The 48 laws of power / Robert Greene.

A Joost Elffers production.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 431-432) and index.

Law 1: Never outshine the master -- Law 2: Never put too much trust in friends, learn how to use enemies -- Law 3: Conceal your intentions -- Law 4: Always say less than necessary -- Law 5: So much depends on reputation- guard it with your life -- Law 6: Court attention at all cost -- Law 7: Get others to do the work for you, but always take the credit -- Law 8: Make other people come to you-use bait if necessary -- Law 9: Win through your actions, never through argument -- Law 10: Infection: avoid the unhappy and unlucky -- Law 11: Learn to keep people dependent on you -- Law 12: Use selective honesty and generosity to disarm your victim -- Law 13: When asking for help, appeal to people's self-interest, never to their mercy or gratitude -- Law 14: Pose as a friend, work as a spy -- Law 15: Crush your enemy totally -- Law 16: Use absence to increase respect and honor -- Law 17: Keep others in suspended terror: cultivate an air of unpredictability -- Law 18: Do not build fortresses to protect yourself-isolation is dangerous -- Law 19: Know who you're dealing with- do not offend the wrong person -- Law 20: Do not commit to anyone -- Law 21: Play a sucker to catch a sucker-seem dumber than your mark -- Law 22: Use the surrender tactic: transform weakness into power -- Law 23: Concentrate your forces -- Law 24: Play the perfect courtier -- Law 25: Re-create yourself -- Law 26: Keep your hands clean -- Law 27: Play on people's need to believe to create a cultlike following -- Law 28: Enter action with boldness -- Law 29: Plan all the way to the end -- Law 30: Make your accomplishments seem effortless -- Law 31: Control the options: get others to play with the cards you deal -- Law 32: Play to people's fantasies -- Law 33: Discover each man's thumbscrew -- Law 34: Be royal in your own fashion: act like a king to be treated like one -- Law 35: Master the art of timing -- Law 36: Disdain things that you cannot have: ignoring them is the best revenge -- Law 37: Create compelling spectacles -- Law 38: Think as you like but behave like others -- Law 39: Stir up waters to catch fish -- Law 40: Despise the free lunch -- Law 41: Avoid stepping into a great man's shoes -- Law 42: Strike the shepherd and the sheep will scatter -- Law 43: Work on the hearts and minds of others -- Law 44: Disarm and infuriate with the mirror effect -- Law 45: Preach the need for change, but never reform too much at once -- Law 46: Never appear too perfect -- Law 47: Do not go past the mark you aimed for; in victory, learn when to stop -- Law 48: Assume formlessness.

Amoral, cunning, ruthless, and instructive, this bestselling work distills 3,000 years of the history of power into 48 well-explicated laws. As attention-grabbing in its design as it is in 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.