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Line 6: \| caption = Not big, but still The [[Big Book of War]]. \| author = Sun Tzu \| central theme =Strategy \| elevator pitch =A military textbook older than feudalism, that is still in use today. \| genre = textbook \| publication date = 5th century BCE Line 22: Much of the text is surprisingly general, and even seems like mere common sense at times. Sun maintains the importance of knowing one's enemy and oneself, striking at the enemy's weaknesses with overwhelming force, concealing one's own weaknesses, and the importance of deception. Also covered are how to fight on different types of terrain, the use of fire, and the importance of spies. ''The Art of War'' is easily the most well-known military book ever written, and is still one of the most influential. Numerous translations are available, [[The Annotated Edition\|most of which include at least a few commentaries and annotations.]] (In fact, without the annotations, introductions and footnotes, ''[[The Art of War]]'' is ~~suprisingly~~surprisingly short.) It is required reading in many militaries even today, and some Korean and Japanese corporations require their employees to read it and apply its lessons to the world of commerce. [[Napoleon Bonaparte\|Napoleon]] is believed to have used a French copy as a guide to conquering Europe, and Douglas MacArthur was also influenced by its teachings. It is also required reading in many [[Corrupt Corporate Executive\|executive]] [[There Are No Good Executives\|business]] courses; make of that what you will. There's even a story in the [[Comic Book]], ''[[The Question]]'', where the eponymous hero and [[Green Arrow]] fight some bad guys while quoting the book throughout. That said, the ''The Art of War'' is much more popular among corporations than with soldiers and military historians, who tend to see Carl von Clausewitz's ''[[wikipedia:On War\|On War]]'' as the true definitive work on warfare and politics (and trope namer for [[Fog of War]]) , with Sun Tsu being the "War for Dummies" abridged version you read if you're cramming for the test at the last minute. But ''The Art of War'' is far, far more tropable than a book about logistics, politics, and the unpredictability of war. It is available online in several places; [http://www.sonshi.com/learn.html here] is a copy with accompanying discussions. [http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/132 This is the 1910 translation in plaintext], and [http://www.puppetpress.com/classics/artofwar.htm here it is in a pretty PDF.]