2.19k reviews for:

The Prince

Niccolò Machiavelli

3.52 AVERAGE

melissareadsclassics's review against another edition

2.0

dark informative medium-paced

appelsientjie's review against another edition

4.0

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A friend of mine made me promise to read Il Principe with an open mind, because he was afraid I'd instantly not like it because I'm pretty left wing, and the book promotes some ideas I don't agree with. I understand his concern, but I actually really liked it! Of course, I miss the motivation why anyone should have this much power, it seems to me it's just for egocentric reasons in this book, but all the technical details about running a country seem very truth to reality. Again, it's not the kind of choices I would make, but the descriptions about how the people, or other countries, or armies, will react to certain actions seem realistic.

awuoi_mading's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

neomi5's review against another edition

4.25

informative reflective medium-paced

pete_gets_lit's review against another edition

1.0

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Historically significant? Yes.
Enjoyable? No.
Thoroughly hated this the entire time and finished it solely out of stubbornness. I actually started prepping my taxes just to put off reading this.

mysteryfupa's review against another edition

4.0

challenging dark informative inspiring reflective

jackson_grub's review against another edition

DID NOT FINISH: 14%

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Ran out of time for this book at the library and had lost interest. Machiavelli’s writing style is very long, which can make it hard to follow.

dameolga's review against another edition

4.0

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The Prince is surprisingly easy to read and understand. Machiavelli posed some interesting though sometimes grim advice. I would like to say he is realistic since he based his claims on historical events, but I have to say that some of his explanations were contrived. I enjoyed reading this book though.

wiisam's review against another edition

1.0

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I don't know why I keep forcing myself to read 16th century philosophy.

paulaamaya's review against another edition

3.0

challenging fast-paced

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I would like to thank Ezio Auditore da Firenze for inspiring this banger of a book.

All jokes aside, if the book was really written as satire, it would make it the ultimate Machiavellian act.