I chose to read Dale Carnegie’s How to Win Friends & Influence People because my

father recommended it to me. He said that he read it when he was my age, and it was time for

me to read it too. When I first started reading it, I felt the methods of dealing with people that Mr.

Carnegie demonstrated were quite unusual. This book was written in 1936, so I thought the

information may have been outdated. However, I could use help dealing with difficult people in

my life, so I kept reading the book.

The book is split into four parts, each with a different theme: 1. Fundamental

Techniques in Handling People, 2. Six Ways to Make People Like You, 3. How to Win People to

Your Way of Thinking, 4. How to Change People Without Giving Offense or Arousing

Resentment. In each chapter, Mr. Carnegie gives real life examples of people using his

techniques, analyzes these instances, and ultimately leads to a final, single-sentence “principle,”

which is a lesson that helps the reader interact with people. There are roughly thirty principles in

the book, each of which distinguish a different skill relating to a different theme.

After reading How to Win Friends & Influence People, I tried some of Carnegie’s techniques on people I know that are difficult to talk to and agree with, and I noticed a drastic difference in their reactions to me. They are much more willing to consider my ideas, talk to me more calmly whenever we disagree, and seem much happier to talk to me in general. I thought, “Wow, Carnegie’s methods of handling people have withstood the test of time: they still work eighty four years after his wonderful book was published!” This is why I ultimately ended up liking the book. I did somewhat enjoy reading the book, but the real happiness came from the results the principles in the book brought me.

In the middle of writing this review, I was notified that I needed to return How to Win

Friends & Influence People to Mariners Branch Library because it had accumulated a long line

of people who had put holds on it. That is a sign that this is a popular book, which is surprising

for an eighty year-old book and shows that its lessons are still valuable to this day. This is

impressive since most books do not contain the timeless wisdom that Carnegie’s book does. I

would definitely recommend How to Win Friends & Influence People to everyone I know

because in the modern age in which most interaction is done by typing words on a screen and

sending those words to other people’s screens, it is becoming harder and harder for individuals

to communicate and interact face to face. This book can help these struggling people become

more talented in dealing with others both face to face and online, which can vastly improve their

relationships with important people such as their family, friends, coworkers, and bosses. Being

able to deal with people effectively is an important skill for anyone to have, and How to Win

Friends & Influence People perfectly encompasses everything you need to know to be a master

of dealing with people.