What We Are Reading Today: ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’

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Updated 21 March 2025
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’

What We Are Reading Today: ‘How to Win Friends and Influence People’
  • The book blends psychology with actionable tips, demystifying what drives human behavior

Author: Dale Carnegie

Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People,” first published in 1936, is still a staple of the self-help genre.

Its advice on building relationships and navigating social dynamics has not lost relevance. The central idea? Ditch the self-focused mindset and prioritize empathy — Carnegie insists real influence starts with authenticity and mutual respect.

The book breaks down his philosophy into straightforward rules: Don’t criticize people, give honest praise, and get others excited about their goals.

He also stresses the value of listening deeply, famously noting that you will make more friends by showing curiosity about others than by trying to impress them.

Packed with stories — from boardroom deals to casual chats — Carnegie shows how humility and emotional intelligence can turn conflicts into collaborations.

What makes Carnegie’s approach work is its simplicity. He avoids slick manipulation tricks, arguing instead for small, sincere gestures.

Sure, advice such as smiling more or using someone’s name might sound obvious, but these acts of kindness lay the groundwork for trust.

The book blends psychology with actionable tips, demystifying what drives human behavior.

Some critics call parts of his formula outdated, but Carnegie’s focus on understanding others hits home now more than ever.

His ideas have shaped everyone from Warren Buffett to today’s startup founders, proving that connecting with people never goes out of style.

For modern readers, the book does two things: It calls out our habit of treating relationships like transactions, then hands us the tools to fix it. In a world glued to screens, Carnegie’s push for genuine, in-person communication feels almost revolutionary.

“How to Win Friends and Influence People” is not just about climbing the ladder — it is about doing it without losing yourself.

As Carnegie wrote, “Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get.” Nearly 90 years later, that balance still defines his message.

 


What We Are Reading Today: Little Bosses Everywhere by Bridget Read

What We Are Reading Today: Little Bosses Everywhere by Bridget Read
Updated 10 May 2025
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What We Are Reading Today: Little Bosses Everywhere by Bridget Read

What We Are Reading Today: Little Bosses Everywhere by Bridget Read

In “Little Bosses Everywhere,” journalist Bridget Read tells the gripping story of multilevel marketing in full for the first time.

“Little Bosses Everywhere” exposes the deceptions of direct-selling companies that make their profit not off customers but off their own sales force.

The book lays out an almost prosecutorial case against many multilevel marketing schemes, explaining why regulators need to take the industry seriously, and the larger story it tells about whom the economy has set up to fail. 

The book “reads like a thriller as it investigates the birth and growth of this shadowy and sprawling industry that polished up door-to-door sales with a new veneer of all-American entrepreneurialism,” said a review in The New York Times.

The book primarily focuses on a broader analysis of pyramid schemes and their history.


What We Are Reading Today: ‘King Leopold’s Ghostwriter’

What We Are Reading Today: ‘King Leopold’s Ghostwriter’
Updated 08 May 2025
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘King Leopold’s Ghostwriter’

What We Are Reading Today: ‘King Leopold’s Ghostwriter’

Author: Andrew Fitzmaurice

Eminent jurist, Oxford professor, advocate to the Archbishop of Canterbury, Travers Twiss (1809–1897) was a model establishment figure in Victorian Britain, and a close collaborator of Prince Metternich, the architect of the Concert of Europe.

Yet Twiss’s life was defined by two events that threatened to undermine the order that he had so stoutly defended: a notorious social scandal and the creation of the Congo Free State.

In “King Leopold’s Ghostwriter,” Andrew Fitzmaurice tells the incredible story of a man who, driven by personal events that transformed him from a reactionary to a reformer, rewrote and liberalized international law—yet did so in service of the most brutal regime of the colonial era.

In an elaborate deception, Twiss and Pharaïlde van Lynseele, a Belgian prostitute, sought to reinvent her as a woman of suitably noble birth to be his wife. Their subterfuge collapsed when another former client publicly denounced van Lynseele.


Book Review: ‘Oil Leaders’ by Dr. Ibrahim Al-Muhanna

Book Review: ‘Oil Leaders’ by Dr. Ibrahim Al-Muhanna
Updated 08 May 2025
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Book Review: ‘Oil Leaders’ by Dr. Ibrahim Al-Muhanna

Book Review: ‘Oil Leaders’ by Dr. Ibrahim Al-Muhanna

Dr. Ibrahim Al-Muhanna’s book, “Oil Leaders: An Insider’s Account of Four Decades of Saudi Arabia and OPEC’s Global Energy Policy,” offers a detailed narrative of the oil industry’s evolution from a Saudi perspective, drawing on the author’s four decades of experience.

Published in 2022, the book coincides with global energy crises triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Al-Muhanna relies on data from OPEC, the International Energy Agency and interviews to provide an anecdotal biography of key figures who shaped oil politics, targeting a broad audience including policymakers, researchers and industry professionals.

The book is divided into 11 chapters, beginning with the influential role of Saudi Oil Minister Ahmed Zaki Yamani, whose overconfidence and perceived indispensability are critically examined.

Subsequent chapters highlight other pivotal figures, such as Hisham Nazer, Yamani’s successor, and delve into events such as the 1991 Gulf War.

The narrative also covers Luis Giusti, of Venezuela’s PDVSA, whose disregard for OPEC quotas sparked tensions, and discusses OPEC’s struggles with production cuts and falling oil prices in the late 1990s, which led to economic crises in oil-exporting nations such as Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.

Al-Muhanna explores the political ramifications of oil price fluctuations, noting how high prices influenced US presidential elections and shaped diplomatic interactions, such as George W. Bush’s visit to Riyadh.

The book also examines the rise of Russia under Vladimir Putin, the privatization of Saudi Aramco as part of Vision 2030, and the roles of contemporary leaders such as Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and former US President Joe Biden in shaping global energy policy.


What We Are Reading Today: ‘Africa’s Buildings’ by Itohan I. Osayimwse

What We Are Reading Today: ‘Africa’s Buildings’ by Itohan I. Osayimwse
Updated 07 May 2025
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘Africa’s Buildings’ by Itohan I. Osayimwse

What We Are Reading Today: ‘Africa’s Buildings’ by Itohan I. Osayimwse

Between the 19th century and today, colonial officials, collectors, and anthropologists dismembered African buildings and dispersed their parts to museums in Europe and the United States.

Most of these artifacts were cataloged as ornamental art objects, which erased their intended functions, and the removal of these objects often had catastrophic consequences for the original structures.

“Africa’s Buildings” traces the history of the collection and distribution of African architectural fragments, documenting the brutality of the colonial regimes that looted Africa’s buildings.


What We Are Reading Today: ‘Birds at Rest’ by Roger Pasquier

What We Are Reading Today: ‘Birds at Rest’ by Roger Pasquier
Updated 06 May 2025
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What We Are Reading Today: ‘Birds at Rest’ by Roger Pasquier

What We Are Reading Today: ‘Birds at Rest’ by Roger Pasquier

“Birds at Rest” is the first book to give a full picture of how birds rest, roost, and sleep, a vital part of their lives.

It features new science that can measure what is happening in a bird’s brain over the course of a night or when it has flown to another hemisphere, as well as still-valuable observations by legendary naturalists such as John James Audubon, Alfred Russel Wallace, and Theodore Roosevelt. Much of what they saw and what ornithologists are studying today can be observed and enjoyed by any birder.