Must have book!. Review on How to Stop Worrying and Start Living - Dale Carnegie

Dale Carnegie's ''How to stop worrying and start living'' is a very good read. Although the book does fall in the genre of self-help books, it?s packed with vital information that is easy to implement in our day-to-day lives. One good thing that I noticed was that the book was extremely reader friendly. As you read along, you get the feeling that the celebrated author is only talking to you with his experiences of winning over worry.

The initial 3/4 of the book deals with making the reader understand the ill effects of worry and also about the solutions people over the ages have realized in their quest for avoiding the worry bug. Some of the salient points explained in the book include things like how stomach ulcers, skin diseases, heart trouble and even arthritis could be just caused by emotional tension and not other factors.

The writer suggests various ways of avoiding the worry trap like keeping yourself busy as much as you can, analyzing the problem to seek a solution, prayer, talking to your friends etc. In fact, if you don?t implement all the tips but at least try out a few of the solutions it?s more than enough.

After tackling with the worry issue, the book also imparts tips in increasing our happiness in our professional life.

The last quarter of the book has 31 real life stories in which people have struggled with worry and depression and have somehow overcome them. As in his other books, the author has done extensive research in terms of meeting people for interviews, getting people who have attended his seminars to share their personal experiences and so on. Every chapter ends with a summary of the important points to work out or incorporate in our plan of action.

In the course of the book, the author (Dale Carnegie) puts his own life story as an illustration. Growing up on a small farm, he had to endure the struggles and poverty of farming life. He explains how his commitment to improve his life helped him to become extremely successful. As most people know, the writer was a pioneer in the field of public speaking and in helping people develop successful personalities. His first book ''How to Win Friends and Influence People'' published in 1930 was a worldwide success selling more than 10 million copies.

Here are some quotes and words of wisdom from his various books:

Remember happiness doesn't depend upon who you are or what you have; it depends solely on what you think

Are you bored with life? Then throw yourself into some work you believe in with all your heart, live for it, die for it, and you will find happiness that you had thought could never be yours.

The way to defeat fear: decide on a course of conduct and follow it. Keep so busy and work so hard that you forget about being afraid.

Do the hard jobs first. The easy jobs will take care of themselves.

If you can't sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there worrying. It's the worry that gets you, not the lack of sleep.

Take a chance! All life is a chance. The man who goes furthest is generally the one who is willing to do and dare. The sure thing boat never gets far from shore.

The royal road to a man's heart is to talk to him about the things he treasures most.

I picked up a copy of the book from my library but I am so impressed with it that I am definitely going to buy and preserve a copy for myself. Worry is a universal problem and the book sure helps us in finding our own methods to tackle this problem effectively. If there is one book that you could buy for yourself, pick this one!