Book Reviews

 Feel the fear and do it anyway by Susan Jeffers

This book really is excellent. I bought it from Amazon as an order filler, not really knowing what to expect although it had so many excellent reviews. Having read it, I can see exactly why it has received so many compelling testimonies.
The book is written in a friendly and extremely engaging way. Throughout I found myself recognizing the behaviours and feelings presented in my own experiences and thoughts, not just in the ‘negative’ aspects of fear but also where I had overcome the thoughts that were holding me back in areas of my life.
I recommend this book and suggest it has something for everyone.

Rating: 5/5

Influence: Science and Practice by Robert B. Cialdini

This book is very interesting and informative. It has sufficient academic reference to give authority and credibility, but is written in a more engaging voice than I have experienced from academic books in the past.
To add to the academic studies there are numerous observations and real life examples to support. While reading it I was able to relate experiences of my own to the topics covered and recognise how easily it is to act automatically in certain situations where the ‘click-whirr’ response kicks in.
I would heartily recommend this book to any one who wants to better understand how techniques are used to influence or gain compliance

Rating: 5/5

Top Performer by Stephen Lundin and Carr Hagerm

I bought this book as I had already read Fish, unfortunately this book did not quite live up to my expectations. Written as a story the book explores the journey of a successful sales person on his discovery of the ‘natural energy’ harnessed by street performers and how he then applies it to reinvigorate his career. The story itself is easy to read and mildly entertaining, however, the learning points around harnessing and using ‘natural energy’ are rather weak and have little depth in my opinion.
Rating: 2/5

Persuasion: The Art of Influencing Peopleby James Borg

I found the book to be easy to read and comprehend. There appeared to be a lot of common sense points, yet I recognise common sense is not always common practice.

The chapters tend to flow quite well and are informative, however, I would say that some of the example dialogues provided in them are a little contrived.

I would draw the authors attention to the table on p98, showing first Mondays in a month. This shows the first Monday of August 2005 as the 8th, this cannot be and is not correct. As there are only seven days in a week, for the 8th to be a Monday so would the 1st have to be; which in fact it was in August 2005.

At the Amazon selling price I would suggest it is worth buying as it will provide a useful reference.
Rating: 3/5

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