The author, a recognized scientist succeeds in being both accessible and mainstream it never sinks into the soothing jargon 'and distil high level of knowledge and supported by solid scientific studies cited throughout the book. His personal experience is also far from being confined to laboratories since he lived inside many sales training courses, seminars, religious conferences, fundraisers, etc. for years. Extremely rare thing in a book of this kind, it also lets show through his personality and his human weaknesses through personal anecdotes 'in relation to the subject matter' he tells us, which completes to give appreciable form and sometimes even humorous in this book.
On content, his reading will only increase your awareness of many mechanisms that influence us without our realizing it, thereby increasing your circle of influence automatically, your awareness of yourself and your freedom of action . Like the Little Treaty of manipulation for honest people 'that it focuses more on consistency and commitment - Influence of reading and Handling automatically endow you with advanced protection against manipulation, you will spot a lot more easily, allowing you to choose more rationally answers you will provide them.
Although the author has designed his book as a defense manual 'and hates viscerally any form of manipulation as reflected in his stories it is also a must-have for any trader, marketer, entrepreneur, advertising, in short anyone wishing to sell products or services and anxious to understand some mechanisms of human decision making. As with many skills, they can be used as weapons or tools, and sometimes subtle nuance between the two will be linked to the ethics that you will set.
In terms of defects, it should be noted that the age of the first edition (1983) is felt, and that most of the examples, stories and scientific studies spread from the 50 to 70. This is however a minor fault and human nature remains the same, it seems unlikely that these examples are less relevant today than they were a few years ago.
I recommend this book. This is a must have, complete, relevant, exciting and very easy to read. A gem.
Strengths:
* Large panorama persuasion techniques
* Easy to read
* Comprehensive, relevant, exciting
* A true defense against manual handling
* And an excellent book for anyone wanting to promote a product or service
Weak points:
* Examples somewhat outdated
Note, however, the French translation of the title very biased: the original title is "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion" which literally translates to "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion". Here we see that the translator has added an unnecessary layer of negative connotation).
