The Book of the Courtier
by Conte Baldassarre Castiglione · first published 1959
6mentions
3recommended by
6HN commenters
2010–2025first – last mentioned
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…Revolution_ by de Tocqueville, also his history of 1848. _The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution_, Bernard Bailyn Polybius Lionhearted recommends a book on Castiglione--Castiglione's own book of the courtier is well worth reading and should be easy to find.
on “Ask HN: Best books on Politics” ↗I liked the Art of War in high school. Feel like it helped me a lot with stuff like negotiating salary in my early years. Later -- The Book of the Courtier by Baldassare Castiglione -- same topic as Art of War I'd say.
on “Ask HN: What are your favorite non-fiction books of all time?” ↗Originally from the very readable Book of the Courtier https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Book_of_the_Courtier
on “If you're busy, you're doing something wrong (2011)” ↗From THE BOOK OF THE COURTIER (1528 tr. 1901) p.75 "And verily it seems quite contrary to reason and worthy to be wondered at, that ripe age, which in other matters is wont to make men's judgment more perfect with long experience,…
on “Nostalgia Reimagined” ↗…they don't do. I also don't know about this. Certain high status people are obsessively concerned with whether they look silly. They used to routinely fight to the death over it. I've been reading the Book of the Courtier this week, and it's clear that even back in the 16th century high status people were very concerned about whether they looked silly, or even whether their dances looked silly.
on “The Moat of Low Status” ↗> I've been reading the Book of the Courtier this week, and it's clear that even back in the 16th century high status people were very concerned about whether they looked silly, or even whether their dances looked silly. In the context of the situation…
on “The Moat of Low Status” ↗