Worth A Second Purchase???

𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟐 𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟏 𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐈 𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝟓 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝟓.

"How To Win Friends and Influence People" was the first personal development book I ever read. Being a depressed, lonely, 12 year old child I came across this book by accident at my local library. I was searching the computer's library catalog: "how to get friends", and this was the book that came up. Little did I know this book was going to become an essential for me in developing my social skills.

At first glance, you may read the principles taught in this book and go: "this is just common sense". But you may also have heard the quote "common sense isn't common". How many of us actively make an effort to genuinely smile and be empathetic towards others? How may of us jump to criticizing others without considering the other person's point of view? How many of us condemn others without remembering it won't make the other person change their mind?

I've read this book so many times I've lost count! It really changed my life, and I was so excited to see it be re-released for a new generation!

That said, the book edition of my youth was from the 1990's. How does this new 2022 edition hold up? I compared the 2 side-by-side.

PROS:
📌 Grammar revisions make the book easier to read. Examples include removal of filler words, word substitutions, and rewriting story examples. The changes are minor, so most of the time they are not very noticeable.
📌 A few new story examples have been added, featuring female figures like Evangeline Booth and Alice Foote MacDougall.
📌 A new concluding section: "Apply the Dale Carnegie Principles After the Book"

CONS:
📌 Lots of book edits come off less as necessary and more as attempts to be politically correct, to remove anything that could be seen as problematic. Examples include substituting words ("they" for "him", "not be able to walk" for "cripple", "house staff" for "servants") and stories that were needlessly removed (which leads to my next point).
📌 SO MANY story examples have been removed; no joke, I counted over 35! So many vivid examples that made the book so memorable for me as a kid, PC or not, are gone! I don't care if the story examples used Confederate general Robert E. Lee; they still illustrated the principles.
📌 Some edits just don't make sense at all. For example, they renamed Part 3, Chapter 5 from "The Secret of Socrates" to the principle "Get the Other Person Saying 'Yes, Yes' Immediately". No other chapter was renamed like this, and the Socrates example is still in the chapter.

As for the audiobook, the narrator gives a great presentation with a good range. But will his voice ever match the baritone of the original Andrew MacMillan? Unfortunately no.

In sum, for those who are new to reading this book or were born past the 2000's, I'd say this 2022 edition is a nice introduction, albeit a very sanitized one. There's a longer and better version out there. But if you're already a fan of the 90's publication and could care less about political correctness, there's not much new here to justify a second purchase. In fact, there's much less!

Sadly, this isn't the only book lately that's getting the Orwellian treatment. Roald Dahl's books and Ian Fleming's books are also currently being re-edited to remove anything deemed "offensive". And recent news just came out that R.L. Stine's books were altered in 2018 without his permission (and he's still alive). Simply put, it's really getting out of hand!

Consider me an old fashioned 30 year old Millennial, but I'll be sticking with my original copy.

42 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

This is a great book-A bit outdated/sexist

It's understandable, given how long ago this book was written, and how much our world has changed in the last decade that this book is dated. While the content is amazing (!), the stories are mostly about men and a lot of the language is stuffy and old school. It needs to be revised again for modern listeners. Women and younger listeners will most likely find it either hard to relate to or offensive.

2 personnes ont trouvé cela utile

3.8 stars - worth it 👍🏽

I was not a fan of the narrator’s voice however the information was easy to follow and recapped nicely at the end of each chapter

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

One for the library

Classic that is worth listening to over and over. If only we all could implement these habits into our lives.

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

Dated

This book has old annotations and references . I could not relate so I lost interest .

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

I couldn’t get passed the 2nd chapter

I don’t think it matters who is the reader of this book.. it just drones on and on. I found myself annoyed at myself for enduring it. Save your credit for purchase of anything else.

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

First! 😁

I’ve been waiting for this audio book to come out! First one to leave a rate!

1 personne a trouvé cela utile

A must read

I enjoyed the examples, in which I put into practice. I am already experiencing benefits, I highly recommend.

Informative

This book certainly changed my life. The ideas are simple but powerful. Worth it for anyone who struggles with having too much knowledge for their own good.

Communication

Interesting. Definitely a book to be read a couple of times. I am pausing each day prior to working with staff and implementing some changes to my management of business operations.