This is the sort of book that spends its time giving one heuristic and then something close to its opposite, telling you to attack your enemies on multiple fronts but not spread yourself too thin, to cut their supplies but also to not corner them in a way that makes them fight harder, etc.
I’ve read his “48 Laws of Power”, and it was the same thing: One chapter is “the only people you can trust are your childhood friends, who loved you before you became powerful” (with a historical example), and the other chapter is “never trust your childhood friends, they were always looking for the right moment to stab you in the back, but the fact that you know each other so long prevents you from noticing it” (with a historical example).
Then there is “refuse to join any faction until the very last moment, let them compete for your favor, while they take their early allies for granted”, followed by “choose one faction and commit early, so that you become a part of the inner circle”. And probably other examples that I do not remember that clearly.
It sounds like hindsight bias. If someone succeeds, look at something they did and declare that this was the secret to their power. If someone else does the opposite and succeeds, that also was the secret to power. If someone does either and fails, they probably failed at some other secret to power, who cares.
I’ve read his “48 Laws of Power”, and it was the same thing: One chapter is “the only people you can trust are your childhood friends, who loved you before you became powerful” (with a historical example), and the other chapter is “never trust your childhood friends, they were always looking for the right moment to stab you in the back, but the fact that you know each other so long prevents you from noticing it” (with a historical example).
Then there is “refuse to join any faction until the very last moment, let them compete for your favor, while they take their early allies for granted”, followed by “choose one faction and commit early, so that you become a part of the inner circle”. And probably other examples that I do not remember that clearly.
It sounds like hindsight bias. If someone succeeds, look at something they did and declare that this was the secret to their power. If someone else does the opposite and succeeds, that also was the secret to power. If someone does either and fails, they probably failed at some other secret to power, who cares.