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The Like Switch cover art

The Like Switch

By: Jack Schafer PhD, Ph.D. Marvin Karlins Ph.D.
Narrated by: George Newbern
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Summary

From a former FBI Special Agent specializing in behavior analysis and recruiting spies comes a handbook filled with his proven strategies on how to instantly read people and influence how they perceive you, so you can easily turn on the like switch.

The Like Switch is packed with all the tools you need for turning strangers into friends, whether you are on a sales call, a first date, or a job interview. As a Special Agent for the FBI's National Security Division's Behavioral Analysis Program, Dr. Jack Schafer developed dynamic and breakthrough strategies for profiling terrorists and detecting deception. Now, Dr. Schafer has evolved his proven-on-the-battlefield tactics for the day-to-day, but no less critical battle of getting people to like you.

In The Like Switch, he presents these techniques for how you can influence, attract, and win people over. Learn how to think and react like your favorite TV investigators from Criminal Minds or CSI as Dr. Schafer shows you how to improve your LQ (Likeability Quotient), "spot the lie" both in person and online, master nonverbal cues that influence how people perceive you, and turn up or turn down the intensity of a relationship.

Dr. Schafer cracks the code on making great first impressions, building lasting relationships, and understanding others' behavior to learn what they really think about you. With tips and techniques that hold the key to taking control of your communications, interactions, and relationships, The Like Switch shows you how to read others and get people to like you for a moment or a lifetime.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.

©2015 John Schafer, Ph.D. and Marvin Karlins, Ph.D. All rights reserved.; 2015 Simon & Schuster, Inc. All rights reserved.

What listeners say about The Like Switch

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Only useful for the very young and the very naive

How did the narrator detract from the book?

I am not prejudiced against American accents but the tone of this narrator, while sounding ok in the test sample, grated on me so much, by the end I could barely listen.It is a fault with the book that it dresses up trite observations in a pseudo-scientific way as if presenting well defined laws of human nature only understood by a few experts. The narrator exacerbates this and must take a lot of responsibility for the annoying experience that results.

Any additional comments?

The advice in this book is not bad but little or none of it is new. It's just a rehash of standard body language and basic social skills training that has been around for decades. The FBI angle is amusing but doesn't add anything of substance. The chapter on the internet is of course not decades old but neither does it say anything beyond what is already well known to most internet users. Don't send angry emails until you've had a chance to cool down. Check your addressee list in case you made a mistake. Don't post naked pictures of yourself. Beware of people lying on social media. Good advice but only of value to the young and the naive.

Probably the most profound insight is the friendship formula: friendship = proximity + frequency + duration + intensity. But the examples he gives to validate it are dreadful. He cites a case where he supposedly helped a shy young man to make friends by telling him to go to a bar every evening, place a set of glass marbles on the counter and examine them with a magnifying glass. He claims this incited curiosity which led to the young man making friends. He had to go to the bar often and sit alone all evening in order to boost the proximity, frequency and duration elements of the equation.

The book is riddled with facile statements such as "Scientists have discovered that as we go about our daily lives our senses are constantly sending messages to our brain which in turn processes the information". And: If you cut someone's carotid artery, death will follow in minutes. One of the examples (the drunk passenger on a plane) is good but many of the stories and illustrations are so trite as to be laughable. There is so much simplistic advice dressed up as profundity, I found it almost unbearable.

It would be a good introduction for a socially undeveloped person aged about 10-14. (I mean that seriously).

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4 people found this helpful

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    3 out of 5 stars

Standard psychology

I was recommended this book by someone who found it hugely useful, they used the techniques and found improvement in their relationships. Having read the book myself I found it to be standard psychology in the most part. If you already have a knowledge of human communication techniques and psychology you won't gain much by reading this but it is a good reminder.

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2 people found this helpful

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Dale Carnegie... Reborn.

I really enjoyed listening to this audiobook. If Mr. Dale Carnegie was alive he would be so proud of Dr. Schafer. This audiobook reminded me of the classic book 'How To Win Friends and Influence People'. It's one of those resources which you need to really dive into and apply in your life, because knowledge without action is void. I hope you get to enjoy the audiobook as much as I did. God bless you.

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1 person found this helpful

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Brilliant

Life changing for an introvert! Gives one the knowledge and tools to make the switch from acquintance to friend, and it is much simpler than you think.

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    3 out of 5 stars

Good narrator but ..

I think the narrator was good and it was entertaining, I finished it, but the positive suggestions are the same as Dale Carnegie's how to win friends and influence people. That book is far less cynical and underhand. There are some techniques' presented in this book that seem extremely manipulative and I wouldn't be comfortable with myself adopting the strategies, even if there was something I wanted at stake.
But I guess it's another reminder to listen more than I talk. Another reminder to make compliment people when they deserve it.
I'm left feeling that I don't want to be this strategic getting people to like me. If they do well and good if not, I still don't want to be so ''cunning''. I've realised, I'd rather be a decent human being whether the person can offer me an upgrade or help me or whether they need my help. I'm not trying to trick anybody in to selling me their secrets or selling me a car for no profit.

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  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
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    2 out of 5 stars

waffle. half hour of material spread out

Half hr of decent material spread out over hours and hours. lots of common sense and some interesting bits. The good bits are worth knowing the rest it terrible.

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    4 out of 5 stars

Enjoyable, useful, helpful

Well paced narration helps share the excellent content. The ideas in this book are useful and interesting. I've encountered some of them before, but would have to say that in this work they are shared effectively, rendering the ideas extremely 'user-friendly'. If you are looking to enhance your social interractions this is well worth a listen.

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A fantastic insight on basic psychology.

It annoys me when people give this book bad reviews because it isn’t “advanced” enough. How does that even warrant a bad review? Absolute cretins.

Greatness starts by mastering the basics.

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  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
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An updated review of the Carnegie's concepts

Good book for beginners in human dynamics but falls short if you are familiar with this sort of materials. it's an updated review of the Dale Carnegie's theories.

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Quite worthwile.

No groundbreaking news, but a concise and well delivered verbalisation of what probably many of us have as intuition plus some additional impulses. No regrets.

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