The Prince
The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelliby Niccolò Machiavelli
Ranked 3 of 7 political philosophy books by recommenders
Recommended by a few readers, including one who returned to it after about 25 years and found it remarkably modern. One critic finds the phrasing dated and hard to read.
Recommended by a few readers, including one who returned to it after about 25 years and found it remarkably modern. One critic finds the phrasing dated and hard to read.
6 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 5
- criticize it
- 1
- approval share
- 83%
Recommended in 4 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 5 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, not met.
- 5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 4 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
Other political philosophy books people recommend
The four most recommended other political philosophy books, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Leviathanby Thomas Hobbes | 11 | 0 | 100% | 6 | — | Approved |
| Capitalist Realismby Mark Fisher and MARK FISHER | 7 | 0 | 100% | 6 | — | — |
| The Princeby Niccolò MachiavelliThis page | 5 | 1 | 83% | 4 | — | — |
| The Federalist Papersby Alexander Hamilton and James Madison and John Jay | 4 | 1 | 80% | 2 | — | — |
| Politicsby Aristotle | 3 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
All 6 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“With good CSS you can have a really good quality output.”
“Prince, Antenna House and PDFreactor are built around an actual page model”
“Re-reading it atm, for first time in ~25years”
“He reads remarkably modern.”
“It is hard to read. I can understand it if I try. But the phrasing is not current.”
“feel free to give Prince a try if you would rather avoid the headache”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.