Official Review: The Power of Being Articulate
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Official Review: The Power of Being Articulate

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The Power of Being Articulate by Pete Geissler is a persuasive essay to convince the reader that he or she should become an Articulate – a well-informed and good communicator. He argues that learning how to effectively communicate is the reason why some people easily climb to corporate ladder and how learning how to communicate is needed in every business. He also contrasts Articulates with Also-Rans, who failed to communicate their ideas and their stances by not being able to boil down complex problems to different audiences.
The book is split into several sections: firstly, a chapter that gives statistical evidence of the importance of communication; a few chapters where Articulates talk about their transformations to Articulates (and Also-Rans), and some pointers to readers as to how they can improve their communication. He argues that having a great vocabulary creates more clear and concise communications, as one can express his or herself in fewer words. He then goes on guest authors write their autobiographies, although he also chips in here and there in a few paragraphs; the chapters are written in an informal style. Think of it as a bunch of friends sitting and a table, reminiscing about the past. The second half of the book, after the author has convinced the reader that being Articulate is a good thing by reinforcing his basic behaviours that Articulates have, which separate themselves from the rest of the populace (CLOWT). Without going into much detail as to what that is (read yourself and find out), he gives tips as to how the reader can transform him or herself into an Articulate. There is a very good chapter that he gives to teach the reader how to write in a clear way.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book for its clear and direct manner of persuasion. I was not sold on the statistics, but more so for the testimonies of Articulates and the contrast of Also-Rans. This book also helped me to reflect about myself. The author, in his introduction states that this book is great for managers and teachers, but I could say that this book is great for everyone. As a graduating student, I did not know my direction to go – whether I should continue my education like so many of my friends struggling with finding a job (which, I really did not want to do after my long career in education), but I have found that maybe I should spend my time working on my writing, communication, and developing my work, before getting a Post-Graduate education. This book reinforced the idea that I should learn how to write and communicate better, which I sensed I needed to do for a while, before I continued on my education for the means of a better career.
There are several reasons why this book helped me a lot, and may help other readers. Have you ever worked on a group project? Have you ever been asked to be a leader, and did not know where to start? Students, like workers, need to learn to communicate with each other, especially during group work. Every time I struggled with group work, I reflected on what I should have and could have done to be a better person, or member of a team. You could even connect this book on why some relationships work. My favourite interview was with Sherry Davis Guth and Robert Guth, who worked with Telcove at one time. Sherry’s story on how she became an Articulate really stuck with me; I acknowledged a lot of traits we shared before her transformation.
There were only but a few problems I had with the book. The first and foremost had not to do with the author, but the formatting of the book. If I had received the book as a print book, or as a PDF I would not have any problems looking at the pictures. However, I took a mobile book form (epub) which determines how many words on each page would be displayed by the dimensions of the screen of the reading device. This would be a problem, also for a Kindle file, or Sony Reader file. The problem was that pictures were not resized with the screen size, and unlike reading a PDF, a reader cannot zoom in or zoom out of a page. I could not read all the components of a “Success-A-Gon” because only half of the picture was displayed. Even if the picture was discussed, I was upset that I could not view it. I was also confused with the style of the book for a while, because I did not realize that the book was written in a conversational format between the author and the interviewees at several points in the book. Again, I view this as a formatting problem with the epub/mobi/azw format. I suggest an extra space between each paragraph to clear it up. I also noticed a few spelling errors, but I do not remember where.
Overall, this book is a good investment. It will help you reflect about your past and learn about your mistakes. Do you want to become a better person? Do you want to have more meaningful relationships? Do you want to advance your career? If you say yes, then look at a preview, and if it suits you, pick up the book and read it. You need an open mind (as said by the author). You need to admit that you have made mistakes in the past. You need to learn and absorb the information the authors have given. I honestly say this is the best book I have reviewed in a while. On a scale of 5 I would give the book a 4.5. However, I felt the problems were so infinitesimal compared to the benefits than one can get from reading the book, so I give it 4 out of 4 stars.
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