As I peruse a recent article about a book called The 48 Laws of Power, The first thing that comes to mind is, “Gee, that would be an excellent resource for Supervillains.” Then I wonder if there could be anything in it that can’t be boiled down to one of 3 excellent resources for Supervillains that already exist. These 3 are what I believer should be the cornerstone of any Supervillain’s personal education, and exemplifies all the things you need to consider when climbing through the ranks of villainy.
The first of these resources is The Prince by Machiavelli. Although the rules, anecdotes and lessons within are most useful to an actual Prince or Leader of Nations, it still has valuable information that you can use as soon as you get to a situation where you find yourself in charge of something(s) or someone(s). Although a tad bit draconian, it can easily be tamed to avoid overpowering one's underlings too much.
The second is The Art of War by Sun Tzu. There is a version of this book for just about everyone (I personally have one that includes flash cards of all of the lessons, with brief explanations on the back). It will help you to attack your problems head on, or flank them effectively. It will tell you how to strike down adversity, and defend your vulnerable points. If ever there was a book that was literally full of win, this is it (especially the part about thinking about failure being the precursor to failure). The lessons are like Fortune cookies on the surface, but an all-you-can-eat buffet of knowledge underneath. Bon appetit!
The third source I swear by is all over the Internet, and comes in more forms than you can shake a stick at. It is known as the Evil Overlord List, and it includes a fix for just about every problem a supervillain (Especially one bent on global domination) can run into when they lose perspective and forget the little things. From ways to keep your plan from being derailed to helpful hints on dealing with your Henchmen, The List has just about everything, considering how many different versions there are.
So, I might take a peek at "The 48 Laws of Power", but I'm probably going to stick to the big 3 fountains of Evil knowledge I already have.
The second is The Art of War by Sun Tzu. There is a version of this book for just about everyone (I personally have one that includes flash cards of all of the lessons, with brief explanations on the back). It will help you to attack your problems head on, or flank them effectively. It will tell you how to strike down adversity, and defend your vulnerable points. If ever there was a book that was literally full of win, this is it (especially the part about thinking about failure being the precursor to failure). The lessons are like Fortune cookies on the surface, but an all-you-can-eat buffet of knowledge underneath. Bon appetit!
The third source I swear by is all over the Internet, and comes in more forms than you can shake a stick at. It is known as the Evil Overlord List, and it includes a fix for just about every problem a supervillain (Especially one bent on global domination) can run into when they lose perspective and forget the little things. From ways to keep your plan from being derailed to helpful hints on dealing with your Henchmen, The List has just about everything, considering how many different versions there are.
So, I might take a peek at "The 48 Laws of Power", but I'm probably going to stick to the big 3 fountains of Evil knowledge I already have.
Thus Spoke Zarathustra is all the reading a super villain requires.
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