That is a great book. And so is The Art of Seduction. If the anecdotes get boring, I always found skipping straight to the interpretation part was just fine. I seemed to be able to get more than just the gist of it at that point.
I read about 1/2 of it about 3 years ago. It basically describes different leaders in history and how they handled certain situations to gain power. Its a good read if you want a history lesson.
It's a decent book, but nothing spectacular. The history in the book is pretty well researched, and presented in an anecdotal format, so it's a pleasant read in that respect. I get the feeling every fledgling investment banker in the country would actually try and use the "lessons" in this book though, which is kind of funny.