Introducing Neuro-Linguistic Programming: Psychological Skills for Understanding and Influencing People

I very much wanted to get into this little known science of NLP, brainchild of Richard Bandler and John Grinder, for some time. After careful examination of similar books I chose this one after reading some of the page excerpts. Boy am I glad I did!! This book lays a framework and gives the fundamentals to this awesome science, and does so with such grace and ease that it is mesmerising. It simply and eloquently explains how you can use your brain to it's fullest potential and how to use your senses to design ways to get what you've always wanted. NLP - Neuro Linguistic Programming (don't be turned off by the fancy title) is simply a way of life to help you succeed. It is the language used by winners - the science and art of NLP was invented by studying what successful people do differently to everyone else; how their mindsets allowed them to succeed where others fail. It's little wonder that this book has got 5 stars from practically everyone who has bought it. It changed my life, and if you are looking for ways to get where you want to be in life then go for it.

The book is the most compete NLP book on one single binding. It is very well organized and very structured - definitely the most definitive basic NLP book in the market. Perhaps that's why this book is one of the recommended introductory text in many NLP Practitioner courses, and it is still in printing after so many years and so many printings. The NLP ideas presented here starts from the basic and slowly progresses in-depth. It does not have too much NLP jargon, and yet not too simple. (where jargon is used, you can refer to the appendices where each NLP term is explained in clear day-to-day English) Each chapter is packed with well connected series of NLP concepts and tools, seamlessly connected to the following chapters, and normally ends with some NLP exercises which you can immediately use to change your life. Unlike other self-help books where the so-called guru pumps you up with their motivational ideas, normally without much substance, the NLP ideas presented here are without all the fluff and "how poor turned heroes" stories. In this book, O'Connor just give you pure power-packed NLP ideas that you can try on yourself and others for immediate results. This is definitely the NLP book. If you're looking for only one good basic NLP book to change your life, look no further.

Important that while many recommend this book as self help such as myself it is important to make a few distinctions. Most self help today is pep talk with a few tips here and there but mostly nice stories that can help you "feel nice" and believe in yourself. This is somewhat differant. This maybe described by some to be a users manual for your brain. The science is derived from "modeling" the communication, verbal and non-verbal, of people who have been highly effective in communication and/or creating change. The science is new and to some that can be less than encouraging, however, having been a skeptic once I will say, IT WORKS! All this book is, is a toolbox, nothing more, of tools. If you do not use the tools, if you do not allow yourself to try new ideas, then this will serve as nothing more than exposure to a growing science. If you do choose to practice these tools, they may not be the most important things that you ever learn in your life, but you may find that they can have a very strong positive impact. Here are some applications:Learn about subconscious communication which may help you rethink some of the things you say in order to deliver the intended message or to read what others are thinking. This requires a little practice and understand of verbal negation.Discover a model which I can only describe as a model for inner peace. No, it does not tell you how to do this, it may not even describe it as inner peace but if you have knowledge about happiness philosophy it will make sense. Read the chapter on congruency, I find it inspiring.Pacing and leading, this will change the way you see what it is to communicate with someone and how interesting a person can become when you first meet them and they tell you, and I get this all the time, "I feel like I've known you forever". That's because I'm modeling what a person does when they are comfortable with someone and have known them for awhile. Believe it or not, you will learn so much about people just by understanding their values, "trance words" or the words they use to describe their stronger feelings, "representational system" visual, audio, kinesthetic, etc., that with some practice you might find that yourself blown away by the results of your higher order communication.These are a few applications to a few of the tools I use often and this is actually excerped from another review on a time management book where I recommend Intro to NLP and give insight on application:"Allow your actions become congruent with your values, belief, purpose, whatever. I'm not religious myself but I imagine this can make things a little easier. It discusses "congruency" in a clear concise fashion that will be motivating in itself it's called the Dilt's model I believe. Essentially, if you understand what you want (may require some introspection, you maybe surprised how much we can learn by having a little internal dialog with ourselves) and measure all aspects of it's value relative t

I do very highly recommend this book. It is enjoyable to read - considerably moreso than other books of it's kind. From this book you will get a very good background in the field. I believe this book serves much better for background information than to give you a set of techniques... if you want to learn techniques --- DO IT AT A SEMINAR --- nevertheless it is very useful to learn them ahead of time.This book is a good precursor to The Structure of Magic and Patterns of the Hypnotic Techniques of Milton H. Erickson, M.D. both by Richard Bandler and John Grinder -- which go much more indepth into the linguistic portions of the NLP model.

Please note the title - "INTRODUCING Neuro-Linguistic Programming". In case it isn't clear (as the previous review suggests) this means that the book is an INTRODUCTION to NLP.NLP has always been based on what WORKS - as established by good old fashioned trial and error - rather than chasing the latest theory. Not surprisingly, then, that has meant that NLP has changed very little over the last couple of decades. Which is why this book still represents an excellent INTRODUCTION to NLP as a whole.Of course the founders of NLP have now gone off in their own directions - Bandler into DHE(tm) (Design Human Engineering), and Grinder into "New Code NLP" (loosely based on the work of Carlos Castenada and others).Perhaps equally naturally, they both say they've moved on from what they started out with, but that doesn't rule out, per se, the value of their early work because it was so firmly rooted in EXPERIENCE.Bandler, for example, now seems to be playing down the concepts of "parts" and the "6 step reframe". All well and good. But NLP is about WHAT WORKS FOR *YOU*, and for plenty of other people all this stuff about "parts" (originally derived from the work of Virginia Satir) still works just fine.So, the long and short of it is, whilst it certainly isn't at the 'bleeding edge', this is still one of the leading INTRODUCTIONs to NLP. In fact I'd say it is still Number 1.