Episode · Dwarkesh Podcast · 2025-07-25
Books mentioned on Sarah Paine — How Imperial Japan defeated Tsarist Russia & Qing China
After my last lecture series with Sarah Paine ended, I still had so many questions. I knew we’d only scratched the surface of Sarah’s scholarship, so I immediately invited her back for another series: she graciously agreed, and we’ll be releasing the results online over the coming weeks and months!
Sarah Paine discussed The Art of War by Sun Tzu and The prince by Niccolò Machiavelli.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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The Art of War
The Art of War by Sun Tzu is an ancient military treatise offering timeless strategic principles on leadership, outmaneuvering adversaries, and conflict resolution.
Discussed“Here you have Sun Tzu, who's China's big guru, Art of War, who's talking about how it's really important to disrupt alliances.”
Where to get it
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The prince
The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli is a classic 16th-century political treatise offering a pragmatic, unflinching guide on how political power is acquired, maintained, and wielded.
Discussed“I'll give you some Machiavelli on this one. He's the founding father of political science. He talked about motivating people with fear, love, and hate. He's talking about it in The Prince.”
Where to get it
