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The 48 Laws of Power
Price: $44.97 Prices subject to change.
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Binding: Hardcover
Edition: 1st
Format: Bargain Price
Label: Viking Adult
Manufacturer: Viking Adult
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 452
Publication Date: August 31, 1998
Publisher: Viking Adult
Studio: Viking Adult
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Editorial Review:
"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.
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.
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating:  - My new Bible
I can't say enough about this book. While most of my contemporaries refuse to read it, saying it seems to be full of common sense rather than anything enlightening, I must respectfully disagree. For those who reviewed this book looking for the "use this tactic 100% of the time" approach of course they were let down. Anyone who thinks one thing will work 100% of the time is fooling themselves anyway. For more realistic readers the book will deliver. I can legitamately see using this book in every ... Read More
Rating: - Guidelines for the Realists
This book is a true guideline for the Realists or the Strategists.
Although the laws don't seem to follow each other, the sum is a compendium of solutions to stay competitive and gain an advantage if your mission is to be number one.
I strongly recommend it to individuals who have a need for "power & control".
Rating: - Wait a minute!
I have to write my own review here because I disagree with most of what I am reading in other reviews. Did you all really think that you were going to go home, read this book and become suddenly powerful?
This was not my approach with this book. Personally, I read it for entertainment and once I finished reading it, I felt satisfied. I thought it was well written, thought provoking and outrageously funny. The historical approach was very interesting too. My favourite law: Keep others ... Read More
Rating:  - Not awful, but not great either
This is one of those books you ought to check out from the library rather than buy. I love books, and I read books I love over and over, highlighting the parts I want to be sure and remember. This one I had high hopes for, but it just didn't measure up. The main problem I have with this book is the author contradicts himself constantly. On the one hand, he presents himself as the final authority on getting ahead using psychology and craftiness and all manner of clever wiles, but then he "covers" himself ... Read More
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