How to Win Friends and Influence People

Overview:
In How to Win Friends & Influence People, Dale Carnegie provides some fundamental principles that people should follow in order to be successful. He begins by describing techniques for basic interactions with others. He then provides a list of ways to make people like you. The author continues further by stating once you are able to get people to like you, you can extend that to convincing people to your way of thinking. Carnegie concludes with a way to take the previously learned skills to become an effective leader. The author readily admits that the techniques he provides will not always work but he says that if they improve your social interactions even a little, then his work was successful.
The Relevance of How to Win Friends & Influence People:
As the precursor to all modern self-help books, How to Win Friends & Influence People is an extremely relevant book. Other books of its nature have attempted to modify many of the basic premises found within the book but this one is timeless. Although some of the ideas in it seem a little antiquated, the overall message is something that people should be aware of; be nice to those around you and people will at least appreciate your effort if not like you.
Book Strengths:
This book has many strengths. The most obvious of these strengths is the clean organization. Each section covers an overarching goal that connects to the section following it. Each section is also subdivided into chapters that cover principles important to attaining this goal. In addition, each of the chapter principles are outlined in a straightforward list at the end of each section to ensure that the reader remembers what was covered and is able to use this list as a quick reference.
Another strength of this book is its approach to explaining why the principles outlined are important. I have not read many self-help books but of the ones I have read exaggerate the results of following their set of rules. How to Win Friends & Influence People, in contrast, outlines realistic situations where these principles can be used. Carnegie does not claim that following these principles will gain the result desired, especially in the chapters on leadership and influencing others, but he does say it will go a long way in providing better working relationships with those around you.
This idea of creating better working relationships seemed to be the greatest strength of the book. Carnegie approaches these principles as a way to improve our interactions with others to get the most out of our lives rather than as a tool for getting rich or climbing the corporate ladder.
Book Weaknesses:
Despite many positive attributes, I felt there was one major flaw with How to Win Friends & Influence People. This flaw is the book’s assumption about the general good intentions of people. Although I would like to believe people generally have good intentions at heart in their dealings with others, I am not sure this is true. This is not to say that most people occasionally have a desire to cause harm to others but simply take actions without considering the consequences for others. This lack of compassion and understanding that individuals can have when something is occupying their attention is never addressed in the book. The fact that it only covers positive and negative interactions and not those that occur from a lack of understanding seems to limit the effectiveness of the book.
Recommendation and Closing Thoughts:
In closing, I would recommend this book to anyone interested in improving their social interactions and attitude. Even for those who are already skilled at making friends and influencing others, I would suggest reading it just to see area where you can improve.