𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐄: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟐 "𝐔𝐏𝐃𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐃 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐍𝐄𝐗𝐓 𝐆𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐑𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐎𝐅 𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐒" 𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝟏𝟗𝟖𝟏 𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐈 𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝟓 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝟓.
"How To Win Friends and Influence People" was the first personal development book I ever read. Being a depressed, lonely, 12 year old child I came across this book by accident at my local library. I was searching the computer's library catalog: "how to get friends", and this was the book that came up. Little did I know this book was going to become an essential for me in developing my social skills.
At first glance, you may read the principles taught in this book and go: "this is just common sense". But you may also have heard the quote "common sense isn't common". How many of us actively make an effort to genuinely smile and be empathetic towards others? How may of us jump to criticizing others without considering the other person's point of view? How many of us condemn others without remembering it won't make the other person change their mind?
I've read this book so many times I've lost count! It really changed my life, and I was so excited to see it be re-released for a new generation!
That said, the book edition of my youth was from the 1990's. How does this 2022 "Updated for the Next Generation of Leaders" edition hold up? I compared the 2 side-by-side.
PROS:
📌 Grammar revisions make the book easier to read. Examples include removal of filler words, word substitutions, and rewriting story examples. The changes are minor, so most of the time they are not very noticeable.
📌 A few new story examples have been added, featuring female figures like Evangeline Booth and Alice Foote MacDougall.
📌 A new concluding section: "Apply the Dale Carnegie Principles After the Book"
CONS:
📌 Lots of book edits come off less as necessary and more as attempts to be politically correct, to remove anything that could be seen as problematic. Examples include substituting words ("they" for "him", "not be able to walk" for "cripple", "house staff" for "servants") and stories that were needlessly removed (which leads to my next point).
📌 SO MANY story examples have been removed; no joke, I counted over 35! So many vivid examples that made the book so memorable for me as a kid, PC or not, are gone! I don't care if the story examples used Confederate general Robert E. Lee; they still illustrated the principles.
📌 Some edits just don't make sense at all. For example, they renamed Part 3, Chapter 5 from "The Secret of Socrates" to the principle "Get the Other Person Saying 'Yes, Yes' Immediately". No other chapter was renamed like this, and the Socrates example is still in the chapter.
As for the audiobook, the narrator gives a great presentation with a good range. But will his voice ever match the baritone of the original Andrew MacMillan? Unfortunately no.
In sum, for those who are new to reading this book or were born past the 2000's, I'd say this 2022 edition is a nice introduction, albeit a very sanitized one. There's a longer and better version out there. But if you're already a fan of the 90's publication and could care less about political correctness, there's not much new here to justify a second purchase. In fact, there's much less!
Sadly, this isn't the only book lately that's getting the Orwellian treatment. Other authors whose books have been altered lately for offensive content include Roald Dahl, Ian Fleming, Agatha Christie, and R.L. Stine (not to mention he's still alive and did not approve the changes). Simply put, it's really getting out of hand!
Consider me an old fashioned 30 year old Millennial, but I'll be sticking with my original copy.
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Reviews with images
Great book
Amazing book the information is a must however I do have concern with the packaging just got this book brand new and for some reason there wrinkles and random black scaring on the book already.
Top reviews from other countries
Estibaliz Macarena Cáceres de León
Todo el mundo debe de leer este libro
Reviewed in Mexico on June 14, 2022Kindle Customer
Great book with great insights
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 29, 2024
