How to Talk to Anyone
“You’ll not only break the ice, you’ll melt it away with your new skills.” — Larry King“The lost art of verbal communication may be revitalized by Leil Lowndes.” — Harvey McKay, author of “How to Swim with the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive”What is that magic quality makes some people instantly loved and respected? Everyone wants to be their friend (or, if single, their lover!) In business, they rise swiftly to the top of the corporate ladder. What is their “Midas touch?”What it boils down to is a more skillful way of dealing with people.The author has spent her career teaching people how to communicate for success. In her book How to Talk to Anyone (Contemporary Books, October 2003) Lowndes offers 92 easy and effective sure-fire success techniques— she takes the reader from first meeting all the way up to sophisticated techniques used by the big winners in life. In this information-packed book you’ll find:9 ways to make a dynamite first impression14 ways to master small talk, “big talk,” and body language14 ways to walk and talk like a VIP or celebrity6 ways to sound like an insider in any crowd7 ways to establish deep subliminal rapport with anyone9 ways to feed someone’s ego (and know when NOT to!)11 ways to make your phone a powerful communications tool15 ways to work a party like a politician works a room7 ways to talk with tigers and not get eaten aliveIn her trademark entertaining and straight-shooting style, Leil gives the techniques catchy names so you’ll remember…
Stats for nerds
16recommend
29mentions
21people
2008–2025years
79% recommend21% neutral
Mentions per year
What Hacker News says
- I hated small talk traditionally. It was very much a learned trait. One of the best conversation openers is “what keeps you busy?” and then ask open ended questions.
Ask about their favorite travel destinations or even what are some interesting things about where they live.
On the other hand, step outside your comfort zone and try something different so you have something to talk about interesting.
You didn’t become a software developer overnight. You won’t become a great conversationalist over night either.
“How to Talk to Anyone”
https://www.amazon.com/How-Talk-Anyone-Success-Relationships...
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- Most everything by Leil Lowndes is great IMHO. She helps you understand body language, which is a huge key to success. Most people telegraph their feelings with body language so you can pretty easily recognize who wants to talk and why doesn't. She also has a great sense of humor. Her books are very 90s/00s which might bother some people, hence this warning. Specifically she generalizes quite a bit based on sex/gender. Not in an exclusive way, but if you're somebody who feels strongly for example that there is no biological difference between the sexes, then you might have a hard time with her books.
"How to talk to anyone" would be my first recommendation.
- This book by Leil Lowndes helped me a lot, I highly recommend it: How to Talk to Anyone: 92 Little Tricks for Big Success in Relationships
- Weird one, "How to talk to anyone" by Leil Lowndes, bought because someone else recommended, no idea about the scientific merit of anything in it. It helped me not just make sense of how to navigate social situations, but also how to view them as a game that can be played strategically if you need a particular outcome.
The books "Superforecasting" and "Think again" helped me nail down when and why people (myself included) make mistakes and I think it helped me prevent making mistakes or recognize mistakes others are about to make better.
- „How to talk to anyone” by Leil Lowndes is also a great and actionable book.
+1 for scepticisms towards pickup artistry. I'd rather aim for „how can I become the person that women actually want“.
- How to Talk to Anyone: 92 Little Tricks for Big Success in Relationships by Leil Lowndes
This book helped me handle introductions, small talk, and getting to know people better at a deeper level with so much less anxiety than I ever had before.
The biggest lesson I learned was to try and give the “spotlight” of who’s talking and what the subject is back to others frequently. It’s a simple concept, but the book is helpful in clarifying why it’s important and how to do it.
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