Ten years ago I bought this book in the Extreme Clearance section at Barnes & Noble. It was the very same day of my first speech in college. I bought it, read some of it, and then for more or less ten years it sat unread in the basket behind the toilet.

I'm not sure why I saved it, because I have given almost all my books away in a number of purges over the years, but I did save it, and I recently read it... day-by-day... in the best lit reading room I know.

I liked the excerpts section more than the speech section. There was a whole bunch of good stuff in there about how to live a happy life; grateful living, knowing yourself, these kinds of things. There were also many interesting books mentioned that I now want to read -- Benjamin Franklin's autobiography especially.

Someday I'd like to do some public speaking, so it's possible I'll revisit it in the future and spend more time on those parts as well!

Very interesting and helpful advices for getting better at public speaking. What I liked is that it’s helpful for all kind of speaking, even weekly meetings at work or any kind of speaking where you would like to be heard and taken seriously. It gives precise points on how to get better at communicating and especially that everyone can do it!

Finally... I made it to the end.

The book actually contains heaps of valuable lessons to develop public speaking skill — an applicative read indeed. But, since it was written in the early 20th century, it is quite tedious with so many examples of famous people in the past that are no longer relevant (especially for non-Americans) such as Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt and Charlie Chaplin.

If you are planning to read this book with the hope to improve your public speaking ability, I suggest you to jump ahead to the summary from each chapter.

Buon libro, alcuni consigli sono già conosciuti.

A very good book, I would suggest for everyone to read it especially for especially for people who are poor conversionalist and have fear of public speaking.. although this book is kind of old, his vocabularies are not too complex and moderately verbose for a normal person comprehension.

Summary at the end of each chapter is very good.

1926 yilinda yazilmis, bazi oneriler gunu gecmis hissetiriyor. Bir konusma yapacaksaniz o konusmayi cok uzun zaman aklinizda tasarlayip onunla yasamanizi ogutluyor, gunumuz dunyasinda bu kulaga cok da pratik gelmiyor.

I'm not saying that they are bad but self-help books aren't my thing. Honestly I expect to find out how self-confidence is constructed and preserved concerning public speech, and how to REALLY gain self-confidence, but this book is just like techniques one can apply to when making speeches. And the techniques, they might be useful almost 100 years ago when the book was written, but now they sound a little bit too eye-attracting, a little frivolous even. (Maybe I'm being too skeptical, or maybe I just don't like speeches at all.)
I also think this book is more inclined to male readers/listeners but that's probably because it was written so long ago.

This book has since been republished under the name "Public Speaking for Success" but I suppose they liked the naming formula of his classic "How to find friends and etc."

Despite being involved in Toastmasters for almost four years now, I have read surprisingly few books on the art of public speaking. As a result, I did not have much to compare this too, outside of my own experiences. Perhaps as a result, I found myself nodding in agreement to most of the advice and premises of this book.

The book is broken into several chapters from building the confidence to getting into public speaking to improving your memory to developing a strong stage presence to opening and closing talks to general advice about how to be interesting and clear. It's a pretty comprehensive book on the art of speaking, despite being only about 200 pages. It's an excellent book for both the beginner and intermediate speaker. I'm sure even advanced speakers will appreciate the clear and frank advice.

In addition, it's spread throughout with interesting anecdotes both personal and historical from Dale Carnegie's extensive life as a public speaking coach and amateur historian. Definitely a classic book and I would definitely recommend it for everyone interested in public speaking to advance their personal and professional lives.

For effective public speaking: 1) Start with a strong and persistent desire 2) Prepare thoroughly 3) Act confident 4) Practise


Self confidence through preparation
- A well-prepared speech is already nine-tenths delivered
- Real preparation consists in assembling and arranging your own thoughts, in cherishing and nurturing your own convictions
- A speech must grow
- The way to develop reserve power is to know far more than you can use
Tip:
Give a human interest narrative a real picture based on first-hand experiences. The truthful inside story of almost anyone's life - if told modestly and without defending egotism - is most entertaining.


How famous speakers prepared their addresses
Dr Conwell's Method:
1. State your facts
2. Argue from them
3. Appeal for action


"Natural Laws of Remembering" - impression, repitition, association


If you get discouraged try Teddy Roosevelt's plan of looking at Lincoln's picture and asking yourself what he would have done under similar circumstances


Delivery
"Three things matter in a speech who says it, how he says it and what he says-and, of the three, the last matters the least" [Lord Morley]


When talking about changing styles in delivery: "The verbal fireworks that were once the vogue would no longer be tolerated by an audience in this year of grace" [Carnegie]


Secret of Good Delivery: 1) Stress important words, subordinate unimportant ones 2) Change your pitch 3) Vary your rate of speaking 4) Pause before and after important ideas


Ways to Start a Talk: 1) Arouse Curiosity 2) Relevant story 3) Question 4) Striking quotation 5) Show how topic affects audience


Ways to End a Talk: 1) Summarize 2) Appeal for action 3) Raise a laugh 4) Build up a climax


Every Speach has Four Main Goals: I) To make something clear II) To impress and convince III) To get action IV) To entertain


How to make your meaning clear: 1) Avoid using technical terms - follow Lincoln's plan of putting your ideas into language plain enough for any boy or girl to comprehend 2) Restate your big ideas but don't repeat - don't use the same phrases twice 3) Close with a brief summary of your points


Remember - One of the most interesting things in the world is sublimated, glorified gossip


"Tell me what you read and I will tell you what you are" [Goethe]


We are evaluated in a classified by four things: by what we do, by how we look, by what we say, and by how we say it

in the beginning of the book, it is said that many people are having difficulties with public speaking. the introduction encourage the readers to not feel ashamed about it; because some of the best speakers these days had also experienced it before their success. to be able to overcome weakness in public speaking, Dale Carnegie mentioned 4 essential things before explaining things further:

1. start with a strong and persistent desire

2. to know thoroughly what you are going to talk about

3. act confident

4. practice! practice! practice!

the author also said that most people who had difficulties in public speaking are caused by lack of confidence; that's why it's very important to develop confidence. so the book shares several things that helps build confidence while delivering speeches; such as the procedure of preparing a speech, how to improve your memory, how to deliver a good speech, how to open and close a talk, how to interest your audience, and also how to improve your diction. each part provides good and not so good examples that we can learn from. many good ones came from famous people such as Abraham Lincoln. those examples are discussed and the author point out the things that are important.

there are quotes in the book that really motivates me :) the first one is a quote by Elbert Hubbard (p.86). i'm only going to write a part of it, which says:

"Picture in your mind the able, earnest, useful person you desire to be, and the thought you hold is hourly transforming you into that particular individual ... Thought is supreme. Preserve a right mental attitude-the attitude of courage, frankness and good cheer. To think rightly is to create. All things come through desire and every sincere prayer is answered. We become like that on which our hearts are fixed." ♥♥♥

the second is a quote by Anon (p.100)

"If you think you are beaten, you are.
If you think you dare not, you don't.
If you'd like to win, but think you can't
it's almost a cinch you won't.
Life battles don't always go
to the stronger or faster man;
But soon or late the man who wins
is the one who thinks he can."

i think that is a very motivational, poetic, beautiful quote. ♥♥♥ i keep reading it over and over and still got that same amazed feeling ◠‿◠
--
for me personally, i learned so many things about public speaking from the book. it almost feels like i'm reading a highschool textbook. the content is brilliant, but for me (personally) sometimes it gets boring :P
but overall, this is still a very good book; especially for those who wants to improve their public speaking skills, this is definitely the book to read! (✿◠‿◠)

I read this to prepare for #Etibakbakan2024, which is a poetry slam contest officially part of the Philippines' National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) - National Committee on Literary Arts (NCLA).

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