HN Books @HNBooksMonth

Study persuasion and communication.

* Robert Cialdini's "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion * Jeff Cannon's "Leadership Lessons of the Navy Seals" * Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People"

Attend Public Speaking workshops. If there's a ToastMasters club in your area, join it. Improv can be another great way to learn how to get "less rigid" and more open with your communication style.

https://www.amazon.com/Influence-Psychology-Persuasion-Rober...

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0053ALPPQ/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?...

https://www.amazon.com/How-Win-Friends-Influence-People/dp/0...

⬐ warent

But also don't overdo it. People can tell when you're just parroting the countless business/persuasion books.

⬐ tuxxy

This. It's so obvious when people start using tips from these kinds of books. If you read them, you also start to notice people _everywhere_ using it.

⬐ steelframe

Whenever I use a technique I've learned about in a book, I try to make it a point that I'm doing that, and I frequently mention the book the technique comes from. Just because it's in a book doesn't disqualify it as an effective method. At the same time, being transparent about your methods is important, since the methods themselves should be subject to scrutiny and understanding.

⬐ alexcnwy

toastmasters - especially the improv "table topics" activities - has been indescribably valuable for me.

It helped me go from being too shy to give a presentation in front of one person to giving talks to hundreds of strangers at a time.

Pro-tip: you can attend the first one or two meetings of each toastmasters group for free so if you're a broke student like I was at the time, just rotate the groups since there are several in each city. Also universities often have great toastmasters clubs.

⬐ Alterlife

+1 on the table topics.

IMO it's the valuable part of Toastmasters. Toastmasters in general was too much of a cult-like environment for me, I wish there was a toast-masters 'lite' with just the table topics.

⬐ alexcnwy

Haha yeah I felt the same weird cult-like vibe.

The thing about table-topics is you can't simulate it. People think they can do it until they get up in front of an audience of strangers. It's like that Mike Tyson quote: "everyone has a plan until they get punthed in the face" (couldn't resist)

How about `How to Win Friends and Influence People` by Dale Carnegie?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0091906350