I’d like to give this a 3.5 stars, please.

The good:

- Lots of illustrative stories. (After seeing 300, though, I admit to rushing home and being annoyed I couldn’t find anything…especially since I knew what [wouldn’t] happen to Xerxes because I was reading this at the time.)

- A good guide to different approaches to strategy and war.

The bad:

- Usually when people say a book is too long, I assume they’re used to reading magazine articles and are kind of lazy. (I know, that’s awful.) With this, though, I started to feel like he got paid more to write longer chapters. I started seeing the same stories in different parts of the book—maybe it’s being an editor, but things-are-blending-together redundancy is a cardinal sin in my book. I like clean and conscise. when I get 1/4 through the book and am seeing the same stories, I’m wondering how often I’m going to read them before I’m done.

- Greene’s books tend to be about getting something. In the right context, that’s okay with me, but I have read few books that feel so manipulative as his. (That includes the Seduction and Power books. Do his techniques work in the right hands? Absolutely. Is there danger in hollowing yourself out enough to use these things without feeling bad about those you’re affecting? Absolutely!) Referent power is when people do things because they like you and want to be like you, and Greene explains why this is important and “how” to do it…unfortunately, this isn’t one of those things that’s easy to fake.

- There’s not a lot of honor in many of the approaches. Granted, it’s war, and it works, but if you have issues with stabbing people in the back (sometimes literally), you will have issues with some of the approaches. As you read, you’ll see more and more value to stabbing people in the back…but I go back to my other points. Do you really want to be that cold? (BTW, I did read this as research of sorts rather than to Go to War with someone or something. So maybe I wasn’t feeling bitter enough.) I read The Art of War after this, because it’s referenced so much I started to wonder why I hadn’t just read that instead. The translation I read, at least, has the feel of “we do what is necessary,” rather than “we will rip their heads off and enjoy doing it, who needs friends you can’t trust them anyhow, mwah ha ha ha.”

- Even if you think the rest of my remarks are a little silly, this one may be the most important con. Many of the 33 strategies contradict themselves. There is an approach for everything, and any good warrior realizes that you play to the situation, but that is an art form rather than a connect-the-dots. If you’re a critical thinker who can see why you would use one strategy in one situation and the opposite (which may actually be called a bad move in another chapter) will get a lot more out of this than someone who’s looking for The Answers.

I’ll be interested to see how others review this!

once i started reading this brilliant little book, i couldn’t put it down. it was just that good. a deceptively simple read, well-organized and layered with historical references throughout, in the style of the other books robert greene has written (and i’ve read them, too). i love history. it really drew me in.

i think it took me awhile to finish it because there were certain parts that i kept re-reading, almost in disbelief: for some strange reason, all of it seemed to echo something in me that i already knew to be true but somehow hadn’t expressed. and here it was, in 33 shades of action-packed decisiveness and strategy—how to win your battle, whatever it may be. it doesn’t matter what you’re talking about or who you’re talking to. look beneath the surface of the simplest conversation, and it’s like there’s shrapnel flying everywhere and you’re storming the beach at normandy.

none of it means much of anything if you don’t incorporate it into your life.

every example had a different style. that stuck with me. with a little objectivity and a lot of insight, i began to look at my world differently all over again. i’m already goal-oriented and aggressive but after this book, i began to rethink my approach and how i could hone it—whether it’s getting a pair of boots i found on ebay or obtaining a bank loan from my credit union or calling a so-called nemesis on her bullshit.

my point is, i was thinking this way anyway. we all are. the difference is that now that i’ve read the book and analysed the process, i can strengthen it and ultimately better my situation.