 | Price Comparisons: Rental | | Sorry, the textbook you were looking for is not available as Rental, at any of the stores we searched. | Summaries and Customer Reviews are supplied by Amazon.com | The Modern Gentleman A Guide to Essential Manners, Savvy & Vice by Phineas Mollod and Jason Tesauro "A man may possess expensive duds, slick wheels, and a tongue to match, but these are not the prerequisites of a gentleman. A gentleman is defined by how he carries himself in fairways and stormy climes. A student of the classics and a pilot of the new, he recommends sizzling reads, pays his gambling debts, mans the grill, and curbs his dog. Reserved, flamboyant, or likely somewhere in between, a gentleman’s charisma is cultivated, not canned. He fosters an infectious comfort in others as they quietly marvel at his manner and his hats, from the erudite bowler to the plucky fedora. Little charms performed thoughtfully ensure that inevitable faux pas are measured against a graceful reputation. He can be trusted with his word and your wife." So begins THE MODERN GENTLEMAN, a visually stimulating, rib-tickling, thought-provoking sourcebook of manners and mischief for the 21st-century male. The book offers a panoramic snapshot of the gentleman: witty and poignant, traditional but spontaneous, flirtatious yet courting. Discussions range from the classic (Motoring, Oenophilia) and serious (Secrets & Lies, The Good Husband), to the racy (Kink & Fetish, To the Power of 3) and silly (Bumper Stickers, Fonzarelli Moves & Legerdemain ). And since it is inevitable that a gentleman will dabble in the friskier areas of excess, trouble, and chance, the book’s naughty nucleus, "The Potent Gentleman," explores leisure and dalliance, from alcohol and snuff to recreational botanicals and sex. All men aspire to be perpetually dapper, fluent in three languages, and hit 300-yard drives off the blue tees, not to mention quote poetry by the stanza and win a back-alley scrap. However, there is a dashing plateau more desirable than Hollywood perfection, a level of gallantry that makes one stand out, even in the elevator. So knot up your ascot, pour a glass of sherry, and crack open the MODERN GENTLEMAN: your Man Cycle is peaking. |
Average Customer Rating:    meh... This book was nearly useless to me.
I'm a poor college student and most of the advice prescribed in his book requires having money and a snobbish attitude. Though I found some value in a few chapters, I found nothing that made it worth the price of the book.
This book is written in an extremely pretentious fashion, and falls quite short of being an enjoyable read. I do not recommend this book. Excessively Irrelevant, sarcastic and random Consider this book more closely related to a work of humor fiction like a zombie survival guide, rather than a practical primer to gentlemanly ways. Heavy on amusing ideas and scenarios for eccentric behavior and vice. The stiff prose is intentionally quirky which makes it a pain to read beyond the 20th page. I have rarely found myself as annoyed with a book as on this one.
And the dead horse notion of "Flaskmanship"... Don't get me started on their obsession with flasks. Take a pass, gentlemen Well-written and entertaining, this how-to is penned for Gen Y guys by the gentleman farm team. My advice: pass on it and go directly to the majors -- buy "How to Be a Gentleman" by John Bridges. A little over the top especially for this economy I found this book to be a little over the top in that it is more about the "show" than about substance. If you want to know how to act like a gentleman, then I would recommend the Emily Post Etiquette book. I do think you can get some ideas from the book but in the economic state that we are currently in, I believe that frugality is in. By this I mean that women are more likely the simple gesture of holding a door open rather than the fact that you have a really nice flask which you carry around at formal events. I've Read Better. "Tuxedoed guests deserve cocktails in stems and highballs. A martini in a plastic cup is not a drink. Steer a raucus bunch away from the crystal and don't place a sippy cup in an enchanting lady's manicured hand."
That's one of two things wrong with this book. The first, as shown above, is that too often do the authors write to see their own words. Contrary to what they believe, it's not good writing when you use three full sentences just to say "use the good stuff at a fancy event." For that matter, use the good stuff for your guests no matter what. That's what a real gentleman would do.
Moving away from too-cute asides and lexiphanic verbosity, the second thing wrong with this book is that it has very little to do with being a gentleman, modern or otherwise. Skinny dipping, intimate rendevous, crashing parties, public drinking - and that's all BEFORE the chapter on vice, which discusses sex and substance abuse.
I don't know what these guys call the definition of a modern gentleman, but the entire book is filled with crass behavior diguised as what most would call just "being a guy." But here's the deal: being a guy is awesome. I AM one and I think it's great! This book deals with that very well, but adds to the greatness of guyness by giving endless tips on how to be a BETTER guy. These tips include jukebox mastery, throwing parties, being well-versed in literature and pretty much being as cool as one man could possibly be, while not actually being gentlemanly.
There may be a few pointers on gentlemanly behavior inside these boring and wordy pages, but chivalry and charm are not what this book is about. This book is about looking cool, getting over on the rules of society, telling good lies, using Cliff Notes to cram "knowledge," hooking up with coworkers and using incriminating photos of friends as blackmail. That's what they should've said this book was about in the first place because those things sound pretty darned interesting if that's what you're after.
Oh, and they use far too many words to do all this while trying to sound witty and smart. They messed that up too. |  |
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