The Modern Gentleman

While sick earlier this week, I took the chance to lie in bed, put The Verve Story on in the background and finally get around to reading The Modern Gentleman: A Guide to Essential Manners, Savvy & Vice, which was given to me at my last birthday party.

It’s a very light and breezy read, appreciated even through the haze of cold medication, and some passages made me even laugh out loud. Some of the advice is spot-on and echoes classics such as How to be a Gentleman and The Gentleman’s Guide to Life, some of it is stuff you should (or should have) learned by the time you hit thirty, some of it should make you say “What, are you out of your mind?” and some of the advice just hasn’t been written for some of life’s nastier surprises (the dating tips, for example, are useless for those one or two extreme dating situations that proved you’ve lived, and there’s nothing on what to do if your proposal of marriage is rejected; they assume success. Really, folks, this stuff happens.).

The book’s best feature is its writing — Messrs. Mollod and Tesauro are master stylists who easiliy blend the prose from classic etiquette books with twenty-first-century sauciness and wit. Here’s the opening paragrpah from the introduction:

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 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 the inevitable faux pas are measured against a graceful reputation. He can be trusted with his word and your wife.

If you’re an aspiring gentleman with an upcoming plane flight coming up or need something to read during lunch or your daily commute, I heartily recommend this book. At the very least, it’ll make interesting conversational fodder when guests peruse your bookshelf.