Mark Anderson Writes

  I remember watching The Sopranos and hearing Tony Soprano talk about how The Art of War was useful to him and more helpful than The Prince by Machiavelli. Paulie Walnuts called Sun Tzu the Chinese Machiavelli. So I decided to read the Art of War myself and boy oh boy, was I disappointed. If you arent a soldier or general fighting on horseback or in the Medieval Age I dont see how this book can be of any use. It is really is the Art of War and only deals with matters of warfare. In my opinion if you want to climb the corporate ladder or steal a girl from her boyfriend the Art of War is not for you. Art of War is about preparing for war, battle strategies, foraging for food, which terrain to fight on, how to fight with a large army and how to fight with a small army, how to utilise spies etc. But as far as I am concerned it is not helpful to a civilian who is not involved in warfare. Sure, there are few useful quotes from Art of War like the ones below but all in all I didnt find t...

  Everyone and their mother has heard of the book The Prince by Machiavelli. It is a classic written in the 1500s. I had always heard about the book. It is quoted in books and movies and is apparently the Bible of politics and power. So I decided to give it a read. On the positive side, it is a very short read. You can finish it in a few days if you are lazy or you have other things to do. Machiavelli is a good writer and the prose flows well. I am not sure how it feels reading it in 16th century Italian but in English it is very easy to understand. There is no need to keep your dictionary at hand when reading it because it is quite simple and straightforward. On the other hand, I was a bit disappointed. I was expecting to read the about the dark arts of politicking. Yes, the book gives advice on how to take and use power, but it is far from malevolent. Machiavelli doesnt necessary give instructions on how to be the next Stalin or Hitler.  In fact he encourages a leader to be ...

The 1998 film Sliding Doors starring Gwyneth Paltrow is one of my favourite films of all time. It is such a unique and deep film it is criminal how it got 65% on Rotten Tomatoes. It should have gotten 95% in my opinion. It is a story about how a moment in time can alter one's destiny. The main character Helen played by the beautiful Gwyneth misses her train and that draws into two separate story lines that play out in the movie. Why is there no Sliding Doors 2, Sliding Doors 3, 4, 5 etc? The idea of missing a train, bus, flight, ship can be made into other stories, movies and tv shows where a character ends up in two or three different storylines and different endings to a movie. The writer Peter Howitt is literally sitting on a gold mine. Or perhaps the world prefers super hero movies to well thought out and deep movies that get people thinking. If I had a billion dollars I would finance Sliding Doors 2 where a character preferably played by Amy Adams misses a flight and that chan...

  The Oscar winning film Parasite is  a great film and not only is it entertaining but it is also very deep and philosophical. Though it came out in 2019 I am embarrassed to have only watched it recently in 2024. I must have been living under rock. And anyone who has not seen it should drop whatever they are doing and watch Parasite. Here is the problem I have with Parasite. There are no parasites in the film. It is a film about a poor family who connive their way into the good graces of a rich family in order to... work for them. Though it is a great movie to call Kim Ki-taek parasites is an injustice. They do honest work for the most part. In the beginning, yes they use other people's wife but at the same time they actually fold pizza boxes for a living and that is not parisitical. Later on the father becomes a driver, the mother a house cleaner, the son and daughter become tutors. In what way are they parasites? Even the rich family Park family are not parasites. The father...

 After a long time of waiting I finally got my hands on the book Nkomo, the Story of my life. And I must say I was not disappointed. The first chapter grabs the reader by the eyeballs. It begins with Nkomo's escape from the newly dependent Zimbabwe as he is pursued by his political enemies. It is ironic, how the country he had fought for, now turns on him. He reminded me of Snowball in Animal Farm and Trotsky in the USSR.  After getting you hooked by the action packed first chapter, Nkomo goes back in time and begins narrating his personal life before politics. He talks about his upbringing, his parents and family life. He also delves into the racial politics of the day. In one chapter he explains how whites evicted the black people from their land and how they had to move elsewhere. Nkomo talks about how education was very important to his parents and for a time he wanted to be a traditional doctor but his parents talked him out of it. The boy Joshua Nkomo becomes a man, he ...

 Some time ago I read and finished the book Travel and Adventure in South-East Africa by the legendary Frederick Selous. It is a must read for anyone interested in Africa, especially, precolonial Africa. The book is impossible to put down. Why? Selous gives the most vivid accounts of his hunting expeditions and his relationships with the Africans. As I read the book I could almost smell, taste and see Africa in its untamed form before colonialism. Selous is a legend in Rhodesian lore. He is the man who the Selous Scouts, a Rhodesian military outfit is named after. He is the man who led the Pioneer Column as it made its way from South Africa to Mount Hampden. He is the man who gave Mount Darwin and Mount Hampden their names. He is the man who chose where Fort Victoria city nowadays Masvingo would be built. He was an adventurer like Indiana Jones, a fearless wanderer and a man's man. He is what Tony Soprano would call the strong, silent type.  Selous wound up getting killed dur...

 There are so many great Zimbabwean novels that should have been turned into novels already. It is a shame that they have not converted these captivating tales into cinema. In no particular order. Harvest of Thorns by Shimmer Chinodya A book about the Rhodesian bush war also known as Chimurenga 2. Action packed and full of drama. Takadini by Ben Hanson I read it in a high school. It's about an albino boy growing up in a hostile environment in precolonial Africa. Nguo Dzouswa by Aaron Chiundura Moyo Written by Zimbabwean literary legend Aaron Chiundura Moyo. It delves into the treacherous world of politics. China Manenji Hachifambisi by M.A Hamutyinei Jekanyika by Francis Magugu Tambaoga Mwanangu by Giles Kuimba Maidei by Mordekai Hamutyinei Sajeni Chimedza by J Kawara Nhume Yamambo by N.M Mutasa Mlimo by Mziki Soldier Blue by Paul Williams