Immensely boring and bland book, did not enjoy it one little bit. In fact, could not finish reading it.

When I read the subtitle, I got suspicious. Persuade ANYONE in 8 minutes or less? Why not in 7 minutes or 4? ANYONE? When an author claims specific numbers without actually empirically and scientifically testing them, you know what will follow - lots of generic statements and old, reheated examples that are supposed to give the common sense a shroud of legitimacy. When I see or hear "anyone", "nobody", "always", "never" and similar terms, I get a rash and my left eye starts twitching.

Hogan gives his "models" ambitious names such as "Delta model", "Omega Strategies" or "Secret of Oscillation". Oh, please... An attempt to piggyback on the Greek philosophers or erroneously link them to mathematical symbols? Subliminal persuasion on the author's part? Let's ask his buddy Dave Lakhani ...

Chapter 5 talks about "The New Principles of Influence", which are anything but new. The first principle, "Framing a Question" is a summary of the often cited research from 1984 by Kahneman and Tversky! Does 25 year old research count as "new"? The rest of the principles in that chapter have also been seen in dozens of other books!

Even worse, on page 46, a title "Fifteen Never-Before-Revealed Secrets to Optimize Persuasive Messages"! I can now pull out at least 6-10 books from my library that talk about the same "secrets" such as primacy and listing order, repetition, and other tired-and-detested, pardon, tried-and-tested principles!

A few "pearls of wisdom", pardon, examples of boxed sentences, presumably important points to memorize and practice:
"You can't persuade someone if you can't get in front of them to communicate your message." Oh, really?
"Cultural rules dictate our behavior in public." Yes? And ... How about behavior in private? We all behave the same there? And, ...?
"People want to be comfortable." And ...?
I think you get the message about the practicality and the newness of the material in this book.

If you think influence is for sales people, commentators and politicians, think again. YOU need to be able to influence others in every part of life -- home, social, career. Why? It's how we make a contribution! It is not about manipulation, but about achieving goals. If you want to be a help to others, to be a great contributor in work, and ahcieve your own goals, than get The Science of Influence. First of all it dispells the myths -- there really is a science to influencing. In a very readable style, Kevin Hogan tells you what works and what does not work. He provides helpful excercises for you to practice the techniques he presents. Influence is about credibility and understanding others' needs and values. Hogan explains how to build your credibility and how to get at the needs and values of others. This is THE source on influencing -- I recommend it to my clients and I recommend it for you.
Sheryl Dawson
Author of Job Search: The Total System