Sun Tzu's Art of War

[Guest Shaved Bear]

OK, i just finished this book and i think it was incredible, but noone i know has actually read it, any of you guys?, and if so what were your thoughts?

[Guest The Flying Dutchman]

I haven't read it, but I want to. If you like it though, you might also like Romance of the Three Kingdoms ... it's based off of Chinese history and a few of the characters (Sun Jian, Sun Ce, Sun Quan ...) are supposedly descended from Sun Tzu. The link in my sig links to a .zip file that has the online book of ROTK.

[Guest Vyce]

Read it a looooong time ago. It's definitely recommended.

 

Like Dutchman, I also recommend Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Also, I suggest that you try and find a copy of Journey to the West and Dream of the Red Chamber (although the last, though a classic, was a bit to soap operaish to me).

[Guest DrTom]

I've read it quite a few times. Good stuff.

 

Dutch, you should put the beginning of the Peach Garden Oath back in your sig. :-P

[Guest The Flying Dutchman]

I've still gotta cycle through Wei with Cao Cao, Xiahou Dun, and Dian Wei and then at LEAST put in the Esteemed Yuan Shao and Lu Motherfuckin' Bu. The Peach Garden quote rules hard though.

 

"We three, though born on different days, swear a solemn oath of brotherhood!"

 

"And vow to die in the same year, same month and the very same day!"

 

At least that's from Dynasty Warriors 4 (which got me into ROTK) which admittedly has some historical inaccuracies, but I've taken the trouble of (for the most part) finding out what actually happened. Still reading up, mind you.

[Guest Shaved Bear]

thx for the link dutch

[Guest J*ingus]

The quality of Art of War varies drastically from translation to translation; I've seen a couple that were damn near unreadable, so make sure you always read a couple of pages first before buying it.

 

If you liked it, check out The Book Of Five Rings as well, a neato ancient Japanese treatise on the subject of swordfighting.