"I judged a book by it's cover-story"
I ordered this book after reading articles and watching video clips about how great is was, but it turned out to be a random collection of general knowledge, peppered with drooling Apple product advocation and anti-(Adobe)Flash statements about how a web site home page should appear. I really was hoping that this would provide some insight into the psychology of customer motivation and product/service marketing, but it turned out to be (in my opinion) overstatement of the obvious.
Hey, the advertising worked on me, so there must be some magic in there somewhere!
"Just as disappointing as "Art of the Start""
Garden-variety advice, garden-variety prose. Can't argue with the advice, but it's simply the sort of thing anyone's mom tells them. "Be a good person".
"A Meal of Cotton Candy"
This book offers a very high-level overview of some of the psychology and research behind the elusive notion of being 'enchanting'. There is very little original content, as Kawasaki borrows from a vast array of other authors, including Malcolm Gladwell and Robert Cialdini. This book is a great jumping off point if you're looking for other sources that will drill down deeper into a particular subject. This book does a good job of explaining 'what to do' but without the critical 'how to do it' part. I found it to be dis-jointed as it jumped from subject to subject. Thrown in are a number of 'real life' stories, which were mildly interesting, but didn't appear to have much to do with the subject matter. As an avid reader of books in this category, reading Enchantment was like sitting down to dinner and being fed only cotton candy.
caffeinated
"A short book that's short on original insights."
I really admire Guy Kawasaki, but I could not offer up the fifth star for this book because too much of this book is recycled material. I've seen it or read much of it in other books. It's a worthwhile read if you are new to marketing or customer service. The term enchantment, may sound enchanting, but it's really just another way of talking about delivering positive experiences.
"An Enchanted Review"
This is my first review on Amazon. And I did it because Guy asked me to. I was enchanted.
He mentioned in the book how he makes a strong effort to respond to emails, so I decided to give it a try. I shared my thoughts with him on the book and he actually responded to me. Now that's enchantment!
As I told Guy, I downloaded it from Audible. The lessons mixed with real life stories were inspiring and insightful. I also believe it helped me to focus and make great first impressions in some recent meetings.
Working in politics and government, I see real value in the book for candidates, campaign managers and anyone already in elected office. I also think it's great for anyone looking to change jobs or even start their own business. I definitely plan on listening to it again and taking a look at some of his previous books too.
"Enchanting and well worth it but.."
Enchantment is certainly worth the listen. In fact true to form Guy spews out info at the rate of a fire hose and this is good and bad. Good because he makes sure you get value for your hard earned dollar and good because you will walk away with a number of action items you can actually act on right away. However, it is bad because you will never remember all of them. For this reason (and Guy will love this advice) you might want to also buy the actual book for reference.
Having said that I fully understand Dan's review "A Meal of Cotton Candy" (love his title). Almost everything Dan says in the review is correct. But I think Guy does a great job serving up the Cotton Candy. He puts a lot of info into one place and as I said, I at least walked away saying, "I need to do that." OK to be more accurate I should say, "I forgot Cialdini had written about that, I need to go do it". So, while this is certainly negative in one respect it does speak to Dan's point that the book is a good jumping off point for ideas for further reading. The one point in Dan's review that I disagree with is that Guy only addresses the 'what to do' but not the critical 'how to do it'. In some cases Guy does talk about the "how" and in others the "how" is obvious but it is often hard to remember to do it. For example, "do no evil" or I think Guy also borrows the idea of "don't do anything you wouldn't want to see published in your local paper". Well, I suppose Guy could have advised posting this mantra on your desk.
Finally, I have to say that I got a huge chuckle out of the book having recently finished "The Six Figure Second Income" (Jonathan Rozek , David Lindahl) because Guy must have just finished it as well. Although Guy has been at it for awhile so I wouldn't be surprised if he was the inspiration for Rozek and Lindahl. I won't go into the details but if you do listen to "The Six Figure Second Income" you will quickly get my point as well as a good chuckle.
"Very good "update" to Carnegie's principles"
While Dale Carnegie's work is certainly applicable today, I like how this book updates it and demonstrates how the principles still apply. This is certainly not merely a retelling or updating of the Carnegie book, but rather further demonstration how those basic principles continue to work.
"Problems with Audio at end of chapters"
There was a problem with the Audio in numerous chapters
There was an Echo for numerous seconds to a point where you could not hear the Audiobook, this happened in numerous chapters.
"In Depth Common Sense"
The book is well written, but it didn't have any take-aways for me. As long as you apply a little common sense, and try to be likeable, then this book doesn't really have to much going for it. If you have trouble being likeable, then this would be a great read.
"Insight into why we like some things; love others"
Guy Kawasaki is a great writer who includes humour and personal experience to make his point. If you've ever wondered why you like some products, but really love others, this book is for you. It gives insight into how you too could "enchant" people to your way of thinking or in relation to your product or business. Good listen.