The 48 Laws of Power
by Robert Greene
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Book Reviews of The 48 Laws of Power
Book Review: A practical handbook to life.
Summary: 5 Stars
With all the distractions available today, time has become an increasingly valuable commodity. How many of us that might be inclined to study the classics find that after work, school, family & social obligations, a dusty copy of Aeschylus composed in ancient prose is simply not a very pleasant way to relax? Hey, it takes 4 years of intensive, full time study to get through the 100 great books on the St. Johns College reading list. Which would you rather do, go see a ball game, or get started on 1500 pages of Tolstoy? Does that mean the layman is not deserving of, entitled to, or could not benefit from the collective wisdom of the human species? Of course not.
What we've got here is a concentration, and condensation of the principles for success. Predicated on the fact that we must live in an organized society, and that the rules for social interaction can be studied, documented and learned, much of our success will be based on the ability to interact with others. And that's exactly what this book is all about.
Most of the best philosophy in its original composition is (almost) impenetrably inaccessible. Pick up a copy of "Beyond Good and Evil" and it's easy to understand why ole' Freddie had a reputation for being a miserable prick. It's pompous, haughty, deliberately verbose and self-consciously ostentatious. However, his work was radically revolutionary, and something everyone should be exposed to. He might have had some good stuff to say, but if 90% of the time is spent showing off (my my Freddie, aren't you so erudite and articulate), people will get annoyed, stop reading, and that's counter-productive.
There is nothing original about the content of 48 Laws, what is original is the delivery. Robert Greene has applied his study of the classics, and repackaged it in a form palatable to the modern reader. Anybody can go out in the field, thresh, harvest, mill and then eat your oats raw, or you can pull this one off the shelf, and unwrap a granola bar.
Strongly recommended to everyone EXCEPT pretentious philosophy/classics majors.
Book Review: Do you want to ride in the Limo or the Yugo?
Summary: 5 Stars
Whether you're already the Power Elite, the Power Elite in-waiting, the Wannabe Power Elite in-Waiting (Hollywood Assistant Directors, Wall Street undergrad analysts, and Washington DC interns), or just in the mood for a delicious little primer in power politics, Greene & Elffer's fine little tome is a witty, erudite, engaging, and very useful read. There are only a few truly great books about attracting, amassing, building, and expanding one's personal power, and this is one of them; the others would include Machievelli's Prince & the Discourses, Stanley Bing's What would Machiavelli Do?, Musashi's Book of Five Rings, and Sun Tzu's Art of War. As with its notorious predecessors, "The 48 Laws of Power" takes as its central premise that human relations aren't pretty, that Hobbes was dead right, and that life in the state of civilization is nasty, brutish, and short---that is, unless you manage to carve out a chunk of the spoils for yourself, get the keys to the executive washroom, and install yourself in all the important trips on the Gulf Stream.
"The 48 Laws of Power" is a distillation of millennia of advice to the power hungry, centered about the 48 immutable laws, which are illustrated and studded with fascinating nuggets from the lives of Napoleon, the Caesars, Clausewitz, Sun Tzu, Machiavelli, Otto Von Bismarck, Al Capone, and even conman Yellow Kid Weil.
The Laws themselves are great fun and highly useful, some of them obvious and others obscure, and all great for a laugh---while you commit them to memory. The historical illustrations are juicy, well written, and always engaging, but be warned: the book is a little too absorbing. Having bought the book at the World Trade Center's Barnes & Noble, I opened it up on the subway (meaning to go to midtown), and snapped back to reality when I realized I was in the Bronx, leading me to invent a 49th law of power: "Don't read the 48 Laws of Power while riding on the 1, 2 or 3 train."
Required reading for you and *your* children---but keep the thing away from anyone else, particularly your rivals at the office.
Book Review: Good advice, great stories
Summary: 5 Stars
Many of the reviews on here (okay, several, I only skimmed those on the front page) are critiquing the book solely as a self-help or business strategy book. That's fine; that's what the book is usually billed as.
Yes, the laws provide important lessons on life. The reader may integrate them into their worldview as they and their moral sense sees fit.
However, the laws themselves are just a small part of why I find this book so enjoyable, and why I feel compelled to take it off the bookshelf every so often. If you only want a run-down of Greene's laws, you don't have to look far for those (hint: if you don't mind squinting, it's called the "Look Inside" feature). But you'll be missing so much.
Greene accompanies each of his laws with examples taken from history, myth and literature, demonstrating the advice followed as well as ignored, and the supposed ramifications of each path. Along the way, little anecdotes and excerpts along the same theme are included in the margins (this may be Joost Elffers' contribution).
Whether or not you agree with Greene's conclusions (he is an English major and a writer, after all, not a world leader), reading how he interprets these stories and ties them to the main advice is highly enjoyable. You will be exposed to a lot of literary and historical references that you may not have been until now, and may pick up a number of ideas for further study.
If you just want a list of platitudes and are not interested in the rest of the writing, then I would suggest you go right to the source with The Art of Worldly Wisdom. You will find that almost all of Greene's laws come from Gracian's 300 aphorisms in one way or another. Unlike Gracian's concise little manual, however, Greene offers a brief literary and historical study with each case that's certainly worth the price of admission. In fact, I recommend you buy both of the books.
Book Review: Insightful
Summary: 4 Stars
My initial impression after going through the overview and abstract of the laws is just this..WOW!!. This is an insightful effort on the workings of the human mind in its various ramifications under the realm of Power. I dont think the subject of Power has ever been dealt with so logically, systematically and so interestingly. Green eludidates each of his laws with anecdotes and stories carefully collected from over the centuries (ancient Roman, chinese, persian, Greek to the contemporary London / Paris) and one cannot but wonder at the accuracy of his laws and their applicability in different facets of life. The stories are classified as either observance or transgression of the laws. Greene then summarizes his findings on each law as Keys to Power and supports it with an image.Some of the laws like "Conceal your Intentions", "Seem dumber than your mark", "control the options" "Never appear too perfect" and "assume formlessness" amongst others have amazing relevance in the current business and political scenarios. That the author has tendency to think of non-conventional ways of securing power is more apparent in chapters like "Using absence to gain respect and honor", "Making ones effors seem effortless", "using surrender tactics". These are strategies that are off-beat but nevertheless interesting. Another striking example is the chapter on "Playing the perfect courtier". This could serve as a rule book to anyone wanting to get along profitably in business and professional circles.
On the down side, it may be little long drawn out to go through some of the stories, but its relevance may well worth the effort. The shortened version - which only describes the laws and keys to power - would just be great for those in hurry.
Overall it is a great piece of work in analysing Power from different perspectives. It is a must for those who are already wielding Power and for those who would like to wield some themselves.
Book Review: A Magnum Opus!!!
Summary: 4 Stars
Being a student of psychology and philosophy, it was a pure delight to read this book.The book may seem to go a bit beyond the conventional morality, yet read as a weltanschauung, I think its an exquisite venture into the dark chasms of humane desire to dominate. Furthermore, this book is a thoretical treatise of the psychoilogical arsenal that can be used quite effectively in any situation. Weather all these laws can be put into action or not, however, is a qustion that'll remain unanswered until one personally experiments with them. Having said that, personally I don't agree with all the laws stated in the book, but then thats simply because the definitions of power may differ in human beings, highly influenced by religion, goal orientation, morality etc. This book does not teach u morality, and is definately not about the mores and norms. But it sould, also, be taken into account, that the book doesnt teach you the opposite niether... if you are not aiming at being amoral, u wont be!! Quite contradictorily, it can really give you an insight into the tactics used by the power-hunters and can teach you how to safeguard yourself against these deadly weapons. Plus some laws should come in handy for all of us, like "Never Outshine Your Boss", "Conceal Your Intentions", "Win Through Your Actions, Never Through Argument", "Keep Others In Suspence", "Concentrate Your Forces" etc. Some of the laws may seem self-contradictory to many, yet if one is well aquanted with the way human psychology works, it won't be hard to figure out what the author is really hinting at. There are no hard and fast rules to power, not when it comes to humans. This is not a science book... this is a study of human psychology and one should keep this in mind while studying this book.
I think everyone should read this book atleast once... it is really one of its kind!!! Plus if you really wanna go deeper, buy "The Art of Seduction" by the same author... The continuation of a dark journey into the abyss of human mind!!!