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The Art of War

This is apparently a world-wide classic, and one of the pivotal pieces of classical literature. It’s apparently the very best of the classics and one of the most enduring and talked-about books in history. And I apparently hate it. Well, I’m quite disappointed. It’s more like vague poetry than meaningful lines of verse. Immortal verse, I mean, because I assume it’s about two thousand years old. I don’t know much about this book. It was written by, obviously, this Sun Tzu who was some important general in ancient China when I assume China was in one of its numerous warring phases, otherwise why would the man know so much about war and have such a respected and venerable authority on the subject?

Okay, maybe a few of lines were okay, but most of it was just, well not worth it. It wasn’t the amazing and world-bending read I’d hoped for. It wasn’t really much. The book was short, just shy of a hundred ebook pages, and the chapters had so little sustenance. There just wasn’t much to even read about, and there were no damn footnotes in my edition! Why were there no footnotes? Come on, world. Everyone knows classical books need footnotes, because sometimes the reader would like to undergo further research or is confused about what the author wrote. And the introduction wasn’t even that long! I hate the edition I got more than the text I read. I’m pretty sure that’s why it was a bit of a sour read. But what can you say? Old books sure have quite a ton of different editions available.

I am not a proponent of warfare. There’s a reason why I couldn’t continue reading Saga of Tanya the Evil; I’d just gotten sick of all the military brutality and strategy dumped onto those pages. That is likely why I didn’t enjoy this either. War is not something I like to know exists. I do not like to be reminded that war exists. War represents the cruelest and vilest aspect of humankind and yet, exists as an integral aspect of being.

More on the book: I don’t remember it using any fancy vocabulary I could note down, nor was the writing style exquisite. It was structed as literal verses of poetry, but since it’s clearly a translation, there wasn’t that feeling of verse. Poetry is almost always lost in the translation. This is why I usually only read native English poetry, because it’s the only language I’m fluent in.

I did like, however, how much Sun Tzu cautioned rulers to not prolong war, and to always use war as a last resort, and how much emphasis he put on intelligence services. Espionage ought to never be underestimated. There isn’t much on the man, just like Homer, except than he was some ancient Chinese general around the fifth or sixth century BCE during the late Spring and Autumn period1. The one thing I must praise about this book and its author is how long it has survived. That really is more than two millennia. I know I and anything I make will long be forgotten by then. Everything shall be nothing more than floating dust.

name & author: The Art of War by Sun Tzu rating: ★★ line: A boring read with confusing advice and dry language, although I’m glad it was short; saved time on boring shit. finished: on January 30th

  1. Hmm, recommended read and page of useful information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_War ↩