Why read The Pocket Oracle and Art of Prudence?

Book cover of The Pocket Oracle and Art of Prudence

Book description

A unique collection of advice for life, Baltasar Gracian's The Pocket Oracle and Art of Prudence is a philosophical gem, and perhaps the first 'self-help' book ever written. This Penguin Classics edition is translated from the Spanish with an introduction by Jeremy Robbins.

Written over 350 years ago, The Pocket…

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Pocket Oracle and Art of Prudence as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Holger Gzella

Author

Academic institutions are competitive environments governed not only by the zest to enrich and transmit knowledge, but also by politics, vanity, and caprices. In many respects, they resemble life at a royal court as described by the seventeenth-century Spanish Jesuit philosopher Baltasar Gracián. His Pocket Oracle is chock-full of advice, in the form of maximally compact yet hauntingly beautifully written maxims, on how to penetrate through the appearance of things. Imbued in the art of discernment of St. Ignatius of Loyola, he repeatedly singles out the essential qualities that make possible successful choices in academic life as well, such as…

From Holger's list on The best books on becoming a scholar.