How To Win Any Argument: Without Raising Your Voice, Losing Your Cool, Or Coming To Blows

I found this book infuriating to read and ultimately a fruitless effort. I was really attracted to the title and after reading the table of contents was looking forward to reading the book. To my increasing disappointment it just turned to be full of anecdotes and platitudes. Though each chapter always started out with a nice descriptive framework, it inevitably, rapidly descended into slighly disconnectd and distractive anecdotes. Halfway through the book I finally gave up, which is incredibly rare for me as I almost always finish a book no matter how bad.

This books has useless information. I was hoping for an outlined way to win arguements or a step by step plan. This book had no such information. The title is deceiving. Don't waste your time.

This book is so bad, it inspired me to write a review to warn you not to buy it! I read many books, and this has to be one of the worst written books I have ever read. Maybe the information inside is understandable to someone buzzed on cocaine or with an attention-deficit disorder, but the book is so poorly written that I get angry that 1) it was ever allowed to be published, and 2) I wasted my money on it. Let me explain:

The author, I take it, is a motivational speaker who conducts "seminars and workshops" and is therefore full of little anecdotes about many things. Instead of actually explaining his point well, he strings together a series of anecdotes (with no connecting paragraphs) about some topic and hopes that that will suffice instead of explaining what he means to say.

Typical example:
Chapter 2 "Construct a Consent Zone" ["what is a consent zone?" you ask?]

Anecdote 1: story about author in Navy and how he misjudged how to speak to the other seamen he was in charge of.

String of "flash" anecdotes 1: marketing, what to call dating, rap video for Mastercard, MXG [no, I don't what it is, either...], Toyota, nose picking, Ricky Ricardo, Century City office space, TV history, cosmetics in department stores, Alex the hypochondriac, El Cortez Hotel, story about smart guy gone wrong...

Anecdote 2: author's first boss and how she had a passion for selling her products.

Name dropping section 1: Dodi Fayed...

[At this point, he still has not explained what a consent zone is or how to create one.]

Inset information 1: "3 Kissie Rules" about how not to "brown-nose" too much.

Inset information 2: Consent Zone Alert [AH! Here we go!...] a list of 6 rules about what do to [to create a consent zone? while in the consent zone? We don't know.] Followed by a few useful examples.

Name dropping section 2: Arnold Schwarzenegger's apology and 2 other examples of apologies.

Chapter Summary: "Construct a Consent Zone" [yes, that is a direct quote!] followed by such vague statements as "Winners set a winning climate."

So, what have we learned? A bunch of little stories, some of which seem to be related to constructing a "consent zone"--whatever that is. Basically, the author justs wants to say "don't make people mad (or speak inappropriately to them) at first so they will be more receptive to your ideas" but he took 14 pages to say it.

Robert Mayer may be a great public speaker, but he is an awful writer, and Career Press should be ashamed for publishing this waste of paper. They should also fire the editor in charge of this, if there was an editor. There may be a gem or two hidden somewhere in here, but with no road map like cohesive paragraphs and a cohesive argument, it is a frustrating endeavor to try and find them.

This is an excellent book with a useful framework for putting your opponent at ease, connecting with them emotionally, then layering in some bulletproof logic to win your argument. I like how Mayer sets up thorny communication challenges for the reader to squirm over, then applies the chapter's principles to show how to structure your argument to maneuver yourself into a good negotiating position.

As a communications professional, I was able to start using the principles in this book immediately. My only criticism is the book could have spent more time describing ways to brainstorm and evalate different themes for your argument. There is one excellent chapter on themes that will not work (eg. pleading, ultimatums, guilt, etc) but a similar chapter on the top 10 themes that are effectivce would have pushed this into five-star territory. Overall, though, an excellent book and recommended reading.

This book is just a listing of famous people and how the author knows them.

It would have been fine as an autobiography - but not as a book under the title given. The chapter titles don't make any sense at all and the stories have no connection to them anyway. I don't think it sensible to take advice on argument from someone who can't even maintain a basic logical premise in a paragraph.