The Art of War: The New Illustrated Edition (Art of Wisdom) Hardcover – Illustrated, May 1, 2012

This book is fantastic. The quality is superb. The cover of the book is almost like a thread-like material with a reflective sheen to it. The book just screams for attention if it's just lying around, it would always catch the eyes of my guests as I had it laying about the house during my reading of it. It has now since been put away in the bookshelves, but even still, if there's any amount of light it will make the spine glow as well. The gold inlay is also very striking and also reflects a lot of light.The paper stock is very high quality as well. With thick glossy pages, a nice easy to read bold font, and a built in thin black satin or nylon bookmark strap. (I'm not sure of the actual material of the little bookmark strap, but it should give a visual.)The book itself is a very fast read. I like all of the annotations from the other readers of the work, generals, and philosophers. I also like the history lesson preceding the actual part of the book "The Art of War".I have never read any other versions or translations of this book, but I do think that this is a fine place to start.I think most people looking at this book probably know the general idea of what is contained inside, but it is a book about the strategies and philosophies of war. Much can be extracted and applied to life situations today, even if you are not involved in a war. There is a reason that the book remains so timeless and popular.I also recommend reading this book if you are into real time strategy games, such as Starcraft or Starcraft II, as this will improve your game. In a situation like this then the book literally applies to what you are doing, which is waging war on your opponent with an army.

Silk wrapped cover and every page is photo quality. Maps, art, historical background, commentary, and of course Sun Tzu's translated work. Exactly the sort of treatment that a work of this age and nature deserves. Wish more books could be done with this level of quality, I would be proud to have a personal library full of them...

The color and condition of the book is very nice. Certainly looks brand new. I am very happy with the book's condition.

This is the best looking book on my bookshelf by far. The book cover has a red velvet kind of feel around the whole outside, and where the Chinese letters are, there is a gold embossing. The book also contains a ribbon for a bookmark sewn into the book binding so it won't get lost. Each page is thick and colorful, and the book really feels solid. This will make a nice addition to a coffee table for display.

I love this book... I first read The Art of War about 17 years ago and still have my original copy. Then I came across this illustrated version and got it so as to appreciate the ancient artwork-- I was not disappointed. The quality of the entire book (very well made hardcover) is really good and the pages are filled with additional writings about that era. definitely worth the purchase and I even picked up a second copy as a gift.

Beautifully published edition, the red + gold leaf, illustrated, makes a really great gift 4 someone who is interested the subject.... not an easy read, lots of historical info but still interesting translation

The is a beautiful edition of an important book on strategy- one that is used today for corporate sales and structure design- all to great advantage. Truly the wisdom of the ages! The binding and page weight/gloss on this version are both outstanding and something that will also stand the test of time.

I was surprised at how beautiful this book was when I got it. It was a gift for my husband, and the quality far surpassed my expectations. It has a satin-like red material on the front and back cover and the gold writing is all shiny, which makes it appear worth a lot more! My husband has loved this book, and he's not big into reading. I am going to be reading it next! If you or your spouse is really into fighting, or MMA, or even history and culture then this book has a lot to offer.