How to Win Friends and Influence People - Book Report/Review Example

 How to Win Friends and Influence People Introduction How to win friends and influence people by Dale Carnegie was first published in 1936 and had very few copies back then bought by the people. The author, Dale Carnegie didn’t see this modest sale coming. However, after sometimes, the book’s public demand rose and the number of copies being sold rose by unbelievable digits. The book mainly focused on techniques of handling people and the social relationships among human beings. Additionally, the book’s continuous sales were brought by its ability to feel human needs and issues that affected them like depression and self-esteem issues. The book aims at offering psychological support to people with self-esteem issues and encourages those who are depressed. Moreover, the book is vital in explaining the techniques of handling people and how to be influential. The book targets the society at large, and the how they interact amongst themselves. The book’s positive impact to the society enabled it become one of the best-selling books in the world. The core principles used in this book have over the years greatly impacted the society positively. Discussion In support of the main points covered in the book, the author uses a number of evidences to emphasize the importance of what he tries to convey to his readers. According to Carnegie, it is irrelevant to criticize, condemn or complain. In support of this, he says that criticizing or condemning someone only satisfies your ego but damages the other person’s feeling and brings out the unkind personality. Moreover, the author writes about the techniques of handling people. Through this, he talks about fulfilling other desires to feel important. When you make someone feel important or special in one way, he or she will give you something that you want in return. He further highlights on how the feeling of importance is one of the most unfulfilled basic need in the world. Through these evidences, the aspect of them being convincing are evident. The principles used by Carnegie are things that happen in the day to day life. The book dwells on influence on people. By the book being broken down and each point deeply and adequately explained, it is evident that the author aims at impacting the audience positively. Several books to have been produced that display similar information as that of Carnegie. Among the issues, the other books deal with are marriage issues, persuasion skills and communication skills. Moreover, several of these books too, dwell on social relationships and the importance of positive attitudes towards people. However, Carnegie adequately explains the principles of social interrelationships deeply to a point that captures the readers. The book is written in over thirty-six languages making it unique. Through its multi-linguistic nature, the book has captured the attention of millions of readers from different races around the globe. Information on how to make your home happy is additional information covered by this book that several other books with the same topic lack. In 1980, for instance, the book got several feedbacks from different couples, explaining how the book had improved their marriage life. Hence, it is evident that a couple would find this book very interesting and useful since the principles that Carnegie points out in his book are very vital in enhancing a better marriage life. Moreover, he highlights on ways to make a happy home and to boost the love between couples. Not complaining and appreciating someone’s efforts, for instance, makes a couple feel appreciated when he or she gets such treatment from his or her partner, and this leads to a healthy relationship. Carnegie had a passion in public speaking way before he even wrote this book. Moreover, he pursued his dream of being a lecturer by starting his public speaking lecture. Aiming at instilling confidence in his students when it came to public speaking, Carnegie encouraged his students to be participating during lessons. At YMCA, Carnegie got the idea of public speaking and persuaded the “Y” manager to enable him instruct a class in return for a given percentage of the net proceeds. After running out of material, he allowed students to speak about something that made them angry. Through this, he discovered that the technique made the speakers unafraid to address public audience. Public speaking on a wider scope motivated him to come up with his first collection of public speaking writing called public speaking and influencing men in business. Additionally, Dale wrote two other books that related to this book, namely, How to stop worrying and start living and How to develop and influence people by public speaking. Basing on several books and booklets written by Carnegie it is evident that he was an author who was very idealistic. Several of his books have won awards with his book How to win friends and influence people collecting several of the awards voted by the fellow authors. From the awards, it is evident that fellow authors recognized and appreciated his work. Moreover, this book has over the years remained at the top of its game with several copies still being sold long even after the author died. One of the core purposes of this book emanates from its capability to change one’s behavior by changing another person’s behavior towards them. The book dwells on principles that are vital when it comes to living with other people. Moreover, the book sharpens one’s communication skills. Communication skills on its part are a very strong pillar when it comes to the author’s major motive towards writing the book. The author identifies that lack of appreciation, condemning, criticizing and complaining lead to resistance in a society. Instead of complaining and criticizing, understanding people is very vital even if they are wrong. Listening to their story is very necessary too. This exercise makes the other person feel accepted. Moreover, the author emphasizes on the importance of fulfilling others desires to make them feel important. If a person is shown how important he is, he will be at your service because one of his basic needs has been fulfilled. Resistance in a society occurs when a person or a leader tells the people what he wants. The respondents in turn feel that the person has selfish interests and only wants to benefit himself. Instead, the author comes up with ways that one can use to express himself instead of just going direct to the people to tell them what he wants. Having written several books, it is clear that the author’s argumentative ways are of great weight. The author’s systematic explanation of points in his book clearly brings out the general purpose of a better society through the principles of guidance. Conclusion The core principles used in this book have over the years greatly impacted the society positively. The book societal approach is positive, aiming at ensuring that people co-exist in a peaceful and non-resistant way. The book’s author is keen on ensuring that his message sinks well in his reader's mind. All the core principles that govern the way of human existence in a society are well explained. The author, being an expert include a lot of information that is of great value to man. Moreover, Dale deeply talks about communication skills and how it can be sharpened. The readers thus have to take their 3innitiative to go slowly through the book to fish out all the important information that the author tries to display. Moreover, the book has gotten several positive feedbacks over the years from couples. Couples claim that the book has improved their marriages to a larger extent. Positive feedback is a vital tool used to judge an author’s expertise. Hence, Dale Carnegie is an expert in the field of writing. References Carnegie, D. (1981). How to win friends and influence people (Rev. ed.). New York: Simon and Schuster. Read More