A 2,500-Year-Old Intelligence Manual Gets Reborn for the Modern World.

Los Angeles, California Nov 27, 2025 (Issuewire.com) In Sun Tzu: The Technology of War Illustrated Edition, Volume 2: Estimation, author Colin I. Thorne delivers what military historians, intelligence professionals, and strategic thinkers have long needed but never had: a complete, visual, modern interpretation of Sun Tzu that restores the original intent of the text not as philosophy, but as the foundational blueprint of the Intelligence Cycle.

Paired with Volume 1, Use of Agents, this second volume forms a breakthrough realization: these two chapters are not separate tactical fragments, but a matched pair the ancient Chinese origin of every modern intelligence doctrine used by agencies worldwide.

What emerges is something unprecedented: a Sun Tzu you can see, understand, and apply with absolute clarity.

A Groundbreaking Return to What Sun Tzu Actually Wrote

Where most translations paraphrase, dilute, or overlay modern interpretation, Thorne reconstructs Sun Tzu with scholarly precision verse by verse and then illustrates each principle to show exactly how it works in the real world.

Through the recurring metaphor of the Circle Army and the Rectangle Army, readers witness:

• How strategic advantage is calculated
• Why The Way (alignment of people and leadership) determines political stability
• How Heaven and Ground become operational advantages
• Why logistics, training, and discipline outweigh brute force
• How estimation predicts victory before the battle is ever fought
• Why arrogance blinds leaders and how intelligence corrects it

Estimation is no longer an abstract concept. It becomes measurable, visible, and operational.

The Intelligence Cycle Hidden in Plain Sight for Millennia

For centuries, readers treated Sun Tzus chapters as standalone concepts. Thornes research uncovers what military professionals will immediately recognize: Use of Agents and Estimation combine to form the earliest complete articulation of the Intelligence Cycle.

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Its all there 2,500 years before modern agencies formalized it.

When placed side by side, the two volumes reveal a system so exacting, so modern, and so operationally sound that it becomes impossible to believe it was ever considered philosophy.

Why This Book Matters

In an era defined by misinformation, strategic ambiguity, and global instability, Estimation provides a framework that transcends borders, politics, and industries.

This book matters because it restores Sun Tzu as he intended to be read:

As a technical manual, not a metaphorical poem.

It matters because leaders political, military, corporate continue to make catastrophic decisions when they:

• fail to investigate,
• fail to compare,
• fail to estimate, and
• fail to heed intelligence.

Thorne shows, through both illustration and analysis, how every disaster in statecraft and war can be traced to ignoring these steps.

Whether you are a strategist, analyst, soldier, executive, historian, or simply someone who wants to understand power, prediction, and conflict at their most fundamental level, this is the edition of Sun Tzu that finally makes the mechanics visible.

What Makes This Edition Unique

• Fully illustrated every verse, every principle
• Built on research spanning 15 years
• Clarifies mistranslations and conceptual drift found in standard editions
• Integrates historical examples with modern strategic reasoning
• Designed for both professional study and layperson comprehension

No reader scholar or novice will have encountered Sun Tzu presented with this degree of clarity.

About the Author

Colin I. Thorne is a researcher, translator, and military-intelligence scholar whose groundbreaking work on Sun Tzu: The Technology of War reframes the ancient text as a technical manual for intelligence operations. His illustrated editions restore the original functional intent of Sun Tzus writing through rigorous translation, visual explanation, and extensive commentary. Thornes work has reshaped how readers understand both the history and the practice of strategic warfare.

Availability & Contact

Sun Tzu: The Technology of War Illustrated Edition, Volume 2: Estimation is available in paperback, hardcover, and digital editions through major online retailers.

For purchase, interviews, speaking engagements, or media inquiries, please visit:

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