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Common Knowledge

Legal name: De Mente, Boyé Lafayette
Other names: DeMente, Boye
Birthdate: 1928-11-12
Date of death: 2017-05-12
Gender: male
Nationality: USA
Birthplace: Mayberry, Missouri, USA
Places of residence: Paradise Valley, Arizona, USA

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Reviews

Samurai Strategies-42 Martial Secrets from… by Boye Lafayette de Mente

This astounding transformation of tiny, resource-poor Japan into the world's second largest economy in the span of less than 30 years was due to the ongoing influence of an ancient samurai code of ethics-a code that once made the Japanese unbeatable warriors in hand-to-hand combat and which now makes them formidable strategists in business and other fields.

The most famus combat strategist in Japanese history was Musashi Miyamoto, a warrior who lived from 1584-1645. Musashi fought his first duel to the death when he was 13, killing a veteran warrior more than twice his age. By the time he was 29, he had killed over 60 other warriors in death duels and was a legend in his own time.

Just before hae died, Musashi recorded his philosophy, stategies and tactics in a short treatise entitled Go Rin Sho-'Book of Five Rlings'. Author Boye Lafayette de Mente has extacted the fundamentals of Musashi's tactics from this esoteric little book and explains them here in the modern context of business, politics and war.

Musashi's strategies for winning are as valid today as they were in seventeeth century Japan, and provide valuable insights for anyone in any field of endeavor-from business, war and sports to the fields of art, love and politics.

Contents

Preface: Musashi's Book of Five Rings
Introduction The life and times of Japan's most famous samurai
Chapter 1 Set goals
Chapter 2 Life-or-death discipline
Chapter 3 Train to win
Chapter 4 Be prepared
Chapter 5 The illusion of form
Chapter 6 Absolute integrity
Chapter 7 Train the mind
Chapter 8 Clear the mind
Chapter 9 The power of emptiness
Chapter 10 Learn from your opponents
Chapter 11 Pay attention to details
Chapter 12 The power of silence
Chapter 13 Change teh rules of engagement
Chapter 14 The power of fear
Chapter 15 Confuse your opponent
Chapter 16 The mind as a weapon
Chapter 17 See what cannot be seen
Chapter 18 Don't get stuck on one style
Chapter 19 The importance of flexibiity
Chapter 20 Make sure you see the big picture
Chapter 21 Use time as a weapon
Chapter 22 Never stop learning
Chapter 23 Hit first; hit hard!
Chapter 24 Use all of your weapons
Chapter 25 The samurai and the carpenter
Chapter 26 Take the initiative
Chapter 27 Know your environment
Chapter 28 Watch for a collapse
Chapter 29 Become your opponent
Chapter 30 Draw your opponent in
Chapter 31 Never use the same tactic twice
Chapter 32 Make your opponent change his style of fighting
Chapter 33 Behave as if you are already dead
Chapter 34 Avoid stalemates
Chapter 35 Never give our opponent a second chance
Chapter 36 Pierce the bottom
Chapter 37 The importance of art in life
Chapter 38 The sword of teh spirit
Chapter 39 Focus on winning
Chapter 40 The head of a rat, the neck of a bull
Chapter 41 Surpass today what you were yesterday
Chapter 42 Perseverance and diligence
Conclusion: The renewal of the samurai spirit… (more)

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AikiBib | May 31, 2022 |

Instant Japanese: How to express 1,000 different… by Boye Lafayette De Mente

It's a mostly-basic sentences phrasebook. It's not particularly comfortable when you're looking for specific things, but the way things are arranged makes it good to use as refresher (if only the kana were more prominent than the romaji, but at least you get both versions which is more than most phrasebooks do).
I was expecting something a little different with the subtitle of "Express 1000 different ideas" though, such as less basic sentences and instead slightly rarer expressions.

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AshuritaLove | May 24, 2020 |

JAPAN: Understanding & Dealing with the New… by Boyé Lafayette De Mente

The book provides a run-down of Japanese business terms, but does not provide any deep (or even shallow) insights in doing business with the Japanese. The author would have served his audience better had he provided examples with each of the introduced concepts.

The book is also sorely missing an editor, lacking good structure and being riddled with distracting typos.

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koffieyahoo | Sep 15, 2016 |

Elements of Japanese Design by Boye Lafayette De Mente

I can't give this a high score. The book is composed of two page essays which are incredibly basic and often outmoded ways of understanding Japanese concepts and objects.

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tzippurah | Mar 2, 2014 |

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