This is the second Dale Carnegie book that I’ve read and – just as with the first – what I like about the book is that it actually sticks to the title. Unlike many of today’s “self-help” and “self-improvement” books that simply tell you a philosophy or explain a way of life that is unattainable for 95% of the American public, the Carnegie series actually delivers on their titles.
Carnegie gives many lists and examples of effective public speaking. Now granted, I think I’m a pretty good public speaker as it is, but this book sort of takes everything that I use when I prepare my speeches and puts it down on paper. I suspect that this is the case with many of the speakers who have read this book or taken the associated courses. And that’s the beauty of the series, folks.
This is a series that takes the ideas and thoughts of those people who are already good at a specific skill and puts them into print for everyone to read! Carnegie does this even better by making sure that the ideas and thoughts are shared across a broad spectrum of users and not just one or two success stories. Again, this is where the contrast with today’s self-help/improvement books comes in. Just because one person living one specific type of lifestyle is able to, for example, lose weight/get a job/get rich quick that doesn’t mean that anyone who purchases the associated “How to” book will achieve the same results.
In fact, given the rash of such books in today’s marketplace it’s almost a given that the end-user will fail. Not so with the Carnegie series. By vetting his practices across a broad spectrum of users, Dale Carnegie actually works towards his readers’ final success.
Again, another great book in this classic series. I highly recommend it.
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