The 33 Strategies of War
Reviews
You think that after World War 2 and the recent war affairs in Afghanistan we’re all done with the combats. Well, you got it wrong. Robert Greene makes a really good analogy in the book between our daily lives and the times at war. Basically, he says that we’re constantly fighting. That we are involved in combat, no matter whether we like it or not. And he is absolutely correct to make this comparison. The competition is getting more and more fearful in retail as well as in the job market. And since you can’t dust the co-workers who are trying to get their hands on the promotion that’s rightfully yours, you need to eliminate them with grace. The book is clever, insidious, full of deceitful techniques that will help you lower the guard of your competition and hit them right in the face without them realizing. It’s a joy to read. Read full summary: https://durmonski.com/book-summaries/...
The first quarter is the strongest, the middle starts to waver, and the end is just fairly useless unless you’re literally a general who lacks for any sense of morality or ethics. The beginning I found inspirational in thinking of how to personally improve. But his principles get redundant and less applicable as he goes on. And the way his anecdotes are weaved in was truthfully cumbersome to read. It was like footnotes came to life and tried to take over the book. I appreciated him drawing on examples covering thousands of years and vastly different industries. But ultimately I this lacked focus and purpose.
Highlights
Remember: your advantages here is that, unlike the other members, you have no sentimental attachment to the group; your only allegiance is to yourself. That gives you the freedom you need to make the manipulative and destructive maneuvers that will propel you to the fore at the others' expense.
What you need is a strategic third eye: the ability to stay focused on the future while operating in the present and ending your actions in a way that will serve your interests for the next round of war.
By constantly adapting and changing your style, you will avoid the pitfalls of your previous wars. Just when people feel they know you, you will change.
Your are the last line of your own defense.
Polarize people, drive some of them away, and create a space for battle.
Think of strategy as a series of lines and arrows aimed at a goal: at getting you to a certain point in the world, at helping you to attack a problem in your path, at figuring out how to encircle and destroy your enemy.
As a warrior in life, you welcome combat and conflict as ways to prove yourself, to better your skills, to gain courage, confidence, and experience.
War and strategy have an inexorable logic: if you want or desire anything, you must be ready and able to fight for it.