After finishing Sun Tzu's "The Art of War," I now understand why the book is so timeless even though the book I read is only a translation. Tzu employs many rhetorical strategies in describing his military strategies. However, he is very vague and general at times on purpose because the commanders that he is appealing to who will likely be reading this book, all face extremely different situations and conditions. This fact, in turn causes the knowledge of Tzu mentioned in the book to be able to be applied to a wide range of subjects including the stock market. In almost any subject in which competition is essential, "The Art of War" can to applied to help the "combatants." The most prominent feature of Tzu's rhetoric that is preserved through the translation is his assuring tone. In almost every chapter, he virtually guarantees victory if his strategies are followed. In a sense this is true, but his strategies are so general in most cases that many commanders will not know exactly what to do and will need to rely on their own instincts and experiences. This book primarily appeals to a reader's logos although ethos is likely established through Tzu's assuring tone. In each chapter, Tzu follows either one or multiple chains of logic that is very closely tied together. Sun Tzu effectively synthesizes almost all of the world's essential and fundamental military strategies in a relatively short book. His translators succeed in an equally daunting task of translating his rhetorically rich text without losing too many of the text's nuances. While waiting for my other books to arrive in the mail, I try to think about the different strategies mentioned in "The Art of War" that will likely to mentioned in the stories that I am to read. Since they are all fiction, they will likely tell of war only through their characters and will not be too revealing of the overall military strategies that win and or lost the wars that are discussed. Sometimes the strategies will need to be inferred.