Handbook of NLP
Harry Alder
Gower  0-566-08389-2   (Hb)
Let me start by saying that I think the layout of this book - first a discussion of some of the NLP presuppositions, then a look at some of the NLP techniques, and finishing with some practical applications of the techniques - is absolutely brilliant.  So brilliant, in fact, that I used that same layout in my own book Develop Your NLP Skills - which came out two years before Handbook of NLP.

So much for the good news.

Opening this book reminded me of my early searches for NLP sites on the Internet.  That initial stage when you realise that typing "NLP" into a search engine is going to find all kinds of sites that are have nothing whatever to do with Neuro-Linguistic Programming.
The connection is that Handbook of NLP is categorised - in its "Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data" (on the reverse of the title page) - as being a book on, "Natural language processing (Computer science) - Handbooks, manuals, etc."  This is, I gather, an error by the Library of Congress rather than by the author or the publisher.  I guess the author should just be grateful it didn't get listed as "Natural Law Party (Politics/Meditation)"!

It would be nice to say that this was an unfortunate start to an otherwise useful book, but the truth is that this kind of basic confusion is a feature of the book as a whole.

As I've written elsewhere in these reviews, this author seems to be constantly struggling to write a definitive introduction to NLP - yet for one reason or another, he always seems to get lost somewhere along the way.  And this latest offering is no exception.
In this particular instance the reasons are not hard to find.

First and foremost, the writing is ridiculously verbose, and hopelessly riddled with jargon.  This inevitably leads to confusion, and it comes as no surprise to find the author flatly contradicting himself, on several occasions.  On the subject of the conscious and unconscious mind, for example, the glossary tells us:

"Unconscious               Everything not in your present-moment awareness."         (p. 298)

Yet in the main text we find comments that seem to imply a clear split:

"You usually only need to tell your conscious mind once to remember something (not that it necessarily will, of course), but your unconscious mind doesn't work like that, so you may have to suspend rational, sensible criticism and resort to rote learning methods."       (p.173)
 
"... eureka-type intuitions ... reveal another aspect of communication: communication between the unconscious and conscious mind."       (p.179)

Does the author actually think there is a split, or not?  From what appears in this book I have no idea.
And these contradictory statements don't always appear many pages apart.  The next two quotes are separated by just two lines of text:

"In fact, we don't know what happens inside the black box of our own mind, let alone somebody else's."       (p.190)
 
"How a person thinks determines how they behave, so knowing what happens in a person's mind ... can give us enormous benefits."       (p.190)

And this next example appears in three consecutive sentences:

"Unlike some techniques involving other people ... you don't need special skills for self-hypnosis.  Anybody can do it, given practice.  Like any skill, the more you do it, the easier it becomes."
(p. 171.  Italics added.)

Perhaps we're expected to distinguish, though we aren't told how, between special skills and any old skills?

Another of this author's pet hobbies is re-writing standard NLP concepts.  The two neutral definitions in time and through time become, in this book, Arabic time and Anglo-European time.  It seems that the author simply doesn't understanding that the original terms are universally applicable, whilst his new labels have very clear limitations/implications which make them anything but universal.

Mind you, that shouldn't come as any surprise when we see that the author now claims that the so-called "Life Content" model is standard NLP: "NLP calls this next model the Life Content model." (p. 36).
In fact "NLP" does nothing of the kind.  To the best of my knowledge the model has been borrowed from NLP Comprehensive's Success Mastery audio tape and has not appeared anywhere else other than in Alder's other books NLP: The New Art and Science of Getting What You Want (1995) and NLP for Managers, (1996).  Even NLP The New Technology of Achievement, produced by the NLP Comprehensive team, doesn't include the model.  Which is hardly surprising, I guess, since the NLP "toolkit" already includes a meta program, called "Primary Interest", which covers exactly the same territory using almost exactly the same labels!  (My thanks to Paul van der Wal for bringing information regarding the origin of this model to my attention).
Even more of a giveaway - in his brief list of meta programs (not all of which are genuine NLP meta programs) the author inserts the five elements of his model as though each were a separate meta program!

Likewise the "Four-stage Achievement Model", introduced and illustrated on page 33 and frequently referred to thereafter.  This model is found nowhere else in NLP, that I'm aware of, and again for a very good reason.  As the author grudgingly admits, on page 216, when he finally introduces the TOTE model (genuine NLP):

"Engineers have long used this [TOTE] model, similar to the four-stage cybernetic model set out earlier.."

I say "grudgingly" because the TOTE model is not illustrated, and in the list of processes on page 251 the "Four-stage Achievement Model" is listed, but the TOTE model isn't.

Having said that, I must admit that the two models aren't identical.  In particular, unlike the TOTE model, the author's "Four-stage Achievement Model" is circular and has no exit.  It is, in fact, a classic example of what I call a Flying Dutchman - a poorly thought out model in which one is doomed to revolve forever through the various stages in the hope that some day a rescuer will appear to break the endless cycle.

I was also less than impressed by the lack of useful examples.  In one place, for example, the author describes various elements of the Milton Model, followed by these two sentences:

"You will find some of these Milton patterns self-explanatory.  Others need further explanation and examples."
(p. 159)

So, do we get any further explanation or examples?  Not a chance.  There are half-a-dozen lines of waffle and then we're off into "Meta Model responses".
And how about the passage on page 231, in the chapter on "Modelling", where the author recalls a young man who had a "Starting the Day" strategy which ensured that "he always arose full of health and optimism, just raring to start the day."

"How many successful people would swap a dozen of their modallable competences in return for even one such dawn in a week? ... it turned out that he followed a specific sensory syntax each morning, conducting much of his strategy even before opening his eyes.  This exemplifies the simple, discrete, behavioural strategies that we can successfully model."
(Italics added for emphasis)

Now, you might think that if such a useful strategy could be effectively modelled then this would be the ideal place to reproduce the strategy, both as a step-by-step modelling example, not to mention its universal usefulness.  But not in this book.  On the contrary, in the next line we move on to some superficial comment about Bach and Einstein and the "Starting the Day" strategy is never referred to again!

On the upside, the author has finally come clean over his near-obsession with left and right brain activity - which, by the way, he now claims, wholly inaccurately, is a meta program:

"The well-researched subject of brain dominance plays a major part in learning, self-development, creativity, and other fields.."
(p. 193)
 
"The two sides of the brain connect together with about 200 million nerve fibres ... and we all use both sides all of the time anyway."
(p. 194)

Like several other NLP books, there are a few flashes of brilliance in Handbook of NLP, but they are so set about by confusion that I sincerely doubt that any reader would notice them if they weren't already well-acquainted with the subject matter.  In which case this book would be unlikely to tell them anything they didn't already know!

According to the front cover flap: "Anyone seeking a comprehensive guide to NLP theory and practice need look no further.".  To which I have to say that I find it hard to imagine a more inaccurate description.
Even if this was a first rate introduction to NLP it wouldn't be worth the ridiculously high cover price of £65.00.  For what it is, it would be expensive at £6.50.
Definitely not recommended.

Sleight of Mouth
Robert Dilts
Meta Publications  0-916990-43-5   (Hb)
The good news: this is easily the best book - in terms of presentation - that Dilts has written to date.  It is (mainly) clear, coherent and flowing.
The bad news: Here endeth the good news.

Let's get one thing out the way straight off.  Though this book was published in 1999, it is effectively a record of what the author was doing approximately 20 (twenty) years ago (see page x).  Indeed, what we actually have here is a rebundling of 14 basic NLP concepts - reframing, chunking, positive intention, and so on - presented as though they they were the basis of a whole new way of understanding how languages works.
To be fair, if this had been published in 1980 it might have had a reasonable claim to that status.  In 1999, let alone in 2003, it just looks very, very old and tired.

This is basically a collection of Dilts' ideas, presented as though this is what NLP is all about.  Which the author probably, in all sincerity, believes.  In my personal view the book merely reveals a number of weaknesses in the author's thinking.  Just a few examples:

The 'wisest' and most 'compassionate' maps are those which make available the widest and richest number of choices, as opposed to being the most "real" or "accurate".
page 56.

This is allegedly part of the NLP presupposition that "The map is not the territory", which is kind of interesting since

1. After reading more than a hundred books on NLP I have never before, so far as I recall, come across this version of the presupposition.  As far as I know, this is Dilts' own unique interpretation.
2. It flatly contradicts the interpretation of Alfred Korzybski, who actually coined the phrase in the first place, and who emphasised that the value of any map was indeed directly related to its similarity to the structure it related to.

Having said that, since the author does not tell us what he means by "the wisest" and the "most 'compassionate'", it's hard to know what on earth he actually has in mind.  Which is also true of this next statement.

All animals have the ability to create codes and maps of the world and to give meaning to their experience of these maps.
page 78.

Which creatures come under the heading "animals" in this context?  No idea.
(I mention this simply because some creatures have such short memory spans that the idea of them having a lasting, internal map of anything simply doesn't hold water.)
Does the author offer any evidence for the assertion that this applies to all "animals"?  No.
Why is this sentence included?  No idea. The rest of the discussion is restricted to human beings.

The quality of information that we have in our senses is somehow coded more precisely for the real experience than the imagined one, and that's what makes the difference.
page 90.

Evidence for this claim?  None.
What does the phrase "coded more precisely" actually mean in this context?  No idea.
This may be how the author perceives the difference between his memory and his imagination, but to the best of my knowledge, the brain makes no such differentiation when storing information.  If it did, then "false memory syndrome" ("remembering" things that never actually happened) would never have been a problem.

In relation to his "Reality Strategy Exercise" (pages 93-97), the author writes:

If the process starts getting scary (which it sometimes can), you may begin to hear a swishing sound, or maybe you'll feel yourself spinning.  In such cases it is appropriate and ecological to stop for a while.
Confusion with respect to one's reality strategy can lead to deep uncertainty.  In fact, the inability to distinguish imagination from "reality" is considered one of the symptoms of psychosis and other severe mental disorders.
page 97.

Let me see if I have this right: Having told us that what we remember and what we imagine are somehow "coded" differently so we can tell the difference, BUT - he is now detailing a process that is specifically designed to undermine our reality strategy - a process which the author rightly identifies as being a potential cause of "severe mental disorders" - and his best advice if things start getting out of control is "stop for a while".  Presumably that's as long as you haven't already slipped over the edge!

In my personal opinion this whole passage is naive and irresponsible in the extreme, and I'd offer this alternative advice: If you meet someone who encourages you to put your own sanity at risk, avoid that person like the plague.

A basic premise of NLP is that the human brain functions similarly to a computer - by executing "programs" or mental strategies that are composed of ordered sequences of instructions or internal representations.
page 185

Oh really?  What computer would that be, then?
If it was anything like the human brain it would have to be:

• massively "parallel" in its operations
• analog rather than digital
• self-programming, and
• almost any part of every program would have to be capable of modifying any part of any other program.

In other words, a computer totally unlike any computer currently known to man.
If this is really what "NLP" believes (and I personally don't believe "it" does), then NLP has clearly entered the realm of science fiction.

According to Gregory Bateson, only about 8% of the information communicated in an interaction is carried in the words, or 'digital' part of the interaction.  The other 92% is communicated non-verbally, through the 'analog' system.
page 202

Well, Bateson may have said that, but if he did then he was quoting the work of Albert Mehrabian.  Moreover Mehrabian (and later Argyle et al in the UK) said this 'weighting' only applied if the verbal and non-verbal signals were mutually inconsistent.  It does not apply to all communications - as I suspect Bateson was aware.

And finally, an example of Sleight of Mouth itself:

In a way, each of the Sleight of Mouth patterns could be considered an answer to key questions leading to different perspectives and perceptual positions.
page 300.

The author chooses as a limiting belief, "Person X did something that caused me to be hurt more than once.  Because it has happened before, it will happen again.  Person X intends to hurt me and I am in danger."
Sorry?  That looks a whole lot like a statement rather than an answer.
Indeed, it is surely the patterns themselves which are the questions, as in the suggested Chunk Down response: "What smaller elements or chunks are implied by the belief but have a richer or more positive relationship than the ones stated in the belief?"

When you say that Person X "intends" to hurt you, do you mean that Person X makes a picture of doing something harmful to you in his or her head?  If so, which part of that picture is most dangerous, and how does Person X get to the point of acting on that picture?  What do you think put that picture in Person X's head?.
page 302

Ummm, mind read, mind read, mind read, mind read.  But what's the point?

Sad to say, it looks to me as though the author has finally honed his writing skills at a time when he has already run out of things worth saying.
Definitely a book to be ignored.

55 Ways to Increase You Emotional Intelligence
Andy Smith
Private publication
The author explains the purpose of this booklet very clearly in his introduction, so I think I'll let him speak for himself:

Daniel Goleman's best-seller Emotional Intelligence introduced the wider world to the idea that 'EQ' matters more than IQ for career success, relationships and general happiness.
 
The book explained EQ clearly, gave lots of examples, and backed them up with the latest brain science research.  It also gave us the encouraging message that EQ can be increased.  What it didn't do was tell you how to do it.  That's what this booklet is for - to give you practical, simple ways to improve your EQ.

And as they say in the advert - it does what it says on the tin.

In 55 tips, over 16 pages, under 5 main headings, the author - an experienced NLP and EQ trainer and coach - provides guidance on:

• Self-Awareness
• Self-Regulation
• Motivation
• Empathy, and
• Social Skills.

Each tip covers a separate topic, so after a brief explanation of the term "Self-Awareness", Andy goes on to deal with:

• Accepting your emotions
• Getting in touch with your emotions
• Taking the labels off your feelings, and
• Keeping an emotional journal.

And that's just page 2.

I can imagine a few readers will see this as all a bit "touchy feely" and may be a mite uncomfortable at first.  Nonetheless, this is an excellent little introduction to the five "competencies" of emotional intelligence described in Goleman's books.  The tips are mainly NLP-oriented, but not by no means exclusively so.  Moreover several of the 'tips' are in fact complete exercises in their own right - on meditation, using peripheral vision to calm yourself down, and so on.

Experienced NLPers may find the booklet a little basic, but if I was a manager I would certainly issue a copy to everyone in my section or department and organise short sessions to discuss the key points.  Especially now that, under UK law, my company could be heavily fined for not endeavouring to lower our employees' stress levels wherever possible.

Likewise trainers in EQ, business coaches and life coaches, etc., might well find this a very practical gift to hand out to their clients.

As indicated at the head of this review, 55 Ways... is a private publication - I'm glad to see, however, that it is now available via Amazin, and is deservedly doing very well indeed.

I often see comments on Amazon about this or that book changing someone's life.  I'm not sure any book can really do that, but I imagine this booklet could give someone a very liberating new perspective on their situation.  Definitely a good buy for people in all of the groups I've indicated.
Highly Recommended   *   *   *   *   *   *