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information may have been outdated.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.