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Penguin Books

The 33 Strategies of War (Joost Elffers Books)

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Description

Brilliant distillations of the strategies of war—and the subtle social game of everyday life—by the bestselling author of The 48 Laws of Power and The Laws of Human Nature Robert Greene’s groundbreaking guides, The 48 Laws of Power, The Art of Seduction, and Mastery, espouse profound, timeless lessons from the events of history to help readers vanquish an enemy, ensnare an unsuspecting victim, or become the greatest in your field. In The 33 Strategies of War, Greene has crafted an important addition to this ruthless and unique series. Spanning world civilizations, synthesizing dozens of political, philosophical, and religious texts and thousands of years of violent conflict, The 33 Strategies of War is the I-Ching of conflict, the contemporary companion to Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. Abundantly illustrated with examples from history, including the folly and genius of everyone from Napoleon to Margaret Thatcher, Shaka the Zulu to Lord Nelson, Hannibal to Ulysses S. Grant, as well as movie moguls, Samurai swordsmen, and diplomats, each of the thirty-three chapters outlines a strategy that will help you win life’s wars. Learn the offensive strategies that require you to maintain the initiative and negotiate from a position of strength, or the defensive strategies designed to help you respond to dangerous situations and avoid unwinnable wars. The great warriors of battlefields and drawing rooms alike demonstrate prudence, agility, balance, and calm, and a keen understanding that the rational, resourceful, and intuitive always defeat the panicked, the uncreative, and the stupid. An indispensable book, The 33 Strategies of War provides all the psychological ammunition you need to overcome patterns of failure and forever gain the upper hand. Read more

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Books; Reprint edition (December 14, 2007)


Language ‏ : ‎ English


Paperback ‏ : ‎ 512 pages


ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0143112783


ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 85


Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.6 pounds


Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.5 x 1.08 x 9.06 inches


Best Sellers Rank: #4,347 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #6 in Military Strategy History (Books) #202 in Motivational Self-Help (Books) #215 in Success Self-Help


#6 in Military Strategy History (Books):


#202 in Motivational Self-Help (Books):


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Top Amazon Reviews

    • A modern-day classic of war strategy
This superlative book begins with a Table of Contents section that includes the chapter title and a portion of the chapter overview. This section provides a nice preview and, for later, an excellent refresher/reference. See the online “Look Inside” of the paperback version for this interesting and important overview. The Preface includes six fundamental ideals for transforming oneself into a strategic warrior in daily life: 1. Look at things as they are, not as your emotions color them. 2. Judge people by their actions. 3. Depend upon your own arms (mind/intelligence). 4. Worship Athena (goddess of strategic warfare/intelligence), not Ares (god of war). 5. Elevate yourself above the battlefield (focus on long-term objectives). 6. Spiritualize your warfare (challenge and improve yourself). General description of the book: There is one chapter for each of the 33 strategies, with no summary at the end. Each chapter is a collection of stories/examples of the discussed strategy in the way of extended quotes from other books, interspersed with shorter stories/quotes. Then comes an image in the form of a strategic thought with words filling a creative outline of the concept described. Then comes an “Authority” quote from a historic figure. Finally, there comes a “reversal” (counter or antidote to the strategy described). Surprisingly, there is no summary at the end of the book. Many of the strategies (“plans to gain an objective/win”) are stratagems (“artifices or tricks in war for deceiving and outwitting the enemy”). Some of the strategies are truly Machiavellian (amoral). However, the author neglects to emphasize that such strategies only work in the short term. The enemy learns. As well, your cohorts or allies also learn you are not to be trusted. A good bit of advice about character and virtue from Abraham Lincoln: “You can fool some of the people all of the time and all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.” Should the author ever wish to revise his book, here are a couple of items I would recommend he address: P 220 Sun-Tzu “4th century BC.” However, Sun-Tzu is claimed to have lived in the 6th century to the 5th century BC (544-496 BC). Page 231 “Next time you launch a campaign, try an experiment: do not think about either your solid goals or your wishful dreams, and do not plan out your strategy on paper. … Dreaming first of what you want and then trying to find the means to reach it is a recipe for exhaustion, waste, and defeat.” OTOH, this flies in the face of recommendations from many experts: First, determine your goal, then brainstorm for solutions, then evaluate your alternatives. At the end, if your effort provides no good path to your goal, consider adjusting your goal. P 316 “The North Vietnamese, meanwhile, did everything they could to win the peasants over and earned for themselves an army of millions of silent sympathizers.” The North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong intimidated and murdered the peasants as well. P 550 “…had it [the US] continued its march all the way to Baghdad in 1991, it could have forced Saddam Hussein out of office as a condition of peace, preventing a future war and saving countless lives.” Though the book was written in 2006, this option was and still is highly debatable. Mistakes were made both to how the Iraq I war (aka Gulf War, 1990-1991) started and ended, allowing Saddam to kill the Kurds in northern Iraq. In Iraq II (2003-2011), the demand for Saddam to rid himself of Weapons of Mass destruction was essentially forcing him to prove a negative (philosophically impossible). The end of Iraq II shows the US made plenty of mistakes, all of which goes to suggest that strategizing about Iraq was fraught with peril. P 587 Hitler’s “beloved dog, Biondi.” Blondi. P 668 “Tip and run raids by small bands of Cossacks.” Hit and run. “Tip and run” refers to a phrase used in the Second World War to denote a hurried and often indiscriminate air raid when small number of German planes crossed the English Channel and tipped (unloaded) their bombs onto coastal English towns and quickly headed back across the Channel. The above few issues notwithstanding, the book is outstanding. At 933 pages long, it is well-written and documented. Definitely a must-read for anyone interested in strategy! Of possible interest, a book on winning strategies used throughout history by 87 master strategists Strategic Advantage: How to Win in War, Business, and Life ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on May 21, 2023 by William J. Bahr
    • An Epic Book On Strategy and Life
To say this book is epic would be understating the word epic. Within just the introduction, I was hooked. I bought a book but gained a lifetime of wisdom. Every page is worth studying much like war itself. I’ve found so much perspective from this book that I hope one day I can shake Robert’s hand myself and thank him for the wonderful contribution he’s given. 11/10 recommend for everyone. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on January 1, 2024 by Anthony
    • Well written and a great read
If you want to understand yourself others and life read it, you wont be the same after!!!
Reviewed in the United States on December 23, 2023 by canoe stripper
    • Great price and fast delivery
Gift for granddaughter-also great price and fast delivery
Reviewed in the United States on December 21, 2023 by evelyn mendoza
    • Very happy with my purchase
Item arrived on scheduled date, and it was exactly as described.
Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2023 by V L
    • Enjoyable read & insights on strategies used by greatest warriors
First the disclaimer - I am not a fan of Machiavellian philosophy and when I tried reading Robert Greene's first book: The 48 Laws of Power, I found it full of deceit and strategies that conflicted with my value system and so I could never finish reading it and thought of not touching any of his works again. Turns out I was pleasantly surprised by reading this one. What I really like: - "Everything is fair in love and war" This book is a collection of war stories & strategies employed by some of history's greatest rulers and gives you an insight on what makes them truly "great". It is sort of a mini-biography of these great personalities giving you a well laid out picture of their circumstances and choices that worked & didn't work for them. - "The moment you aim for results, you are in the realm of strategy" This book is a mind opener as it broadens your thinking and makes you realize certain similarities in your everyday life situations with those used in this book. It makes general statements about present day life and you will find your mind automatically making subtle connections with your personal situations and sometimes even realizing how things could have been done differently. - Those of you who have an interest in History or like watching the shows on History Channel will admire the way these stories have presented. Although this is a large book, it has been divided into 33 smaller chapters each of which talks about a specific war strategy making it easier to read. You can also read chapters from in between as most of the text makes sense even when read in isolation from other chapters. - The book is very well researched and it feels like you are reading a summary of important lessons from other well written books on military warfare. All in all, you will find the stories interesting to keep turning the pages and wanting yourself to complete the end of a chapter in every sitting. What I don't like: - At places, the book contains fairly long quoted texts from other great warfare books in the middle of an interesting story (specially true for kindle edition) that interrupt the flow and take you away from original text - Certain chapters are fairly long and borderline slightly boring with too much details which can be avoided. The book itself is also quite heavy read. ... show more
Reviewed in the United States on May 29, 2013 by S Parmar
    • Perfect
Packaged perfectly, came on time. Can’t wait to start reading it!
Reviewed in the United States on November 20, 2023 by Just as pictured.
    • Excellent strategic book.
Bought this, read it & shipped it to my son at boot camp.
Reviewed in the United States on November 16, 2023 by Chitownjj1

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