How to Win Friends and Influence People Book Summary and Notes

How to Win Friends and Influence People Book Summary and Notes

A practical work on interpersonal relations, this book takes an in-depth look at human nature and taps into the hidden weaknesses of humanity. Through reading this book, one can get to know more about themselves and make further self-improvements. This book became a worldwide bestseller immediately after its debut. It has been translated into almost every major language in the world within decades of its release. It’s hailed as the bible of social skills. In 2011, it was number 19 on Time Magazine's list of the 100 most influential books.

Overview | Chapter 1

Hi, welcome to Bookey. Today we’ll unlock the book How to Win Friends and Influence People. Many of us are familiar with or have even read this book. It has continued to gain popularity and receive acclaim from readers around the world. It has also been published in many editions. Data shows that this book has sold tens of millions of copies worldwide, a truly remarkable number in the history of publication. It provides people with guidelines for dealing with others, in addition to sharing many ideas about how to live a happy life. Numerous people have benefited from it. Ever since Carnegie revealed the secret to harmonious relationships to many people around the world, other books on the subject of interpersonal relationships have emerged. Due to his enormous influence, Carnegie has been praised as one of the greatest experts in self-help and interpersonal relationships. It may be hard to imagine that, while Carnegie is now a revered mentor in the self-help industry, he used to suffer a lot from his inability to effectively deal with people. Carnegie was not born a genius of social skills. He learned from his own personal experiences and turned them into assets. Carnegie was born in the 1880s in a small town in Missouri. His family was poor, so he was always hungry and cold. Due to malnutrition, little Carnegie was rather skinny and short, making his ears, which were disproportionately big compared to his head, seemed even larger. Because of his big ears, little Carnegie was often teased by his classmates. One day, he got into a fight with a boy in his class. He said something very mean to the boy, who became so furious that he threatened to cut off Carnegie’s ears. Carnegie was terrified. In the next few days, he kept worrying about his ears being cut off. He was even too scared to fall asleep, fearing that his ears would be cut off in his dreams. But this was not his only concern. When he was a kid, Carnegie would dwell on anxieties to the point of tears. He worried about so many absurd things, for example, being buried alive like a seed, getting killed by a lightning strike, or going to hell after dying. He also worried that no girl would ever want to marry him, or that he would be kidnapped by aliens. Later on, Carnegie realized that most people’s worries were not necessary, because there was a 99% chance that they wouldn’t happen. After a long period of anxiety and lack of confidence when growing up, he attended the State Teachers’ College in Warrensburgh, Missouri. Here, he took an interest in debating, and became very fond of it. So, he attended debates and public speaking competitions frequently, painstakingly honing his speaking skills. He won the majority of contests in which he participated, and gained great confidence from giving speeches. Gradually, he realized that this could be his life-long career. Afterward, Carnegie started to give inspirational speeches around the world. He wrote many self-help books, like How to Win Friends and Influence People, How to Stop Worrying and Start Living, and How to Enjoy Your Life and Your Job. His courses teaching interpersonal skills started to be held around the world. A worried little boy with low self-esteem finally became the great mentor of self-help we know today.