Product Description

Cunning, instructive, and amoral, this controversial bestseller distills 3,000 years of the history of power into 48 well-explicated laws. Law 1: Never Outshine the Master. Law 3: Conceal Your Intentions. Law 7: Get Others to Do the Work for You, but Always Take the Credit. Law 15: Crush Your Enemy Totally. Law 33: Discover Each Man's Thumbscrew. These are the laws of power in their unvarnished essencethe philosophies of Machiavelli (The Prince), Sun-tzu (The Art of War), Carl von Clausewitz, Talleyrand, the great seducer Casanova, con man Yellow Kid Weil, and other legendary thinkers and schemers. They teach prudence, stealth, mastery of one's emotions, the art of deception, and the total absence of mercy. Like it or not, all have practical applications in real life. Each law is illustrated with examples of observance or transgression drawn from history and featuring such famous figures as Queen Elizabeth I, Henry Kissinger, Mao, Alfred Hitchcock, P.T. Barnum, Haile Selassie, Catherine the Great, and Socrates. Convincing, practical, sometimes shocking, this book will fascinate anyone interested in gaining, observing, or defending against ultimate control.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #181925 in Books
• Published on: 2007-03-05
• Format: Audiobook
• Original language: English
• Binding: Audio CD

From AudioFile
If youre one of those people who gets sand kicked in your face even when youre not at the beach, you may find the 48 laws in this book helpful, particularly Law 15, Crush Your Enemies Totally. Bob Greene has built a career as the Machiavellian Dale Carnegie, and his latest offering is more of the same. This time he sums up all the cunning and ruthless principles weve come to associate with reality game show winners. If Pose as a Friend, Work as a Spy (Law 14), Play a Sucker to Catch a Sucker (Law 21), and Strike the Shepherd and the Sheep Will Scatter (Law 42) all seem like sound advice to you, you may enjoy Don Leslies confident reading of Greenes work. R.W.S. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

New York magazine
It's The Rules for suits.... Machiavelli has a new rival. And Sun-tzu better watch his back.

People
Beguiling... literate... fascinating... a wry primer for people who desperately want to be on top.

Customer Reviews

A book on power by two fledgling authors?
This book not only contradicts many tried-and-true methods of attaining power, but in the most inane way. If you followed the advice given, you would have no friends (as it advises stabbing them in the back when possible in order to make yourself look better--no joke). I was absolutely appalled at the unabashed odacity this book promulgates. If you subscribe to the Golden Rule, this book is not for you. It is my belief that if Jack Welch were to read this book, he'd laugh, and discredit everything the authors say. In addition to the above statement, this book advises: as long as you can get away with it--do it, reject loyalty to others, deception, etc.

It read like two high school geeks trying to sound "tough." Avoid this book at all costs, that is, assuming you are mature. I can tell you that this book will get you no where in life (other than backwards).

Negative strategies to attain success...
In our world of political correctness and appearances, where society is depicted as fair, democratic, at times altruistic and transparent, the reality of the situation is far different. And as Greene proposes, no one wants to be seen as power hungry, and those that do, are generally scorned. Power is a game. And to play this game successfully, duplicity is the key: to win power, we must, on the surface, at least appear to be fair, altruistic and transparent, however we must scheme, manipulate, deceive, charm and seduce, if we are to get what we want...to achieve power, as Napoleon suggested, we should use an iron fist with a velvet glove, smiling as we stab our opponents in the back. Attaining power is war, though according to Greene, a civilized war.

Any person with an essential good nature should find this book a little disturbing. The message from Greene is clear - living the virtuous life is the road to failure and powerlessness. Appealing to the better angels of our natures is a lost cause and will get us nowhere but the bottom of the food chain. In other words, "nice guys finish last." The only way to the top is through treachery, seduction, observing others' weaknesses to then play on those weaknesses to your advantage. Greene's advice is basically a negative strategy to power and success. And to be sure, there are other positive strategies out there to attain power and success without resorting to deception and covert manipulation. But none are presented here.

That said, understanding the 48 laws presented here, at least will make us aware of the depths some people will go to in order to get what they desire. In this regard, this text is worth the time, energy and money.

The 48 Laws of Power
First, let me say that I have to wonder if Robert Kaplan, who wrote "Warrior Politics: Why Leadership Demands a Pagan Ethos," published after Greene's book, ripped off his entire thesis from Greene's book. I'm still searching for attribution. And, what's more bizarre is how Newt Gingrich, one of the Neo-Cons of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board praises Kaplan's book. Indeed, if Kaplan read Greene but did not give him attribution while benefitting from his research, isn't it possible that Kaplan himself obeyed one of the 48 Laws? Like a sword of impure steel is the lie. He who lives by the lie shall die by the lie.

Having said that, and having read a friend's copy of "The 48 Laws of Power," it seems to me that Greene's book was well written and researched. However, I disagree with the first reviewer. The decision of whether to live and see through the "48 laws" is not that from "The Matrix" of whether to eat the blue pill or the red pill, but it is the question from "The Lord of the Rings" in which Smeagle / Golem constantly asks himself who he is, wondering whether to kill his master and put on the Ring of Power, the Ring to Rule Them All, or to obey his master and break the power of the Ring and its maker.

The result if he takes the Ring is to then be drawn to Sauron, the fashioner of the Ring of Power. Not so good. Afterall, could you really trust a master who teaches you that lying is the way to live? Which law is a lie and which is the truth? Here the question is whether one will be drawn to obey the fashioner of the rules of power set forth in the book, and who can say what influences worked on the primary and secondary sources cited by Greene to make his points, or Greene's own influences, one of which may have begun as resentment and culminated itself in a silent pride.

We may all know and empathize with where Greene seems to be coming from, however, does anyone seriously think that Greene knows where he is going?