Themes Analysis'

Elliot Prusa

SS semester project

Mr. Walker

5/2/10

The Art of War Themes Analysis

For my semester project, I choose to read The Art of War. The Art of War is a collection of military strategies and lessons written by Sun Tzu in the 6^Th Century B.C. This book is broken down into thirteen chapters. Each of which has a main moral or theme, after reading this book I have analyzed the first 3 chapters themes.

In the first chapter, Tzu talks about the Calculations and Estimations of warfare. At first I was shocked to see how educated and intelligent military minds of the 6^th Century B.C. were. I never had realized how much strategy played into war until reading this book. In the first chapter Tzu explains the five fundamental factors that define a successful outcome they were: the Way, seasons, terrain, leadership, and management. By thinking, assessing and comparing these points Tzu could calculate whether he would have victory. He believed faltering from them would mean failure. In many cases those same components can change the outcome of an entire war, even today. I was impressed by Tzu’s attention to detail. He explained how you can never let anything slip through the cracks, because if you do it could be the difference between winning and losing.

In the second chapter, Tzu talks about the challenges and waging warfare. In this chapter I was impressed by Tzu’s knowledge of economics and other aspects of war, and what you must do in war in order to win. He explains how to understand the economy of war and how success requires making the winning play, and how it, requires limiting the cost of competition and conflict. Tzu understands and explains something in this chapter, which some people never learn in their entire lives. It is to have a killer instinct, to be wilder and scarier than the opponent in exchange for victory.

In the third chapter, Tzu talks about key offensive strategies of warfare and the importance of a planned attack. I read this chapter about the same time we were studying the Mongols ironically. I say ironically because in this chapter Tzu defines strength as unity, not size, and the five ingredients that you need to succeed in war. I was baphled as I read this because it began to show me, that these military strategies of Tzu actually worked and they still work today. Tzu spoke of how numbers were not as important as unity and teamwork. This is not just a fundamental part of warfare, but in all walks of life. At this point I became hooked on the book and became used to Tzu’s style and ingenious mind of warfare.

Book Critique

Elliot Prusa

SS Semester Project

Mr. Walker

5/2/10

The Art of War Book Critique

For my semester project, I choose to read The Art of War. The Art of War was written by Sun Tzu in the 6th century BC. It contains a total of 13 chapters; each chapter is devoted to one aspect of war. It is believed by many to be the defining book of military tactics and strategies of its day. Here are my thoughts on the book.

As I first picked up the Art of war and began to read it, the book felt very foreign, and I had a hard time relating it to life today. I found it very confusing and I became very frustrated with the book. I even thought about picking a new book to do for my project. After a few weeks I picked the book up again. I slowed down as I read and thought more in depth about Tzu’s concepts on warfare and his military tactics. They began to make sense. As I read the book reminded me of a chess game. How Tzu would stress the importance of making quick decisions, and assessing situations. After awhile, I became hooked on this book.

After I began to slow down the pace at which I read. I began to understand and enjoy the book. I found the book so enjoying because Tzu talked about his personal experiences in warfare. He was not speaking theoretically, like so many authors do today. One of the reasons I found this book so interesting was that many of the tactics and strategies that Tzu explained from over 2000 years ago. Are still in use today, this really made me realize how intelligent and crafty Tzu really was, which is what made this book so successful and enjoyable to many people.

Even though Tzu writes about many interesting and knowledgeable things in The Art of War, I still found this book very confusing. The wording was often weird and I would sometime have troubles following along. The translators of this book could have done a much better job.

The Art of War is very good, anyone who is looking for a good book on military tactics and strategies, this is the book for you. The book itself teaches many great lessons to its reader that are applicable to many more areas then just warfare. Although the book could be phrased a lot better and at times the book can be very confusing. But all in all I found the Art of War to be an excellent book as long as you take your time and read carefully. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is interested in warfare.

The Art of War Lessons

Elliot Prusa

Social Studies

Mr. Walker

3/4/10

The Art of War Lessons

For the Past month I have been reading the Art of War. At first I found this book sort of boring but after it picked up I have taken away a lot of cool lessons from this book. By reading the numerous military strategies of author Sun Tzu I have learned lessons like how to be successful in friendships, how to achieve my goals and how to deal with challenges.

The first main lesson I learned from The Art of War was how to be successful in relationships. I know you may find it weird, that I learned about relationships when reading a military strategy book. But by reading about how Tzu’s five successful factors of warfare, I realized the same factors could be applied in friendships. If you don’t take initiative to communicate to your friend your relationship will not be a very long one. Just like in the book.

The second main lesson I learned from The Art of War was how to achieve my goals. In The Art of War Tzu’s philosophy about strategy made me think about setting up a strategy to achieve my goals. Just like in warfare when Tzu wanted to attack someone or something he developed a strategy. The same thing applies if I want to tackle a goal of mine, like getting a 4.0 GPA.

The third main lesson I learned from The Art of War was how to deal with unforeseen challenges. Tzu’s Strategy is when he studied exactly what will work in order to overcome challenges in military life. I thought how I could apply this to my life. I figured maybe I could set up a plan to work out for sports like Tzu set up a strategy in the military. The Art of War taught me a bunch of good lessons like thinking ahead and always being prepared when in a tough situation. This book has a lot of great lessons that even we today can apply to our everyday life.

The Art of War Reflection

Elliot Prusa

Social Studies

Mr. Walker

3/4/10

The Art of War Reflection

The Art of War reminds me of a chess game. It is all about strategy and trying to think ahead of your opponent. This book provides great life lessons and military strategies. The Art of War was written by a man named Sun-Tzu in the 6^th century B.C. It is made up of thirteen chapters all speaking about different strategies of war at that time period.

In the first several chapters of the Art of war Sun Tzu talks about three main military strategies they are detail assessment and planning, waging war and strategic attacks. At first I found this book to be a bit confusing but after getting into it I began to understand what Sun Tzu was trying to say about how many variables there are in warfare. There are so many things that he could not control. But he knew how to use them for his advantage. Tzu laid out 5 main factors to success in warfare they are the Way, seasons, terrain, leadership, and management. After I began to think more in depth about this I realized how smart Tzu was. He had figured out the military keys to success 100’s of years before people began to think about in depth military strategy. This book reminded me somewhat of the Mongols when we studied them, and without these 5 key ingredients they would not have been successful.

In the second and third chapters Tzu talks about waging war and strategic attacks. After reading about his explanations of how to understand the economy of warfare and in order to be successful you need to go for the jugular, it made me realize how much of a military mastermind this guy was for someone in his day. Once again I was reminded of the Mongols when he talked about unity being another key ingredient to success and that how unity could defeat numbers. Like I mentioned earlier this book was like a game of chess, in how Tzu spoke of strategies and thinking ahead of his opponent. I really enjoyed reading the first half of this book even though it was a bit confusing at times.