I have always wanted to read this book because of its dark, evil reputation. Machiavellian -(Suggestive of or characterized by expediency, deceit, and cunning.) was a word I became familiar with long before I picked this book up. The Prince was a very short read broken down into many chapters. Some of it was tricky due to my lack of knowledge regarding the political landscape of his time but many of the ideas Machiavelli talks about translate well into the present. For instance:

'On Fortune's Role in Human Affairs and How She Can Be Dealt With'

"I conclude, therefore, that since fortune changes and men remain set in their ways, men will succeed when the two are in harmony and fail when they are not in accord. I am certainly convinced of this: that it is better to be impetuous than cautious, because fortune is a woman, and it is necessary, in order to keep her down, to beat her and to struggle with her.And it is seen that she more often allows herself to be taken over by men who are impetuous than by those who make cold advances; and then, being a woman, she is always the friend of young men, for they are less cautious, more aggressive, and they command her with more audacity." - He was definietly no Taoist.

and

"Without a doubt, princes become great when they overcome difficulties and obstacles that are imposed on them; and therefore fortune, especially when she wishes to increase the reputation of a new prince, who has a greater need to acquire prestige than a hereditary prince does, creates enemies for him and has them take action against him so that he will have the chance to overcome them and to climb higher up the ladder his enemies have brought him. Therefore many judge that a wise prince must, whenever he has the occasion, foster with cunning some hostility so that in stamping it out his greatness will increase as a result." - I wonder if this book is required reading by US Presidents?

If this book was written today I could see the title being "How to be a successful Prince for Dummies" or with a little editing "How to run Microsoft for Dummies"

In conclusion I think the 21st century - 500+ years have taken a lot of the edge off the 'deceit, and cunning' contained in Nick's work. I mean the Pope is probably still reeling from it but the rest of mankind has demonstrated over and over again that Machiavelli did not invent these ideas he just took the time to write them down. A quick fun read.