Sun Tzu's The Art of War Plus The Warrior Class: : 306 Lessons in Strategy

The book that is the basis of the Science of Strategy Institute's on-line training program. This award-winning book (Foreword Magazine's Self-Help Book of the Year) offers our most detailed lessons of Sun Tzu's strategic methods. The book was designed as long series of short, easy-to-understand lessons for those who really want to understand the inner workings of human competition. Examples from modern business and every day life are used to illustrate what people do right and wrong in making strategic decisions.Each lesson is put into a format that frames each stanza of Sun Tzu's work as a specific strategic concept. Sun Tzu's non-intuitive approach to success is contrasted with our less successful instinctual reactions to competitive challenges.

Below, we show you the table of contents, a list of the type of topics the lessons address, and a sample lesson from the book.

Table of Contents

Lesson Topics 10
Using This Book 15
Introduction: Sun Tzu's Basic Concepts
Lessons 1-21 16
Analysis
Lessons 22-38 39
Going to War
Lessons 39-53 58
Planning an Attack
Lessons 54-68 74
Positioning
Lessons 69-85 90
Momentum
Lessons 86-104 108
Weakness and Strength
Lessons 105-124 128
Armed Conflict
Lessons 125-145 150
Adaptability
Lessons 146-159 172
Armed March
Lessons 160-193 188
Field Position
Lessons 194-220 224
Types of Terrain
Lessons 221-267 252
Attacking with Fire
Lessons 268-284 300
Using Spies
Lessons 285-306 318
Glossary of Key Concepts 342
Index of Art of War Topics 348

Sample List of Lesson Topics
: Emotion versus Strategy 17
2: The Framework of Strategy 18
3: The Goal of Strategy 19
4: A Unique Position 20
5: The Competitive Environment 21
6: The Changing Times 22
7: Competitive Success 23
8: The Need for a Philosophy 24
9: Advancing a Position 25
10: The Source of Knowledge 26
11: The Source of Opportunity 27
12: Acting on Vision 28
13: Positioning 29
14: Attacks and Battles 30
15: Moving through Opposition 31

Sample Lesson

Lesson 14: Attacks and Battles

What is the difference between an attack, a battle, and conflict?
A. Only conflict is inherently destructive.
B. Only battle is inherently costly.
C. Only attack is inherently aggressive.
D. There is no difference.

You must avoid disasters from armed conflict.
The Art of War 7:1.5

Answer: A. Only conflict is inherently destructive.

In English, conflict, battle, and attack can be used interchangeably. However, Sun Tzu expresses these ideas as three distinct, though related, concepts critical to his strategic theory.

The concept of attack is gong. It means movement ( hang) into a new area. It doesn't necessarily-but can-mean meeting the enemy in battle or conflict with an opposing force. Attacks are the topic of chapter 3, Planning an Attack.
The concept of battle is zhan, which means meeting challenges or opponents but not necessarily conflict with them. We meet opponents when we have an advantage-when our opponents will back down, surrender, or come to an advantageous agreement.

The final concept is zheng, conflict. This is the destructive meeting of forces. Typically, we avoid conflict, but it is not always avoidable. This is the topic of chapter 7, Armed Conflict.

So we have an array of ideas becoming progressively more costly. Movement (hang) is the most general. Movement into new areas is attack (gong). Attacks that involve confrontation are battles (zhan). Battles that involve conflict are zheng .