point taken. it's possible the issue is more nuanced: some of the benefit comes just from forcing people to be conscientious about how they interact w/ people, and some comes from the specific tips he provides.

Yes I would agree as most of the advice in the book is more common sense than groundbreaking. When I got to the part about not telling people "You're wrong" and directly criticizing mistakes I didn't need to be convinced. Rather I immediately realized that I do tend to do this often and I should probably make an effort to do it less.

Before reading the book though, I had never once examined that aspect of my personality and how I interact with others.