I love this book "How to Win Friends" by Dale Carnegie. This is one of my prized possessions in my collection of books. I can read it umpteen number of times and still never get bored of it just as I do with Harry Potter :)
I learnt a lot from this book, mainly how to control my anger, how to stop myself from indulging in arguments. This book has definitely a greater influence on me. It has a number of short stories which are real life incidents which took place in the lives of great people as well as between normal people. They are inspiring and thought-provoking. The entire book speaks of Effective Speaking and maintaining good human relations with everyone.
Hmm well it's very hard though to follow every principle of it for me. But I felt there is nothing wrong in giving it a try. Sadly I never implemented all of the said principles in my real life. But whenever I read this book again I used to make a resolution that I will strongly follow all the said principles. :)
Whenever you get your hands on this book. Don't forget to read it and add it to your collection of books as well.
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Here is a small pick from the book.
"Bob Hoover, a famous test pilot and frequent performer at the air shows, was returning to his home in Los Angeles from an air show in San Diego. At 300 ft, up in the air, both engines suddenly stopped. By deft manuevering he managed to land the plane, but it was badly damaged although nobody was hurt.
Hoover's first act after the emergency landing was to inspect the airplane's fuel. Just as he suspected, the World War II propeller plane he had been flying had been fueled with jet fuel rather than gasoline.
Upon returning to the airport, he asked to see the mechanic who had serviced his airplane. The young man was sick with the agony of his mistake. Tears streamed down his face as Hoover approached. He had just caused the loss of a very expensive plane and could have caused the death of three lives as well.
You can imagine Hoover's anger. One could anticipate the tongue-lashing that this proud and precise pilot would unleash for that carelessness. But Hoover didn't scold the mechanic; he didn't even criticize him. Instead, he put his big arm around the man's shoulder and said, "To show you I'm sure that you'll never do this again, I want you to service my F-51 tomorrow."
