My two cents.
It's well written. Made me feel very smart reading it like I was in on a big secret.
Can I distill the laws as the Op asked? Not so much.. I've sat in book shops and watched people sit down and read it and no shit, without fail they start looking around the room over the book cover with this sly grin. Like they are the smartest motherfuckers ever. It had that effect on me as well but it is quite comical to watch.
Greene himself obviously thinks of himself as a modern day Machiavelli and basically states as much in one of his books.
The book did open my eyes to things I hadn't understood properly before. I was involved in organised religion and couldn't understand why and how things were going so drastically wrong for me within the organisation : this book explained it all and turned me on to
red pill thinking.
Seduction is a very different book. I am very much not a lover/ seducer more a fighter ( and sure not much of one at that) so I found his 33 strategies of war easiest to understand. Seduction the least , but there is gold there especially in terms of understanding seduction on a societal level. Advertising etc.
Pretty rubbish from a gaming point of view IMO.
One thing about Greene he likes to bend the facts to suit his stories/ laws. In the war book he pitted smart Churchill against the Nazis to underline his points. But while Churchill was an inspirational leader he was also a bstshit warmonger who practiced self defence in advance of the day when the Germans 'came for him', which was impractical to say the least.. A big difference between the allies and the Nazis was that the allied General staff could safely ignore Churchill whilst Hitler appointed himself above more experienced and capable generals thus hamstringing his own army ... which was by far the best army in the war.
Greene is way off in having Churchill outwitting the Germans - allied intelligence outwitted the Germans on D day. Churchill was an irrelevance, still pushing for his impractical plans to invade through Spain and then the Pyrenees.. Churchill wanted Auschwitz bombed the moment he knew about it. A noble sentiment and wish.
The fact that anti Semitic elements of the foreign office managed to bury that plan shows how irrelevant Churchill really was to allied strategic manoeuvres.
The fact that Greene plays fast and loose with his examples and their meaning calls his 'wisdom' into question. He and the reader may not be as smart as they think. Hence perhaps the dipshit guys at work other posters mention.
There is much much gold to be found though. ..
The 50th Law seemed such a ludicrous cash in I never bothered reading it. Likewise mastery...
Hope this little review helps..
It's well written. Made me feel very smart reading it like I was in on a big secret.
Can I distill the laws as the Op asked? Not so much.. I've sat in book shops and watched people sit down and read it and no shit, without fail they start looking around the room over the book cover with this sly grin. Like they are the smartest motherfuckers ever. It had that effect on me as well but it is quite comical to watch.
Greene himself obviously thinks of himself as a modern day Machiavelli and basically states as much in one of his books.
The book did open my eyes to things I hadn't understood properly before. I was involved in organised religion and couldn't understand why and how things were going so drastically wrong for me within the organisation : this book explained it all and turned me on to
red pill thinking.
Seduction is a very different book. I am very much not a lover/ seducer more a fighter ( and sure not much of one at that) so I found his 33 strategies of war easiest to understand. Seduction the least , but there is gold there especially in terms of understanding seduction on a societal level. Advertising etc.
Pretty rubbish from a gaming point of view IMO.
One thing about Greene he likes to bend the facts to suit his stories/ laws. In the war book he pitted smart Churchill against the Nazis to underline his points. But while Churchill was an inspirational leader he was also a bstshit warmonger who practiced self defence in advance of the day when the Germans 'came for him', which was impractical to say the least.. A big difference between the allies and the Nazis was that the allied General staff could safely ignore Churchill whilst Hitler appointed himself above more experienced and capable generals thus hamstringing his own army ... which was by far the best army in the war.
Greene is way off in having Churchill outwitting the Germans - allied intelligence outwitted the Germans on D day. Churchill was an irrelevance, still pushing for his impractical plans to invade through Spain and then the Pyrenees.. Churchill wanted Auschwitz bombed the moment he knew about it. A noble sentiment and wish.
The fact that anti Semitic elements of the foreign office managed to bury that plan shows how irrelevant Churchill really was to allied strategic manoeuvres.
The fact that Greene plays fast and loose with his examples and their meaning calls his 'wisdom' into question. He and the reader may not be as smart as they think. Hence perhaps the dipshit guys at work other posters mention.
There is much much gold to be found though. ..
The 50th Law seemed such a ludicrous cash in I never bothered reading it. Likewise mastery...
Hope this little review helps..