Armando L. Franco Carrillo

I saw it was over 10 hours long and thought it would be very complete. It was not. It is very repetitive. About one hour before the end, Brian even says : "don't worry about the material being repetitive, it's good to hear good ideas several times". When I want to listen to good ideas several times, I expect to listen to the audiobook again, not hear it time and time and again in the same program. I suspect the real reason is that this is a loosely related collection that was put together to inflate the playing time.

For those familiar with Myer-Briggs Type Indicator, he is a super judger, and in his mind that is the way to be. Make all decisions now, throw away everything, when in doubt throw it out, and so on.

Besides, Brian is very self-serving. It sounds like he's making a shameless commercial time and time again. For instance, something that goes on for several minutes is summarized as: "An audio program is equivalent to reading 35 books. You should always listen to audio programs in your car. I produce many audioprograms. With no exception, everyone who listens to my programs does a LO better one year later".

Lastly, he makes all these claims: "scientists have discovered so and so". Which scientists, where was it published, where can I check it out?

He could have summarized his points, be less self-promoting, offer names for his stories, be less patronizing.

There are several better books, succinct and to the point. "Getting it done" is a very good one. "First things first", although not my favorite, is by far better than this one.

I was hesitant to get this audio book because I read many negative comments on Amazon, but I like Scazi and Wheaton, so for it anyway, and I am glad I did.

The characters are interesting. The main one is insufferable and likeable at the same time.

I have still to finish the original book, but this one stands on its own.

There are several interesting concepts, specially the fallacies. Several people have complained about the narrator, but I set the playback at triple speed and it was easy to understand and not boring.

At the last three hours, when speaking of fractals, the author is so arrogant (this guy was my only living teacher. All my other teachers are books. He was the only one who understood the black swan and the misuse of the Bell curve, on and on) that it was too distracting.

I like what he has to say, but prefer the way "the invisble gorilla" and "thinking, fast and slow" have exposed it.

I am not sure. I did not hate it, but I was not looking forward to listen to it either. I learned some stuff, but it was boring to hear about a series of experiments and results without practical application.

It had interesting facts amid all the experiments.

He sounded excited many times at things that were not very exciting for me: "You can not distinguish DA and GA!". I felt like saying: "and so what?" many times during the book.

Not really. Maybe perform a couple of experiments some day.

"They are right" In their minds, everyone is always right, and can't go back. If the authors had given more solutions, I would have given the book 5 stars. Even without solutions it is a great book that raises a great point.

Getting out of no, that mentions you need to create a golden bridge for the other party to retreat out of their position. Mistakes were made explains again and again why they will not go back, using the pyramid model to show how by taking small steps from a common point two people can end up having a huge wall between them.How to win friends, because it says: "don't complain nor criticize" and that people do not take blame for anything. The demon haunted world, because it talks about UFO abductions and cults.

The one with the couples, because it was one of the few sections that proposed solutions.

Why they will not go back.

I loved the female narrator's voice and style. It is so easy to listen to her, I will look for another book read by her.

I will listen to it again, because one listening is not enough to absorb all the tips it has on how to get and interpret cues on what people are feeling.

The power of body language, because they talk about the same subject.

I can understand him even at thrice the speed.

I loved his chapter on how hard it is to detect deception, and cautioning listeners about the dangers and abuse that can result.

Before getting it, I read reviews complaining about two issues:
a) The need to check a PDF. I found this to be a good thing. This way I don't have to imagine everything. I printed it on two pages per sheet, both sides, and got an 8-sheet booklet, very practical.
b) The narrative being dull. I listened to it at thrice the speed, and was interesting. At normal speed it may result too slow. Fortunately, the audible app has that speed setting.

It talks about what brains do and cites experiments that talk about it. It offers bibliography that can be used to check it out. It is very funny and entertaining. It made me laugh several times.

On the other hand, I have used some of its explanations when training someone, and it makes a lot of sense to them. It actually helps me teach.

It is non-technical and fun.

There were several. A fragment of one of them was:

"... we came from Africa somewhere between 7 and 10 million years ago. Virtually everything else is disputed by some cranky professional somewhere...For the first few million years, we mostly just grabbed rocks and smashed into things. Scientists, perhaps trying to salvage some of our dignity, call these stones 'hand-axes". A million years later, our progress was still not very impressing: we still grabbed 'hand-axes', but we began to smash them into other rocks making them more pointed. Now we had 'sharper-rocks'...".

Techniques on attention, presentations, exercise and other topics.

It was a great listen, and I will be looking forward to other books from this author.

The book is full of insights on how the brain works and why people react the way they do. It also provides several tips on how to use this knowledge on practical situations.

As in most my reviews, I like when I can set the speed to three times as fast an still understand the reader.

The title is perfect:

Some of the most memorable ideas in this book are:

a) If you want to have an innovation adopted by the public, avoid the innovators, and talk to opinion leaders. Innovators are ignored because they are different.

b) People will be persuaded if they believe:
1.- Change is worth it.
2.- Change is doable.

There are six influence strategies: Social, Personal and Structural, and then adding worthiness and doability give you 3 x 2 = 6 strategies.

The narration is good, can be understood at three times normal speed, and I slowed down sometimes to take in all that was being said.

It is very interesting. The idea that rational thought is the lazy hero of the story helps explain a lot.

There are really no characters on this audiobook.

I liked that I can set the speed to three-times normal and still understand him clearly.

Just made me smile a number of times.