John Bridges, together with Bryan Curtis, published a series of guideline books ranging from “How to be a Gentleman” to “As a Gentleman would say”. Offering a high entertainment value, the books aim to offer advice for the “dos” and “don’ts” of being a gentleman.
While some chapters offer practicable and valuable insights into the world of a 21st century gentleman (how to tie a bowtie), some information provided remains rather shallow and self-evident, giving the book a rather trivial character. All too often, the books touches on subjects that every gentleman’s mother, grandmother, or whoever was responsible for this gentleman’s education, should have covered sometime in the gentleman’s teenage years. However, we acknowledge that even mature gentlemen today seem not to know that a cellphone conversation is supposed to be a private matter and not an occasion that ought to be shared with the rest of the restaurant patrons.
We therefore recommend John Bridges’ books to all those young gentlemen who want to find an entertaining way to get some general clarity on everyday topics. For research and fact finding, however, we would recommend other sources.
Entertainment: 4/5
Practicability: 3/5
Topic Breadth: 4/5
Topic Depth: 2/5
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