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Free - "The Art of War" by Sun Tzu Audiobook (Was $1.35) @ Google Play

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The edition narrated by John Brown (rated 4.6) is no longer free. The deal has been replaced with a newer, slightly longer edition narrated by Kenneth Elliot which remains free. — editor

The Art of War, literally The Laws of War by Master Sun is the most famous ancient Chinese treatise, dedicated to a military strategy and policy, written by Sun Tzu.

The treatise Sun Tzu - Art of War influenced crucially on a whole military art of the East. Although it is the first treatise on the military art, it includes clearly expressed common principles of strategy as well as tactics. A special place in a military theoretical literature belongs to comments on Sun Tzu, the earliest of which appeared in the Han era (206-220 AD), and the new ones are still being created…

The Art of War is one of the best works about military strategy. There are also other books known:
Niccolò Machiavelli - The Art of War, Frontinus - Strategemata (Stratagems), Xenophon - Anabasis (The March of the Ten Thousand)

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  • Anabasis (The March of the Ten Thousand) is a much more exciting read, if you're not into dense strategic/philosophical treatises.

    It's basically the story of the 300 at the Battle of Thermopylae, but with the roles reversed. A Greek army invades Persia to assist a would-be usurper king but finds itself vastly outnumbered, leaderless and has to fight their way out and return home. It reads like a heroic Greek myth except it's a true story.

    There's a free Audible version on Amazon when you sign up for a trial.

    • +1

      We need more Philosophy in current Dark ages of Philosophy, rather than kids stories for bedtime.

      • -8

        You wouldn't know philosophy if it crawled up your ass.

        This is a military treatise written by a man who waged war for a living. Its philosophical pretensions are only promoted by those who've barely scratched the surface of ancient wisdom and look for the easiest to reach book on the shelf.

        rather than kids stories for bedtime.

        That's definitely more up your alley, and no, Anabasis by Xenophon is not for children, nor most adults in today's world.

  • Quick poll OzB's: What is the nationality of the reader of this audiobook? He sounds a kinda like James Earl Jones mixed with a Taoist priest

  • +33

    The whole lot of them have become free. Doctor's appointment coming up, no time to edit. https://play.google.com/store/books/collection/cluster?clp=C…

    • +2

      Real MVP here

    • +1

      106 Google play $0 receipts later…

    • +1

      They are now costing somewhere in the vicinity of 9 cents to 44 cents per title in the above link. Bummer I missed the freebies, but that's still VERY cheap indeed!

      • +1

        Yes, please see my post about the freebies. I found some more not listed in the above page but are still free.

  • -4

    Thanks. One of the early Eastern Philosophy texts - before the west distorted the reality. This is to better understand the revival of Asian power after the end of western world powers.

    • -3

      This is to better understand the revival of Asian power after the end of western world powers.

      FTFY - The revival of Imperialism and Colonialism by someone other than the Europeans for a change.

      The world will get hit square the face when the Western World powers throw in the towel and it'll be a Pyrrhic victory for the Chinese regardless.
      There's only losers in the end game of civilisational collapse.

      before the west distorted the reality.

      A 5th century BC general writing in obsessive detail about how best to destroy your military enemy is definitely presenting a reality we should all aspire to.

      The East has been perfecting propaganda and social engineering since Moses wore short pants.

      Spare me your infantile grasp of philosophy.

      • +2

        have you read the book? It is a lot more than just "destroy your military enemy". which is why it is still relevant today.

        • totally agree - I occasionally use some of the points outlined in the book in the daily business practice, can confirm it's still valid in the 21st century

        • +1

          Noooo don't be silly.
          When someone at your work suggests you read it for business reason etc… what they really want is for you to come in once you're done and start chopping heads off shouting Amar Amar

      • -5

        Did you understand that this is Philosophy, not Chinese whispers legend like the one you suggested?
        Be patient & will fill the power that comes. I hope it's fairer than the Western appropriation version (that created the worst world wars).

        • You're laughable, you really are.

          Simultaneously criticising "the West" for ushering us into the modern era (which you can thank for your entire way of life, standard of living and the ability to speak more freely than in any other era of history), which gave birth to philosophy (it's a Greek word; "love of wisdom") while deluding yourself with Chinese nationalist fantasies that China's global hegemony (assuming it ever materialises before WW3) is going to look any different than all of the other bloodthirsty and megalomaniacal predecessors who came before.

          You do realise Mao's Communist China murdered more people than any other entity in recorded history? More people than both World Wars combined? That the average Chinese citizen has no clue that 10,000 innocent people were butchered at Tiananmen Square? Yet you still believe absolute power will somehow be wielded responsibly by people other than Europeans?

          Keep chugging the Kool-Aid.

          • @Gnostikos: You can take every chance you get or create as many chances as you can to attack other races based on your nonsense. But using exciting or not exciting to describe the book means you totally missed the point of the book and have no idea what you are talking about.

            This book is about wisdom, not fantasies that keep you up in the night.

          • @Gnostikos:

            You do realise Mao's Communist China murdered more people than any other entity in recorded history?

            You do realise that communism is a western philosophy right?

            *Drops mic

            • @brotherfranciz: The Chinese flogging something from the West and running away with it? Well tickle me silly i'll be a jack rabbit!!! :D

            • -1

              @brotherfranciz:

              You do realise that communism is a western philosophy right?

              You do realise the Chinese invented gunpowder, right? So, according to your magical logic, they're responsible for all of the deaths resulting from modern firearm-based warfare since the Middle Ages.

              If you bothered to look into it, it's extremely debatable whether Communism is an inherently Western ideology.

              All your point proves is that China likes to steal intellectual property.

              Every other Communist regime's death toll combined still can't touch China's, so trying to implicate the West in the Maoist genocide campaign is absolutely retarded, especially considering his victims were exclusively his own people.

              *Drops mic

              Don't let the door hit you on the way out and thanks for contributing nothing to negate my point.

          • -1

            @Gnostikos: Dang, the neggers are out tonight. Love these colourful posts!! But yes, and recorded history is the key point. In unrecorded/proven history Islams invasion/occupation of the Hindu's likely easily surpasses any other known genocide. But it ain't PC to go digging into that these days. Eventually we won't be able to criticize Chinese commies either i suspect.

  • The Art of war VS The art of deal is the current US china relationship.

  • +1

    https://play.google.com/store/books/collection/cluster?clp=C…

    Think this is the link for the free audiobooks

    All are from Strelbytskyy Multimedia Publishing

  • -1

    You can also listen to Chinese version in preparation to next decade of Chinese dominance. http://archive.org/compress/art_of_war_chinese_1506_librivox…

    https://librivox.org/search?q=art%20of%20war&search_form=adv…

    • +4

      Domination of the low paid jobs worldwide whilst a minority make all the profits and take them overseas with them.

      Victory!

    • next decade of Chinese dominance.

      Yes, China is number one:

      Number #1 in executions (more prisoners executed than the rest of the world combined).
      Number #1 in imprisonment (at least 1.6 million sentenced prisoners and over 1 million ethnic Uyghurs detained in re-education camps).
      Number #1 in pollution (biggest producer of CO2 emissions, biggest contributor to plastic waste in the oceans and the worst air quality in the world).
      Number #1 in organ harvesting of dissidents and political prisoners (over 100,000 organs harvested annually from Falun Gong prisoners).
      Number #1 in wealth inequality (Gini coefficient of at least 0.474 with 1% of the population owning a majority of the wealth).
      Number #1 in worker exploitation and debt-slavery (996 working hour system).
      Number #1 in most severe restrictions on freedom of the press (has been in the Top 5 worst countries for press freedom since 2002).

      Such dominance.

      • +1

        Number #1 in most severe restrictions on freedom of the press (has been in the Top 5 worst countries for press freedom since 2002).

        Seems it's true about that broken clock. But I have to wonder what the other thing is they get right?

        • get you to buy made-in china stuff?

      • +2
        • #1 in never winning foreign army, except Tibetan lamas ?
      • +2

        Also #1 in migrating out of their own country?

      • -3

        You make it sound as if the US wasn't built upon slavery

      • Does absolute number mattter more than ratio (per capita)?

        If so, it's expected the #1 populous country will be #1 in many aspects. What's the surprise?

        BTW, that wealth inequality is far from #1

      • The biggest absolute emissions come from China and the United States. In terms of CO2 emissions per capita, China is ranked only ranked 47th, at 7.5 metric tonnes per capita. The US is ranked 11th at 16.5 per capita and amongst countries with sizeable populations, has the highest CO2 emissions per capita. Australia is the second. India is the third highest country in terms of absolute emissions, but only 158th in terms of per capita output with 1.7 metric tonnes per capita.

      • -1

        china is one of most severe restrictions on freedom of the press. thats also bring in the most efficient goverment, less politic correction, less unition that kills car industry, high tech industry.

      • Who'd have thought there was so many china haters here…

        Ozbargain is all about selling out privacy and freedoms for cheap shit, it gels well with the Chinese peaceful rise model.

        Maybe remember this thread next time you save $5 on xiaomi "smart" goods which (by law) reports your entire life back to Beijing

      • -1

        LOL, it's true that there is no work life balance with 996, but I wouldn't call it worker exploitation.
        It's only in the IT industry, and a 22 yr old fresh graduate makes 250k CNY or 50k AUD in large companies, if in leading companies, the salary can even goes to 90k AUD, considering the low cost & tax of living in China, this is not a bad deal. I'm not saying I like this way of working but definitely not exploitation.

        In terms of CO2 emission, you should check out the per capita figure, plus, historically. The western had built up their wealth through slavery, colonization, and industrialization a hundred years ago, so the quota should also consider that, they probably already overloaded their emission quota years ago. What's even more unfair is that China had sacrificed the environment so produce the goods in cheap price and reasonable quality. How dare you blame China for the pollution and CO2 emission??

        Some of your other statements are crap too. Tell you what, just stop buying anything that was made in China, and prove it to the rest of us, otherwise, you should also take your part of the CO2 emission.

        • -1

          I wouldn't bother replying to Amar, mate. Clearly the guy been brainwashed by anti China media.

          And he got the figures wrong for uyghurs. It should be one gazillion bazillion lol.

  • +1

    I want it on the record that I for one welcome and pledge allegiance our new overlords.

  • +2

    https://www.businessinsider.com.au/publish-books-amazon-kind…

    As it turns out, anyone can legally republish a classic once the copyright expires and the work enters the public domain.

    The company behind the book, Strelbytskyy Multimedia Publishing, is located in Kyiv, Ukraine.

    • I guess the difference here is that it is an audiobook. A bit more effort than just republishing (copy pasting) text.

  • +1

    I'm a fan of Robert Greene's works such as The 48 Laws of Power and The 50th Law.

    He draws on many works including Sun Tzu.

  • Bit hard to listen to… awkward pauses between every word.

    "If a general follows my command it will end in wictory, if he does not he will be defeated and wherefore be dismissed"

  • +8

    China doesn't war enough for this to be any good.

    We need America to publish an Art of War.

    • +1
    • You are biased, US distributes Democracy and Freedom to every corner on earth,even though along with their superior weapons and bombs.in the end of day, Democracy always win.

      • +3

        US distributes Democracy and Freedom

        LOL, please tell us you are joking. BTW, I didn't neg.

        • +4

          It's the freedom to receive murican bombs and drone missiles.

          Aka democracy

        • It has to be sarcasm. You'd have to be ignorant of almost every war that the USA has be involved with to believe that.

          • +2

            @Valowick: Sometimes, it's hard to tell on ozbargain :-P I'll shower you with up-votes if you can find anyone here critical of the US when it comes to Venezuela, Palestine, Russia, Iran, Syria or Libya. Well, maybe except for good ol' Diji1.

          • @Valowick: Compared to Mongols, the U.S. hardly went into any war on its own, mostly more talk, less action just like ww2.
            Actually, in 1945 Mongolian tank unit reached Berlin before the Americans.

      • Yeah, disgrace to shoot their own kids. How can that be a win!

    • -1

      No. Ask Mongolians how to conquer Russia and China, defeat Japan, collect tax from Arabian Shah after their own request, and demolish German frontier fortress only to turn back on their own terms. America wasn't even known by then.

      Even after the U.S. established its constitution, they had to amend it to allow religious freedom following suite of Mongolian empire several hundreds of years prior. Quoting American scholar by the way.

      • -4

        Mongolia is part of China, they just don't know it yet

        • Are you kidding the quality of Chinese education or brain washed by the Chinese communist party?

          By the way, Mongolia successfully trialed and passed communism 20 years before China even contemplated it.

    • It would be called how to never win a war - Korea, Vietnam, Cuba, Lebanon, Somalia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria… There's not too many ticks in the W column.

    • Whatchu on about willis?

      America has only been at war less than 500 years.
      In this context, America is still a lil baby.

  • Surely the copyright on this has expired already.

    • Yes it has and that's why anyone can republish it and make money off it without any copyright issues.

      • AustriaBargain's Art of War, $14.99, down from $59.99.

  • Isn't this in the public domain, I'm quite sure there are many public recordings of this book?

    • Do you have any links to these free audio recordings?

      I've just done a quick Google search and can't find any free versions.

  • Only hope that, before completing their 'art' book, they consulted their former rulers, Mongolians across the great Wall.

    In contrast, China probably never defeated any foreign army, except Tibetan Buddhist lamas.

    • they consulted their former rulers, Mongolians across the great Wall….

      get your time right or you gonna missed the deal XD

  • +4

    War! What is it good for? Absolutely nothing. Say it again!

    • True. BUT, ask yourself what good is army and weapons for.

      In real world (with America and China) standing up for and defending yourself would require you to go to war, especially for small nations next to giant bullies. Lessons from Tibet, World wars, Iraq, Vietnam, even Mongolia.

      Just wondering if there is a single nation without an army.

      • I was about to point out that the Vatican City doesn't have an army but that's not quite true - they have a dedicated army of pedophiles.

  • +2

    Going through the link doesn't show that it's free, but when I go through Google Play books, audiobooks, top free books, it comes up as free.

    • Different narrator, different length, and a different audiobook. Updated link and removed expiry. Thank you for letting us know.

  • This book should be re-titled "Art of War for Dummies"

    It's like it's written for 10 year olds.

    How on earth did they leave out War and Peace in the description?

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