The Art of War

By: Sun Tzu

Narrated by: Greg Wagland

Length: 1 hr and 24 mins

Publisher's summary

The Art of War is an ancient Chinese military treatise attributed to Sun Tzu. This version by Magpie Audio offers the original 13 chapters in their entirety. Stripped of all notes and commentary, it adopts the classic translation by Lionel Giles, dispenses with the numbering of paragraphs, and is read by British narrator and actor, Greg Wagland.

Public Domain (P)2012 Magpie Audio

Great book

This book is an excellent read. You learn about strategy and mental combat. You can apply knowledge to modern living.

Loved this book on audible...

Because it allowed me to listen to a book I have always wanted to read. I never would have gotten to it otherwise.

Very enjoyable

I wanted to read The Art of War, admittedly to improve my mindset in terms of competitive play. The most interesting thing I can take away from this book is knowing the terrain in which you are competing against your opponent and assessing whether the appropriate tactic you are using is appropriate for that situation. It was a great short read and I hope to apply some of the tactics presented in this book.

Won't work

Every time I try to read it, it says it can not be read at all.

I really don't get why people love this book

What disappointed you about The Art of War?

This book is pretty useless. Maybe its doctrines are (or were) essential for large scale combat like WWI, but I cannot see what use it would have for a civilian to know five types of ground.

What do you think your next listen will be?

I like Jon Ronson; so maybe one of his books

Which character – as performed by Greg Wagland – was your favorite?

Sun Tzu

Any additional comments?

This book is only 1 hour long or so. So you might wanna give it a try despite its absolute uselessness so later you can tell people you have read the Art of War and have since based your life on it. FYI, the book is written in form of short statements and goes quickly through a bunch of "facts" (You find this form in a lot of ancient Asian stuff e.g. Analects of Confucius & Book of Five Rings); my point is that you will forget 90% of those statements in about 15 minutes after reading/listening to this book. So yeah it's pretty useless.

Not as good as you think

Maybe I just had the bar set too high.
I founded it too obvious. Not worth hearing at all. Piliot

Good tactical thoughts

The ideas are dated but good strategy is important in all aspects of "battle." Knowing strategy and defense tactics seems profitable.

Important

This is a book that would take multiple readings to understand . Everyone should at least try to read this book once.

used narrator

The voice was hard to understand, sounded british. Not my kind of book. Probably and most likely wont be seeing book again.

Best reader

He's got a beautiful British accent and he says it with great intensity and importance.

A classic, still relevant for today

As a Chinese student, and having studied classical Chinese, Sunzi 孙子 is one of the fathers of Chinese history - his importance is incomparable and should be highlighted in modern times. The art of war is still relevant to all aspects of current governance and strategy. Just a quick mention though - it is pronounced "Soon za" not "San su".

great classic

worth listening to over and again. it's got great lessons of life and wisdom.