The Art of ..... Knowing What You Are On About

Introduction

Ths is a Seven Days In post from 2012 and abservations from a friend on what I posted.

One of the problems with old blog posts, and same is true for Vocal Stories is that links can disappear, so what was once a vibrant and informative piece may become a bit of a car crash. The initial words might be fine but if the links are integral to it then that can look, to say the least , unprofessional, although all the work I do is decidedly amateur, that is to say it is done because I want to do it. Saying it is amateur just meen it is not done purely for financial recompense.

The blog actually is getting two thousand visits a day, but the money I get for advertising is negligible. Google Adsense tells me I get about one or two reads a week, but it is not there to specifically make money.

Sun Tzu's "The Art Of War" was the first book I read on an electronic device end to end. I found it so interesting that I read it again and I read it quite often. It is the oldest military treatise in the world and contains lots of observations and advice on how me conduct ourselves and plan things in the modern world.

The music I have included is "Make Way There's A New World Coming" (which refers to Charles Darwin) by Pete Wylie, which for some reason has never to my knowledge had an official release, I must give him a shout and ask why. He is an absolute fave songwriter of mine, and if you want to sample a little more of his work check out my piece on him:

The Art of ..... Knowing What You Are On About

A few days ago I posted this on Facebook:

"In my e-library, I have The Art of War by Sun Tzu, Heart of Darkness by Conrad, and Origin of the Species by Darwin so why do need to Facebook?"

My friend Josie replied, wittily:

"Because the Art of War will take you weeks to read/fully digest and Facebook takes 10 seconds to realise nothing is interesting happening...."

So I thought I should at least dip into it, and this is what I have found:

It's a slim volume, 50 to 60 pages depending on translation or format

It's not really a book more a reference manual of bullet points on how to conduct a war

You can read it in one sitting, but it will take a lifetime to understand

It is full of points that relate to everyday life

It makes you think

It is easy to read

It's out of copyright so you can download the ebook for free although the cheapest one on Amazon is now £0.49p

So thanks to Josie I have read the book and will be re-reading it . It is remarkable and sensible and my version was remarkably easy to read. I suggest you get a copy now!

Conclusion

While I kept up the blog in the hope that I would get an idea and motivation for writing a book, that never happened but it has given me a treasure chest of what I believe are interesting observations that are worth sharing on Vocal as well.

This article was short but reminded of the many books I have digital copies of and many, ever since Project Gutenberg, are available for free in one form or another. There are over seventy thousand on that site alone, so it is worth investigating.

I hope you have found this interesting and enjoyed it.