Title: How to Win Friends & Influence People
Author: Dale Carnegie

Publisher: Gallery Books
Published Date: 1939
Buy Link: http://a.co/gTK4H18

Blurb: You can go after the job you want…and get it! You can take the job you have…and improve it! You can take any situation you’re in…and make it work for you!

Since its release in 1936, How to Win Friends and Influence People has sold more than 15 million copies. Dale Carnegie’s first book is a timeless bestseller, packed with rock-solid advice that has carried thousands of now famous people up the ladder of success in their business and personal lives.

As relevant as ever before, Dale Carnegie’s principles endure, and will help you achieve your maximum potential in the complex and competitive modern age.

Learn the six ways to make people like you, the twelve ways to win people to your way of thinking, and the nine ways to change people without arousing resentment.

My Review: I read this book as part of a class I took for work.  I had actually purchased the ebook ages ago based on a recommendation, and when this class popped up I decided to give it a go.

What I Loved:  While pretty basic, all of the principles of this book are very clear and applicable to anyone at any point of our life, they are not just principles for people who work at a corporation.  In fact, I would say that most of the principles presented are just good people skills put into practice.

I enjoyed the healthy reminders of how as a decent human being, I should be listening, and keeping other peoples perspective in mind rather than only thinking of my own wants and desires.  There are a lot of nuggets to take from this book, but one of the best is the realization that every single person really has one deep set desire (whether they realize it or not) and that is to feel important.  We can help them achieve those desires by doing very simple things; addressing them by name, really listening, smile, being authentic in our desire to know about them and their life.  Simple life concepts.  And though this isn’t a Christian book at all, they are simple Christian attributes as well.

Not So Much: For each principle laid out in this book, there were several real-life examples given.  At first I was really enjoying the stories and little bits of history (as this book is quite old, and many of the examples are well-known individuals from U.S. history) – but after several chapters of these points/story/story/story setting – I kind of started to feel like I was just getting the points presented over and over and over again.  However, without all of these examples, the book would have been nothing more than a pamphlet.

The Verdict:  This is a great book.  It should be read of for nothing more than to be ‘told’ what we as humans probably already know to be true.  Sometimes, though, knowing something and hearing it presented makes a big difference.  If more people would apply the principles in this book, this world would look quite a bit different.