“The Skinny On The Art of Persuasion: How To Move Minds” by Jim Randel is another of the “skinny on” books. The goal of the “skinny on” books is to provide information in an enjoyable and condense manner to allow the reader to grasp the most important concepts in a short amount of time. In fact, they advertise that you can read most of the series in an hour each. I find that to be a true statement.
The books are a mix of quotes and important points mixed with stick figure stories explaining concepts. In this volume, Billy, a real estate broker, and his wife, Beth, a paralegal who is attending law school, are mentored by Jim Randel, a law professor who just happens to be teaching a class on persuasion, on the key principles, or rules, of persuasion. I like the little story lines and the way Randel presents the material. He includes a joke here and there and tries to make the learning fun. I’d guess Randel would joke about trying to see how many commas he could get in a sentence after a sentence like I wrote above.
The most important part of this book is the advice on persuasion, and the advice is spot on. Randel is an attorney and well read and experienced in the field. Besides his own experiences and examples, he quotes people such as Kevin Hogan and James Speakman, Dave Lakhani, Dale Carnegie, Robert Cialdini, Tom Hopkins, Malcolm Gladwell, and others. He presents nine rules of persuasion, but ends the book with the important concept of “persuasion is about integrity.” He even shares a personal story of his from 30 years ago that still bothers him.
This is not a deep treatise on persuasion. It’s not meant to be. It’s more of a quick and dirty lesson with many bullet points with a few examples. The book even ends with the 15 most important points to remember about being a good persuader. The tips are easy to understand, and more importantly they can be implemented just as easily. Besides that, they are effective!
Like the other “skinny on” books, if you are well read on the topic, you probably won’t find much new in this volume. However, it is a good little book to condense many others into the main topics and bullet points. If you haven’t read much on persuasion, but need or want a quick lesson on the basics, this is the perfect book for you. It’s a quick read and the advice is practical and solid. I recommend it to anyone who wants or needs a quick boost in the art of persuasion.
The Skinny on the Art of Persuasion - How to Move Minds by Jim Randel
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