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The Nine Laws

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Do you dare to discover what you're truly capable of?

THE NINE LAWS is your living manual of power, distilled for you by the man who was forced to build it to survive. The author forged this system over decades of cruel experience. It began with profound trauma in early childhood, shaped itself during long training in the eastern warrior arts, and was polished amidst financial industry competition and family crisis. Master this content, and deliver yourself to a place that few men ever joyous mastery of your own fate.

This book is not for the uncertain or the timid. THE NINE LAWS is designed for men who are acutely aware that one lifetime is all they have to pursue and achieve their sacred purpose. Far more than a mere self-help book, or a simple collection of advice and ideas, THE NINE LAWS is a gravely serious operating system for success in a dark world.

Read it. Train it. Live it. Survive the dark world with momentous ferocity, and triumph.

IVAN THRONE is the bestselling author of THE NINE LAWS. He is a powerful speaker, business manager and seasoned veteran of the financial industry with over thirty years of study in the classical Japanese military fighting arts. His vivid lessons and ruthless mentoring for the hard and often cruel demands of our pitiless high performance world have helped millions of people across social media deeply connect with radical, authentic success to the joys of partners, lovers, colleagues and clients.

326 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 17, 2016

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193 people want to read

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Ivan Throne

3 books12 followers

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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
Profile Image for Anu.
374 reviews944 followers
avoid-like-the-plague
October 20, 2017
I have no intention in reading this book whatsoever. I didn't know who this man was until this very interesting snippet popped up on my Facebook.

https://www.someecards.com/news/so-th...

[For those of you too lazy/uninterested to open the link, he basically thinks everyone should bow down to the White, American, Christian male, though I do recommend reading the article. Trashy as it is.]

Yeah, I'm aware this is an irrelevant "review".
Profile Image for Christine.
Author 1 book3 followers
July 15, 2017
I have been looking for this book for decades, but was only ready for it within the past year. The Nine Laws is the most real book I have ever read, in that it is a book about the raw nature of reality. This is not a book that discusses building moral character, the “should” or “oughts” of men (that is Scripture). Nor is this a book of easy, daily tactics for improving your mental state (That would be the self-help section, from which I would recommend Mike Cernovich’s The Gorilla Mindset). This book is best understood to be martial philosophy, the sort of thing Musashi might have written about not just battles between Daimyo and their samurai, but the battles of every minute of every day, from the small battles between self and existential despair, to the large battles of the bedroom, courtroom, boardroom, and yes, even the war room.

Therefore, this book belongs on the same shelf as Go Rin no Sho, The Art of War, the Writings of Takuan Soho, The Spiritual Exercises of St. Ignatius of Loyola and even St. Therese of Lisieux’s Story of a Soul. In fact, this latter makes a stunning juxtaposition for the reader of Christian background, and were I a teacher, I would have my students read St. Therese and Ivan Throne both back to back, and then assign them the reconciliation of the two.

This is a book that describes the foundational, abstract reality of the word with brutal honesty, breaking through all the pretty lies that have been forced down our thoughts since we were children. It sets out the chaotic, stormy nature of the world, and then the framework in which every person navigates, or fails to navigate, the choppy seas. Again, this is not a book about morals, should or oughts, but is rather about what IS, about reality at its most basic and foundational level. Morals only come into the picture once you have mastered what is in this book. Like mastering the Trireme of Self, morality is concerned with where one takes the ship, if one’s ship is a slaver, a warship, a trade-ship, or vessel of liberation. This book is about how to get the ship to go anywhere at all without sinking, how to quarter the gales, how to weigh anchor.
This book is profound, but many will not understand it. Some people simply cannot grasp the abstractions that are necessary to allow this book to be useful. Some people are not ready for Reality. Some people are not yet sick enough of their own weakness. Some will skim the surface of the words, will feel terror, and will blame the terror on the author.

Some, however, will open these pages and find great treasure, a great and pure shingen the likes of which they’ve never found before. If you have ever found yourself in the depths, knowing that you were meant for the heights, but unknowing of how to even crawl out of your pit, this book is for you. If you have ever stared into your reflection, hollow-eyed and weeping, as the little serpents of despair looked out of your eyes instead of your own soul, this book is for you. If you have ever had to shut your ears against your own self-accusations of being “Pathetic” and “worthless”, and had to continue on, this book is for you. If ever you have looked out at the world, and felt the Divine Imperative, but been drowned in frustration at not knowing how to respond to His Call, this book is for you.

This book is a book about weaponizing the self, for bringing out the greatest potential in the midst of the greatest challenges. This is not a nice book, though it is written with love. This book is hard, it is tough, it will bring you pain and, in the end, it will bring you tears of joy and gratitude.
I anticipate that I will be re-reading this many times in the years to come, and that I will gain new insights and understandings every time I do.

I do not recommend this book for everyone. I don’t recommend this book for many. In fact, I don’t think I’ll be recommending this book. If you are ready for it, you’ll know. If you don’t know, then you aren’t ready.
Profile Image for Melly.
87 reviews6 followers
February 5, 2017
I picked up this book expecting to be mildly entertained with a self-help book to help men become “manly men”. My, how quickly I was proven wrong. This book may have been pointed at men, but it is just as useful for women.

Also, I was not entertained. Not at all. I was disturbed at times. Quite often I was unsettled. I found myself arguing with the author silently sometimes while reading. Other times I was forced to resentfully agree. None of this meets my standard of being entertained.

I used my highlighting and noting options on my kindle for the first time. I made a note to buy the physical version of the book – something I rarely do when I have the e-version. I bought a notebook so I could write out thoughts and considerations on what was covered. About a quarter of the notebook is already full.

Some of it I don’t understand what the author is getting at. Some of it I am not sure if I agree with or not. Some of it I simply left a “?” as a note. I would walk away for a few days and turn things over in my head, then come back for more. I read entire books between chapters, because quite frankly I needed a break. This book is work. A lot of it. Emotionally and mentally jarring and painful work. My average reading time for a book is 1.3 days. 24 days after buying this book I am barely halfway through it.

That’s right – I am writing a review of a book I am only halfway through. I have only reviewed one other book I hadn’t yet finished, and that was because it was so awful I didn’t need to read further to find out how bad it was. With this book, it’s the opposite. I don’t have to read further to tell how amazing it is.

There is a power in this book. Considering power is one of the “Nine Laws”, I am not surprised. As a matter of fact, you are not just told about the Nine Laws in this book, you are shown how many of them operate in the writing of the book itself. Don’t expect to have your hand held. Don’t expect it to be easy. Don’t expect to be given clear-cut answers and resolutions. Because there aren’t any. And when you are done, don’t expect to be done. I can already tell this book is written in layers, and I will have to go back again and again and dig deeper.

I don’t want too. But I must. It is an odd compulsion now.

A special note: This may leave you with the idea this book is unpleasant to read. It isn’t. This is by far one of the most beautifully written books I have ever read. If you get absolutely nothing out of this book, it is worth reading just for the skillfully exquisite use of wordcraft. Robin Williams, in the movie The Dead Poet’s Society, one said “Language was invented for one reason, boys - to woo women - and, in that endeavor, laziness will not do. It also won’t do in your essays.”

Well, consider me woo’d.
Profile Image for Jon.
Author 78 books447 followers
November 7, 2017
Deep and introspective in a way that energized me to make the most out of life. It's not your general mindset book in that Ivan very much intentionally forces you to pay attention to the realities of the world, but pumped me up nonetheless.
Profile Image for Corey.
6 reviews
November 21, 2016
If you're looking for a hand-holding book about self-help, this isn't it. If you want a step-by-step plan on being more masculine, this isn't it.

What, then, are the Nine Laws?

They are factual observations of how the world works. Everyone knows the World is dark and dangerous. How do you succeed when the world is an uncaring, treacherous place?

You succeed by understanding it, and acting accordingly. The Nine Laws is a handbook on reality. It will give you a brutally honest assesment of your own mental state, and what you do with it is up to you.

For those who know the world is broken, this will clarify your steps and refine your purpose. For those who think we live in a utopia, the Nine Laws will shatter your illusions and bring you to a point of decision. This book will show you how the Dark Triad traits- long regarded as suspect- are merely the tools with which we navigate the world. They are the means of survival; nothing less, nothing more.

The World is unflinching, unchanging. To succeed, you must conquer it.

The writing is densely packed, and not to be skimmed lightly. Throne's prose is delightful, even while covering such a dark subject.

If you want to read about success, go elsewhere. If you want to actually be successful, The Nine Laws will reframe your mindset to that of one who succeeds.
1 review
May 17, 2022
Don't bother.

Pretty much stole his ideas from Robert Greene. He tries to sound like Robert Greene but fails miserably. The format of the book is god-awful. Basically a giant Miss moss.

Don't waste your time on this book just read Robert Greene.

Another fake masculinity Guru. Then what really annoys me is he'll give you a bunch of hype but he'll never give you the meat.
230 reviews5 followers
May 31, 2022
It would have been so much better if it's not written as medieval pathos manifest but as autobiography of deaf born man overcoming all againsts fell on himself.

Badly written and pathetic. You may like it if phrases like "singularity of hideous evil" and "preposterousness" in every other sentence are your pieces of cake.

1 review7 followers
November 18, 2017
Stunningly bad - nothing more than the ramblings of a delusional man. Virtually no practical advice or anything of use in this book.
Profile Image for Adam.
194 reviews5 followers
April 29, 2021
I wrote a scathing review of this on Amazon because I was so disappointed. I thought this would be a dark-triad version of a self-help book, but what I got was gobbledygook and the most pretentious unreadable hot garbage I have ever read. A true con-man this author is. Go ahead, read it, tell me if you learned one actionable thing. A single paragraph of a James Altucher book is far superior.
Profile Image for Abdul Moiz Khan.
13 reviews1 follower
March 18, 2018
One of the toughest yet most valuable book i have come across . Its as deep as a book can get so dont hesitate to read and reread it countless times until you have absorbed and embedded every law in your mind.
Profile Image for Ietrio.
6,949 reviews24 followers
February 6, 2017
An amusing parody of Medieval Europe texts. Only the joke is way too long and it becomes boring before reaching the second half.
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews

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