Frogs into Princes: Introduction to Neurolinguistic Programming

"This is a great book on NLP, easily one of the best. It is a book anyone starting out in NLP MUST read. All the top NLP proffesionals in the world would have come across this book and it is a book Derren Brown reccomends and describes it as ' a fascinating insight into the field ' and thats saying something. Not only that but it is a book coming from the creators of NLP so who better than the founders Bandler and Grinder. The book really isnt that difficult to understand when you get into it and also i like the writing style. Bandlers and Grinders Charisma and knowledge shine through and at times very witty.

I will give you some very good information if your just getting into the subject. As a rule of thumb when gettin books on NLP , avoid all the new books and never get any books apart from books by Bandler and Grinder and also stick to the older books like this and tranceformations. The model and structure on NLP hasnt changed much since it began who else to get knowledge from than the 'horses mouth'"
~ Written on 2008-09-24

"'Frogs into Princes' reads like a really good NLP seminar. You get the content and the attitude and humour. A must have book for anyone genuinely interested in NLP."
~ Written on 2006-10-31

"It is quite astonishing that men like Bandler and Grindler, who are not only frequently called 'geniuses' but are supposed to be the world's leading experts on communication, are incapable of writing a coherent book. As a professional writer, my axiom is that writing is about the clear communication of ideas. What happened here? Personally, despite being an NLP enthusiast, I could not understand a word of this book - it seemed to me to be a verbal salad, without any comprehensible structure. Of course it might be that I am too stupid to understand the words of geniuses, but then is it not an NLP principle that 'the meaning of a communication is the response it achieves'? NLP is brilliant in the hands of pedagogues like Tony Robbins or Paul McKenna, but to me this book is a big hoohaa about nothing:
I think a better title for it would be 'The Emperor's New Clothes'"
~ Written on 2004-08-31

"Unstructured and wondering. Long-winded and boring.

None of these terms apply.

While the writing style will make you feel as though you are attending a seminar as an uninvolved participant, you will soon be absorbed into the active audience.

From the first pages of chapter 1 I was understanding the things that I'd missed before. Within hours I was trying the techniques on myself to see if they worked for me - and they did.

If you want to understand yourself and other people this is a good place to start. If you want change things about yourself and the way that you interact with others, understand this book."
~ Written on 2002-07-03

"The basics of NLP are covered very well in this book. What I found particularly interesting were the approaches to visual and other cues in establishing rapport and understanding responses from clients. Also the methods for dealing with phobias and 'reframing' to handle well-established but inappropriate habits and behaviours.

There are many good pointers for intending therapists (or those about to put the points into practice). The key one must be that there are no 'difficult clients' and the glaringly obvious observation about changing an approach if it does not work. So obvious few therapists do it.

Being in seminar notes format, there is some distraction to the reader in trying to tease out the main points being made, so be prepared to spend time in itemising steps and going back and forward in the text to get the meaning.

There are three main chapters in the book, which is a bit on the long side to keep the reader's attention. The fact that there is no index and little in the way of contents (due to the fact this is a seminar) makes for some difficulty in cross-referencing or 'diving in' to read something of major interest. If you want to return to a specific topic it's best to annotate the book or make your own index up!

By contrast the more complex 'NLP Workbook' by Joseph O'Connor (Harper Collins) costs £1 more but is far and away better in terms of practical understanding and includes exercises. This book is carefully written and has an excellent contents section and a full index.

I would say to buy 'Frogs into Princes' if you want the fundamental NLP straight from the original authors. Much of it is conveyed by the comments and asides in the lectures, but be advised that a seminar is not the same thing as reading a book."
~ Written on 2002-03-13