The Art of War

Fine. Read it because I've had this Epic Rap Battle of History stuck in my head all weekend as an earworm.

Like Seneca, the astounding thing is how relevant this stuff feels - even for (a) a person who is not a general engaging in war and (b) a person living 1,500 years later. Sun Tzu's advice is more practical than philosophical; the TL;DR is know yourself, know your enemy, know the land/circumstances, and then be smart about probabilities. He makes several comments about the impediments of ego or how destructive (and easily manipulable) heightened emotions can be - some of these felt directly applicable to Trumpism and anti-Trumpism.

I especially enjoyed his tips on judging what's happening in the enemy camp (“know your enemy”) by the nature, speed and dispersement of their smoke - e.g. smoke rising fast in a column is charioteers approaching; smoke rising slow and wide is infantry; little spurts of random smoke is encampment, etc.