Thursday, January 26, 2017

How to Win Friends and Influence People

I can't believe it took me more than three decades to read How to Win Friends & Influence People. It is an absolute gem.

I've read a lot of books which referenced and/or borrowed ideas from this book, but this book is the original and having read it I can understand why. It's very well written, and full of tons of examples of how to implement the authors suggestions. The reader also gets a history lesson, as a lot of the examples are drawn from historical events.

Contrary to what the title of the book may imply, however, this book is not about scamming or tricking people into doing what you want. It's instead about changing yourself into a better person on the inside, and the influence will come.

Almost every time I read an old book, I yearn for more. I don't think that old books in general were better than books written today by any stretch. But the ones that manage to get recommended many decades after they are written (and therefore that I end up reading) probably are way better than most books written today. And so I plan to read more old books!

I think How to Win Friends & Influence People should probably be required highschool reading. In any case, I recommend it to you, whoever you are!

3 comments:

el-t said...

That would be The Lindy Effect. As described by Nassim Taleb : "If a book has been in print for forty years, I can expect it to be in print for another forty years."

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lindy_effect

V shah said...

Hi Saj,

If you have liked this book, then I think you would also like to read 'Think and Grow Rich'
by Napoleon Hill, if you haven't ready it already.

Regards,
V Shah

Saj Karsan said...

Hi V Shah,

I have actually read it, and I did not like it. Reviewed it here: http://www.barelkarsan.com/2014/11/think-and-grow-rich.html