In a failed attempt to find out where I’ve been going wrong all these years, I have read or browsed lots of books about persuasion. Sadly, most of the books offer tricks or techniques of varying shades of sleaziness – in fact, I often feel like I am being manipulated as I read them.
One book though, Robert Cialdini’s Influence: Science and Practice, is different. It is based on research. Lot’s of it. The downside is that it is ever so slightly less easy to read than the other books, but you don’t feel dirty afterwards.
I was hunting around for more information about Cialdini, and I found this great little Harvard Business Review article: Harnessing the Science of Persuasion on his website – for FREE!
It’s a fantastic little read.
(update 24 April 05: PDF subsequently removed, no google cache, not on archive.org)
