I'm trying to read through books I've had for years so I can downsize, which is probably the only way I could have ended up reading this. I associate Machiavelli with mid-level managers and elevated gym bros who are trying to manipulate their way though life. Basically, broey dudes who also quote The Art of War. I think Tony Soprano dismissively refers to The Prince as something all the guys in his circle have read. James McAvoy's greasy frat boy spy owns a copy in Atomic Blonde. that kind of context.

I liked it! I've stopped dismissing managerial books (turns out they are extremely good and I was a massive idiot for disparaging them) and really this is more accessible, overhyped philosophy anyway. despite the toweringly douchey cultural legacy it has, Machiavelli is a straightforward writer who strikes a dry tone and doesn’t seem full of himself. His points are interesting and the relevance to the workplace (or any personal-political setting) is immediately clear; when he describes good and bad habits for new rulers, I can’t help but think of all the managers I had back in college. That said, as a work of tactics on a state level it is still fascinating and insightful. I don’t have to translate it into a recognizable context for me to get something out of it.

It’s critical to the lasting success of The Prince that Machiavelli masterfully sidesteps religiosity, which would otherwise muddle this and make it unreadable. A hilarious example is when he describes ecclesiastical governments like the papacy as so beyond his skills as a thinker and writer that, as they are governed by god, he wouldn’t dare to try to analyze them. Then he says that if he were to try, it would go something like this and he makes his arguments from there. Similarly, there is a later section that is notable for Machiavelli’s insistence that a prince should aspire to every virtuous quality at all times except for when it is unwise to do so. These passages show the failures in logic that come when thinkers stop at the walls that Machiavelli pole vaults over. Throw god in to placate the censors and then, please, reason your way around him and through to the other side. Please do not try to reason through god. I’ll just say it, this shit is seminal.