I read this last year and thought the intention was to help people stay away from shady business practices, not to be a how-to guide for them! Seems a shame if people are using it nefariously. I really liked the writing style and way of tying information to personal anecdotes that he used .
I have noticed the tactics like big ask/little ask a a lot more since reading it, and i really remember the section on how to get people to help in an emergency.
I recently read Cultish by Amanda Montell which is on the same topic of persuasive language but more focused on how people get drawn into organizations. There was a lot of overlap in the chapter about Jonestown in both of the books, iirc
Yes, I think the framework is to help people become more aware of persuasive techniques used in business so they can defend themselves. I am not advocating that people use them to engage in shady business practices. However, the applications go beyond defending oneself.
There is a chapter on social proof, which is basically social norms. I studied social norms in grad school and probably read close to 1000+ peer reviewed articles on this topic. When something is popular, we want it more due to social proof. We are social animals and feel more comfortable doing similar behaviors to others. When something becomes more popular and the supply is held constant, the item becomes more expensive. Every single day of my life, I try to purchase items that are less popular, but still meet my needs. For example, my current car is a 2007 Pontiac Vibe with 205K miles. I purchased it in January 2020 for $2750 with 153K miles. It's the same car as the Toyota Matrix, except for the decals and has a Toyota engine. Toyota and Pontiac partnered on the production and they came out of the same factory. Pontiac has a less desirable reputation and is less popula and thus the car costs much less. About 40% less used.
Buying unpopular items can reduce your spending dramatically without deprivation. You then get a large gap between earning and spending and invest the difference. Over 10 years, these thousands of decisions stacked up and pushed our household net worth up from zero to 1 million, while making 80K-85K/year at our W2. Rental income has increased over the years.
The techniques are sometimes counter intuitive and don't feel right and can take some time to be convincing. My wife and I started dating in 2009 and got married in 2012. She didn't really buy into this philosophy until about 2019. It took about 10 years of evidence to convince her. Her attitude was that my philosophy was some kind of weird hobby that will never amount to anything. However, once we hit 1 million net worth making much less than her friends and also working much less, she was finally on board. She transitioned from full-time (45 hours/week) to part-time (15 hours/week) in May 2015. Now that we are on the same page, I think our upside is even greater.
I hope this serves as an inspiration for others. I sent two copies of this book to different friends just this week. I buy used copies on amazon for $6. I also own two copies that I loan out to friends and students.