The Art of Public Speaking (Dale Carnegie and J. Berg Esenwein)

The Art of Public Speaking by Dale Carnegie and J. Berg Esenwein

The best way to become a confident, effective public speaker, according to the authors of this landmark book, is simply to do it. Practice, practice, practice. And while youre at it, assume the positive. Have something to say. Forget the self. Cast out fear. Be absorbed by your subject. And most importantly, expect success.

Training in public speaking is not a matter of externals--primarily; it is not a matter of imitation--fundamentally; it is not a matter of conformity to standards--at all. Public speaking is public utterance, public issuance, of the man himself; therefore the first thing both in time and in importance is that the man should be and think and feel things that are worthy of being given forth. Unless there be something of value within, no tricks of training can ever make of the talker anything more than a machine--albeit a highly perfected machine--for the delivery of other mens goods. So self-development is fundamental in our plan.

A Foreword:
The efficiency of a book is like that of a man, in one important respect: its attitude toward its subject is the first source of its power. A book may be full of good ideas well expressed, but if its writer views his subject from the wrong angle even his excellent advice may prove to be ineffective.

This book stands or falls by its authors attitude toward its subject. If the best way to teach oneself or others to speak effectively in public is to fill the mind with rules, and to set up fixed standards for the interpretation of thought, the utterance of language, the making of gestures, and all the rest, then this book will be limited in value to such stray ideas throughout its pages as may prove helpful to the reader--as an effort to enforce a group of principles it must be reckoned a failure, because it is then untrue....

About the Author:
DALE CARNEGIE (1888-1955), a pioneer in public speaking and personality development, gained fame by teaching others how to become successful. His book How to Win Friends and Influence People (1936) has sold more than 15 million copies. He founded the Dale Carnegie
Institute for Effective Speaking and Human Relations, with branches all over the world.

JOSEPH BERG ESENWEIN (1867-1946) also wrote The Art of Story-Writing,
Writing the Photoplay (with Arthur Leeds), and Childrens Stories and
How to Tell Them.