Any good reads from historical figures similar to Art of War or The Prince?

by s_d9417

I've been obsessing over the style of strategic thinking presented in the works of Sun Tzu and Machiavelli, but I've hit a road block. I'm finding it hard to find anything similar to the unique, timeless, and all-round applicable logic I've read in the previous two books.

I'm sorry if I'm being vague in what I want, because I don't really know the terminology to use here. The best I can do is say that I want a read in the style of The Prince or Sun Tzu. Maybe there's a read from another one of history's geniuses outlining how to create an empire, or become a successful businessman?

So, any suggestions? To keep it historical lets make the books be at least one hundred years old.

Aclarius

Yes sure, so you've read about Ancient Chinese strategy as well as historical Italian (European) - both great civilisations of course.

I would highly suggest you therefore look into another great civilization, the Ancient Indian one - specifically the work of Chanakya - and his treatise Arthashastra <literally translating to statecraft>. It was written with similar intentions as The Prince - that is, to advise and guide future rulers.

What's unique about that book is that it reveals so much about Indian history and thought - and I'm sure you're a believer of Deep History - the idea that events long ago from history continue to impact the world today - this book will help you to understand deeply, current Indian thought and events, as they've continued from the same current of thought. Given that India is a huge and rising next world power, you would find it highly relevant and interesting. The book is infused with Hindu philosophy, and ancient cultural and historical details you'd be amazed by how many things are exactly the same!

It is also very specific, and many beautifully wise tidbits on things like how to test if you can trust a minister (you can apply it to maybe testing to see if your friends/employees are trustworthy). Of course the idea is to be inspired by it, you need not apply it literally as per the ancient example.

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Apart from that historical treatise very similar to The Prince - in general, I am a huge fan of some contemporary modern sort of 'guidebooks' to history, where the authors have done the hard work and skimming the history and brought out its lessons. Have you read the '48 Laws of Power' by Robert Greene? That seems exactly that what you'd be after- Mr Greene culls from all corners of world history to draw forth eternal lessons of history you can apply directly, fleshing out each "eternal law" with historical examples and analysis.

Robert Greene has two others books that seems to be relevant to your quest to become a successful businessman / man of power.

  1. The first is Mastery - that tells of how history's greatest masters of their craft - people like Leonardo Da Vinci - chose what they wished to focus their energy on, and how they mastered their work. Mastery seems essential in being a modern man of value - as so much of your worth and social identity is dependent on it. If you master something that is of great value now (say coding) imagine the untold power and worry-free money you can secure, along with economic security for yourself.
  2. Another of his book is the Art of Seduction - which is, as the name suggests, more to do with seducing women haha using history's again famous examples like Casanova, but it also has wider application in the 'human arts' things like persuasion and influence. Useful for politicians or even businessman where you need to understand core human motivators and how to influence people. He gives the example of how politicians like Charles de Gaul (France) and Napoleon basically charmed and seduced entire nations in order to provide the base for their power.

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Tell me what you make of this!