Customer Reviews

Getting Your Way Every Day: Mastering the Lost Art of Pure Persuasion

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Alan Axelrod uses the classic tools of argument, as created by the ancient Greeks, to teach people living in today's world how to be persuasive. First, Axelrod introduces the various stages of rhetoric, as well as principles of logic, and then shows how these can be used in today's world, particularly the business world. For example, when explaining how to get new customers, he writes about the need to use arguments from reason, ethics and emotion, and where each of these may need more or less emphasis in this and other situations. His approach has given me a road map on how to present my ideas to other people; more often than not I think that my ideas will be accepted due to their sheer brilliance. I realize now that I need to appeal more to the emotions of my intended audience who want to know what exactly they are getting from my brilliant idea. I have two minor issues with the book: 1) In the chapters where he introduces rhetoric, he writes initially in very accessible layperson's terms; then, he suddenly switches to some serious logician's jargon, stunning the reader with some rather complex concepts; 2) Axelrod provides sample statements to use in certain situations to get what you want. In a number of cases, I found these statements too harsh and direct, even somewhat offensive. I think he could have offered more diplomatic language. These issues aside, I think this a great book to get familiar with the classic form of argument so that it can be applied successfully to modern day situations.