How to Win Friends and Influence PeopleHow to Win Friends and Influence People
What it's about
Dale Carnegie's 1936 guide to getting along with people is built on a few simple, practical principles: show genuine interest in others, remember their names, listen more than you talk, let people save face, and never criticize when you can encourage instead. He illustrates each one with stories of business leaders, presidents and ordinary people whose lives changed when they put these ideas to work.
Why it's worth reading
It's one of the best-selling books of all time because its advice still works, nearly a century later, in jobs, marriages and friendships. It's the foundation of practically every modern book about people skills.
You'll love it if you liked
The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Outliers: The Story of Success or The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness
Good to know
The examples are old-fashioned (lots of 1930s salesmen), but the principles are timeless. It's best read a chapter at a time and put into practice.
By the numbers
- Readers76 out of 100 · counts 40%+35
- Critics51 out of 100 · counts 14%+8
- Bestseller90 out of 100 · counts 32% (its stronger lane)+32
- Buzz0 out of 100 · counts 15%+0
Critics and Bestseller are two ways to earn a place: a book's stronger one counts more. Buzz rewards recent bestseller weeks and prizes, so older books start at zero.
On the Guardian 100 Best Nonfiction Books of All Time list. One of the best-selling books ever (about 37 million copies). 4.21★ from 1.2M Goodreads ratings.
Where it ranks
- #2 of the 25 self-help and business books we rank
- #12 of the 520 classics we rank
- #52 of the 1,405 books we rank
Bestseller
- One of the best-selling books ever (about 37 million copies)
- #1 New York Times bestseller (32 weeks at #1)
On the lists
- Guardian 100 Best Nonfiction Books of All Time
Reads as
Practical, Thought-provoking
More by Dale Carnegie
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The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People
The Denial of Death
Liar's Poker
The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Caused an Epidemic of Mental Illness