Sam and Connor sit down to talk about another ancient classic that lots of people pretend to have read - this time its Sun Tzu's The Art of War. Written over 2000 years ago, the book is still very much alive today. Quoted by generals of the Gulf War, with around 250 annual publications in East Asia alone that apply it to areas such as business and sport, it features on the required reading lists of military recruits worldwide. Its a book that has a concrete cultural legacy that is still being felt globally.   

A succinct guide to war, we talk about how and why this book is relevant to civilians of the 20th century and how it has survived to this day, as well as the history of its authorship and how Sun Tzu's martial philosophy compares to the Taoists and Hellenistic works of his contemporaries. 

We also talk briefly about The Book of Five Rings by Miyamoto Musashi, a bunch of other works and some ideas on war ethics, the value of public reading and religious attitudes to war. (Sorry about the lorries and planes.)