This page will typically contain at least one major review of an important book about NLP and a number of minireviews of books about NLP, hypnosis, and their therapeutic applications. If you would enjoy writing a review of your favorite NLP book, send a message to me, Joel stating your interest in reviewing and the publication information about the book (author, title, publisher, and date) you wish to review.

One of the things I found of most interest was that Erickson did not begin his career as what we now think of as an “Ericksonian hypnotist.” When he started with hypnosis, he followed the directive practice common at the time. He discovered along the way that the indirect approach was not only more natural, but also more effective.

Erickson typically combined a variety of strategies in his therapeutic strategies. To clarify the process, the authors use a number of examples to illustrate Erickson’s six core strategies that provide the foundation for his therapeutic interventions.

If you are a therapist, whether you knowingly use hypnosis in your practice or not, consider this book required reading.

Questions are generally classed as developing or moving. Developing questions elicit further details about the presenting problem:

• And is there anything else about [client’s words]?
• And what kind of [client’s words] is that [client’s words]?
• And that’s [client’s words] like what?
• And whereabouts [client’s words]?

• And then what happens?
• And what happens next?
• And what happens just before [client’s words]?
• And where could [client’s words] come from?

While it is usually a good idea to allow clients to discover their own solutions to their problems (an approach typically advocated by Erickson), the ways of doing that may vary. It seems to me that clean language is a useful tool to have in one’s therapeutic tool kit, but it may not serve well as the only tool. Lawley and Tompkins demonstrate that clean language can be used with greater flexibility than may seem obvious at first. They provide a number of good examples to illustrate how the clean-language approach guides clients—and readers—in the process of self-discovery.

The first thing you will notice about the book is its size. It measures approximately 8.5 inches by 12 inches, which is unusual for books published in the States. That may be a common trim size for books in Ireland, but, at least to readers from the U.S., the book will have a very different “look and feel” from those you may be used to reading.

It is not quite large enough to be classed as a coffee-table book, something to be looked at but not really read, nor is it small enough to be held comfortably for casual reading, such as between naps on a long flight. Its size and weight ask the reader to pay attention to it, to take it seriously. And this is a book that needs to be taken seriously—as well as enjoyed.

Contents and Overview

The book contains an introduction, conclusion, and glossary of terms in addition to the following six sections:

1. Escaping from a Miserable Prison
2. The Art of Personal Freedom
3. The Keys to Change Your Life
4. Breaking the Chains of the Self
5. The Art of Loving Freedom
6. The Art of Spiritual Freedom

In addition to the actual content, each section concludes with “Random Ramblings,” which aren’t really random, but more about that later. Each of the sections has a serious purpose, and each contributes to encouraging the reader to adopt a mind-set that leads to greater satisfaction, accomplishment, and enjoyment of life.

The Warning: You Will Change

I (Joel) trained with Richard for the first time in 1994. Before that training, I was warned about Richard and told that he would “install things,” that he would change me. And he did. He installed whatever I needed to be a better, more confident presenter. That’s why I went back for more training, and that’s why we (Debra and Joel) have continued to train with Richard, John La Valle, Gabe Guerrerro, and Owen Fitzpatrick, and others who have been following in Richard’s footsteps even while they cover new territory on their own.

The book—Conversations—is as close to a Bandler workshop as is possible in print form. If you are the kind of person who attends workshops and buys books so that you can learn things without changing, don’t buy and read this book. On the other hand, if you are among those who truly want to get more out of life, Conversations should be on your reading list.

The book is structured around Owen’s journeys, interspersed with conversations he has had with Richard over the years. The story—and the stories within the story—can be read strictly for the pleasure of discovering what happens next. We also want to know how each adventure will influence his next meeting and conversation with Richard.

Along the way, the book also offers an exploration of common human fears and ways to eliminate them and install something better, whether curiosity, appreciation, or pleasure. One of the questions Richard asks with some regularity is, “How much pleasure can you stand,” and, of course, that leads to your desiring to be more joyful more of the time, and to your increasing your focus on what you want and your moving more resolutely in that direction. This is a book that will change the way you think in a way that will allow you to move more fully into the freedom of your own choosing.

Conversations is a big book in a lot of ways. It is not only physically larger than most books published in the U.S., but also covers a lot of territory—in more than one way. The book follows the structure of the myth of the hero, with Owen cast in the role of Hero and Richard cast in the role of Guide or Magician.

The “story” is fun to read. Throughout, the reader wants to know what will happen next. It is, however, not the kind of book often called a page-turner. The Hero's journey is, after all, serious business, and Conversations takes that business seriously. In following Owen’s internal and external journeys, readers participate in their own mythic journeys. In reading about Owen’s conversations with Richard, the reader enjoys the benefits of the wisdom of the mythic Guide or Magician.

If you are new to NLP, Conversations will provide a wonderfully entertaining introduction. If you’re an old hand, you will appreciate the book that much more. This is a life-changing book, and everyone’s life—perhaps even yours—can be better.

NLP Techniques and Exercises

Also along the way, Richard and Owen discuss the application of a number of NLP techniques (and some based on Design Human Engineering™, Neuro Hypnotic Repatterning™, and Applications of Hypnosis to NLP). Many of Richard’s recent interventions are based on energy awareness. The energies of fear-based emotions, such as phobias or fear of speaking in public, have movement. When you become aware of the way the energy is spinning, you can move the energy out of your body, stop the spin, and then spin it in the other direction (faster and faster), and then pull it back inside your body. And notice how your feelings have changed.

Those who have been to a Bandler workshop often say that they remember laughing a lot but that they don’t remember much else. Richard’s humor is well-crafted for helping people see that most of their fears are not only unfounded, but also pretty silly. The person who willingly hangs by his or her fingertips on the side of a mountain thousands of feet in the air might be afraid to ask someone for a date or to present his or her ideas in front of a group. Being able to laugh at what used to scare you is often the most effective way to move beyond the fear and to set a new direction for yourself.

Each section also includes a number of exploratory exercises inviting you to explore your beliefs, especially those that have limited you in some way, and to facilitate the process of your changing in the ways you most desire.

Irish Flavour

One of the things that those of us from the U.S. will notice is that Owen has used what we think of as “British” spelling and punctuation and what we assume are Irish expressions. He doesn’t “sink” balls when playing pool, he “pots” them.

The Irish have long been known for their story tellers, and Owen fits comfortably with the best of them. The book is a “good read.” The story moves at a comfortable pace, and the philosophy is also nicely paced. This isn’t a college text book, although it probably should be. You will enjoy reading about Owen’s adventures. The teaching points are well-made, and, when you go back and study the language patterns and story-telling techniques, you’ll see that the book as a whole is well-crafted—elegant, even.

Bottom Line

Many of the “classic” NLP books are out of print, and, as interesting as they are from an historical perspective, NLP, or what are increasingly known as Bandler Technologies have changed a lot over the years. While you may desire to buy Conversations because it will be an enjoyable book to read that will promote your changing in the directions you desire, it is a lot more than that. It is also a book that will help you master the best of the best of the Bandler Technologies.

SCS will attempt to keep Conversations in stock for those who live close enough to buy it in person. For those of you who need to order it, you may do so from NLP Seminars Group International. The book sells for $40 plus a fee for shipping and handling.

Transforming Your Self was written by Steve Andreas, another well-known name in NLP circles. It was published in 2002 (Moab, UT: Real People Press), and I discovered it by accident. I went shopping for his new book, Six Blind Elephants, and Amazon.com told me that people who had ordered it often ordered Transforming Your Self. It seemed like a good idea to order both at the same time.

That proved correct. The book is about how we create, maintain, and change our self-concept. We all have one, of course, even if we are not always sure where it came from or how we might change it. In Transforming Your Self, Steve Andreas takes readers through the process of discovering their databases of examples that support the various qualities present in their self-concept. If you think of yourself as honest, for example, you will have internal representations (whether visual, auditory, or kinesthetic) that support the quality of “honesty.”

The book takes you through the process of changing your internal images or representations to strengthen qualities you desire and to diminish and perhaps eliminate qualities you would prefer not to have in your self-concept. One of the things that happens, of course, is that what we believe to be true about ourselves has a pervasive impact on our attitude and behavior. If you really believe that you are healthy and happy, for example, you are more likely to be healthy and happy in both attitude and behavior—than if you don’t believe it. When you believe that you are healthy and happy, being healthy and happy are part of your self-concept, which influences what you are manifesting in your life.

Transforming Your Self is well-worth reading, and, ideally, read it before you read Six Blind Elephants. Although “Elephants” can stand on their own, Transforming Your Self provides an excellent foundation for the next book.

Six Blind Elephants, also by Steve Andreas, is a comprehensive treatment of scope and category in two volumes, Fundamental Principles of Scope and Category and Applications and Exploration of Scope and Category. The volumes are substantial in terms of content. Neither is excessively long—both are about 300 pages—and are “deep” rather than “wide.” The word scope is essentially what is called chunk size or frame size in NLP. Scope indicates the extent of experience in either time or space. If you go to a party, for example, and you have a wonderful time until you are ready to leave, when you bump into someone and spill red wine all over her, yourself, and your hosts’ white carpet, it would be easy to narrow your scope to that one event. But, once you learn about changing your scope, you learn that you can choose how you view the experience and have a fuller, richer memory of the evening.

Both short (narrow) and long (wide) scopes have advantages and disadvantages. If your scope is narrowly on the present, you may forget about learning from previous experience and fail to plan for the future. If your scope is too broad, you may spend too much time regretting the past or worrying about the future to enjoy the present.

Bundles of scopes are categories. Categories result from the generalizations we make about our experience. We group things and events according to the ways in which we think of them as similar. If we concluded that spilling the wine was “clumsy,” for example, we might put it in our clumsy category, along with other events that “prove” that we are clumsy. As you have probably surmised from having read about Transforming Your Self, bringing the categories of bundles of scope into conscious awareness affords us the opportunity to change both the scope with which we view things and events and the categories into which we have placed them.

The two volumes provide numerous examples to help readers understand the pervasive influence of scope and category and to recognize language patterns that presuppose certain scopes and/or categories. These are books well-worth studying—spend some time increasing your sensitivity to the unconscious presuppositions present in every metaphor.

Robert Dilts, author of From Coach to Awakener is another well-known NLP practitioner, trainer, and author. As its title implies, this book is basically about interventions—when and how best to intervene to achieve the desired results.

What isn’t obvious from the title is that Dilts has been roundly criticized for his concept of logical levels, an idea borrowed from Gregory Bateson, Bertrand Russell, and others. The criticism is essentially that the logical levels as described by Dilts are neither logical nor levels. Dilts’s model includes the following levels or categories:

• Environment
• Behavior
• Capability
• Belief
• Identity
• Spirituality

Several writers have pointed out that Identity, for example, is actually a collection of beliefs about the self, so it should be a subcategory of Belief rather than a category that supersedes Belief. In terms of interventions, however, the cluster of beliefs that form an identity are more inclusive than most beliefs a person might have about the external environment. A person might have a belief that elevators are dangerous and be afraid to get on them. If that is his or her only irrational fear, the Fast Phobia Cure would probably be sufficient to eliminate it. If he or she has a wide variety of fears—is a fearful person—an intervention at the level of Identity would probably be more effective.

Debra and I have always felt that, whether they are true or not, Dilts’s logical levels are useful guides to points of intervention. From Coach to Awakener demonstrates the utility of the logical levels as one moves from Coach (environment, behavior, and capabilities) to Awakener (identity and spirituality).

The book contains numerous examples of interventions at each of the levels, and regardless of whether you find Dilts’s justification for the logical levels persuasive, you’ll doubtless discover new ways to make distinctions about where and how to intervene in a way to leverage desirable changes, not only for your clients, but also for yourself.

Sleight of Mouth provides a broad overview of the relationship between language and experience and ways to use the former to influence the latter. Dilts defines and explains framing and reframing and the impact of language on beliefs and expectations. This is not a “magic phrase” book. Rather it focuses on increasing the reader’s understanding of language patterns and ability to use language effectively.

Daniel Gilbert’s Stumbling on Happiness is not based on NLP, but it supports and confirms a lot of the major and minor presuppositions explicit or implied in NLP. Gilbert is Harvard College Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, and Stumbling on Happiness is based on a good deal of research, both brain-based and behavioral.

Gilbert presents the evidence that demonstrates how and why we delete, distort, and generalize sensory-based information (present) and memories (past) and anticipations (future). The book provides a research-based foundation for the truth of much of what NLP has typically presupposed to be useful rather than true. The book is written for a general audience, and Gilbert has done a pretty good job presenting difficult concepts in a way that makes for easy reading. If he has a fault as an author, it is that he works a bit too hard at being clever (he doesn’t sip wine, for example; he sips Château Cheval Blanc '47).

If nothing else, this book will persuade you that your conscious mind doesn’t always know what it’s doing and that, far more than we realize, the unconscious is running the show.