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The 48 Laws of Power (平装)
by Robert Greene
| Category:
Power, Influence, Persuasion, Psychology |
| Market price: ¥ 198.00
MSL price:
¥ 158.00
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 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
Ever wanted to know why you are left behind? This powerful read on the dynamics of human power will enable you with insight and guidance. |
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AllReviews |
1 2   | Total 2 pages 15 items |
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Karl Mohd (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-11 00:00>
As in other areas of life, the means of achieving power or influence over others is achieved not by honest or dis-honest means, but by a patient, rational evaluation of one's position relative to the negotiatee(s). In this book, Greene shows 48 different emotions and behavioral characteristics that take place in human interactions. Utilizing case histories from various political, military, business, and romantic travails in history, Greene gives ample support of the emotional balance one must play to maximize their power and results in life's different environmental interactions. |
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Jason Deimos (MSL quote), India
<2007-01-11 00:00>
I have read this book twice, and I found it quite interesting. For most of us this book should provide good entertainment. Greene has provided a lot of examples from history to show the validity of the laws. Though this book is comprehensive, I doubt whether it will turn the layman into a master of manipulation. The fact is that this book is definitely relevant, and I recommend it because it will allow people who see only simple motives and are used to the usual human drives and emotions to see things that they probably never felt or experienced ever before. Still, as I have stated, you are not going to become a master just because you know how the elite manipulated the masses and their peers. The world today is more complex than it was ever in the past, and the level of awareness and intelligence of the average human are much higher today. More people are educated and their numbers are increasing globally every year. Every law is valuble, but only in the hands of the most creative person does it find its best use. It would, therefore, be exceedingly simplistic to assume that the same propaganda that worked on people ten years back is going to produce the desired effect today. More humans are catching on. They are learning faster and experimenting faster.
Techniques that were used successfully in the past are getting obsolete precisely because the people understand the ploys. Personally, I feel that only a very sophisticated amalgamation of the laws of power are going to work today, and only the very best will be successful in fooling the rest. Greene tells us that the virtuosos of power have a phenomenal mental dexterity that helps them in applying the laws successfully over long periods of time. One must realise that while the future is similar to the past, the future also presents several unique features. So do read the laws, but realise that the arena keeps changing. Success depends on understanding the arena and the level of intelligence of your adversaries, not by blindly applying the past to the present and the future. This book is definitely a good place to start understanding power. I would also recommend reading The Art of Seduction by the same author.
Finally, to those who say that this book is not a "real" guide to power, I would just like to say that in the market for books there is most probably not a single book that will reveal the true account of how manipulation is actually being done in the contemporary world. While they may offer sketchy glimpses, the crystal clarity will never be manifest to the layman. This is because the actual reality of such transactions is just too valuble to be provided openly for mass consumption. In fact those who really want to have power understand that nobody can or will - if the person did know - actually reveal the real deal about a profitable venture. Tell me how many people are publicly teaching techniques to get around the 128-bit- encryption barrier to thrash electronic security of top organisations? Do you actually think that reading a 500-page or 600-page book on power will actually qualify you to replace the top powerbrokers of the world? The best teacher for that is direct experience, and how much you understand will ultimately depend on your own ingenuity and perceptiveness.
I have read Orson Scott Card's book Ender's Shadow, and though it appears that the general opinion is that Ender's Game was Card's best book, I feel that it was Ender's Shadow - the story of Bean - that impressed me the most. In fact, Bean more than Ender is the bearer of brute creativity. Bean saw what the teachers were doing wrong and what they were doing right, while the rest of the children saw no wrong in the teachers' methods.I was really impressed by one of the notions that Bean expressed : he said that whenever he realised that the teacher was wrong he did not follow that idea even when the rest of the children accepted it. That way he became better than the other students, because while they followed without much thought what they had learned from the teachers, Bean only followed the option he reasoned was right. That was why he became more powerful than the rest, for he knew the right course of action. I think this questioning of every notion - perhaps the 49th law - is the backbone of every other law. |
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Olayami (MSL quote), Nigeria
<2007-01-11 00:00>
Read this book and your thinking will never remain the same. Drawing upon historic examples that portray man's journey through the ages as one long, unending quest to dominate his fellows, The 48 Laws of Power reads somewhat like a much expanded version of Machiavelli's The prince. Yet it carries a lot of its own originality - on many levels. One interesting, innovative feature of this book can be found in the numerous illustrations and anecdotes appearing along the page margins that the writer uses to buttress his points. Quite educative, they provided me an easy opportunity to browse through and be acquainted with fascinating classic literature from Aesop's Fables down to Sun Tzu's The Art of war.
Can we refer to the 48 Laws as success literature? Some of Robert Greene's advice seems innocent enough: Never outshine the master; win through your actions, never through argument; concentrate your forces; enter action with boldness. These are tips you would find in any self-help book that should put anyone on a stronger footing in the workplace with their boss, with colleagues, or even within the curious context of a romantic relationship.
But there is a darker, more sinister side to the 48 Laws, a side that appears to be responsible for all the notoriety that surrounds this book. There are laws which, seeming to controvert themselves in some instances, advocate underhandedness and the practice of outright evil in the pursuit of one's ambitions. Reading The 48 Laws awakens a moral conflict within us and presents two philosophies that attend the attainment of power - one inspired by goodness and the other governed by guile. But I think it all depends on the kind of success you seek. To those that would stoop to guile I would point out that Robert Greene has neglected to include what perhaps might have been the first law: All that goes around comes around; you reap what you sow.
On the other hand, some of these laws that appear to advocate evil - taken in the right context, they shed their malicious intent and turn out to be very helpful, well-meaning principles. For instance, I agree with the thought “So much depends on your reputation - guard it with you life.” But I think my reputation rests, more than anything, on my character and commitment to whatever I do, and it is along these lines I will seek to guard it. Also, when I think of “Make other people come to you - use bait if necessary,” I tend to see it in the light of the principle that pronounces: The kind of person you are, to a large extent, determines the kind of people you will attract into your life. So I go about developing my `bait' - myself - in the best way I can. Fishing, as opposed to hunting, one success writer calls it.
An anecdote which fascinated me and which I kept returning to was one about Cosimo de Medici, the 15th Century Florentine banking magnate, who rode a mule instead of a horse and decidedly deferred to city officials, but effectively controlled government policy in Florence for decades. He spent a lot of his own funds on grandiose development projects across the city but preferred to live in a nondescript villa, and when he died asked to be buried in a simple tomb devoid of lavish ornamentation. Robert Greene uses Cosimo's example to illustrate a concept that is profound as it is though-provoking: the REALITY of power is much more important than the appearance of it. Unfortunately, most people tend to see it the other way.
On the whole, the 48 Laws awaken one to the on-going struggle for domination and control even in the most mundane transactions between humans. They insist that power is a reality, whether we like it or not. They impress upon us the thinking that, to survive in today's world, one has to become a man or woman of the world - at least, if not in one's actions, in one's awareness. For me, the 48 laws show one how to discern power-bids in relationships, how to read between the lines and scour the fine-print; how to recognize various inter-personal issues at stake in business and the workplace, navigating with panache and perceptiveness. They show one how to be `peaceful as a dove but wise as a serpent', how to `see the tricks coming', as another reviewer put it. Indeed, the 48 Laws seek to banish our innocence. And you'll agree...innocence, many times, can be a painful thing. |
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Malcolm Orrall (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-11 00:00>
This book is a no holds barred open discussion of raw power, enter- tainingly presented. It took me a little while to get over the almost completely amoral tone of the book, but I eventually got the sense that the amoral tone is there for a purpose: to clue you in to the fact that people who practice power at this level can often be completely amoral themselves. In that sense, the book truly gives the reader a sense of the mindset of those who will do anything to stay in power. There is a sense as one reviewer pointed out, that the book could have been written without this amoral tone, but then one would miss out on the opportunity of being immersed in its sense of amorality, which is an education in itself. Experiencing the amorality is a wakeup call that offers insight into how some of the world's ills have come to pass, though you may find yourself wanting to shower afterward. After reading it, you will definitely be more aware of the laws being played out on the world stage, and you will begin to recognize people in government who seem to be using it as a playbook. Some laws are even applicable in personal relationships...a scary thought.
By reading this, you will get an overview of the major philosophical writings on power, who as sources likely include at the very least Machiavelli, Han Fei Tzu, and Sun Tzu, though the authors do not identify the sources of the material for each law. This is one thing I wish they had done. That would have made it more useful to those wishing to put these laws and their development into some kind of historical framework. The authors have done a nice job however of blending together into one seamless volume the writings of these philosophers, whose works are also written in this amoral tone.
One of the most intriguing and worthwhile aspects of the book, are the many historical vignettes that the authors paint of how each law of power has been implemented, along with how failure to follow the law can be one's undoing. It is like two books in one in that sense. Not only do you get an understanding of raw power, but you get a very entertaining history lesson as well. The authors are also very careful to point out exceptions to the laws, and how they may backfire, making it read like a very thorough treatment of the subject for general readership.
One particularly interesting vignette has vivid application for our current situation in the war on terror, wherein we find ourselves exposed by going it alone without a substantial alliance while the rest of the world looks on. The vignette concerns a law which states that in seeking to increase power, let your rival do your fighting for you. The authors discuss how Mao Tse Tung suggested he and his rival Chiang Kai Shek set aside their differences and form an alliance in order to defeat the Japanese in World War II. Chiang Kai Shek agreed. Mao then suggested Chiang send his army in first, promising that he would follow Chiang into action by sending his army in as replacements. Once Chiang Kai Shek's army was committed, Mao held his army in abeyance and let Chiang Kai Shek take a beating. Then when Chiang's army was weakened, Mao's army was able to defeat him and exile him to Taiwan.
The warning for our own national campaign in the war on terror is that hopefully we will not allow ourselves to dissipate our national resources and become foolishly weakened by going it alone at the same time as other rival countries are growing stronger at our expense. The grandiosity of thinking we can go it alone makes us vulnerable to even more severe threats by potentially predatory nations who pretend to be sympathetic now, but who secretly revel in watching us deplete our national will, our troops and our treasury.
The 48 Laws of Power is a fascinating read, though except for a few of the laws, I can't imagine how it could actually help the average person's career unless you were a political operative or someone who had already accumulated a lot of political power and were predisposed to bend towards the amoral. But to build background knowledge and be able to recognize shadowy abuses of power while learning a little interesting history, I heartily recommend it. |
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Andrew (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-11 00:00>
What a smart, smart book. The 48 Laws of Power outlines what strategies, mindsets, characteristics, etc. have been prevalent in historical figures that achieved great power in their respective eras. While I would argue most of the information presented in this book isn't self-help so much as it is historical, the value of the content can't be overplayed.
If you're looking to pick up a quick read that will help you become more influential in a particular situation, this book is not for you. However, if you want to UNDERSTAND how/why you or the people around you are always commanding attention, respect, and on and on, this is a valuable book. Every "law" is accomodated with historical examples articulating the law's observance and a transgression of the law. Inspirations for such examples range from ancient rulers to P.T. Barnum.
Like I said, the most important things to keep in mind with this book are: 1) reading it will take considerable time and energy. There is a lot of historical information to digest, which ultimately I obviously consider well worth my(your) time. 2) this is not a self-help book. This book is about understanding power plays when you see them much more than it is about how to become powerful yourself. Clearly, understanding will ultimately lead to manifestation of the qualities, but as for a quick-fix, this is not a self-help book. |
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Oscar Milewski (MSL quote), Japan
<2007-01-11 00:00>
All things are made to serve humanity / nature or they become extinct with time. If there is no need for a telegram, it fades into the pages of history. The same goes for species. Successful companies make money by making others' experience of life better. If there is no money to be made, some institution or a certain body takes over these functions - e.g. urban planning. Are there exceptions from this rule? Yes, there are... but why not live in accordance with this quote:
"Only the weak are cruel. Gentleness can only be expected from the strong."
Are you strong enough to be gentle or do you need to "conceal your intentions" or "never put too much trust in friends because they will betray you" or "keep people dependant on you"? If you think the only way to get through this tough, painful, unthankful and unreasonably cruel world is to follow such advice - then this might appeal to you - but feed your mind with junk at your own risk. It is a well-written book - but then again, there are many well written books. |
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An American reader (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-11 00:00>
Good folks need to read this book to protect themselves from the bad folks. The bad folks don't need to, they naturally "know" this book in their blood. This is a book about being deceptive in many forms to gain and keep power. But it's more, it's really a book about human nature.
Human nature is contradictory. That is why Machivelli's "amoral" philosophy is so poignant. Moral people will find this work offending. Ambitious people will find it invaluable if they are discerning. Everyone else will think it sucks, because it doesn't take the tone of "win win" or the myriad of "positive thinking" business or motivational books out there.
And if you really dig deeper, people that have really good intentions that have been literally shafted by the world will really have a out of body experience with this book. The nefarious will dismay that their secrets are being revealed.
So, will the good folks take on the bad folks' evil ways? Or is there such a thing as "win win"? I don't dare even try to answer this.
Simply, because of me, this book is profound. What fascinates me is, can someone that doesn't necessarily find deception natural, really live out these 48 laws? I can see an attempt to protect myself, but one of the law that states "...let someone else do the work, and you get all the credit..." boy, this is going to be hard...for me...no self-righteousness intended.
The book is redundant with examples of the same historical figureheads without contemporary ones. Frankly, aside from great concepts explored, the writing is unstylish and devoid of life. The author's tone is dull. Glossing over historical footnotes and amplifying-to-fit examples of the laws became tiresome. Something tells me that the anecdotal passages were more intricate in reality, and that the examples kind of conveniently imposed themselves. |
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Pierre Rudder (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-11 00:00>
This book is both hardnosed yet fundamental for any individual who wants to learn how to gain power and success in life. The use of historical examples is probably the most ideal way to teach these Laws to the reader; - as the book itself says, people tend to listen and learn best through indirect metaphors or examples. Not only does the author's style and content make the Laws credible and easily comprehendible, it also serves as an overture for individuals who are generally interested in classical history and its prominent leaders.
From cover to cover this book is a non-stop read. My only complaint lies within its use of the anecdotes that are printed in red ink situated on the sides of the page. These often serve little purpose in my view and at times can confuse the reader more than anything else. |
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Doug (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-11 00:00>
Having survived the corporate world and now working on my own as a consultant and a university instructor, I can tell you that The 48 Laws of Power might be the most important book you can read to ensure your survival in the working world. It really is the study of nearly every politically volatile situation in which you can find yourself.
The basic theme of this book is: "Knowledge is power. And power will get you ahead." The knowledge contained in the book is the knowledge gained from studying the colossal failures and victories from history. That's the great thing about this book; it advocates a position, supports it and then gives you exceptions to its own rules.
Many readers have complained that this book is immoral. Some of my students were initially offended at some of the passages -- but they calmed down once they put the laws in context. If you read this book closely, you will realize that there is nothing immoral about it. This book is AMORAL, and there's a big difference. I have used excerpts from this book in my classes to explain everything from strategy and tactics to politics and relationships.
The thing I like the most about this book is that it can be read on many different levels. If you're just looking to get the general idea of a law, you can read the stories in the margins and basically skim the book. If you're looking for the more thorough analysis, you can read the entire book. You have the option.
I think the mistake many people make when they read this book is they believe the laws are meant to be used together. Nothing could be further from the truth. Many of the laws actually conflict with other laws, so they are, in effect mutually exclusive. That doesn't make them any less true.
I maintain that the readers who have panned this book simply don't understand it. This book is not for everyone. Nor should it be read by anyone who doesn't take it in it's proper context. Some of these laws can get you in some serious hot water if not implemented correctly.
Get this book. Read it and then re-read it. Put your favorite passages on the wall where you can see them every day. USE this book, because if you don't, someone else who is trying to get ahead will play the political game better than you. |
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A Canadian reader (MSL quote), Canada
<2007-01-11 00:00>
This book contains a plethora of Machiavellian-like knowledge; the know how on human manipulation, get what you want, when you want it, from who you want it. It is at times very unscrupulous and raw, while at others delicate and mischievous. In a few words the manual on the power that is around us and how to control it.
On form, it is excellent, divided into "laws" or what would be known as chapters, each with examples and intricate explications. It is easy to read over again, even if only one or two laws. It has direct and easy language, avoiding confusion in specific plans. Another unusual note I found about the book is the amazing amount of historical and cultural anecdotes, which are worth the read just by themselves.
This book, will not appeal to very "ethic" people, for example how it tells us that power is gained through any means possible. It exposes ways of gaining power that would fright any hard core religious person. Not to be mistaken, it is not all mischievousness and trickery; it contains excellent examples of prudence and wit, which help us in our daily lives. It's crucial one reads the introduction, as the author explains well his purpose, and how to use the book. It is not the manual to be president or ruler of anything, it's just a well written book, explaining us the intrinsic laws, which govern power, and those who have it. |
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