The 48 Laws of Power
by Robert Greene
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Book Summary Information
Author: Robert GreeneEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Published)
Format: Bargain Price
Published: 1998-08-31
ISBN: N/A
Number of pages: 452
Publisher: Viking Adult
Book Reviews of The 48 Laws of Power
Book Review: 48 laws of power
Summary: 3 Stars
I'm pretty into morality but I quite like this book. But If you're not weary of someone who recommends deception (as the author does) you deserve to get suckered. Some of the rhetorical techniques he employs include writing in the style of that wise blind guy who knew everything in Kung fu, it doesn't work at all once you've seen an interview with him. Also putting a number (48) in the title makes it sound very scientific, I'd bet he has no idea if there really are exactly 48 laws of power.
Still I would not say all the laws are immoral or even amoral as the blurb claims. Some, such as not hanging around with people who drag you down and "assuming formlessness" are about self defence not predation. You can pick and choose according to your code of ethics or lack thereof.
It probably should have come with a warning. The philosopher Alfred Whitehead said Machiavellian techniques work well for about 15 years. One of the practical problems with deception is reality does actually exist and cannot be kept at bay forever. When it is revealed it could ruin you or an entire economy (as when vast numbers of people lie to get loans).
Still an interesting book not only for the unscrupulous.
Summary of The 48 Laws of Power
Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, this piercing work distills three thousand years of the history of power in to forty-eight well explicated laws. As attention--grabbing in its design as it is in its content, this bold volume outlines the laws of power in their unvarnished essence, synthesizing the philosophies of Machiavelli, Sun-tzu, Carl von Clausewitz, and other great thinkers. Some laws teach the need for prudence ("Law 1: Never Outshine the Master"), the virtue of stealth ("Law 3: Conceal Your Intentions"), and many demand the total absence of mercy ("Law 15: Crush Your Enemy Totally"), but like it or not, all have applications in real life. Illustrated through the tactics of Queen Elizabeth I, Henry Kissinger, P. T. Barnum, and other famous figures who have wielded--or been victimized by--power, these laws will fascinate any reader interested in gaining, observing, or defending against ultimate control."Learning the game of power requires a certain way of looking at the world, a shifting of perspective," writes Robert Greene. Mastery of one's emotions and the arts of deception and indirection are, he goes on to assert, essential. The 48 laws outlined in this book "have a simple premise: certain actions always increase one's power ... while others decrease it and even ruin us."
The laws cull their principles from many great schemers--and scheming instructors--throughout history, from Sun-Tzu to Talleyrand, from Casanova to con man Yellow Kid Weil. They are straightforward in their amoral simplicity: "Get others to do the work for you, but always take the credit," or "Discover each man's thumbscrew." Each chapter provides examples of the consequences of observance or transgression of the law, along with "keys to power," potential "reversals" (where the converse of the law might also be useful), and a single paragraph cleverly laid out to suggest an image (such as the aforementioned thumbscrew); the margins are filled with illustrative quotations. Practitioners of one-upmanship have been given a new, comprehensive training manual, as up-to-date as it is timeless.
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