Captivate: The Science of Succeeding with People

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

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

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.

I first came across with the works of Vanessa Van Edwards with her YouTube videos and they were great. When later I found out that she had written a book I thought to myself that I had to pick it up. Her book "Captive" is about explaining the social science that make people tick, and how can you "hack" that social science to your benefit and use it to succeed in your relationships in life. Two unique points that I think this book has to offer: First is that the book is written in a very simple and casual way that helps break down complex ideas and make the book to a very fun read. Second point is that the book includes a lot of ways for active learning, for example the challenges at every end of a chapter and the digital content that's in their site for further information on the subjects in the book. One downside I noticed in the book is how the success of the people that's presented in the book is linked to one characteristic treat that Vanessa is trying to emphasis in every chapter. I think it’s over-simplifying to claim that one treat lead to their success in life. Overall I think this is a great book, has some great insights would recommend to anyone who's trying to step up their social skills. Would definitely suggest doing the challenges that are presented in every chapter to fully maximize the book and even doing them for the fun of it!

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!!

This is a book you will want to buy in hardcover because you will want to tell others about it and mark it up. It is interesting to read on Kindle too, but hard to find your place when you want to remember a part of it to tell someone else what you learned.

This is neither a content dense book nor is it an outstanding book. I am very skeptical when nearly every review is five stars, even though they say Verified Purchase. That isn't statistically possible with this book for objective people to come to that conclusion. I am only commenting because I buy books based on the reviews and these reviews are very out of line with this merits of this book. Most chapters underdeliver. They have subtitles like "How to get along with anyone" or "How to crack someone's personality" but the actual content is very light. You aren't going to learn how to get along with everyone from this book. This isn't a zero star book because the author does aggregate academic research done on the topics she discussed. I came across roughly a dozen new concepts or facts to think about which made the book worthwhile. The author is passionate about the subject and you will learn something with a careful read. These aren't major issues but little things like mentioning TED talks throughout, name dropping Bill Maher and Aziz Ansari, living in Portland, calling the New York Times "a world-renowned news agency that we should learn from," and calling a guy who started the Citizens of the World Charter School a hero of education are circumstantial evidence of the author being more prone than usual to fluff and psychobabble. The author also has an immature writing style using words like awesome constantly.

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!