The 48 Laws of Power

· Highbridge Audio · Narrated by Richard Poe
4.7
535 reviews
Audiobook
23 hr 6 min
Unabridged
Eligible
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About this audiobook

Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, this multi-million-copy New York Times bestseller 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 forty-eight 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. Some laws teach the need for prudence ("Law 1: Never Outshine the Master"), others teach the value of confidence ("Law 28: Enter Action with Boldness"), and many recommend absolute self-preservation ("Law 15: Crush Your Enemy Totally"). Every law, though, has one thing in common: an interest in total domination. The 48 Laws of Power is ideal whether your aim is conquest, self-defense, or simply to understand the rules of the game.

Ratings and reviews

4.7
535 reviews
Sven Love
May 31, 2023
Be sure to take notes to be able to fully digest the lessons in this book. You will see which lectures best apply to you but it's still worth a full read through. A good investment for those looking for more control within their lives.
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DS M
March 23, 2024
There are things about friends in this book that are not relevant. Such as: friends will betray you... Make enemies if you don't have one...These are things that encourage hatred, suspicion between people and other negative things. I tell you! It's not necessary! Otherwise it's a good book. You can learn a lot.
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David H
July 14, 2019
Boring! Listening feels like a chore. I can't wait for it to be over! The narrator's voice is deep and almost monotone and almost puts me to sleep instantly. I feel like this is not even a real book, and more like it must have been created by an automated "book bot" because it has no personality. There are too many anecdotal historical examples of leaders of ancient civilizations being deceitful to achieve their goals, but barely any analysis or commentary on the part of the author. I'm glad I got this book for free with my Google credits. I don't mind that it teaches people to be lying devious disrespectful creatures. That's what I expected. But I thought that the writing would be somewhat interesting. It fails at that. I mean, it's pretty obvious that 1,000 year ago people behaved badly toward one another. Is anyone unaware of that? It was harder to enforce laws back then. It was harder to reveal to the world when someone was a scumbag. WE ALREADY KNOW THAT. All those stories are so boring. Yet the book seems to be outlining examples of all the ways this happened throughout history. This is now news. Anyone with a spec of common sense is aware of how humans were despicable throughout history. If the book were written in a more intelligent way, it would briefly mention how leaders acted diabolical in the past, AND ALSO how their actions can be applied to modern day life. But instead, it seems like this book was just mechanically churned out without any depth of thought.
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About the author

Robert Greene has a degree in classical studies and has been an editor at Esquire and other magazines. He is also a playwright and lives in Los Angeles.

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