primarily interested in Chinese literature, which Victorians approached as a branch of classics. Victorian sinologists contributed greatly to problems of textual transmission of the classics. The following quote shows Giles' attitude to the problem identifying the authors of ancient works like the Lieh Tzu, the Chuang Tzu and the Tao Te Ching: The extent of the actual mischief done by this "Burning of the Books " has been greatly exaggerated. Still, the mere attempt at such a holocaust gave a fine chance to the scholars of the later Han dynasty (A.D. 25-221), who seem to have enjoyed nothing so much as forging, if not the whole, at any rate portions, of the works of ancient authors. Some one even produced a treatise under the name of Lieh Tzu, a philosopher mentioned by Chuang Tzu, not seeing that the individual in question was a creation of Chuang Tzu's brain! Continuing to produce translations of Chinese classics well into the later part of his life, he confessed to a friend that he was a "Taoist at heart, and I can well believe it, since he was fond of a quiet life, and was free of that extreme form of combative scholarship which seems to be the hall mark of most Sinologists."
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
I'm sampling all the Kindle versions of the Art of War to pick a readable translation.
Like buses that all seem to come at once, this is YET ANOTHER version of the Lionel Giles' 1910 version without the rather heavy original footnotes or the mildly useful Giles introduction. It's actually in quite readable English for the date, and seems reasonably understandable in the 21st century. I've no idea on the accuracy of the translation.
Opening line from other Giles versions: "Sun Tzu said: the art of war is of vital importance to the State.
It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected."
Prices vary considerably but the words stay the same.
Update: after clattering through all the Kindle samples, this is the one I chose, because it's the cheapest, AND I can always read the original introduction by getting a sample download from another version. Simples!
Like buses that all seem to come at once, this is YET ANOTHER version of the Lionel Giles' 1910 version without the rather heavy original footnotes or the mildly useful Giles introduction. It's actually in quite readable English for the date, and seems reasonably understandable in the 21st century. I've no idea on the accuracy of the translation.
Opening line from other Giles versions: "Sun Tzu said: the art of war is of vital importance to the State.
It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin. Hence it is a subject of inquiry which can on no account be neglected."
Prices vary considerably but the words stay the same.
Update: after clattering through all the Kindle samples, this is the one I chose, because it's the cheapest, AND I can always read the original introduction by getting a sample download from another version. Simples!
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The author did an amazing job of cramming the complete Art of War of General Sun-Tzu, in this little book. I have read several versions and have to say this book is worth the money and is defiantly worth a read. I especially enjoyed the section on the tar tars.
Final words, this book is really worth its money.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
For less than £1 you can't really go wrong !
Yes there are better versions, but they're also many many times the price.
Half tactics, Half philosophy this book was alot of fun to read. Sun Tzu maybe the most quotable man in history.
4 stars instead of 5 because of some slight presentation issues, with random blank pages and large paragraph breaks.
But to be honest that's just me knit picking !
Yes there are better versions, but they're also many many times the price.
Half tactics, Half philosophy this book was alot of fun to read. Sun Tzu maybe the most quotable man in history.
4 stars instead of 5 because of some slight presentation issues, with random blank pages and large paragraph breaks.
But to be honest that's just me knit picking !
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
The Art of War
I didn't find this book very informative. It was very small and had little to do with the war situation. Read more
Published 1 month ago by rosie bee
Quality
Firstly the corners of the hard cover are slightly bent and crinkled like it had been dropped and the pages of the book look like they have been water damaged or cut incorrectly... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Jacob Garvey
Compare to today
I love to compare these ancient books with books of today. Is civilization making any progress?
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Published 10 months ago by Sea Dog
Sad
This is the ultimate guide for fighting a war. Used by army generals and now business leaders it contains all you need to know about fighting and winning. Read more
Published 11 months ago by rhysthomashello
The art of war
I have yet to complete this book, but I'm beginning to understand why so many people believe in its content. Read more
Published 18 months ago by Gman1973
CRAMMED
Having read other versions I was interested to find out just how concise this edition was. I found that it was too crammed and there are better editions around. Read more
Published 21 months ago by I. Buchan
Does what it says in the description
It's pretty much as the description in the product overview which is precisely what I wanted; a decent translation with a bit of interpretation. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Concerned Buyer
the art of war
i ordered for 2 books, "the art of war" and also "the art of strategy" same and time. art of war delivered and art of strategy undelivered running weeks now. Read more
Published on 25 April 2010 by Mr. C. S. Ude
A cheap printout of an online available text
The contents page ends with "Original Text in Simplified Chinese", but the book does not appear to include this at all. Read more
Published on 31 Mar 2010 by S. Ip
It's just a bit tacky
I wanted to read the famous Art of War, but i wanted a copy that i could keep and treasure as a reference book. In short, this wasn't it. Read more
Published on 23 July 2009 by D. McClory
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