I think you're right, but I'll add that it's a great book to read and understand in a sort of "better at protecting from hacks by hacking"-style of learning. Understand and learn about the darker way of thinking and how power works so that you can navigate around these issues.

A lot of the book is simply explaining Psychology of people trying to gain power or in power what you need to do so you can manage politics. Things like not making your boss look lesser than you or not realizing that, yes, everyone has their place and you can't just say whatever you want AND ALSO get whatever you want. For a lot of people this needs to be explained and proven and the stories in that book provide good, if not a bit hard to relate, examples of the laws.

(Reading the book now on Audible. Pretty interesting, but the parent is totally right that it advocates a pretty dark/negative world view.)

That’s fair, but readers should not assume that others are operating on these rules. I’m reminded of a conversation I had with a woman who bought a copy of The Game, at the recommendation of another woman, to “find out how guys think”, and it was difficult to explain why this was misinformed and would make her worse off.

Would you say it's helpful to understand the way that certain people work/think, though? I haven't yet read it, and I've seen this criticism before.