Help me pick a book!

[Lord Torath]

As part of a "Team Building" Exercise at work, I need to read one of the following books:

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Atomic Habits by James Clear
The Oz Principle by Craig Hickman, Roger Connors, and Tom Smith

Which one would you suggest and why? Which one would you avoid at all costs?

[dafrca]

As part of a "Team Building" Exercise at work, I need to read one of the following books:

How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Atomic Habits by James Clear
The Oz Principle by Craig Hickman, Roger Connors, and Tom Smith

Which one would you suggest and why? Which one would you avoid at all costs?

I read How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie and thought it was good. Not the best book I have read but it was interesting and after I read it I was part of a discussion group who discussed it. It has some great points in it and if one were looking to improve their own life there is some great advice in it. Given the limited choice I would select it. :smallsmile:

[Rynjin]

I've never read any of the three.

I've heard of the first, and it always sounded really pretentious to me, so I'd say skip it. Plus I don't trust "self help" authors on a matter of principle.

Toss up between the other two, I'm a little more curious what "The Oz Principle" actually is over "Atomic Habits".

[Lord Torath]

So, one vote for How to Win Friends..., and one vote for "anything other than How to Win Friends..."
:smallconfused:

Anyone want to break the tie? For what it's worth, I strongly suspect all three titles fall well inside the "Self Help" category.

[Eldan]

They all sound kind of obnoxious, but I'll agree that the Oz Principle is the most interesting title.

[Imbalance]

I only know of the first one through parodies, and wasn't sure it was real for a long time. The second title sounds like it could be about nuns during the cold war. The last one has three authors, so it must be the best.

[Iruka]

Of those, I only read How to Win Friends and Influence People. Nothing exceptional, I remember mostly reasonable but basic stuff like "remember people's names" and "show genuine interest in other people", couched in anecdotes and testimonials that seem to be typical for self-help books. If you just want to get it over with, it's a quick and easy read. Since it is from the 30's, I found its old-fashioned style endearing.

[tyckspoon]

Based mostly on Googling and summarizing other people's summaries, so.. apply necessary amounts of salt before accepting, but:

Win Friends, Influence People: A natural extrovert writes a guide on how to pretend to be one.

Atomic Habits: Claims to teach how to reliably unset your bad habits and establish your preferred ones. Could also be titled "How to keep your New Year's Resolutions for more than a week."

The Oz Principle: Something about how everybody has lost their mojo and the way back to Real American Business is to accept 'Personal Responsibility.' Sounds like something that would make me want to punch its authors.

If you're going to be forced to read one, pick the one that seems like it might be useful to you or just least obnoxious. Probably not The Oz Principle.

[Rynjin]

You're no fun, making a guess just based on the title of three useless books I'll never read was the whole appeal of this thread to me.

[Lord Torath]

The availability (and lack there of) of the various books at my local library means I'm going to be reading How to Win Friends....

Thanks for your insight, thoughts, and advice, everyone!

[Scarlet Knight]

If you have access to the NY Times Book review from this last Sunday (Oct 24,2021), they reprinted the original review from 1937 of "How to Win Friends and Influence People" by Dale Carnegie