Strategy

A History

De: Lawrence Freedman

Narrado por: Michael Butler Murray

In Strategy: A History, Sir Lawrence Freedman, one of the world's leading authorities on war and international politics, captures the vast history of strategic thinking, in a consistently engaging and insightful account of how strategy came to pervade every aspect of our lives. The range of Freedman's narrative is extraordinary, moving from the surprisingly advanced strategy practiced in primate groups, to the opposing strategies of Achilles and Odysseus in The Iliad, the strategic advice of Sun Tzu and Machiavelli, the great military innovations of Baron Henri de Jomini and Carl von Clausewitz, the grounding of revolutionary strategy in class struggles by Marx, the insights into corporate strategy found in Peter Drucker and Alfred Sloan, and the contributions of the leading social scientists working on strategy today. The core issue at the heart of strategy, the author notes, is whether it is possible to manipulate and shape our environment rather than simply become the victim of forces beyond one's control. Time and again, Freedman demonstrates that the inherent unpredictability of this environment - subject to chance events, the efforts of opponents, the missteps of friends - provides strategy with its challenge and its drama. Armies or corporations or nations rarely move from one predictable state of affairs to another, but instead feel their way through a series of states, each one not quite what was anticipated, requiring a reappraisal of the original strategy, including its ultimate objective. Thus the picture of strategy that emerges in this book is one that is fluid and flexible, governed by the starting point, not the end point. A brilliant overview of the most prominent strategic theories in history, from David's use of deception against Goliath, to the modern use of game theory in economics, this masterful volume sums up a lifetime of reflection on strategy.

Download the accompanying reference guide.©2013 Lawrence Freedman (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Do you know everything Jeeves?

"I really couldn't say sir."

erudite, fascinating, loved it
A real workout for my aging brain.

a v e r y l o n g a n t h o l o g y

very thorough.. but even narrator lost track rambling from military to political to business to...

What is Strategy?

Here in this book, you learn how strategy is used by historical figures.
How is it that these individuals have been able to conquer their opponents with less than ideal situations? Not enough troops, not enough manpower , not enough what? Could you tell that conquerors of all ages have done one thing in mind, and that is to strategize. What does your opponent plan on doing, what do they think *YOU* are going to do, what will you feign to have the upper hand with a miscalculation?
Listen to this book, and you'll get a broad understanding of how people use this to their advantage. Whether you are just curious to know more, or are wanting to do better in life situations ( whether it be business, or moments of ambiguity )
Don't just play chess, conquer your enemies with strategy.

insightful

an amazing journey of learning and intrigued. what breathtaking review of strategy and its profound affects on our society today.

Life is not chess, there are no correct moves

The author quotes John von Neumann (a developer of game theory among many other things) in the beginning of the book to the effect that the Game of Chess doesn't require a strategy because there is an exact mathematically correct move for every situation but for most other areas a correct strategy is not determinable. This book covers all those different areas in an encyclopedic fashion.

The book is a long read, but who among us can't devote thirty hours or more to such an interesting topic. The book is thematically arranged by area (war, politics, social sciences, business, and so on). He'll talk about the different strategies and almost always shows that they work until they don't.

The book illustrates how dangerous it is to just have intuition with a good narrative when developing a strategy while ignoring the empirical and reality. Reality is complex. Most of the time narratives will only get you so far.

Overall a long read, but worth it. There is a central narrative in the book, but sometimes the author didn't understand how to tie his stories together coherently.

How strategy evolved through historic failures.

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Definitely I would, the book doesn't just explore successful strategies, but concentrates on the failures, how they failed, and how they evolved. Freedman successfully sidesteps the "survivorship bias" by making how strategies fail a prominent feature of the book. Anyone who employs strategic thinking in their lives, work or otherwise, would benefit immensely from learning the history of what has already been tried, for better or worse, throughout recorded history.

What was one of the most memorable moments of Strategy?

The detailed account of the "wedge" strategy employed by proponents of the "Intelligent Design" movement to systematically undermine what they called "materialistic science", in order to remake science in an image consonant with their religious beliefs. I've read about intelligent design before, and I'm familiar with them, but gained a new perspective through the lens of political strategy, instead of debates & the debunking of pseudoscience.

What about Michael Butler Murray’s performance did you like?

His tone and range of inflection was good, keeping the long listen from turning into a sedative. I did notice him mispronouncing a number of the longer, more jargon type words, so don't always trust his pronunciation.

What’s the most interesting tidbit you’ve picked up from this book?

My favorite, perhaps most valued insight from this book (among many), was insight into how so many strategies have failed, following a common pattern of rigidity, bullheaded blindness to changes in the environment or refusing to revise a core principle, position or philosophy. From marxism to failed political campaigns and business strategies, this failure is so obvious once illuminated, yet remains common even today.

Any additional comments?

The use of recent advancements in cognitive neuroscience and psychology being applied to all fields of strategy, along with the values of the scientific method, was insightful, and very exciting.

A Mixed Bag

I found this book alternately enlightening and infuriating as it became an endurance contest to finish. I probably know about half of the topics that Freedman covers rather well. And where that was the case, I was dismayed by how light the treatment of the person/event/theory/etc. was. When he was in a period or aspect (business strategy, nuclear theory...) that I knew far less well, then it was great to soak in a lot of new ideas (maybe not so much for the business stretch, but I freely admit to personal bias there). Still, it was fascinating to see Thucydides, the suffragette movement, and the Rand Corp all on a continuum.
That said, the narrator drove me crazy. Words were butchered on far too regular a basis (and this was not a case of British vs US English). Who pronounces "anomalous" as though it rhymes with enamel-us?? Several times, I had to pause the book and review the words in my head as if on a page to detect the mistake. And when the great sociologist Max Weber dominates nearly 1/3 of a text, it behooves the narrator to say his name right. Ugh.
This was the closest I've ever come to returning a book to Audible. I didn't, though, and in the end, it gave me good food for thought. But I'm stubborn that way.

Amazing

A epic tale of the ways of strategy and the draw backs of it . From ape times, to military, social, political, and business strategy. So much topics to make you reflect on. Is it useful? It is if you want to understand strategy in the context of reality than what it is marketed as correct.

incredibly disappointing

I had very high hopes for this book, but as indicated in the title of my review, I was very disappointed. this book does not deal with strategy, but it's really a series of loosely linked historical anecdotes talking about what people did at certain times. there's no attempt to make a comprehensive analysis of strategy, or what strategy should be.

A Masterpiece!

The greatest summary of strategic thinking through history ever written by a Master on the subject.

Bravo!!