I have just finished this book, and do recommend it to people. The theme of the book is on influencing people. More specificly in a lot of examples, the book talks about how the salesmen/saleswomen, do their tricks us. You will also find lots of interesting references between the topics of the book, and other books on… psychology, negotiation, and habits (“Thinking Fast and Slow” can be one; “Never Split the Difference” can be another; “Atomic Habits” is the last; all them are also highly recommended by me).

As someone who reads the table of contents of a book carefully, I had a hard time grasping the general at first. The confusion died down after finishing it, however. I will list the book’s topics here:

  • Reciprocation
  • Commitment and Consistency
  • Social Proof
  • Liking
  • Authority
  • Scarcity

All of which are build on a theme that can be found in “Thinking Fast and Slow”: people often shortcut their thinking; the shortcuts are helpful in most of the times, but can be taken advantage of; be careful of the strategies that people (or salesmen) use to convince you into doing stuff (or buy product).

“Reciprocation” means most of us consider ourselves to be “fair”, and will “pay” people back, if they did us something good. “Commitment and Consistency” means we often go through and defend our choices, even though deep down we may know they may be bad choices. “Social Proof” means we mostly mimic people’s act in a complex environment if we are not sure what to do. “Liking” means we are easier to be convinced by people we favour (attractive ones, same-background ones, similar-age ones, etc.). “Authority” means we are also easier to comply with someone who has authority (law enforcer, doctor, etc.). “Scarcity” triggers our instinct on being afraid of losing “rare” events and items.

The summaries of each chapter are helpful, but I will still suggest people to go through the contents as they are simple and fun to read.