Customer Reviews
It's good, but it's not quite right - By: Mr. Andrew Weir, 22 Feb 2008 
Okay, so I was expecting a lot from the grandiose title. I *was* left a little disappointed & by 3/4 of the way through the book wanted to just stop reading....however I didn't.
I took a reasonable amount from the first half of the book, & from the "words that work" chapter but it would be churlish not to recognise that this is an All-American book, by a right-of-centre American. So don't expect it to have global appeal.
I'm no Dickens, but there were moment when I thought that the author had lost the plot - there's sections that just don't seem to fit with each other!
I enjoyed the read. But it's not the cure-alll that it promises to be.
Utter tosh - By: Mr. T. J. Denman, 18 Feb 2008 
This book doesn't contain a single useful idea. Unless, that is, you want to use language to manipulate & lie & pull the wool over people's eyes. Anybody who puts Dr in front of their name (unless they are real doctors) is up to no good.
Academically good but practically awful for my business - By: Business Bookworm, 18 Oct 2007 My work heavily involves communication for others & my own businesses. This book is awful for someone like me wanting a practical way of improving communication for my own & business benefits. The author goes on about communicating effectively... I fell asleep 2-3 times & only managed to get through a quarter of the book before I realised it is totallly useless to me as smalll business owner with an entrepreneurial streak. Nothing practical about this book. Reads like a dull university book for students, very political & America orientated - not practical or enjoyable to read. Author seems to spend a lot of time on saying how great their career has been & what successes they have had - don't deny it but this book doesn't help me one bit. Much better books on communication out there. Avoid if you are looking for real life business communication knowledge & skills. Can only imagine politicians or students finding this remotely useful as a text.
Bloody Awful !! - By: Bren Tierney, 25 Sep 2007 Chock-full of what, in other parts of the world, is considered common sense after a secondary school education - & clanking clichés -, & as an object lesson in pandering to (and no doubt inspiring) the already illiterate, or those lacking in any serious desire to step outside the cosy/unchalllenging American purveyance of off-the-shelf "Hey, just add two sugars & stir - & you too can be a success!!", this book is a raging success.
For anyone interested in halting the already inexorable slide towards 'Disney's Version of History' (so dumb that they'll no longer be able to question or discern what the truth is) & a general dumbing-down, you would be roundly advised to look for other inspiration (Fowler et al).
Disappointing! - By: N. Webb, 17 Aug 2007 
My expectations weren't met.
I expected to read & learn about language that reallly worked. Language that would be incredibly useful both professionallly & personallly.
Instead the book completely focused on anecdotes from American politics. Particularly on the rather self-centered successes of Frank Luntz in the role of advisor to the Republican party. All the advice was written for an American audience (one of the words that work was 'american dream') so lacked applicability here in the UK plus there were frequent long rambling sections that lacked punch/purpose.
That's not to say there weren't some good elements. The best being the concept of the title "it's not what you say, it's what people hear" & the idea that you need to use simple language that everyday people can understand. Aside from that there was very little to learn & use.
Only buy if you're reallly interested in the language of politics in the US. If you're looking for a business language book look elsewhere - I suggest 'On Writing Well' as a far superior alternative.
