I read a lot of self help books and find most of them silly, formulaic, and/or unrealistic. This is perhaps the best self help book I have read, and was one of the first of the modern era. The tone is very straightforward and practical with enough detail to be useful but not at all boring. The suggestions seem trivial, yet, as the author points out repeatedly, they are actually unnatural to the vast majority and seldom practiced successful without attention and effort. This books is dated (referring to contemporary characters that are no longer contemporary and may not be recognized by younger readers) but this does not distract very much from the core message of the book. See Ralph's review for an excellent outline of the suggestions in this book. This book had leaped to the top of my favorite self help books, which also include Critical Conversations and Stumbling on Happiness. Most other self help books are either intrinsically worthless or subsumed by one of the above. The narration was just about perfect with a very clear delivery and excellent positive tone without any sappiness. Fundamental Techniques in Handling People ✦ Six ways to make people like you ✦ Win people to your way of thinking ✦ Be a Leader |