• Title: The Like Switch:An Ex-FBI Agent’s Guide to Influencing, Attracting, and Winning People Over
• Author: by Jack Schafer, Marvin Karlins
• Genre: Self-help, Nonfiction, Psychology
• Words to describe: Useful, Informative
• Publication Date:  January 2015
• Publisher: Atria Books
• Rating: /5 stars

“If you want people to like you, make them feel good about themself. You must focus your attention on the person you are befriending. It sounds easy, but it takes practice…People gravitate towards individuals who make them happy…”

I thought this was a decent read – it went through a number of ways to persuade people, detect deception, and better understand peoples’ intentions.

I did learn, but I felt in some instances, the scenarios were unrealistic. Still, the techniques are useful, though only if you try them out and practice them, unsurprisingly. The nonverbal cues are especially helpful – some of which you may put forth unknowingly.

There were a number of gems in the book, some of which were repeated, like

If you want people to like you, make them feel good about themselves.

How true. People want to feel good about themselves, and if you help them (genuinely) do so, they will associate those positive feelings with you, and like you more.

This book goes through basic human and social interactions, and though it may seem like common sense when reading the book, I did think it was useful the way he presented the information. The real-world examples were especially helpful in better understanding how the techniques being described could be applied.

Some items were over-described, and like I mentioned, some of the scenarios weren’t realistic and I can’t imagine them going well in a real-life scenario.

The author also goes through digital etiquette, digital security, and the like, which, though always useful, didn’t seem to fit into the techniques and methods I’d have preferred.