Is this book worth reading or is it just a meme?

I'm not sure if it's one of those books you should read from start to finish, it's nice to have around, but it's really only meant to be used for ancient warfare, people who study business have told me that it has some valuable insight, but even this is debatable.
I have one myself, but I rarely use it now that I'm not in the military anymore.

It's not very long, and has some insights that seem obvious nowadays because they've completely been merged with our culture.

If you like advice like 'always leave a space to escape for your enemy, because a cornered enemy will fight with ten times the might' then go for it - I can see where stuff like this could be useful in the management world (competing companies etc.), but for the general schlomo it might not be so interesting.

I gave this book a read when I was in high school. It was recommended to me by my history teacher and I found it to be a very interesting read.

So to answer your question.. I would give it a read if you're interested in history obviously, but for the overall thought process that was taken to make this book.

You can read it an afternoon, just crack it open already. I think the only meme about the book is that it's got insights that are useful in the modern day (especially in business). When people say that it's useful for business I think they're talking about passages where he says things like "Hide your strength from your enemies and make them think you're weaker than you actually are, don't reveal your true strength until it's too late for your enemies to do anything about it". Obviously you could apply this to business but it's also a totally fucking obvious point. I think business people just like the business as war meme because it edifies their male ego but idktbqhfamalam.

>>8421378
THe vocabulary of the warrior is used even in academia and legal activities. Even Nietzsche considers himself a warrior. It is a natural situation in liberal/libertarian society where most people are not meant to have power.

>>8421391

You're right that loads of people use military and war metaphors to describe themselves and their actions. However I do think that claiming some sort of straight line between lessons in the Art of War and lessons that are useful in business is especially tenuous. There's a difference between a scientist saying "I'm in a battle against cancer" or a philosopher saying "I'm a crusader for enlightenment" and a CEO saying that reading the Art of War is better than an MBA for getting ahead in business.

I think you're wrong about it being a reaction to a lack of power. In certain ways Nietzsche had much more power than Sun Tzu just by virtue of living in a 20th century 1st world country. I think it's more about the use of violence and how alluring that idea is even to people living in peaceful places.

>>8421425
Should have said 19th century.

>>8421795
Holy shit fuck OFF already.

>>8420804
It's short as fuck. Read it in an hour or less. Yes, it's blown WAY out of proportion by nineties businessfags, but it's still worth the hour you'll spend on it.

>>8421425
>In certain ways Nietzsche had much more power than Sun Tzu just by virtue of living in a 20th century 1st world country
Power is a purely relative thing. It's zero sum.

>>8420804
Read multiple translations. They'll take you an hour apiece, and you'll have gotten an excellent primer on how much translation matters.

>>8420804
It's only worth reading if you're not retarded and can actually apply what's in this book in the real world.

Also, it's not even solely about warfare, it's a book about common fucking sense.

>>8420804
The best offense is a good defense.
Saved you a couple hours

>>8422251
--so you should try and defensively offend your enemies*

what;s the best version of the book? the /lit/ approved translation. any tips? on average how many pages is the book? around 150-200?

>>8421425
The difference here is that scientists and philosophers are not competing against opponents but conducting research and asking questions. In aggressive business environments, you are coming into conflict with your opponents, so military philosophy can be useful.

You might want to ask this question if some work is like a thousand pages long, but why pollute the board when the book is readable in 1 day? You could be reading instead of shitposting.

>>8423409
The Giles translation.
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Art_of_War_(Sun)