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It's A Zoo Around Here: The new rules for better communication
How to become a more effective zoo keeper by recognising the variety of communication styles used by the animals, and adapting your strategy accordingly.
- GenresBusiness
108 pages, Paperback
First published September 20, 2002
13 people are currently reading
68 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
March 23, 2019
It's hard to believe that there are people who have paid £15.99 for this book... Let me tell you something, 10 minutes that you will spend reading this book will definitely NOT revolutionise your life ;)
December 27, 2014
This book is sold on Amazon for £15.99 and has nearly a five-star rating on there. The one (slightly) fortunate thing in my entire encounter with it is that I bought it second hand.
As I'm developing training programmes and public talks, I spend a good amount of time learning how to get better at communicating. I was therefore keen to find out what this author, a popular public speaker, had to say on this subject. The premise of the book is that one should communicate in different ways to different types of people and the author suggests that people can be categorized as four types of animal. So far it's cheesy, and perhaps oversimplified, but still acceptable and anyway the title gives a clue that the book the author might have an irreverent approach.
The book is divided into different coloured sections for the four animal types: Monkey, Lion, Dolphin and Elephant. On page 5, the author says, "I find that 95% of people have one clearly dominant trait, and this may be where you want to start. You could begin by reading the section that represents the larger part of you, and then move on to the next one."
That seemed like a fair proposal and having identified myself as perhaps slightly more elephant than Lion, I went for that section first.
Here's a screenshot of one of the pages from that section (most of the pages are packed with as much information as the one in that image): http://goo.gl/dXJDXy
As you can imagine, as "an elephant", I thought, "what?! This is it? Where's the detail? Where are the examples, the statistics, the research? Heck, any detail at all!"
The author has clearly demonstrated that he is very bad at communicating with "elephants". Having four distinct sections and imploring readers to start with the section to which they best identify, one would think (hope) that each section would be written in a style that is suitable for that audience. A bad attempt at this is the least I would have expected from the book.
So just in case I was too quick in my judgment and it was only the elephant section that was so appalling, I then turned to the other sections to check. And they were all written in that same sparse style. The author says at the start of the book that he left a lot of blank space so we can write our own observations. Well, I have notebooks (which cost less than £15.99) and my laptop for that purpose.
The author had the opportunity to write the Monkey section in a humourous way with jibes, jokes and ridiculous playfulness, the Dolphin section with warm and interactive language and an emphasis on how to touch people's deepest feelings, the Lion section with exercises and examples of success stories of this approach being used in business. But that would probably involve more than the hour (maybe less?) it took for the author to knock this book up.
This book felt like a very lazy attempt to make money from one's public speaking success. I would really like to know what the 5-star reviewers are seeing that I'm clearly missing.
All in all, I still feel robbed even though I paid a small fraction of the original price.
As I'm developing training programmes and public talks, I spend a good amount of time learning how to get better at communicating. I was therefore keen to find out what this author, a popular public speaker, had to say on this subject. The premise of the book is that one should communicate in different ways to different types of people and the author suggests that people can be categorized as four types of animal. So far it's cheesy, and perhaps oversimplified, but still acceptable and anyway the title gives a clue that the book the author might have an irreverent approach.
The book is divided into different coloured sections for the four animal types: Monkey, Lion, Dolphin and Elephant. On page 5, the author says, "I find that 95% of people have one clearly dominant trait, and this may be where you want to start. You could begin by reading the section that represents the larger part of you, and then move on to the next one."
That seemed like a fair proposal and having identified myself as perhaps slightly more elephant than Lion, I went for that section first.
Here's a screenshot of one of the pages from that section (most of the pages are packed with as much information as the one in that image): http://goo.gl/dXJDXy
As you can imagine, as "an elephant", I thought, "what?! This is it? Where's the detail? Where are the examples, the statistics, the research? Heck, any detail at all!"
The author has clearly demonstrated that he is very bad at communicating with "elephants". Having four distinct sections and imploring readers to start with the section to which they best identify, one would think (hope) that each section would be written in a style that is suitable for that audience. A bad attempt at this is the least I would have expected from the book.
So just in case I was too quick in my judgment and it was only the elephant section that was so appalling, I then turned to the other sections to check. And they were all written in that same sparse style. The author says at the start of the book that he left a lot of blank space so we can write our own observations. Well, I have notebooks (which cost less than £15.99) and my laptop for that purpose.
The author had the opportunity to write the Monkey section in a humourous way with jibes, jokes and ridiculous playfulness, the Dolphin section with warm and interactive language and an emphasis on how to touch people's deepest feelings, the Lion section with exercises and examples of success stories of this approach being used in business. But that would probably involve more than the hour (maybe less?) it took for the author to knock this book up.
This book felt like a very lazy attempt to make money from one's public speaking success. I would really like to know what the 5-star reviewers are seeing that I'm clearly missing.
All in all, I still feel robbed even though I paid a small fraction of the original price.
February 23, 2015
Definitely worth reading by all. It's short and sweet; more of a reference guide than a 'book', which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Lots of really interesting points in here that form a good foundation for dealing with different 'types' of people. Further reading is required however to fully master this theme.
February 17, 2015
Basic, short book that promises "that if you read it, it will change your life" and "will give you a whole new perspective on people and relationships". It didn't. There's nothing new in this book, nothing inspiring, nothing that you don't already know. This text is something that most of us did or could do as an assignment in school. And it's sold for £15.99. Can you imagine?
January 6, 2018
Fun quick read
Everyone knows about emotional intelligence and Myers Briggs, but this method is a fun approach to communication styles. Easy to read, had the chance to listen to the author and he's hilarious.
Everyone knows about emotional intelligence and Myers Briggs, but this method is a fun approach to communication styles. Easy to read, had the chance to listen to the author and he's hilarious.
August 24, 2013
Quite basic, though that makes it easy to apply the principles. I have indeed experienced monkeys getting frustrated by elephants! I am a total dolphin.
December 31, 2014
Short and simplistic.. and that's not the good part.
February 11, 2015
I found it very informative and insightful but it could include more details.
September 29, 2018
Excellent read, short and informative, with easy-to-apply advice. It's also interesting to find out which zoo animal you aligned with according to your personality traits and behavior.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews