Hagakure
This treatise comprises the authentic relections of a 17th-century Samurai warrior on the character of martial life and death. It aims to be an invaluable guide to the disciplines of thought and practice required of the serious martial artist. Hagakure (In the Shadow of Leaves') is a manual for the samurai classes consisting of a series of short anecdotes and reflections that give both insight and instruction-in the philosophy and code of behavior that foster the true spirit of Bushido-the Way of the Warrior. It is not a book of philosophy as most would understand the word:'
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31mentions
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2007–2025years
29% recommend61% neutral10% critical
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What Hacker News says
- Once upon a time I watched Jim Jarmusch's Ghost Dog and fell in love with the theme, aesthetic, and philosophy. The underpinning text is the Hagakure: The Book of the Samurai, with which the 14-year-old me became obsessed. After briefly reigniting my interest when reading a book by Yukio Mishima, I had a hazy idea of an infinite-scrolling Hagakure.
Wherever you are in the world, you can open the page and jump right in at the same point as everybody else.
It's not much, but it was an idea that formed and I'm pleased to have executed it.
- Thank you, that’s very kind to say.
So many good books in this thread already. I could suggest though:
Hagakure - Yamamoto Tsunetomo
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind - Shunryu Suzuk
For something lighter I like anything by William Gibson or Neal Stephenson. The Quicksilver trilogy is great as is Anatheme.
- To be honest for the western world most of that wisdom is holed up in old Greek and Roman histories. Most of the more strategically brilliant minds I know tended to be reading, among the standards already mentioned, military histories rather than specific strategy/tactics books. So, Tacitus, Xenophon, Thucydides, etc. Another one I really like and think is underrated (because it does have many flaws) is the Hagakure.
I could go on. For example, when thinking about the changing landscape of warfare and politics in a nuclear age, I think you can't find a better book than "The Shield of Achilles" by Phillip Bobbit (if you do let me know). With the latest shift in the military strategy space I suspect lots of Mahan and Corbett are being read right now. It is a mistake to too heavily rely on any of these though.
What I have learned over time is that one does not want to look for a "how to" book by a strategic master, or on any subject so esoteric, but rather to glean tidbits of information that over time open up into novel insights, sometimes only after multiple readings.
On the particular subject of Machiavelli, I think the biggest mistake is to focus on the man himself, instead of the greater power struggles of his day. For example the War of the League of Cambrai is one of the most interesting things in the history of Europe to me, and it's almost never talked about or taught.
“Judging by what I have seen and read that it is not impossible to bring [the military] back to ancient modes and give it some form of past virtue, I decided, so as not to pass these my idle times without doing anything, to write what I understand about the art of war for the satisfaction of those who are lovers of ancient actions” - Machiavelli
- Side point, there is a book Hagakure (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hagakure) which is collected comments of a samurai during the end of this samurai/retainer period for Japan. This passage stuck with me and talks about overcoming fear of death through meditating about dying in all sorts of horrible ways. I guess you did the 21st century version;
"The Way of the Samurai is found in death. Meditation on inevitable death should be performed daily. Every day, when one’s body and mind are at peace, one should meditate upon being ripped apart by arrows, rifles, spears, and swords, being carried away by surging waves, being thrown into the midst of a great fire, being struck by lightning, being shaken to death by a great earthquake, falling from thousand-foot cliffs, dying of disease or committing seppuku at the death of one’s master. And every day, without fail, one should consider himself as dead. This is the substance of the Way of the Samurai."
- Bunch of Eastern stuff...Hagakure, Book of 5 rings, art of war, tao te ching
Subtle art of not giving a fuck, The art of happiness
But the one book I always keep...The boy scout handbook
- Hagakure - Yamamoto Tsunetomo
Kind of the ethical codex for samurai warriors. Little stories about what to do and not to do which you can translate to a modern daily life.
