The Prince
Niccolò Machiavelli · 1515
How long does it take to read The Prince?
About 3 hours
156 pages at 50 pages an hour. 7 days at 30 minutes a day. Work out your own time.
The Prince (Italian: Il Principe [il ˈprintʃipe]; Latin: De Principatibus) is a 16th-century political treatise written by Italian diplomat and political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli as an instruction guide for new princes and royals. The general theme of The Prince is of accepting that the aims of princes – such as glory and survival – can justify the use of immoral means to achieve those ends. From Machiavelli's correspondence, a version appears to have been distributed in 1513, using a Latin title, De Principatibus (Of Principalities). However, the printed version was not published until 1532, five years after Machiavelli's death. This was carried out with the permission of the Medici pope Clement VII, but "long before then, in fact since the first appearance of The Prince in manuscript, controversy had swirled about his writings". Although The Prince was written as if it were a traditional work in the mirrors for princes style, it was generally agreed as being especially innovative. This is partly because it was written in the vernacular Italian rather than Latin, a practice that had become increasingly popular since the publication of Dante's Divine Comedy and other works of Renaissance literature.
How long does it take to read The Prince?
The Prince is 156 pages, so it takes about 3 hours to read at an average pace of 50 pages an hour. A relaxed reader at 35 pages an hour needs about 4 hours 27 minutes; a fast reader at 70 pages an hour, about 2 hours 14 minutes.
How many days to read The Prince at 20 minutes a day?
About 10 days, reading 20 minutes a day at 50 pages an hour.
Track your sessions of The Prince on Readimo and see your own pace and how long the rest will take you.
