the 33 strategies of war by robert greene

I’ve now read [almost] all of {{Robert Greene}}’s books (just pending is {{The 50th Law}}, which I’ll have reviewed in a couple weeks). Thanks to my local library, I have not had to spend gobs o’ cash in the process (though at least one of his books I think is most definitely worth the expenditure).

{{The 33 Strategies of War}} is Greene’s rewriting of {{Sun Tzu}}’s {{The Art of War}} (review and chapters) with “modern insights” and the inclusion of a vast network of historical examples. It’s certainly an interesting text, but not one that I personally think warrants its own work – especially when the 2500-year-old book is still so insightful.

That being said, since I have read and/or skimmed the book, here are some thoughts. The best aspect of the book is still the “{{Joost Elffers}}-ification” of the book, with extensive marginal comments, highlights, funny textual formatting, etc.

Greene does an admirable job in this book, and it’s worth skimming – though I think the table of contents (reproduced below) is more useful than the whole text. It’s more of a pick-and-choose type of reading than something you should consume cover-to-cover.

TOC

Part 1 | Self-Directed Warfare

1. Declare war on your enemies: The polarity strategy
2. Do not fight the last war: The guerrilla-war-of-the-mind strategy
3. Amidst the turmoil of events, do ot lose your presence of mind: The counterbalance strategy
4. Create a sense of urgency and desperation: The death-ground strategy

Part 2 | Organizational (Team) Warfare

5. Avoid the sense of groupthink: The command-and-control strategy
6. Segment your forces: The controlled-chaos strategy
7. Transform your war into a crusade: Morale strategies

Part 3 | Defensive Warfare

8. Pick your battles carefully: The perfect-economy strategy
9. Turn the tables: The counterattack strategy
10. Create a threatening presence: Deterrence strategies
11. Trade space for time: The nonengagement strategy

Part 4 | Offensive Warfare

12. Lose battles but win the war: Grand strategy
13. Know your enemy: The intelligence strategy
14. Overwhelm resistance with speed and suddenness: The blitzkrieg strategy
15. Control the dynamic: Forcing strategies
16. Hit them where it hurts: The center-of-gravity strategy
17. Defeat them in detail: The divide-and-conquer strategy
18. Expose and attack your opponent’s soft flank: The turning strategy
19. Envelop the enemy: The annihilation strategy
20. Maneuver them into weakness: The ripening-for-the-sickle strategy
21. Negotiate while advancing: The diplomatic war strategy
22. Know how to end things: The exit strategy

Part 5 | Unconventional (Dirty) Warfare

23. Weave a seamless blend of fact and fiction: Misperception strategies
24. Take the line of least expectation: The ordinary-extraordinary strategy
25. Occupy the moral high ground: The righteous strategy
26. Deny them targets: The strategy of the void
27. Seem to work for the interests of others while furthering your own: The alliance strategy
28. Give your rivals enough rope to hang themselves: The one-upmanship strategy
29. Take small bites: The fait accompli strategy
30. Penetrate their minds: Communication strategies
31. Destroy from within: The inner-front strategy
32. Dominate while seeming to submit: The passive-aggression strategy
33. Sow uncertainty and panic through acts of terror: The chain-reaction strategy