How To Win Friends and Influence People. Finished 11-17-15, rating 4.5/5, relationships, pub. 1936

You can go after the job you want…and get it! You can take the job you have…and improve it! You can take any situation you’re in…and make it work for you!

Since its release in 1936, How to Win Friends and Influence People has sold more than 15 million copies. Dale Carnegie’s first book is a timeless bestseller, packed with rock-solid advice that has carried thousands of now famous people up the ladder of success in their business and personal lives.

As relevant as ever before, Dale Carnegie’s principles endure, and will help you achieve your maximum potential in the complex and competitive modern age.

Learn the six ways to make people like you, the twelve ways to win people to your way of thinking, and the nine ways to change people without arousing resentment.     from Goodreads

I’ve had an old copy of this book in my boxes for so many years, curious despite my distrust of anything that can be called self-help, but since I started a new way to choose my books last spring I’ve been picking up some titles that have languished for years. It helped that the library had the audio, so I both listened and read. My biggest takeaway from this book is that it is amazing how relevant this book published in 1936 still is.  Yes, it can be considered self-help (I loved this post from earlier this month about a woman with Aspergers reading this book for the first time) but I think it’s also a really interesting look at human psychology.

I don’t think following the tips in this book will make you a better person (on the contrary, being too much of a people pleaser can be a bad thing) but I do think that it delves into what makes people tick. I found it easy while listening to see my strengths and weaknesses and that was helpful to me.  I don’t plan on using this as a guidebook or anything but I do think it’s a worthwhile read.  And if you read the post I mentioned you can see how there are a lot of people who can still really benefit from this oldie.