NLP Book Review - Sleight of Mouth (Dilts)

I am often asked by clients in Brighton to suggest books on the subject of NLP. There are many on the market and the choice can be overwhelming. So where do you start?

What is the right NLP book for you?
It seems to me NLP is a vast subject and there is much to study, whether using it for yourself or to help others. Your choice of literature depends where you want to focus. Are you interested in practical techniques such as anchoring and submodalities? Do you want to develop some coaching models? Or are you  interested in what NLP says about hypnosis?

Tackling Beliefs
If you are interested in self help or coaching you will know the importance of beliefs. You might reasonably wonder how best to shift limiting beliefs and how to nurture more useful ones.

You might even wonder if it is possible to do anything about beliefs at all. Sometimes they can seem entrenched and immutable.

SLEIGHT OF MOUTH by ROBERT DILTS
Assuming you, or your client, have decided to change some beliefs, you will probably enjoy the work of Robert Dilts. He has written a practical and thorough guide to the subject of beliefs, from an NLP perspective, in his book Sleight of Mouth - The Magic of Conversational Belief Change.

The book is neatly divided into sections covering a wide array of methods and insights for belief change.

Dilts makes it easy to learn with practical techniques throughout the book, so you can try each method for yourself and gain a greater understanding of each process.

I used the techniques as I went along which helped me remember the material, as well as letting me test its effectiveness.

If, like me, you don't immediately read a book from cover to cover, but dip in and out when you have a spare moment, you will like Dilt's style. It lends itself to "dipping". The length of chapters and sections is nicely bite sized.

Sleight of Mouth is not a definitive book on NLP, nor does it try to be. However, it is a great addition to the resources of any NLPer, coach, therapist or self helper. It is loaded with practical material. Not only will you find it hard to be disappointed you will probably read it over and over, and make it part of your core skills.

Enjoy.