Do you find yourself aspiring to be a people-oriented person in this process/outcome driven world? Or are you still on the way or you have it figured all out? If you think you might fit into any of these blocks (or if you think you may have fitted into any of these in the past or might be in the near future) this book is for you! In fact this book might be for everyone who fits in as a social animal/sapiens and I am sure I am confident I can recommend this to anyone and everyone regardless of which phase of your life you are in.

Dale Carnegie’s book is a timeless edition to help the reader to increase his/her ability to deal with people. And that’s about it, that’s what the whole read it about! The author with his detailed and extensive research across many timelines, geographic locations and many other layered aspects; keeps one captivated by calling out for attention by initially describing a particular situation, one that is a real life scenario that he may have either witnessed in front of his nose or a tale that may have been so popular in reference that any average person may instantly relate to it or even a situation that might by hypothetical and might happen to anyone in future. He then works around the process of the events and preaches us on the excellence, success and failures that come out as a result of dealing with people and celebrates on the events that may have worked brilliantly as per expectations and on the other hand helps is to reflect and look into things differently in case there is scope for improvement. This book is very convincing and much beyond anything that is just limited to text book definitions. It is very practically sound and can apply to anyone as long as people exist regardless of the situation, location, industry and time period. I definitely have my favourite takeaways from this book and here are some bullet points that I am most definitely going to implement in any part of my life:

  1. Smile whenever you make eye-contact with any person you see for the first time in the day.
  2. Be a good listener and try to repeat some of the words that were mentioned at the instant to convince the person of the same.
  3. Refer to the person as his/her name quite often as possible and try to remember the true spelling of the person’s name which counts as a sign of basic respect.
  4. Always think and talk in term’s of the other person’s interest first before you put yourself into account.
  5. Make the person feel important and if you do so, do it genuinely and sincerely.

I also have a separate list of takeaways, often termed as “principles” in the book (that I also want to implement in my real life in many ways), but this list is special because these are parts of the book that makes me want to recommend this to anyone living on this earth:

  1. Arouse in the other person an eager want.
  2. The only way to get out of an argument is to avoid it.
  3. If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
  4. Let the other person feel that the idea is his/hers
  5. Dramatize your ideas
  6. Call attention to people’s mistakes indirectly
  7. Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
  8. Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to and always praise improvements.

I hope you as the reader of this review, feel convinced to read this book someday and if you have already read this book, leave a comment for me with your version of takeaways and I will be happy to learn more about anything different because this is a book i would always like to pick up again and view it with a different perspective. I rest my case here, I hope you enjoy the book! 🙂