The 33 Strategies of War (Joost Elffers Books)

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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.

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Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin Books; Reprint edition (December 14, 2007)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 512 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0143112783
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0143112785
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 2.31 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.53 x 1.11 x 9.15 inches
5
Reviewer: William J. Bahr
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A modern-day classic of war strategy
Review: 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 

Reviewer: Kindle Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Fantastic read. Great blend of philosophy and history.
Review: I’m really enjoying Greene’s use of history to outline key facets of philosophy and psychology within human nature. Highly recommended.

Reviewer: Krazycoldhrtdazn82
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: excellent condition
Review: Thanks so much for sending this so quickly and in excellent condition. i love the robert green books about the diff laws and excited to read this one too. i picked a couple random spots to read and so far, this book is def not a disappointment. its worth the read 😊

Reviewer: Atiqullah
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Excellent everyday strategies
Review: You can use these strategies for everyday life they work excellent

Reviewer: Sotto voce
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Read a ‘Strategy’ today … you’ll see it or use it tomorrow
Review: Books written on the subject of strategy and the tactics to accomplish them are among the most ancient. Strategy & tactics have always been valued knowledge. Strategy has been carefully written for the next generation confronted with survival in a dangerous world. Humans relish the intellectual challenge to war or to preserve peace. The dimensions Greene pursues are based in the long cultural history of what has worked and what has not. The methods that worked in 400BC are current in the 21st century.Placing that long history of the outcomes of strategy in the human experience is not a simple challenge. Greene’s sampling of the range of options and there nuances in a concise and approachable fashion is well done. His method to draw from history in border highlights to his narrative is an immersive reading experience. Should the reader consider the historical quotational references first or Greene’s narrative that elaborates? The answer for this reader was both. The commensurate demand of Greene’s effort is to motivate the re-read of one or the other or both to seal in the central notion. Strategy and implications demands intellectual rigor if one’s objective is to both understand the principles and rationalize the implications. Civilization has been defined by the strategic outcomes realized by our predecessors. Greene tells the story of why and why.As to the business implications, the concept of `War’ is perhaps better translated as `Competition’. We have no examples of non-warfare related competition or social governance that is not at core a friction of opposing ideals. Friction is relieved in strategy. Greene’s primer does an excellent job elaborating methods in this context. War is a lengthy and thoroughly enjoyable read that is best consumed a chapter at a time.5-star great read for the strategically oriented!

Reviewer: Alexander Yaroshewski
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: This book opened my eyes to the fact that many situations in my life, which seemed random, were actually well planned by others. It is a bible for anyone looking to improve the quality of their personal or professional life. The book provides clear methodologies to achieve goals when dealing with people, competitors, and family problems.

Reviewer: Abdothecloser
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Great book to read. need to read it a few more times just to understand it completely. highly recommend it.

Reviewer: 11/10 ⭐️
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: 10/10

Reviewer: Emily Helal
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: A very interesting book that explores the psychological and tactical strategies used in warfare and conflict.

Reviewer: Treukunde
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Wenn man seine Umgebung und die Psychologie anderer Menschen besser interpretieren möchte dann ist dieses Buch auch dafür geeignet.