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comment by veen
veen  ·  3287 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: November 23rd: What are you reading this week?

Completely wasted my Audible credit on Jack Schafer's The Like Switch. I started reading hoping to get some cool FBI social hacks but all I got was asinine advice in a knockoff Dale Carnegie-esque manner for the five hours I dredged through this book. Advice like 'smile at people when you meet them' and 'make them feel good about themselves'. No shit, Sherlock. It's like it's written for someone who has 'make a friend' on their bucket list.





OftenBen  ·  3287 days ago  ·  link  ·  

Lots of 'Social Dynamics' books end up sounding like this. It's true of Dale Carnegie, it's true of Mark Manson and the PUA guys, by and large. The really important stuff, the really juicy bits that you wanted? They are either illegal or impossible to describe with text. Possibly impossible to describe with video. Video doesn't capture the 'vibe' of a room, for example.

veen  ·  3287 days ago  ·  link  ·  

One the one hand, I've yet to find one that is actually good. On the other hand, I don't really know what I'm looking for in books like those. Maybe something like Sherry Turkle's books but with a bigger scope? I mean, social interactions are so vital to everyday living you'd think there would be better books about it.