Book Review of How to Win Friends and Influence People

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie is one of the original self-help books that’s become a classic in the genre. It’s become so popular over the last century that you’ll find it on every self-help and self-improvement list of must-reads. This is a full book review first without spoilers and, then, containing a few if you’ve read the book. 

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Here’s the brief description of the book: 

“How to Win Friends and Influence People is a self-help book that provides practical advice and techniques for successful personal and professional interactions. The book emphasizes the importance of understanding human nature, avoiding criticism, and fostering positive relationships. It includes numerous anecdotes and examples to illustrate its points, making it an engaging and informative read. The book’s enduring popularity attests to its effectiveness in helping readers achieve their goals and improve their interpersonal skills. It’s a valuable resource for anyone seeking to enhance their social skills, influence others, and achieve success in various aspects of life.”

You can find the book here.

How to Win Friends and Influence People Full Book Review Without Spoilers

Here’s one of the original leadership/self-help books that can still be applicable to your life today. Whether you’re looking to improve your career or just day to day life, this book is worth reading. As you’re reading, the information may seem like common sense, but, shockingly, most people don’t do it. Basic concepts like being a good listener, showing sincere appreciation, and making a good first impression are less common than you think nowadays. 

Pros of the Book

While this genre of book isn’t my go-to, one of the biggest pros is that anyone can pick up a copy of this book, easily understand it, and get at least one thing out of it to help their communication skills. Overall, it’s a pretty short book, so it doesn’t take up too much time to get all the key takeaways. 

Another pro of the book is that the author provides tons of good examples for each of his fundamental techniques. Every point he gives is pretty easy to understand, even if you don’t use every single one in your daily life. 

This book did give me a genuine interest of how I can improve myself and become a good conversationalist. A lot of the advice was too much to do all at once, so I chose to pick just one thing to focus on first, like ways to always remember a person’s name, before moving on to another area of improvement. 

One of the most important things Carnegie stresses in the book is showing an eager want to hear and understand another person’s interest and others’ opinions, which not only helps in business or careers, but makes us more genuine, empathetic people. 

Cons of the Book

One of the things I did not like about this book is that it’s basically an information dump that you really can’t read all at once, or you lose the points. I think the best way to read the book is a little bit at a time, so you can absorb the large amount of information given in a small number of pages. Think through each chapter and section, especially how to apply it to your own life, before moving on to the next part. 

It’s also overwhelming to think of all the ways he suggests to change and to think of how many of your own mistakes are mentioned in the book. I chose to focus on making minor improvements, and only doing one thing at a time. 

Who Should Read This Book? 

I really believe that everyone can get something out of this book, even if you’re already the best person at your job or a great conversationalist. This book can have a positive effect on anyone who wants to improve in any interpersonal relationship. It’s also a good book to start with if you don’t know where to start in the self-improvement genre, as a lot of other books I’ve read build on one or more of these ideas. 

Conclusion

Overall, there’s a reason this book is still so popular within it’s genre, and it’s worth the read if you’re looking to improve yourself. It’s not the only book that can really help, but it is one of the best written on the subject of effective communication and interpersonal situations. The good thing about this book is that it’s a pretty easy, fast read, so anyone can add it into their reading list. 

I also have a full summary of the book here as a refreshers to the main points of the book. 

Rating: 3.5 out of 5

While Carnegie’s book has had a profound effect on tons of readers and the self-improvement genre as a whole, this is not my favorite book on the subject. There’s lots of great information to take away from the book, but I prefer books that are a little more enticing to read. But I do think it’s worth the read if you’re looking into improving your communication or interpersonal skills. 

Here’s how I rate all my books: My Rating System

What to Read After How to Win Friends and Influence People

There’s tons of self-improvement books with innovative ways to implement some of key points of this book or look at some of these same concepts from a different point of view. Another one of these books may have things stated in better ways for you to implement in your own life. 

Atomic Habits by James Clear

This is another classic in self-improvement books that can help you actually change and live out the things you read about in Carnegie’s book. Choose one point from Carnegie’s book to try in your life, and then use the tools in Atomic Habits to make that change. After reading both books, these changes seem much more doable in daily life. 

Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman

If you want to understand people (and yourself) even better and why we do these things we tend to do as human beings, try Emotional Intelligence. This is another great option to improve relationships as well as improve yourself as a person. 

How to Stop Worrying and Start Living by Dale Carnegie

If you really loved this book, got a ton out of it, or just liked the writing style, try another Carnegie book. While not quite as popular as How to Win Friends, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living is another beloved personal development book that has helped tons of people over the years.