Hannibal and Me

The complete title of this book by Andreas Kluth is Hannibal and Me - What History's Greatest Military Strategist Can Teach Us About Success and Failure , so it would be logical to assume that this book is more than just a typical biography.

Of course, this is the story of the Carthaginian general who sent shock waves through Rome, setting off the Second Punic War, by doing what had previously been considered impossible. The Romans were absolutely certain that no human - much less an army with 38 North African elephants - could cross the Alps into Italy.

This book is, however, more than a biography. The book is essentially Kluth's examination of the nature of "success" and "failure" in the lives of us all. Not only is Hannibal's life a part of this examination, but Kluth looks into how success and/or failure affected other famous people, like Albert Einstein, Eleanor Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Paul Cézanne and Carl Jung. He even found a way to include Cleopatra, Steve Jobs, Tiger Woods and Meriwether Lewis (of Lewis and Clark fame) into the mix. The book is Kluth's explanation as to why some people overcome failure, while some never do and why many people fall victim to their own success (i.e. Tiger Woods).

On his website, Kluth writes:

Every chapter is about one particular theme relating to success and failure in our lives, corresponding to a life stage: the influence of parents, confusion between tactics and strategy, the redefinition of success in midlife, et cetera.
The big idea–an old one, started by Plutarch–is that the lives of others, told in the proper way, offer lessons to me, to you, and to almost everybody. I invite you to see yourself in these stories, just as I see myself in them.  

Many of the lessons Kluth writes about are lesson I wish I had learned many years ago.

As an aside, the only negative comment I can make concerns what I believe is Kluth's misinterpretation of portions of The Bhagavad Gita ,where Kluth believes Arjuna refuses to engage in battle due to his cowardice. I've read The Bhagavad Gita several times over the years in many different translations and none have explained Arjuna's reluctance to fight in this way. I believe Kluth is using a translation by Gandhi (which is one I haven't read) and Gandhi may have had a different interpretation compared to others.

All that being said, I enjoyed Kluth's book and it has led me to download other traditional biographies of Hannibal which will be making their way into the queue.