Public Speaking and Influencing Men In Business by Dale Carnegie

6/10

So here's the deal, I took a Public Speaking class at UVU about five or six years ago. And this book was assigned for us to read, but if you didn't read it it wasn't like the teacher knew or that your grade was affected in any way. I read a little of it back then and promptly put it in my partially-read-but-not-finished pile. (Yes, I do have a pile for such a purpose.) I have recently been bringing books to work. I work for seven or so hours straight without a break. Sometimes I'll have a few minutes where there is absolutely nothing to do but wait for bread to come out of the oven or whatever the case may be. Sometimes I only have five minutes during a work day, sometimes three, sometimes ten, sometimes none. So I bring a book and read a page or whatever as I stand around. Well, I have been reading this very book for the last while and finally finished it off yesterday at work. Congratulations to me. Wow, that was a long-winded intro.

This book is pretty extensive. It covers all you need to know and then some about public speaking. Some of it is pretty cool and interesting, but most of it is kinda boring. He does a great job of including some pretty sweet quotes from other people that are relevant to his topic. This book is very similar to another, more famous book of his.

Something unique to this book is that at the end of each chapter he has speech building exercises, grammar lessons, correct usages of words, and voice exercises. It was funny just reading the voice exercises and not doing them. I wonder if I'm the only person in the history of the world to ever do that. My favorite was his correct usages of words portion where he explains the differences between synonyms. He dominated at explaining those, it is actually quite impressive. Here's an example concerning the word 'bias'. To quote: "Bias is literally a weight fixed on one side of a ball used in bowling and causing it to swerve from a straight course." He's full of interesting insights like this. This isn't a bad book.

Other quotes:

"The way to develop self-confidence is to do the thing you fear to do and get a record of successful experiences behind you."

"Begin to talk as confidently as if every one of them owed you money." He's actually pretty funny and has a cool way of saying things.

"A well prepared speech is already nine-tenths delivered."

"Knowledge is of little use to the speaker without earnestness. Persuasive speech is from heart to heart, not from mind to mind."

"If you want a splendid text on public speaking, why not read your New Testament?"

There are actually lots and lots of other good quotes in here. Most of them are, as I said, from outside sources. However, I'll spare you. I now look forward to adding this book into my finished book section. (Yes, I do have the books I've read separated from the ones I haven't.) That's how I roll.