Review by Owen Hughes
I guess if Dale Carnegie was writing today, he would be quite a star author, since the subject which he helped to develop has become one of the most popular of all those to be found on bookshop shelves. How surprising is it then, to consider that Carnegie had such tremendous success in an epoch where a great many people would have had difficulty just coming to terms with his ideas, let alone embracing them. It seems simplistic to say that most of Carnegie's text is just plain common sense: it certainly is that. His prose is also delivered in an unequivocal fashion, but with humour. He knows what he's talking about, and he knows probably, that you or me or the next guy is going to be sceptical anyway. So he just tells it like he sees it and hopes the reader will catch the vision. Since he really hasn't got a hobbyhorse to ride, we do catch the drift (at least the millions of copies sold suggest that we do). I believe if you read this book and don't have a thoroughly enjoyable time (as you straighten out a lot of your own thinking), then it will only be because you need to come back to it in two or perhaps five years time. In addition to the above, let me say that Carnegie is also a fine writer, which helps. |
