Cheapo Audiobook Edition
Review of the Dreamscape Media LLC audiobook edition (2016) of the 1910 translation by Lionel Giles of the Chinese original ca. 500 BCE

1. Sun Tzŭ said: In the practical art of war, the best thing of all is to take the enemy’s country whole and intact; to shatter and destroy it is not so good. So, too, it is better to capture an army entire than to destroy it, to capture a regiment, a detachment or a company entire than to destroy them.
2. Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence; supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy’s resistance without fighting. - Opening of Chapter 3 'Attack by Stratagem' of The Art of War

[Rating 3 for this edition only, 5 for Sun Tzu otherwise]
I picked up several historical classics via a recent Audible $1 sale and Sun Tzu's The Art of War was one of them. The translation is uncredited but a quick scan of the online editions available at Project Gutenberg or Wikisource shows that they are using the 1910 translation by Lionel Giles which is in the public domain. They do not include any of the Introductions or Commentaries which are available in the online editions. This is only the basic Sun Tzu text translated into English. i.e. it is bare bones.

See photograph at https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/37/Enchoen27n3200.jpg/330...
Statue of Sun Tzu. Image sourced from Wikisource.

There has often been commentary about utilizing Sun Tzu's principles in other areas of conflict such as corporate or political competition, but a lot of it simply reads as common sense to me. The only surprising moments were a few references to acting against the orders or wishes of the sovereign if such wishes were unwise. That may be common sense, but most rulers would interpret such actions as traitorous.

It was interesting to read Sun Tzu and think about the present day 2022 Ukraine/Russia conflict and consider which of them are making more use of the principles of the ancient strategist.

The narration by Mel Foster was adequate and was delivered in a very relaxed manner without passion. ( )