Well, Either it is a blockbuster book, and no one wants to recommend it, or it is a very bad book, and no one wants to recommend it. Come on guys, I trust you folks better than Amazon. Yea or Nay? Best Regards Oddi
Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince Mestrius Plutarchus as Plutarch, Parallel Lives William Shakespeare, Hamlet Sun Tzu, The Art of War If you're searching for the truth through Existentialism, read these while listening to Numbers Station recordings. Then ask yourself, what is the relation between this and myself. this being: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Solar_eclips_1999_4.jpg If you're just looking to read a book because it is getting good reviews on Amazon.com, then read 33 Strategies of War. NOTE: Robert Greene is just a TooL, as are you and I.
Dark Side of the Moon? Well, that's depressing. Everyone is a tool to some degree. Are you suggesting that the book is too watered down?
Sounds good from the reviews. How many books are a complete waste of time anyhow? Not many of the better selling ones usually. Geez, if you want to learn about war read the great military leaders, do some war of your own, etc. Personally I don't think many of these war analogies apply to business. Business is about leveraging technology and getting along with people to mutual benefit. War is the same regarding technology but the relationships with people thing is way different. I have worked for some warrior types that were managing projects: they sucked to work for and their projects sucked eventually.
To add to my original suggestion, if you're looking for meaning do yourself a favor. Sit down and do a little research on String Theory, followed by the Chaos Theory. Research Scientology (for as long as you can stand it), then read Revelations, followed in turn by Genesis. Now ask yourself "How do any of these things directly affect me?" "What am I in relation to them?" Do you see the world any differently now? Do you hear or feel or taste things any differently than before? Probably not. Sit back down and spend an evening looking through a photojournalist book who's focus is the extreme poverty and human atrocities occurring right now in Ethiopia, Rwanda, Haiti, or any other fourth world country. I guarantee you that those images will stir more emotions inside of you than any words ever written in any idealistic / existentialist / dogmatic propaganda theorem ever could. It is not a truth or a meaning to life you will find. The secret of life is whatever you make it. Whatever it is you choose to believe, is that which will be true. Everyone makes of their own existence, whatever it is they want their existence to be. It's not knowing why we are who we are, that makes us search for someone else's homeopathic cure to existentialism. There is no cure. This is not a disease. Open your eye. This is the Art of War. The Art of War in no way applies to running a business or managing employees. If that is what you are searching for, then read the Complete Idiot's Guide to Managing People... The Art of War is about managing yourself. Overcoming the obstacles of your enemy, by understanding what the possible outcomes will be in advance of them occurring. If you stumble through life kicking and flailing, you will be destined to running a business (or any other endeavor) in the same manner. Apply its lessons to your life, and it will help you to understand your purpose and the objective of your mission. Life is a war, the unprepared will fall, those who are willing to risk what is required to succeed, will rein. In business, in life... We are what we make of ourselves. No one controls who you are, or what you do. There is no grand design. There is no great truth. There is only you. Know your enemy. Know yourself. And the outcome of the battle has already been decided.
"If you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles. If you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one. If you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle." "Regard your soldiers as your children, and they will follow you into the deepest of valleys. Look onto them as your own beloved sons and they will stand by you, even unto death." Yes, I too see no relevance to business or in leading others...