Vermilion How Develop Self Confidence And Influence People By Public Speaking by Dale Carnegie - Paperback

Timeless truths that everyone should know for business, professional and basic daily living. No trendy psych stuff either.

I bought already many books of Dale Carnegie and I haven't been disappointed yet; that applies to this book. Well explained, easy to understand in the use of language but again the font is small. Worth taking it if you have stage fright or you want to become a better speaker

This book is a companion to Carnegie's other classic, "How to Win Friends and Influence People". So some of the anectodes, passages, and principles are shared (such as Carnegie's fascination with the life of ex-US president Abraham Lincoln). And the reading of both books offers a complementary set of ideas and skills that share the same aim: learning to deal with other people, publicly and privately. Not only is this a comprenhensive guide to developing the art of public speaking (a job it performs as it should: offering an emphasis on practice and practical, specific advice)...but by trying to solve that particular problem so ambitiously, it ends up offering the solutions an endless set of areas of life. This book is, escentially, a discussion of every problem that involves the process of gathering and communicating ideas. "Gathering and communicating ideas"... it is what these days gets mistakingly refered to as "the creative process". Every form of art and design, from writting, to drawing, to acting, falls into this cathegory of "gathering ideas and then communicating them to an audience". If you engage in one of these "creative activities"...have you ever gone through an "art block"? that frustrating mental block that inhabilates your action and stops you from generating ideas/putting them on paper? well, thinking of a speech in real-time is a race that makes you jump through the same hurdles. The methods described to make speeches here, effectively deal with those same barriers. By consciously applying those techniques, you could theorically overcome any "art block" that gets in the way. Ever been gotten stuck while learning *something*? preparing a speech requires proper *internalization* of the material, and this book covers tons of methods for internalization and deep understanding that are as applicable to speech-making as they are to learning /any/ theorical material. But at its core, what makes this stand out is its standing, valiant, daring desire to actually, honestly, humbly speak about that (much mentioned, but seldom defined) concept known as "human nature". The author goes to great leghts to identify what is it that makes people *tick*. What are the principles that rule our lives and that will make us *do* things- like let someone give us a lecture? what makes people INTERESTED in things? if we make the conscious descision to understand those principles, to disect them and review them fearlessly, then those principles will be the applicable to every single area of our lives. Whenever we might need to infleunce people to take action, or to win them to our way of thinking... to make our ideas clear; or simply to entertain...that whole process is described so beautifully and thoughtfully that it is what gives this text its trascendential quality. _ The one flaw in this text (not nearly as evident in HTWFAIP) is the same present in most other western classics of the 20th century: it is uncomfortably bigoted. There are a considerable ammount of racist passages and anectodes, and the evangelist christianist perspective gets tiring very quickly. Althought these features aren't prevalent enough to make it un-readable, it does make getting through some reasings slightly more difficult and hinders the overall message sometimes. (I do not know however if newer editions have been edited to take out said problematic material, which is certainely possible. The book I own was a second-hand copy purchased in a book-fair years ago...and it doesn't even have the year of printing or editorial house!) With all that said...considering how this book offers solutions to many other problems not inherent to public speaking, it should be obligatory reading to almost anybody who deals in any way with the act of communication, at any point in their lives!

Text in my copy of this book (pocket version) is double printed, so it is impossible to read. I recommend you to buy a hard copy instead.

Since I started reading this book I have really gained more self confidence than before