
The 48 Laws Of Power Paperback – 1 September 2000
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- Print length496 pages
- Print length496 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherPenguin Putnam Inc
- Publication date1 September 2000
- Grade level12 and up
- Reading age18 years and up
- Dimensions23.11 x 16.26 x 3.3 cm
- ISBN-100140280197
- ISBN-13978-0140280197
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- 10% extra discount each month. Use code CB10MAR this March (minimum spend of AED150, max discount of AED50) when using Citi Mastercard credit card. For details visit: www.amazon.ae/citi. Discount by Amazon. Here's how (restrictions apply)
From the Publisher

The 48 Laws of Power Paperback
Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, this multi-million-copy is the definitive manual for anyone interested in gaining, observing, or defending against ultimate control – from the author of The Laws of Human Nature.
In the book that People magazine proclaimed “beguiling” and “fascinating,” Robert Greene and Joost Elffers have distilled three thousand years of the history of power into 48 essential laws by drawing from the philosophies of Machiavelli, Sun Tzu, and Carl Von Clausewitz and also from the lives of figures ranging from Henry Kissinger to P.T. Barnum.
Product description
Review
"Beguiling . . . literate . . . fascinating. A wry primer for people who desperately want to be on top."--People magazine
"An heir to Machiavelli's Prince . . . gentler souls will find this book frightening, those whose moral compass is oriented solely to power will have a perfect vade mecum." --Publishers Weekly
"Satisfyingly dense and . . . literary, with fantastic examples of genius power-game players. It's The Rules meets In Pursuit of Wow! with a degree in comparative literature."--Allure
From the Back Cover
A moral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, this piercing work distills three thousand years of the history of power into forty-eight well-explicated laws. As attention-grabbing in its design as it is in its content, this bold volume outlines the laws of power in their unvarnished essence, synthesizing the philosophies of Machiavelli, Sun-tzu, Carl von Clausewitz, and other great thinkers. Some laws require prudence ("Law 1: Never Outshine the Master"), some stealth ("Law 3: Conceal Your Intentions"), and some the total absence of mercy ("Law 15: Crush Your Enemy Totally") but like it or not, all have applications in real-life situations. Illustrated through the tactics of Queen Elizabeth I, Henry Kissinger, P. T. Barnum, and other famous figures who have wielded -- or been victimized by -- power, these laws will fascinate any reader interested in gaining, observing, or defending against ultimate control.
About the Author
Joost Elffers is the packaging genius behind Viking Studio's Secret Language series, Play with Your Food, and How Are You Peeling?. He lives in New York City.
Product details
- Publisher : Penguin Putnam Inc; 1st edition (1 September 2000)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 496 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0140280197
- ISBN-13 : 978-0140280197
- Reading age : 18 years and up
- Dimensions : 23.11 x 16.26 x 3.3 cm
- Best Sellers Rank: #3,893 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- Customer reviews:
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These rules are the revenge fantasy of a wounded child archetype. They are highly dysfunctional in any healthy community, relationship, friendships of family. If you practice them, you will end up losing the most valuable of friendships and other relationships that would have helped you out the most in life, and keep you in that hell.
If you want to be able to recognize psychopathic indicators in others, read up some books on modern psychology that addresses that directly. It is not very hard to recognize such people.
I heard this is the most popular book ordered in US prisons. That should tell you something.

First, to understand the 48 laws of power, you must know two key ideas
1. you CAN NOT escape the power game. thinking you can "not participate" is as foolish as thinking that you could somehow escape gravity or make the sun stand still. Robert Greene explains why in the intro with some excellent examples
2. the 48 laws of power are neither good nor evil; they are just LAWS. If someone pushed a man off a cliff would you blame gravity for for his demise? This is the mindset you must adopt in order to learn a lot from this book.
Things I Liked
- NEW PARADIGM
after reading the 48 laws, you will never see the world the same way again. once you understand some of these laws you will see many underlying currents and motives you did not see before.
- INCREASES POWER
one of the main reasons to buy the book. you wil become exponentially more powerfull by knowing and understanding these laws
-CRYSTAL CLEAR
every law is clearly outlined with "transgression" of the law, "observance" of the law, keys to power, and a "reversal"
-GREAT STORIES
the 48 laws are packed with mindblowing and sometimes humorous stories of people in history practicing these laws. this is helpful as some of the concepts are quite abstract.
What I didn't like
-RISKY
an old proverb says " A man who plays with snakes will eventually be bitten". If you begin to use the 48 Laws improperly, you could get yourself in some dangerous situations, lose friends, piss off a lot a people, and destroy relationships
- REQUIRES DISCERNMENT
if you you are looking for a highly concrete book that the says "do xyz and you will accomplish vyx" look elsewhere. the Laws require good judgement and and and prospecting nature to practice and apply
-NOT FOR EVERYONE
If you are aghast at the idea of manipulation and deceit then read with caution.
OVERALL: If you want to have more power or a better understanding of why different situations turn out the the way they do, you should definitely read the 48 laws of power by Robert Greene. If you want to be naive, easily manipulated, weak, you should ignore this book and go watch some netfilx.
Thanks for reading

Here the 48 Laws are thoroughly discussed, with lots of interesting stories making the book a real page turner.
Of course, it is not difficult to find criticisms of each Law; I found and disagreed with some myself. But I think Greene, on the whole, recognises this and even puts in a ‘Reversal’ section for each of the 48 Laws to show that this can be the case. Besides, you don’t have to take each Law seriously. I certainly didn’t. I thought they were just fun to read, though they did make me think about how self-interested the human race actually is.
Even so, I haven’t read a book as good as this since reading Benjamin Hoff’s The Tao of Pooh & the Te of Piglet some years ago, and I shall certainly be looking out for more works by Robert Greene in the future.
I hope you find my review helpful.

An additional flaw in Greene’s particular style of argument is that he offers little-to-no specifics in his examples, liberally cherry-picking from complex historical events and making large assumptive leaps about the motivations and reasoning of the figures involved to get them to posthumously support his narrative.
One positive point is that, as the mindset encouraged by this book is sadly widespread, it is good to educate yourself on in it in order to avoid those who practise it. In my experience thse unfortunate cynics tend to be unhappy in themselves and frustrating to work with. Far from the “powerful” figures they strive to emulate.
There are far more useful books that will give you actual power in the modern environment that I recommend above this one. If you want to motivate yourself and others in a positive way, look into "Self-Determination Theory" by Ryan and Deci. If you want to gain people’s admiration and become indispensable, rather than trying to cultivate an air of superiority as Greene’s rules suggest, try applying the latest skill-learning psychology described in books like “Peak” by Ericsson and Pool to your own efforts. You’ll be pleasantly surprised at how quickly you can acquire valuable, marketable skills. Beyond that, a basic education in physics, nutrition, accounting, positive-psychology and home-economics, will provide vastly greater gains to the majority of modern individuals than a Machiavellian mindset.