Book Review: The Prince- by Ian Richardson

The Prince by Ian Richardson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a book that we somehow ended up owning three copies of because it is a classic about politics that we own because it is a classic and my wife is a history teacher. Even so I had never read it. Like when I recently read The Science of Liberty I wish that I knew more specific details about history. There were some historical references in this book that were hard for me to follow, but overall I enjoyed it. Not that the book is necessarily good advice, but it does focus on how people can be manipulated and how someone can easily take advantage of human greed and sin nature. In the introduction Niccolò Machiavelli describes that being outside of royalty and rulers he has been able to be an observer and offer advice to those who are. Furthermore, he describes his lack of wealth restrict him from being able to give a gift and so this book of advice is the gift instead. I've read elsewhere, since reading the book, that it is thought that this book wasn't meant to necessarily serious advice and that the introduction was just setting the scene and not actually true- none-the-less it sets the scene really well. Also, loving Galileo Galilei I know a some of the history of the Medici family and was excited to learn that this book was directed to them during a time when they were not in complete power. Anyway, it was well worth the read and provided a lot of interesting thought provoking ideas.

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