How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

Inspiro Assistant · Post by **Inspiro Assistant** » 09 Aug 2011, 03:44

My friend gave me a book as a birthday present entitled "How To Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie. I just want to know who among you already read this book and how do you find it?

Fran · Post by **Fran** » 09 Aug 2011, 04:58

Inspiro Assistant wrote:My friend gave me a book as a birthday present entitled "How To Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie. I just want to know who among you already read this book and how do you find it?

I've never actually read it but I have a friend who swears it's the most influencial book she ever read & she would say she has benefited hugely from reading & rereading it.
I'm tend to be hugely sceptical of self-help type books but I probably will have to read it one of these days to satisfy my friend.
I would be interested in your opinion when you have it read.

Jacob · Post by **Jacob** » 09 Aug 2011, 05:25

I don't really know what to think, "How To Win Friends" seems so certain. I believe that if you just be yourself you're bound to find someone with the same interests and hobbies.

Maud Fitch · Post by **Maud Fitch** » 09 Aug 2011, 07:18

Any self-help book originally printed in 1936 has to be out-of-touch. My grandfather read it! Okay, I realise the version I read had a makeover but surely it is no longer relevant. Society has taken vast leaps forward - well, maybe that’s also open to debate - but things have definitely changed. Proof of that is the chapter “Seven Rules For Making Your Home Life Happier” which was omitted from the revised edition.

I imagine the chapter “Fundamental Techniques In Handling People” e.g. ‘Don't criticize, condemn, or complain, give honest and sincere appreciation' etc, (basic politeness) would be fine until you tried to apply it in some real life office situations today. You'd get walked over.

There are many wonderful self-help books out there, written by modern professionals to assist in a happy, healthy life but try Dale Carnegie first and please let us know your findings.

Bighuey · Post by **Bighuey** » 09 Aug 2011, 09:03

Wow, that goes back a ways. My parents had a copy of it in 1954 when I was in high school. Ive never read it but my mother said it was a pretty good book. Its probably old and dated but there might be a few good things in it that would be relavant in these times.

StephenKingman · Post by **StephenKingman** » 09 Aug 2011, 11:01

I tend to give these books a very wide berth as i believe that by and large you make your own luck in life, bar the odd dash of divine intervention! The market is so flooded with books claiming to shed you stones in a week, become a millionaire in a month or have a better and happier life through the use of hypnosis that i am very cynical of the true motive behind these so-called gurus..

Bighuey · Post by **Bighuey** » 09 Aug 2011, 12:10

Some of that stuff is really off the wall. I saw an ad a while back to send off for these copper bracelets, they claimed if you wore them your life would improve but probably the only thing that would improve would be that con man's bank account.

Inspiro Assistant · Post by **Inspiro Assistant** » 10 Aug 2011, 03:31

Thanks for your opinions! I just scan it because it is loaded of examples and all is pointing to one thing so I read one example per chapter. Well, the book is nice but it doesn't reveal something useful to me yet. While I was scanning it, my thought says "yeah, I already know this" but still I will update you after I read it from cover to cover, maybe I missed something valuable.

Sophius · Post by **Sophius** » 10 Aug 2011, 13:43

My uncle forced me to read it(and write a ten page book report on it) when I was twelve, and though the techniques mentioned within the book holds some relevance, I ultimately could not stand it. I don't even follow the stuff written in the thing anyway, I don't like it when people like me.

Inspiro Assistant · Post by **Inspiro Assistant** » 11 Aug 2011, 03:16

Why you don't like it when people like you?

Sophius wrote:My uncle forced me to read it(and write a ten page book report on it) when I was twelve, and though the techniques mentioned within the book holds some relevance, I ultimately could not stand it. I don't even follow the stuff written in the thing anyway, I don't like it when people like me.

Vogin · Post by **Vogin** » 11 Aug 2011, 03:42

Since I don't need any new friends (I'm more than satisfied with those ~3 I have now) combined with my stunning arrogance and sense of "I'm-most-probably-smarter-than-you" means I'm hardly a target market for any such book

Fran · Post by **Fran** » 11 Aug 2011, 04:20

Vogin wrote:Since I don't need any new friends (I'm more than satisfied with those ~3 I have now) combined with my stunning arrogance and sense of "I'm-most-probably-smarter-than-you" means I'm hardly a target market for any such book

As I always say 'Thank God I'm perfect' ...

Bighuey · Post by **Bighuey** » 11 Aug 2011, 08:47

Fran wrote:
Vogin wrote:Since I don't need any new friends (I'm more than satisfied with those ~3 I have now) combined with my stunning arrogance and sense of "I'm-most-probably-smarter-than-you" means I'm hardly a target market for any such book
As I always say 'Thank God I'm perfect' ...

I used to be conceited but now Im perfect.

Davinci · Post by **Davinci** » 30 Aug 2011, 15:56

I read it hoping it could help me but it felt so outdated I couldn't rely to his experiences.

I felt like the world had changed a lot since when he wrote it.