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Hannibal And Me: What History's Greatest Military Strategist Can Teach Us About Success And Failure (2012)

by Andreas Kluth(Favorite Author)

4.32 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1594488126 (ISBN13: 9781594488122)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Riverhead Hardcover

review 1: I've never come across a book in all my years that deals more directly with success and its companion, failure, than this one. It is hard to believe that in an era of self-help and business/career success literature, such as the 21st Century, we didn't have a book like this before. Kluth draws on numerous examples of ancient and modern historical figures such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Albert Einstein, Roman dictator Scipio, novelist Amy Tan, playwright Tennessee Williams, Cleopatra and many others to show how success and failure can be imposters of each other that sometimes when we think we're succeeding, we are really failing and when we are failing, we are actually succeeding. An excellent read for anyone who even has a passing interest in history or more importantly, why... more we are the way we are...
review 2: Good. Very worthwhile. It caused me to think about events in my own life and my subsequent actions.It’s an uplifting book. It reminds me of the Malcolm Gladwell books. If you like those, I think you’ll like this.The author talks about many famous people - their triumphs, tragedies, successes, failures. What makes this book special is seeing what these people did “after” their success or failure, what happened and why. Some reacted poorly to success resulting in problems or tragedy. Some made changes in their lives after a failure which led to great success. I enjoyed these stories. The author talks about psychological concepts: the stages of grief when there is a loss (or failure) and a little about Maslow’s self actualization. He talks about John Paul Sartre’s statement “Hell is other people” - the schoolyard bully, office politics, and any mediocre man or woman who sees others succeed and hates them for it. Hannibal and Scipio (the Roman commander) had great success but later suffered due to fellow citizens who were jealous and conspired against them.The Hannibal story is fascinating. He was outnumbered. He was facing the Romans on a plain which is the way the Romans liked to fight. Yet Hannibal was able to surround the Romans so that most of the Romans were inside their own circle and couldn’t get to the perimeter to fight. Hannibal won. I loved what Scipio did in a later battle - how he defended against Hannibal’s attacking war elephants.Hannibal was successful in battles, but he (Carthage) lost the war with the Romans - 13 years later. The author shows how tactics win battles, but strategies win wars. Ask whether you want to annihilate the enemy, or get concessions and live in harmony afterwards. The latter means allowing the enemy dignity.It was fascinating how the Romans used strategy. Those who engaged in battle with Hannibal lost. Fabius (a Roman leader) was successful because he would not fight Hannibal. He was an example of how doing nothing can be the best course of action.The author talked about early vs. late achievers. Picasso and Einstein were early achievers. Picasso’s later works were never as famous as his early works and sold for less. After Einstein’s early success, he had no more success in his field because he lost his youthful imagination and was close minded. He refused to accept the idea of randomness and chaos which is the basis for quantum something. Cezanne, Harry Truman, and Carl Jung were examples of later-in-life achievers.Other stories include Eleanor Roosevelt, Ludwig Erhard (former head or W. Germany), Shackleton (Antartica explorer), Meriwether Lewis (Lewis & Clark expedition), Amy Tan (novelist), Morihei Ueshiba (founded the Japanese martial art of aikido), the Chinese President Liu Shaoqi and his wife, Tiger Woods, Cleopatra, Lance Armstrong, Eliot Spitzer, and Steve Jobs.The narrator Sean Runette was good.DATA:Narrative mode: some 1st person, most 3rd person. Unabridged audiobook length: 12 hrs and 4 mins. Swearing language: none. Sexual content: none. Setting: Historical figures from 300 BCE to current day. Book copyright: 2011. Genre: psychology and history, nonfiction. less

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