Book Review: Develop your NLP Skills, by Andrew Bradbury

This book by Andrew Bradbury is presented as one of the more business oriented books on NLP. The cover gives a good idea of the sort of information in the contents of the book. In addition to proposing a set of power methods for being able to perform feats such as seducing women into sucking an ice lolly, the book covers the NLP way for setting goals, and offers explanations for the various obscurantisms that have been concocted by NLP developers. Goal setting and negotiation are core business skills and it would be easy to assume then, that this book was a reputable book on business skills. However, the rather simplistic presentation of those skills, plus the pseudoscience attached, seems to make it about the same level as the Dianetics business school:

The presuppositions are about as adopting new age beliefs. The author, Andrew Bradbury, also goes into (perhaps out of) depth by presenting the typical pseudoscientific eye movement information as in the other books on NLP. There is also a section on learning styles (Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic) learners. Again this is an old pseudoscience as there is no evidence of the existence of primarily V, A or K managers or people.

The site given by the author also shows a large collection of pseudoscientific argument and excuse for the failure of NLP after the battery of controlled studies applied to the subject 20 years ago and since. Anyone interested in examining a good set of logical fallacies will find plenty therein: http://www.bradburyac.mistral.co.uk/nlpfax.html

The real usefulness of this sort of book could be restricted to finding statements not to utter in front of people who know something about negotiation, psychology, or business and management practice. However, it may also be useful for those wishing to study the nature of pseudoscientific cults within the business field.