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seraphjewel 's review for:
The Art of War
by Sun Tzu, Lionel Giles
This is probably one of the most famous pieces of literature discussing war. I've always wanted to read it, so I finally picked it up. I feel like there needs to be two ratings for this particular book: one for the words of Sun Tzu himself and one for the commentary and footnotes. Because if I was rating just Sun Tzu, I probably would've given it something higher. His thoughts (or the translation of them) are concise and very practical, and some can be applied to situations outside war.
The commentary was where I had the issue. In my copy, every point Sun Tzu made was interrupted by commentary explaining the text or giving other people's thoughts on the subject. I wanted to read and make my own conclusions, not be told how other people interpreted it. So after a while I started skipping over all that commentary.
So if I ever found myself in a bookstore, I would make sure the next copy of this I picked up had all the footnotes and commentary at the end of the book, because it being in the middle of the text was very distracting and made the reading itself less pleasant.
The commentary was where I had the issue. In my copy, every point Sun Tzu made was interrupted by commentary explaining the text or giving other people's thoughts on the subject. I wanted to read and make my own conclusions, not be told how other people interpreted it. So after a while I started skipping over all that commentary.
So if I ever found myself in a bookstore, I would make sure the next copy of this I picked up had all the footnotes and commentary at the end of the book, because it being in the middle of the text was very distracting and made the reading itself less pleasant.