The 33 Strategies of War by Robert Greene
This is a must read for anyone interested in waging war against their neighbors, managing conflict at work or in life (in general), or if you are simply a war history buff. Wikipedia lists the chapters and sections of the book and the author, Robert Greene, also has his own site and blog. Greene has written some earlier bestsellers, but this one really got my attention. He breaks down the various strategies to waging war (offensive, defensive, unconventional, etc) and counters these sections with historical references about Napolean, LBJ, Mongols,...). The fact that he manages to write it in a way that allows it to appeal to the common reader is amazing. One could skip the historical tidbits and go right for the meat on how to wage dirty warfare against the co-worker that is trying to get you fired. Nor do you have to read it straight through. You can pick and choose the sections that relate to your life at the moment.
An invaluable book. Trust me. His blog is in-depth, intelligent, and thought provoking. He makes mine look like generic cereal in a bag. Check it out!
3 comments:
You know, I stepped directly on this guy's bandwagon about a year or so ago. I was into it for a while, but his own prodicious self-love really started to get under my skin. It actually hampered my ability to look critically at his work an instea I started to dismiss his blog posts as yet-another-self-promotional-rant, with a comments section full of the electronic version of ball-cupping and blowjobbery.
This articular book is very very good, however. I rank it right up there with The 5 Rings and Vom Kreige. It certainly doesn't have a lot of theoretical crap that a lot of "students of war" put in their books, who have or will never actually live to see bullets fired at them (or around them, or over them, or near them).
All in all, I really did like this boo, but I found his web site to be a bit too self-worshippy in his posts and a bit too sycophant-y in the comments. The discussion always breaks down to some schmuck trying to prove their intellectual might Robert's subject matter, or a whole pile of how great people think Robrt is, who now lives on an untouchably tall pedestal.
While you can't blame a guy for his online entourage of fluffers, I can see how their presence would work to devalue what the guy stands for. I've read some of his blogs but have ignored the comments made by readers.
Another decent military read is Rifleman Dodd by C.S. Forester, I think. It's not in the same vein as 33 Strategies. It's a fictional tale but well done and on the Marine Corps list of required reads.
It's a fictional tale but well done and on the Marine Corps list of required reads.
By and large, I find the Commandant's reading lists to actually be pretty good and well-thought-out. I feel a little bad that Red Badge of Courage is listed there, because MOST peiople should have read that in...you know...7th grade, but hey. We're grunts. You never know. That could be pretty deep reading for some of us.
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