How to be More Interesting

by Edward de Bono

People spend vast amounts of money, time and trouble to achieve and maintain beauty, and yet despite its undisputed importance few devote similar efforts to being interesting. Edward de Bono demonstrates in this book, that anyone can acquire this crucial, life enhancing skill.

Genres: Self Help, Psychology, Nonfiction, Personal Development, Business, Management

304 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1997

About the author

Edward de Bono was a Maltese physician, author, inventor, and consultant. He is best known as the originator of the term lateral thinking (structured creativity) and the leading proponent of the deliberate teaching of thinking in schools.

Reviews

[Alshaimaa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, I am not sure why the rating is bad
This is a good book with a false title, maybe if he named it 'improve your thinking' but still isn't thinking part of our personality.
This book is full of activity of how to think differently, and help you change the way you think.

I would borrow this book not buy it, and that is what I did.

[مشاري الإبراهيم · Rating 2 out of 5]

The name of the book isn't necessarily tied to the content. It's more of an imagination simulator book. A workbook full of exercises. Although interesting and amusing, it's not something I'd hold and finish. Rather, I'd use it from time to time when necessary.

[Nick · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book came heartily recommended by someone whom I thought had a head on his shoulders. It turns out I was wrong; my headless friend recommended a truly silly book. It's full of lists of questions (with suggested answers) that remind me of high school essay questions -- no, middle school essay questions -- that are supposed to make you more interesting by getting you to think about things you haven't. "Suggest some alternatives to prison." Seriously.

[Abe Hanara · Rating 5 out of 5]

an essential read for eachers/parents/individuals alike sometimes wonder why their students or fellow learners look uninteresting in what they are saying. The core science of attention directing essentials and the human nature of how un-interestingness doesn't work (in all areas of teaching, communicating and life) is discussed in this book

[Simon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unsure about the title, the age (first published 1997), and the 'exercise' nature of the book, I took it on holiday all the same and devoured it in a couple of days. The title is misleading (probably just to shift it off the shelves). If you want to understand the creative mechanics of conversation and how to enhance the flow, value, engagement and enjoyment of conversation, then this book is a good read. That said, if you're already curious about how to enhance the flow, value, engagement and enjoyment of conversation, then you probably already get 80% of what Edward de Bono writes about. And don't be put off by the warning on Exercise 61 ("The is a very difficult exercise and you can skip it if you want"), as this was my favourite exercise! And here's the results:

**Below are five randomly selected words. Choose any three of them to construct a story: Sheep, Bell, Prison, Snake, Laundry. [I chose the last three]**

My Story:
--------
A middle-aged Mexican chap is a snake fanatic. He keeps a bunch of snakes in his home - he has short fat ones, multi-coloured ones, incredibly slow ones, stealthy ones, extremely long ones and chameleons. He's an unofficial snake expert. He's also a murderer. He's committed three but is finally caught after his fourth murder.

He's tried, found guilty for all murders and sentenced to 50 years in a high security prison. The one he serves in is a single, high-rise building that occupies the entire prison grounds it exists on. In this prison, each week on a Friday they new prisoners are able to apply to work in a 'post' within the prison. There are Kitchen, Laundry, Workshop and Cleaning posts. He chooses Laundry. He submits his application but learns on Sunday night (when the decisions are made) that he has been rejected with no explanation.

Unfazed, next Friday he completes the application form once more: Laundry. Again, on Sunday night, he learns it has been rejected with no explanation. Over the next 2 years, he submits a further 104 applications for laundry work, and each one is rejected. During this time, despite being fed three square meals a day, he struggles to maintain his weight of 75kg despite the lack of calorie-burning activities he has. This perplexes the prison staff. He receives indirect feedback that the prison boss is concerned he may only be interested in laundry so that he can gradually accumulate enough sheets to tie together to safely lower himself to freedom from his 5th floor cell.

Then one morning at 6am when the guards go to wake him up, they find his bed and cell empty. Confused by his absence, they rush to the window to find the tail of a dead snake tied to a bent prison bar, the head of which was dangling below, just a safe 3-metre-drop from the desert floor.

[gramakri · Rating 2 out of 5]

According to de Bono what make you an interesting person depends upon - what happens in your mind; how you express what happens in your mind; what impression you create in the mind of a listener.
Being interesting is a skill which can be developed. Hence this book is a workbook consisting of 70 short and simple exercises intended to help you develop this skill.
Just an OK sort of book, authored by a person who has written path-breaking bestsellers like "Lateral Thinking" and "Six Thinking Hats". I was rather disappointed since I had high expectations from it.
Read an overview of the topics covered in this book @ http://bookwormsrecos.blogspot.in/201...

[Andrew Knighton · Rating 3 out of 5]

This contained some really interesting exercises and ideas for thinking about how to expand on a subject and to come up with more creative approaches and ideas. I found the frequency of examples around gender roles a bit off putting, as they only led to conclusions that seemed obvious to me, and probably would to anybody with feminist sympathies. The author also occasionally came across as slightly too pleased with himself. Still, interesting to read someone thinking about how we think, and it's given me some useful tools for idea generation.

[Kedar · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book starts out okay but many a times forces you to make preposterous connections. (Example: Link up "fork" and either one of "cow","running track","mosquito"). Although he manages to connect these words somehow later, personally, it wasn't easy or even obvious how they connected. And the book has 74 exercises, which were too boring, frankly speaking. I would rather be "uninteresting" than finish the book.

[Dave · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like Edward De Bono books, I really do, but found this book doesn't relate to the title at all. The reader is given a series of topics in which to note their thoughts, comparing them to the author's.
An example being 'Frog'.
The topics are a little obtuse and may do just the opposite to the reason you read the book.

[Matias]

didn't finish reading. edward de bono is a dick.

[Simon Sweetman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I guess you could follow this through and do all of the exercises - but really, what's the point in that?

[Doug · Rating 1 out of 5]

It took less than an hour of listening to this audio book to decide that the author needs to read this book. Oh wait - he wrote it and he's still not interesting. Epic Fail.

[Sarah Rednblack · Rating 1 out of 5]

Turns out, I despised self-help books even if I made the effort to look for one that may potentially help me. I also hated exercise books, but only after forcing myself to go through a quarter of this book.

At the time, high school me has had enough of being the quiet kid and unable to hold or initiate conversations. I wasn’t shy, I simply had no idea how conversations started, flowed or how to be relatable.
Sure, the book helped, but in very specific circumstances, ie: if a real life conversation happened to revolve around a similar topic covered by the book. Otherwise, I didn’t grasp it. What got me out of my shell was several changes to residence that came after reading this, not the book contents itself.

[Mokona · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ở Việt Nam, mình thấy cuốn sách này nhận được đánh giá khá cao trên Tiki, cũng qua giới thiệu của Hana’s Lexis mà mình mua nó. Nhưng có lẽ cuốn sách này không hợp với mình.

Tựa đề “làm người thú vị”, nhưng thật sự nó không hề gợi lên điều gì “thú vị” khiến mình muốn đọc tiếp, lật hết trang này đến trang kia để xem những nhận định, ý kiến, đề xuất của tác giả. Tuy nhiên, trong sách cũng có một số cách rèn luyện suy nghĩ, đầu óc khá hay nên mình đánh giá ⭐️⭐️

[Tiru Arasu · Rating 4 out of 5]

it is a mind game

[Georgia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clever and witty, and incredibly helpful for those of us bookworms who are yet to put any of our interesting knowledge to practical use.

[PrettyFlamingo · Rating 2 out of 5]

I am afraid I didn't find this, er, interesting enough, sorry!

[Daniyal]

i want be an intresting person , and i heard alot of popularity of this book amoung motivational speakers

[MuzamilZubair]

i think its good for me

[George Araman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great and practical book filled with exercise that helps becoming more interesting.

[Thư Diệp · Rating 2 out of 5]

Mình thấy cuốn sách này không hợp với mình

[Kami Bumgardner · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although I always try to see the positive aspects of any book I've taken the time to finish, I don't have much great to say about this one. I will say this: audiobook is a TERRIBLE idea for this particular work. There are over 60 exercises in it, which are basically impossible to complete while driving. On top of that, it really isn't what you think it's going to be, based on the title. It's OK. But perhaps, if you are already a somewhat interesting person, it all seems a bit like trying to hard. I also felt like the author spent far too much time being self-congratulatory, and pimping his other books. He had a handful of words he made up himself, as he felt the English language just didn't have what he felt was necessary to express what he felt. Kinda hokey.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

In How to Be More Interesting , Edward de Bono proposes that being interesting is not some immutable character trait that some people have and others do not, but rather a skill that can be learned and developed like any others. He attempts to teach his readers methods to think in a more interesting way about a variety of topics, using more than 70 thought exercises to reinforce his lessons. Whether or not it works or not is anybody's guess, but nonetheless it's a relatively interesting read. 5/10

[Shriya · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is very good for those in the academic field, as most of his book covers exercises, if you need help on how to make your words interesting whilst writing an essay its a good start. My father found this in a second hand store, he thought I would find it "interesting" yes I did, however at times I felt Edward De Bono was making me feel dumb. Still left half finished, its a good reference book.

[Amani · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love books that talks about creativity and thinking skills, especially those that helps you to become one... and this book does this. It guides you and helps you on how to think creatively and critically... I really enjoyed it activities and exercises. It is very practical :)

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit pedestrian. For the less serious fan or general population.

[Vanaja Nataraj · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thought provoking & refreshing!

[Lê Tuyền ICHI · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tư duy.
Giáo dục.
Hữu ích.

[Hugh Hsu · Rating 2 out of 5]

More about how to think than how to be interesting

[Jem Jones]

Didn't finish because I couldn't really find any structure; the idea was intriguing, though.

Okay, if you want the truth, I didn't finish it because it had to go back to the library and I am somehow a lazy bookworm??