The Art of War question

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frank4570

New member
I'm thinking of getting the book The Art of war/ The art of marketing by Gary Gagliardi. I havn't read all of the art of war yet and would like to have a hardcopy. The art of marketing would also be useful to me.
I am a little concrened though that this may not be a good translation.Not that I have heard anything bad, I have just heard that some can be better than others.
I would appreciate any opinions.
Thanks.
 
I FAR prefer the Art of Strategy by Wing. Read the forward and I think you may agree... Wing is bi-lingual English/Chinese and the entire book is to me, far more valuable and useful and understandable.
 
Please forgive my ignorance.Are you refering to another book other than the art of war . Or are you refering to a translation you prefer?
 
I've found the translation by Stephen F. Kaufman to be excellant.
Kaufman is a lifelong martial artist and this serves him well as a frame of reference when translating the work of Japanese warriors. His translations of the Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi and The Art of War by Sun Tzu are outstanding.
 
I prefer The Sun Tzu: The Art Of War translated by Samuel B. Griffith. It's an older translation, but I like it.

I also like Hagakure:The Book Of The Samurai by Yamamoto Tsunetomo, translated by William Scott Wilson.
 
I would recommend The War of Art by American Head Charge, but some of the songs might make your head spin.
 
Since childhood, Sun Tzu has remained my favorite. Sir Basil Liddell Hart certainly spoke highly of it and he was among the foremost of all military thinkers of the 20th Century. Check out his book, Strategy.
 
Along this same line, has anyone read Clauswitz On War? Is it worth the time to read, or are the precepts pretty much the same as sun Tzu?
 
Clausewitz is extremely valid. His stuff is a lot more dense than Art of War and is geared more towards large-scale rather than small-scale application, but there is a lot to gleaned from On War.
 
Wow!!! To really confuse the issue, I prefer the Denma Translation Group's tome published by Shambhala Publications. Besides the translation, there are several essays and commentaries which help explain the thought behind the words. To give due credit, this group did cite Samuel B. Griffith in its bibliography.
 
frank4570:

Art of War is one of those books that have been translated so many times, in so many ways, there are bound to be different translations on the shelf at you local library. And if you go into a major bookstore chain, they 'll probably have two or three versions scattered around. (Check the Martial Arts, Military History and Religion sections. Don't ask me why, but Sun Tzu gets thrown in with the Eastern religious texts in a lot of stores. :eek:)

Get whatever the library has, read it and then go from there. The most important thing is to read some version of Art of War. We're all got our favorites but the important thing is "read it." :)
 
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