At the risk of sounding un-educated,does anybody know what 'the art of war'is about by Sun Tzu? I've heard that it is about strategy and whatnot, but i need a little help. Thanks.

I tried to read it, but didn't get that far.
There was lots of Chinese history in it which got a bit confusing for me. There were some stories about conflicts and how the strategies used helped to win. But that's as much as I can remember I'm afraid.
Shen

The book is an ancient stratedgy guide compiled by the General of China at the time Sun Tzu and all of the nobles in northern China at the time it basicly explains in the clearest way possible how you should react to any form of conflict by describing the conflict in the form of a battle his army would face like ratio's of whether or not he should attack an army which is twice the size of his own etc it is my favourouite book but you must get a good copy of it to understand it well id advise buying the verion of it published by Shambala, if you have anymore specific questions just post and ill try to explain

Hey,
go to www.artofwarplus.com theres a free e-book there.

Samuel B. Griffith's translation is widely thought to be the best. This is the one I managed to read, and it's written in a very clear manner.

Oh this book is a classic.
I went through two translations - the first one also was too full of historical things that few people care about.

But essentially the book is a collection of sayings and theories of Sun Tzu about military strategy.

The strategies and things that he says are actually wide applicable in life, business, sport, etc.

I read it a couple of years ago, but it made a big impression on me - I still remember a few saying here and there by heart...

Don't mean to be patronizing, but it's about....the art of war.

War, strategy, how to do it, etc.


Mark.

There are different forms of this book. I read this book in verse and I believe thats how Sun Tzu wrote it. There are other forms of the book showing examples of the battle tactics. Also theres a book called "Mastering the Art of War" by Zhuge Liang, I haven't read it though.

Its definitely a good book to read if you like anyhting to do with strategy, but many of the points it focuses on (terrain, manouvering of an army, supplies etc) aren't that relevant to martail arts.