Cover of The Art of War

Book · 2020 · Philosophy

The Art of War

by Sun Tzu · Recommended by 19 people on 15 podcasts

Why people recommend it

Sun Tzu's ancient military treatise outlines timeless strategic principles for outmaneuvering adversaries and achieving victory through careful planning. Joseph D. Pistone strongly recommended the text on The Joe Rogan Experience for undercover operatives, emphasizing the vital importance of studying one's adversaries, while Bernard Hopkins shared that the work served as a consistent guideline throughout his adult career. Lex Fridman quoted from the classic text during his closing remarks on his podcast, and a super chat contributor on Timcast IRL recommended Machiavelli's counterpart, sparking a broader discussion among the hosts. Johnny Chang recalled on Modern Wisdom how a mentor in prison introduced him to Sun Tzu's text during their shared studies, and Tim Pool referenced the work on Timcast IRL to analyze military strategy, cyber attacks, and the importance of concealing one's full tactical capabilities. Finally, Ian Crossland mentioned taking the strategic lessons of the book seriously in the context of global power structures.

Who recommended it

Tim Pool — 3 mentions
Discussed
“I was thinking Art of War would say don't take out everything you can at first.”
Discussed
“If you follow the art of war, you don't want to play your full hand.”
Discussed
“I was just looking at my copy of Art of War last night thinking about Donald Trump like he's all about business dealings lying and then doing what you don't expect and all that stuff”
Robert Evans — 3 mentions
Discussed
“Whether Lawrence was aware of this or not, others had presented a similar ideal some 2,200 years earlier, Sun Tzu. The most famous—yeah, exactly.”
Discussed
“So, yep, Matt, he wrote these books, The Religion War being the one that we're gonna talk about today, and they're terrible.”
Discussed
“and a lot of Dale's advice is kind of stuff again it's not like necessarily all that problematic and in fact it's kind of like The Art of War and that if you like read it today because some of the things he wrote about have been so like spread so widely you'll be really bored it'll seem it's like”
Ian Crossland — 2 mentions
Discussed
“I'm playing the the global play the the art of war. I really take the art of war seriously.”
Discussed
“I'm playing the the global play the the art of war. I really take the art of war seriously. I think that we need to subvert the narrative using mass media. Art of war. You mean”
Lex Fridman — 2 mentions
Discussed
“let me ask you this because you quote sun tzu in the art of war there's no instance of a country having benefited from prolonged warfare this is the main thesis”
Recommended
“let me leave you some words from sunzoo and the Art of War”
Ryan Hall — 2 mentions
Discussed
“reassessing of these ideas or axioms that have come down through things like the book of five rings or the art of war or you know like von klosterwicz even anything like that”
Discussed
“unless you're attacking what is the art of war like every we all like everyone's like oh yeah the art of war oh yes he says”
Johnny Chang — 1 mention
Discussed
“and he's like you should read this this and he brought me I remember it was like the art of war um with um General Sunzu and he's like these are your people bro you should read this”
Joseph D. Pistone — 1 mention
Recommended
“The art of war, right? Yes. The art of war. And I I tell all my in any undercover classes, you got to read that book, The Art of War, because it it was written thousands of years ago, but it'll serve you today.”
Bill Burr — 1 mention
Discussed
“yeah yeah [ __ ] you know those you know those people who like read The Art of War and imply it to their life trying to make it as like a personal trainer”
Chase Hughes — 1 mention
Discussed
“in The Art of War they say give your opponent a golden bridge on which they can can Retreat”
Peter Attia — 1 mention
Discussed
“The Art of War is just filled with gems there was another sunzu quote that I wanted to include but we just decided that uh we had to limit it to just one”
Dwight Garner — 1 mention
Discussed
“but it's a new translation of The Art of War by sunzo”
Greg Fitzsimmons — 1 mention
Discussed
“the war of art not to be confused with the Art of War”
Bryan Callen — 1 mention
Discussed
“the great thing is that Sun Tzu uh I don't know but Sam Tripoli is the one who says you just gotta wait at the mouth of the river and let all the bodies Flow by”
Aravind Srinivas — 1 mention
Discussed
“you know, there's this quote in 'The Art of War,' like 'Make the weakness of your enemy a strength.'”
Tucker Carlson — 1 mention
Discussed
“and it's certainly I mean it's perfectly in keeping with sunzo at the very least it would be far cheaper easier safer from their perspective to um persuade us to harm ourselves than to go to war with us”
Bernard Hopkins — 1 mention
Recommended
“sunzo uh I challenge everybody to get one of those uh teaching books and go through it every now and then The Art of War has always been a guideline for me”
Dr. Nate Zinsser — 1 mention
Discussed
“um i think um marshall had probably read the art of war by sunset and he may have seen that same chapter that jumped right out at me”
Shaan Puri — 1 mention
Discussed
“i just think that there's like some like i've read enough like finance books that there's all these crazy things like the poison pill which frankly i don't even understand a lot of this but there's all these like weird like you know art of war type of things that you can do”
Joe Rogan — 1 mention
Discussed
“You ever read the Art of War? Mh.”
Mentioned on the show without a named speaker — 12
Discussed
“A lot of studying those principles during high school; in fact, my high school thesis was on 'The Art of War.'”
Discussed
“Number 213, Sun Tzu wrote 'The Art of War.' Yes, which has inspired many, many, many people, reality stars even. By any means necessary, by any means necessary.”
Discussed
“Okay, so there was a book called The Art of War, right? Yeah, and so I do have a few chapters that I'll write someday, right?”
Discussed
“Even Sun Tzu stated that attacking a besieged city is unwise, and there is a vast history of warfare, showcasing the complexities of urban combat.”
Discussed
“Apart from Machiavelli, we've also referenced Sun Tzu, the renowned author of 'The Art of War' from China, who discussed the importance of building alliances.”
Discussed
“After studying this book and unrestricted warfare, the original Chinese manuscript is kind of, even though it's recent, it's only a couple decades old. It's kind of up there with Sun Tzu's Art of War in terms of teaching people how to wage war in the modern era.”
Recommended
“you all need to read machiavelli's art of war very info dense two-part conversation that discusses a great many structures and behaviors can work as a short play it'll blow ian's mind mock you”
Discussed
“I didn't know machiavelli did an art of war I saw you have art of war on your desk downstairs”
Discussed
“akapot says with china it's all sun tzu the art of war know your enemy the ccp knows this well and their tentacles are in everything in our country russia too but not as prolific we have adversaries that hate us collectivists i kind of want to push back on that a little bit i don't think people always compare”
Discussed
“what about art of war oh yeah tribal warfare what about it i mean there's a lot of stuff about violence and war it comes from what's the best way to win the war according to sun tzu the best you went before you started win the war before going to war”
Discussed
“you know about 2 000 years ago there was this chinese general who wrote a book called the article and one of the things some somebody wrote a business book late years later called the art of the deal”
Discussed
“I said look you know about 2 000 years ago there was this chinese general who wrote a book called the article and one of the things some somebody wrote a business book late years later called the art of the deal which is yeah and and but in in the art of war sun tzu says when you're an”

Also mentioned in the same episodes

Other mentions (26: passing, ad reads, own books)
Passing
“If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him. Pretend to be weak, that he may grow arrogant. Sun Tzu”
Passing
“just like in Suns The Art of War or in the book of five rings”
Passing
“Maybe you're watching Timcast IRL; we try to do our best, so a lot of people don't understand economics 101, and it literally is economics 101.”
Passing
“and that's uh one of the terms that Stephen pressfield uses in the war of art the war of art not to be confused with the Art of War”
Passing
“The pivotal point to recognize is that there’s this quote from 'The Art of War': 'Make the weakness of your enemy a strength.' The core weakness of Google is that any ad unit less profitable than a link or one that discourages link clicks isn’t in their interests to pursue aggressively; they prefer to focus on something higher-margin.”
Passing
“and now let me leave you with some words from Sun Tzu and the Art of War”
Passing
“Now, let me leave you with some words from Sun Tzu in the Art of War: 'The whole secret lies in confusing the enemy so that he cannot fathom our real intent.' Thank you for listening, and hope to see you next time.”
Passing
“well that's the Art of War Right Never on your up your enemies when they're destroying each other”
Passing
“And now let me leave you some words from Sun Tzu in the "Art of War." "Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt."”
Passing
“And now let me leave you some words from Sun Tzu in 'The Art of War.' 'Let your plans be dark and impenetrable as night, and when you move, fall like a thunderbolt.'”
Passing
“and now let me leave you with some words from sun tzu in the art of war the supreme art of war is to subdue the enemy without fighting thank you for listening and hope to see you next time”
Passing
“it's the art of war man i mean yeah fighting is is is mental you know as much mental as it is physical”
Passing
“it's the art of war you know like anytime you can create some chaos in the other person's mind you do it damn yeah”
Passing
“so he starts reading all those books the art of war and all this [ __ ] and he immediately while he's waiting to go on trial joins a gang”
Passing
“when i haven't read the full you know art of war from sun tzu but i tell you this man it is better look here's what i used to tell the occupy wall street people the ninjas would target somebody and take them out”
Passing
“i'm just saying uh art of war okay Sons uh art of the deal yeah you know who who probably wrote the start of the war trump”
Passing
“i'm just saying uh art of war ok sons uh art of the deal yeah you know who who probably wrote the start of the war”
Passing
“what did sun tzu say about underestimating your opponent I don't remember the exact quote but uh you don't you don't you don't do it you win the war before you start it There's a bunch of really brilliant quotes from sun tzu obviously the art of war”
Passing
“the Democrat to deplorable Jack Murphy's book”
Passing
“you see Biden has studied the art of war he knows he knows to make MIT”
Passing
“but it's always um the art of war um fourth pass final”
Passing
“man i bought tony robbins [ __ ] i bought all kind i bought book of five rings about [ __ ] art of war i bought everything”
Passing
“have you been reading the art of war”
Passing
“I'm gonna close with the art of the fuck-buddy Okay there's the art of war is the war of art and there's the art of the fuck-buddy”
Passing
“You talk about like psychological warfare you know the art of war and everything like that and he's doing it on a mass scale like we've probably never experienced before”