Reviews

L'Arte della Guerra by Sun Tzu

dikkymo's review against another edition

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I was bored.

ilianaelizabeth's review against another edition

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2.0

A este libro llegué enteramente de casualidad siendo honesta. Estaba a punto de sumarle una estrella pero nah, sigo sin sentirlo como de tres estrellas, tal vez en otro momento le sume una estrellita si así lo siente mi corazón lector, pero not today bro.
La cosa es que dice algo muy sencillo como premisa principal y me gusta "el guerrero sabio evita la guerra" o algo así, que en pocas palabras dice que la forma más inteligente de encarar una guerra es intentar no llegar a ella, pero de deber hacerlo, hay que hacer todo lo que sea posible por ganarla y con eso en mente. Creo que es lo más destacable como para dar a entender la idea del libro. También habla de saber cuándo retirarse, detectar cuándo es propicio atacar (por ejemplo si superas en número al ejercito contrario), cuándo hacer alianzas (cuando son varios bandos los que se enfrentan, y puede resultar atractivo unir fuerzas contra un enemigo más poderoso y más odiado también). Pero creo que estas cosas al tener tantas guerras para estudiar, podemos aprenderlo sin un libro aparte, simplemente leyendo historia, la del propio país, la mundial, la que sea, el ser humano es tan simple que eventualmente encuentra la guerra como forma de buscar la paz.
Es como un gran "no es por ahí" para mí porque lees, y decís, aun así sigue pasando que se encaran guerras diciendo "pero esta la voy a ganar porque voy a hacer esto que no se hizo nunca", cuando lo que nunca se hizo es intentar no terminar en guerra. Y con esto no quiero vender un discurso hippie, sólo decir que el libro es bueno pero no es material de estudio. Por lo menos estudiando historia, si se aprende algo realmente, con suerte no se repite.
No lo recomiendo, por si no quedaba claro.

laavelify's review against another edition

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informative medium-paced

1.5

nookadri's review against another edition

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como é que se dá estrelas a este livro?

ashes2003's review against another edition

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informative medium-paced

2.75

The only war i'm fighting is with my inner demons.
 I don't even like my government enough to even be apart of war so all in all I totally would not be using the knowledge learnt in this book. 

magmaa's review against another edition

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3.5

noice

stefo's review against another edition

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informative fast-paced

2.0

In my honest opinion this text is unbelievably useless in contemporary times in terms of applied knowledge. The only real merit here I see is historical documentation of sorts. If someone (who's not a history buff) were to proudly present this book on their shelf as a signifier of whatever I would have my immediate mental defenses up when talking to them about any form of culture or ways of thought. The only thing besides analyses by historians that this book presents to the reader is a vast number of quotes and "wisdoms" that are way too specific to be applied in personal pursuits (Although many people seem to believe that is the case. Hell, its so ridiculous that some people read this as a sort of business manual, which is incredibly absurd). And if we're talking about the text as pure prose then I can't comment much on it, this text has passed quite a lot of translations and has a lot of different variants with slight changes in wording which keeps me from enjoying the "words on a page" approach to literature. How does one even rate such a book? But more importantly "How does one enjoy it?" is the question that I currently cannot answer, and honestly care very little to find out.
Do not believe the mass that says this book is an essential read, it really isn't, Sun Tzu said. 

chale19's review against another edition

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informative inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.0

nightwillowfox's review against another edition

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4.0

This too me a longer time to read , but I did enjoyed it. For me it is hard to explain why I did I just felt that what was being explained makes sense. I might change this review later when I can put how if feel into words.

sidharthvardhan's review against another edition

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5.0

Now I'm ready to invade Poland
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Okay, I understand that is not the kind of reaction Sun Tzu would have liked(best victories are won without fighting) but it makes a nice heading. His philosophy is simple - be good even if it means looking bad and to know your surroundings while you fight. He is against pretentious heroism, plunder or useless bloodshed whether that is blood of his own men or his opponents. Yet he wants you not to miss the opportunities where you can find them or to break the old moral laws where it is of advantage to you.

Not that I'm looking to lead an army or pretend that I can but there is something so honest in there that you just love it. Perhaps it is book's realism (as against the bookish morality) - something comparable to Machiavelli's 'The Prince'.