HONEST ABE'S
NLP BOOK REVIEWS
 

Written and Produced
by Andy Bradbury
 
(author of "Develop Your NLP Skills", "Successful Presentation Skills", etc.)


Reviews: Part 3  
 
 

All pages on this site were prepared using WinHTML


The Title
Name(s) of the Author(s)
ISBN Number [this will be for the paperback version except where the number ends with (Hb)]

My Voice Will Go With You - The Teaching Tales of Milton H. Erickson
Milton Erickson & Sid Rosen
0-393-30135-4
What do you do when you get to the end of this book?  You go back to the beginning and start again!
Okay, that's my reaction, but I doubt that I'm alone.

It's all too easy to see NLP as an end in itself.  I'm becoming increasingly convinced that it is in fact one chapter in a far larger story.  And it's books like Uncommon Therapy and My Voice Will Go with You that serve to enforce that view.

On the surface this is just 12 sets of Erickson anecdotes, most of them only a page or so long, including commentaries by co-author Sid Rosen.  Get digging!  This book isn't just anything.  This is teaching at it's best; some of the cream of Milton Erickson's wit and wisdom; it's a masterclass in subtle communication...  I could go on like this a whole lot longer, but I think you probably get the picture!

Just one last comment - first time through you might want to read the stories but ignore the commentaries (cogent and appropriate as they are).
The point is, I suspect there are at least one or two stories in here for every reader, no matter how grounded, centered and well-adjusted you believe yourself to be.  So go ahead, get yourself the benefits of a little Ericksonian therapy before you get down to the learning.
Highest Recommendation, for everyone - yes, everyone *   *   *   *  *  *   *

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NLP for Business Success
Andrew Bradbury
Kogan Page (UK) 0-7494-2151-7

and

Develop Your NLP Skills
Andrew Bradbury
Kogan Page (UK) 0-7494-3260-8

Foreign editions:

(Moscow), ISBN 5-94723-063-1
Desarrolle sus Habilidades con PNL
Editorial Gedisa, S.A. (Spain),  ISBN 84-7432-856-X
Develop Your NLP Skills
Dar El-Farouk (Egypt),  ISBN 977-345-906-3
Manazerské Dovednosti Jak Ovlivnovat Druhé
Computer Press (Bratislava & Brno), ISBN 80-7226-380-3
NLP.  Wplyw na siebie i innych
One Press (Gliwice, Poland).  ISBN 83-7361-615-2
PNL Communiquez Intelligent
Editions L'Express (France),  ISBN 2843434548
PNL Para O Sucesso Nos Negócios
Panorama Editorial (Mexico),  ISBN 968380930-8
Programación Neuro-Lingüística Para el éxito en los negocios
Clio Editora (Brazil),  ISBN 85-86234-20-6
Successful Presentation Skills
Kogan Page (India),  ISBN 81-7554-127-X
Sviluppare le proprie capacità con la PNL
Franco Angeli (Italy),  978-88-464-8847-3
Team Building
Shanghai Far east Publishers (China - Chinese-simplified edition),  ISBN 7-80661-259-9

Despite the two different titles, the two titles refer to different editions of one book.  NLP for Business Success was the name used for the first edition,and Develop Your NLP Skills for the 2nd and 3rd editions (each of which has to some extent expanded on the previous edition.)
Each edition has been primarily aimed at business people who want to gain some understanding of what NLP is all about before deciding whether to make a more definite commitment in time and/or money.

Having said that, the first part of the book details the main features of NLP, in the general business context - understanding the significance of mental 'maps', setting effective goals, developing greater flexibility, improving your communication skills, and so on.  Each chapter ends with one or more Checkpoint Actions, exercises designed to allow the reader to get practical experience of the material discussed in that chapter.
 
In the second part of the book these ideas and techniques are discussed in more depth and in relation to specific business situations such as Appraisals, Negotiating, Sales, Motivation, and so on.  The book ends with a substantial glossary.

Rather than trying to set aside my natural bias, for reviews of the two books I'll simply quote the relevant issues of Changes, the newsletter of the Anglo-American Book Co.:

[No. 27: May 1997]
"NLP For Business Success:  How To Master Neuro-Linguistic Programming
If you are a manager and want to acquire a good basic understanding of NLP in just a few hours, then this is the book for you.  Provides a good grounding in the subject and, as the title suggests, is oriented towards success in business.  Recommended."

[No. 40: Autumn 2000]
"Develop Your NLP Skills:  Second Edition
This is the Sunday Times guide to NLP in their Creating Success series.  Not having a first edition to compare this with makes it rather hard to draw comparisons, so we are not sure what has changed.  However, the intention of this book is to provide an introduction to the basic concepts of NLP techniques for those in the business community.  It succeeds extremely well and largely avoids the common pitfall of other writers in this field who all too frequently get caught up in the technology of NLP rather than its application.  Highly recommended as a basic introduction for business use."

The most obvious difference between the two editions is the basic page count, which has gone up from 109 (1st edition) to 139 pages (2nd edition), to 151 (3rd edition).  Considering that the cover price remained the same for nearly 10 years, and even now is only £1.00 higher than its 1997 price, that's substantially 'more bang for your buck'!

The additional material includes a brand new opening chapter which introduces 15 of the key business-related presuppositions underlying NLP, extended sections on well-formed outcomes and on the meta program questions, and a complete chapter on the key NLP skill - modeling.  Throughout the book explanations have been 'fleshed out', for greater clarity, and more practical examples have been added.  In particular, I have included evidence from independent sources which clearly demonstrate how NLP techniques address, and resolve, some of the most fundamental issues in business today.

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NLP and Health
McDermott & O'Connor
0-7225-3288-1
Although it starts rather slowly, this is basically a very useful book on how our physical and mental well-being are intimately inter-linked and inter-dependent.

Is that the same as saying that the contents match the title?  Well, perhaps not exactly, but probably near enough as far as most readers will be concerned.  That is to say, I'd hesitate to recommend this to a complete novice, but as long as you have a basic understanding of the main NLP techniques then I don't think there's anything in here that will cause any difficulties.

Most of the text consists of broad overviews of various medical issues, collections of interesting and often little-known facts, check lists and some degree of "how to" information.
Personally I would have appreciated some more detailed examples in place of all the lists.  On pages 110-111, for instance, there is a lengthy list of "some typical bodily metaphors".  Fine.  But is it really enough to simply comment that "Being aware of organ language is the first step to making sure your body does not reflect the words in its own way."?

How many steps are there altogether?  And what are steps two, three, etc.?

My main reservation concerns the way that the authors often present their material so as to suggest that we are all (authors and reader alike) on exactly the same wavelength.  This occasionally leads to situations where the text makes a complete and totally unannounced change of direction, which no doubt seemed wholly logical to the authors, but sometimes left me thumbing back over the previous page or two to try to find out how we got to where we got to.

I was also a little put off by two or three sections towards the end of the book.
On page 169, in a section entitled simply "MEDITATION" there are a few words of introduction and then we are treated to a blatant advert for TM (Transcendental Meditation), as though this were the only form of meditation we needed to know about.  Quite frankly I would have thought that this is a subject that warranted a rather longer and wider ranging description.

Nor was I impressed by the blanket assertion: "It is a truism that we lose a million brain cells every year..." (page 184).  This is certainly not a truism, and is presumably based on studies from some time back which failed to allow for the fact that some brain cells tend to shrink with age, thus making the overall brain lighter - a feature that was interpreted as being due to a complete loss of some brain cells.

Nevertheless, those reservations notwithstanding, my overall impression of the book was very positive, so Highly Recommended   *  *  *  *  * 

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NLP The New Technology of Achievement
Andreas and Faulkner (eds)
1-85788-122-2
Quite amazingly, I bought this book from the AA Books stall at a marked down price during an ANLP conference. Amazingly because this is possibly the most powerful NLP book I have yet come across.
Produced by "The NLP Comprehensive Training Team" (which includes Steve Andreas, Charles Faulkner and Tim Hallbom) and edited by Andreas and Faulkner, this book comes as close as one could expect to its claim to be "the most effective guidebook ever to learning and applying [NLP] to achieve whatever you want". Packed with practical exercises (in the middle of the text, never mind the ends of the chapters!), plus what the authors call "The NLP 21 Day Unlimited Achievement Program", this really is a book that could seriously change your life.
Highest recommendation - if you are ready to experience the power of NLP * * * * * * *

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Null-A Three (Part 3 of the Null-A trilogy)
A.E. van Vogt
0-7221-8841-2
Written over 30 years after The Pawns of Null-A, this third and final part of the Null-A trilogy lacks a certain amount of the flair and enthusiasm which marked the first two books.

Though still a good read as a sci-fi novel, and despite the continuing General Semantics thread, this reads more like an experiment to see if van Vogt could repeat his previous success than a well-formed conclusion to the series .
Interesting as the final part of of a developing saga, but less satisfying as a realisation of General Semantics ideas.
Recommended, but only as the concluding part of the trilogy * * *

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NLP business masterclass
David Molden
Financial Times/Prentice Hall  0-273-65016-5

First glance at the back cover - four enthusiastic quotes by estimable figures in the business world - including a managing director, a head of 'Resource Management', a 'Professor of Strategic Leadership' who also holds an NLP master practitioner qualification.  Surely this must be a book that really delivers the goods?  Maybe, and maybe not.  Let's check out the comment from the "Head of Resource Management", who tells us that:

"It is the first NLP book I have read that gives you usable [sic] skills without the need for a 5 day intensive course."

Leaving aside the fact that even the fast-track training run by Richard Bandler, co-founder/developer of NLP, takes 7 days, this statement seems to overlook the various places where the author quite clearly states: "It will be useful to have a skilled NLP practitioner to help you with this exercise."  Or as he says at one point:

"If you want to do this exercise for yourself, read and memorize the procedure first, so you can complete it without interruption.  However, it will be much easier to find a skilled NLP practitioner to facilitate it for you."

So, you don't need to go on a "5 day intensive course" - but you'd better have someone on hand who is a "skilled NLP practitioner"!  Beats me why they didn't just pop a little plastic-wrapped practitioner in the back of every book, the way computer guide books include a CD.

Of course there would also be a downside to having a skilled NLP practitioner work through this book with you - namely, they'd keep having to point out the book's shortcomings.

Like "Fig 4.1" which claims to be an "Example of a hierarchy of values" but which is, in fact, a collection of beliefs based on a mixture of lost performatives - "It is important to conserve energy ..." - modal operators of necessity - "We should drive smaller cars ..." - and complex equivalences - "When you're feeling tired, it's a sign ...".

Like the confusion over time: on page 152 we are told that:

There is no such thing as "time" - it cannot be seen and touched like distance or weight can. ... Time is not a "thing" but a concept or, perhaps more accurately, a metaphor ...

which seems to be rather at odds with the earlier statement (page 55) that:

Time is limited. It is one thing we have not learnt to manufacture, so using it productively and keeping that use at the highest quality is about all we can do with it.

Or like the book's whole new slant on creating outcomes and changing behaviour patterns.

According to the standard principles of NLP, when setting out an outcome - as we are to be shown how to give up smoking (Chapter 28) - it is critically important to frame the outcome in positive terms.  The reason is very simple, and reflects the paradox that occurs when you tell someone NOT to do something.
For example, if I tell you now: "Don't think about a bright red hippopotamus, in a ballet dress, on a skateboard", what do you do?  You start thinking about "a bright red hippopotamus, in a ballet dress, on a skateboard."
Why?
Because you have to think about it in order to know what you're supposed to NOT think about.

The same principle applies to setting an outcome/making a change.  If you frame any part of it in the negative then you stay focused on what you DON'T want instead of on what you DO want!
But apparently this author knows better than all the rest, because one of the specific instructions (stage 2, page 301) is:

Create a value hierarchy to support the desired change.  Make sure it contains both "towards" and "away from" values.
(emphasis added)

Incidentally, this instruction is actually semantically nonsensical, in NLP terms.  You can have positive values and negative values, but not "towards" and "away from" values.

There are plenty more points of this nature that one could raise, but they would only serve to re-inforce the point that this book gives a very uneven, and in places downright inaccurate picture of NLP.
Nor is the quality of the text much to write home about.

In Chapter 20, "Information Frames for Meetings" we have to wade through a supposedly true-life conversation between "Dave" and "Linda" about how to run a meeting.  These are just two samples of the reported dialogue (pages 228 and 229):

"Three to go, Dave - what's next?"
"Have you ever been in a meeting when someone has made a statement that blocks progress and leads to a messy debate?"
"I'm not sure what you mean, Dave."

And you thought that sort of stilted language had gone out with the death of 50s-style advertising!  Apparently not.
Mind you, "Linda's" failure to understand what "Dave" is talking about is even more amazing in the light of what comes on the next page.
(Note: Linda supposedly knows nothing about "information frames for meetings" until Dave starts talking):

"Tell me about the context frame next, Dave. Is it about comparing different situations?"
"Yes, it is about comparing, and it can help to put things into perspective when they get difficult."
"I think I understand. ..."

Amazing!
One page back Linda couldn't understand what Dave meant by "a statement that blocks progress and leads to a messy debate" (not exactly rocket science, surely?).  Now she not only knows in advance what Dave is going to tell her about next, she also knows it's jargon name, and immediately claims to understand it!

OK, so some of the text is a bit hackneyed, does that really matter?
I think it does, because I think it is representative of the overall sloppiness of the book.
As a final example, take the subject of the 6-step reframe technique.  The technique is introduced in Chapter 18 (one of the contributed chapters) with nothing even vaguely resembling an explanation of how the "intervention" is performed.
More than 40 pages later, in Chapter 24, the subject comes up again.  In fact it takes up the whole of Chapter 24 - including instructions on how to carry out the procedure.

Points to notice:

  • What sense does it make to include the instructions on how to perform the technique so long after the subject is raised?  Wouldn't it make much better sense to put the instruction chapter immediately in front of the chapter that mentions the subject but doesn't explain it?
  • Why is there no mention of the fact that Richard Bandler has long since stopped teaching the six-step reframe technique on the grounds that it has been superseded by subsequent research and knowledge?
  • Why is there no mention that the technique, if practiced by an unskilled person or on a person who already has emotional problems, could potentially have quite damaging side effects?

It has been several years since I reviewed Mr Molden's first book on NLP in business (Managing with the Power of NLP), a book which I still think would be a valuable addition to any company or manager's library.
By all means buy that earlier book if you can still find a copy - and leave this new publication on the shelf, where it belongs.

Recommendation - avoid this book.

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Changing Belief Systems with NLP
Robert Dilts
Meta Publications;  0-916990-24-0
In reviewing this book I am torn between the quality of the writing (the best of any of Dilts' books that I've read so far) and the quality of the contents.

The text is the edited transcript of a seminar held in Europe (Holland?), presumably sometime in the late 1980's (based on the book's 1990 copyright date and Dilt's assertion that he began work on his so-called logical levels model in 1987).

On the upside, this is the most accessible of Dilts' books that I've come across (possibly because the initial manuscript was "transcribed and prepared" by one Louis Bellier rather than by Dilts himself?).
Dilts seems to be a far better presenter than he is a writer, and he comes across in this book as a warm and enthusiastic individual.  It's just a shame that the content of the seminar isn't of an equally high standard.

Dilts has become well-known for his "logical levels" model - which is allegedly the basis for this book.  Unfortunately the logical levels model is a crock.  That is to say, it does not bear a a coherent relationship to reality.  Consequently Dilts' attempts to use the model to induce change are, at best, ambiguous.
The whole subject is further confused by the contents of Appendix C.  Headed Neurological Levels, it describes both Logical Levels and Neuro-Logical Levels.  Are we supposed to recognise some difference between "neurological levels" and "neuro-logical levels"?  Dilts certainly makes no effort to explain the two spellings, or what the difference, if any, might be.  Does he even know, I wonder?

The main format of the book consists of Dilts running a number of "therapy" sessions using volunteers from amongst the course delegates as subjects. In the course of each session he provides additional comments about various NLP techniques.
This is a great idea - except that I wasn't the least bit convinced that any of the subjects were being helped in any way.  On the contrary, it seemed to me that any positive reactions were largely due to a wish on the part of the subjects to perform in line with what they perceived to be Dilts' expectations.  If true, this clearly undermines the usefulness of the entire seminar, and by the end of the book I was left wondering if I'd learnt anything of any consequence.

But perhaps the most interesting feature of the whole book is to be found in the final section - the Glossary of NLP Terminology.  For it is here that we discover that Dilts is not merely trying to expand on NLP in light of his own ideas - he is actually in the process of redefining basic NLP.
Up until this time (1990), to the best of my knowledge, the term transderivational search specifically referred o the way we ran a search on our internal dictionary in order to make sense of the words we heard.  As Kostere and Malatesta explain, in their book Maps, Models and the Structure of Reality (1990):

"Transderivational search is the means by which language is connected to experience.  It is by the process of transderivational search that the client associates the words used in the metaphor to his/her model of the world.  Thus each client's interpretation of the metaphor will be unique because the words used in the story become associated to his/her personal internal sensory representations." (pages 92-3)

Compare this linguistically-oriented definition, which fits neatly with the rest of NLP, as developed by Bandler and Grinder, with Dilts' version, which reads to me like something straight out of a latter day textbook on Freudian psychoanalysis:

Transderivational Search   The process of searching back through one's stored memories and mental representations to find the reference experience from which the current behaviour or response was derived. (page 220)

This second definition is wholly in tune with another of Dilts' pseudo-Freudian inventions - reimprinting - but in my opinion it has damn all to do with NLP.

Final assessment: Another interesting insight into Robert Dilts' personal world and his attempts to impose his own beliefs and values on the NLP community as a whole - but does it serve any useful purpose outside that context? I doubt it.
Despite a considerably higher standard of readability than most of Dilts' books, this is categorically
A book to avoid.

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Andy Bradbury can be contacted at: bradburyac@hotmail.com