Captivate: The Science of Succeeding with People

Great book, easy read and very insightful. Love the tips, real stories, and ready to use tools. A must have!

Loved, loved, loved this book. Wow. The author breaks things down 5-minute conversation starters, how to be more engaging, how to "speed-read" people and so much more. I am a beginner real estate investor and have been a shy person my whole life (I'm 52). I WISH I HAD THIS BOOK 30 YEARS AGO! I particularly LOVE the audiobook because the author is the one that is dictating the book and she is so engaging, so charming and so clear in her communication. I think the audiobook is amazing but you have to be able to take notes cuz it's chockful of golden nuggets. A+++, Mrs. Van Edwards!!

When I first picked up Captivate, I thought “this book is going to try to teach me to become an extrovert, isn’t it? I couldn’t have been more wrong. There’s a lot of information out in the world that claims to be scientifically-proven or a proven-model, but it tends to fall flat or go out of style or only work for a select group of people. Captivate is for everyone. This book celebrates introverts, extroverts, and those in between. It em-powers anyone who has felt awkward in a social or professional setting. It champions entrepreneurs, mothers, executives, students--if you are a per-son, this book is for you. Vanessa Van Edwards shares her teaching methods in such a fun, explor-ative way--encouraging the reader to be interactive with the lessons and to discover something more about themselves and the people around them. I loved the chapter on the art of storytelling and how stories truly have the power to shape interactions, but who am I kidding? I loved every single part, and I can’t wait to go back and re-read certain sections when I have a situation for which I want to really hone my “people” skills using that chap-ter’s advice. Captivate is a people manual. It’s not meant to be read once and then sit on a bookshelf collecting dust. It’s meant to be picked up over and over again when you have a first date or when you need some advice or when you have an interview and when you want to know how to work the room. It’s there as a resource when you’re becoming more committed to a partner and when you want to appreciate them based on their own love language. This book is the textbook for people, but one that you actually want to read, again and again.

Right before starting this review, I noticed that that some of the negative reviews for this book took issue with Van Edwards tone in this book, one that include the sort of corny pop culture jokes that the "funny" person in a cubicle space like to throw around, knowing that other "funny" people will laugh, and everyone else with give a polite laugh so as not to seem rude. My attitude towards jokes in books, both fiction and nonfiction, is that I don't care so long as it doesn't interrupt the pacing. Bad jokes don't upset me unless they're mean-spirited. But I actually get their purpose in this particular book: Without the goofy jokes and whimsical examples Van Edwards would sound like a psychopath. I don't intend this as an insult, I found a lot of the advice in this book very helpful, it's just that these sort of tactics and preparations for social interactions are normally employed by pick up artists, salespeople, and the aforementioned psychopaths. There's plenty of unsavory people who have contempt for the human race but have a desire to extract value from others through interaction. The reason I could tolerate Van Edwards version of this is that she genuinely seems to have good intentions with this information, usually encouraging shy, introverted, and awkward people to find ways they can adapt to social situations without giving up a part of themselves or running themselves ragged. She continually advises the reader to approach these social situations with open eyes and an open heart, and not to do anything that would conflict with their comfort, safety or morals. I am very tall and looming, tend to look angry, and have a lot of anxiety in social situations, so there's plenty in here I intend to try out (the cheatsheets and cartoon microexpression cards are a helpful addition) so I'm willing to look past the dorkiness since the contents seem useful.

This is an easy and fun read that offers the reader countless real examples of how to succeed with people interactions. Vanessa is such a genuine writer who speaks from her own experiences and from the heart. I just bought her other book Cue. Thanks so much! Damian

I’m already a pretty social guy, but going into Outside Sales, I wanted to know if there were parts of myself I could improve on. This book brought things to light that I didn’t even think about. A great read!

Super useful information. I did find some sections hard to get through but the information is priceless. A lot taken from this book. Excellent content.

I was super excited to read this book after watching Vanessa’s Ted talk and finding out that she wrote a book. To be honest: I had high expectations and this book didn’t disappoint me at all! The structure I super easy to follow and I appreciate all the information and details you get from reading the book. It only took me a week to read it and I absolutely enjoyed it. Sometimes I stoped to think about the tips Vanessa gives and practice, write things down and so on. I did the personality matrix for me and a lot of friends, family and colleges. I actually make a little book to keep all the information. I learned a lot about myself and how to handle people. Additionally I do unterstand the people I know a lot better because of understanding how they ‘work’ and what’s important to them. The only down part of this book is the quality of the pictures which isn’t too great. In my opinion the structure of the paper plays a big part in this. This doesn’t take away the overall quality but it makes it hard to see some of the details in for example the face expressions. If you really want to learn about how to handle people read this book. I can highly recommend it!

This books teaches you, how to behave in a social situations. And how to make a good and everlasting expression on other, very useful book for day to day life. Understanding and following the principle of this book will help you improve the personal and professional relationship with other people. This book is written more like a semester book, gives practical social theory like Franklin effects, the big 5 theory etc. Worth the money and time.

I highly recommend this for anyone who wants stronger connections with people. Vanessa has a very easy to read and understand style and the book is full of exercises and online activities to practice what you read. There are a ton of insights into human behaviour and research-backed best practices that anyone can follow. A great read!

I enjoyed so much reading this book from Vanessa and getting the insights about people science. Serious with fun, and practical. Looking forward to getting the next one: Cues!