I just finished The Prince a few hours ago and I wanted to give some time to soak in. I’m not sure that any review I give would do any justice to the work, mostly because I’m sure that some of the topics covered may have gone a bit over my head. In general terms it is about aquiring and keeping hold of power.

I’m generally positive about, because as I was reading through it there were several moments where things from the book triggered my “that makes perfect sense” response. I’m not a ruler of men or the king of a country, but I don’t think you have to be to get something out of this one. If there was one point above all that I took away from the book it was the necessity of self reliance and to avoid being hated, so two points there I guess.

The there are two translations of The Prince on Project Gutenberg, I would recommend going with the one I linked to and skipping the one that includes Machiavelli’s “The Art of War” as that translation uses an archaic english style of spelling that makes it the reading equivalent of pulling your own teeth.

I’m definitely going to go back and reread it again someday. I’m giving The Prince my seal of recommendation.