Tundraco's Daily Living Guide to Book Reviews

The Skinny on The Art of Persuasion How to Move Minds Illustration/Design by Linda Nass and Rebecca Kunzmann By Jim Randel Rand Publishing (2010), 293 panels ISBN 10: 0982439008 ISBN 13: 978-0982439005

Reviewed by Israel Drazin - April 27, 2010

This is one of the eight books so far published entitled The Skinny On. It is a series of clever, humorous, and entertaining volumes that teach need-to-know lessons in an informal, non-pedantic, concise, and engaging fashion usually, but not always, using drawings of stick people engaged in dialogue. Readers can usually finish each volume in about an hour. This volume shows that people can convince and influence others when they know what motivates and drives them and then molding their requests to fit the other's needs. The author maintains that the art of persuasion is an acquired skill and he shows by more than a hundred examples, by quotes from famous successful people, and by scientific studies how to acquire the skill and influence others. For example, he describes how Bernie Madoff was able to persuade very intelligent business people to give him millions of dollars.

Among the many lessons that he teaches with self-effacing humor are: first get people to like you, prepare carefully before you speak to people, learn to listen to others, realize that people want what they can't have, that they tend to stick with their previous statements and commitments, and that they do not like to feel indebted. In short, once a person understands human nature, he or she can learn how to use that information to his or her advantage.

Dr. Israel Drazin is the author of fifteen books, including a series of five volumes on the Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Bible, which he co-authors with Rabbi Dr. Stanley M. Wagner, and a series of four books on the twelfth century philosopher Moses Maimonides, the latest being Maimonides: Reason Above All, published by Gefen Publishing House, www.gefenpublishing.com. The Orthodox Union (OU) publishes daily samples of the Targum books on www.ouradio.org

The Skinny on Willpower, by Jim Randel.
Ever wish you could speed read every book written on a particular topic? Well, now someone has done that for you. The Skinny on Willpower is a substantive analysis of the subject of self-discipline, told in story format.

The Skinny on Real Estate Investing, Part 1, by Jim Randel.
This book gives you an overview of the topic, outlining questions to help you determine if real estate investing is right for you. In this book you will learn the basics as Randel sets the foundation for investment strategies.