HOW TO MANIPULATE THE MANIPULATOR: A Guide to Winning the War against Deceitful Individuals Paperback – October 27, 2009

Excellent book!Highly recommendable!Author very knowledgeable, and very experienced to deliver the important facts in an efficient and precise manner, for everyone to understand and to make use of it.Saoud Al Mualla's dedication, at start of this book: "For every manipulative, malicious and narcissistic person I have met in my life: Thank you for making me wiser, less naive and more kind as a human being."

I deal with a few difficult people in my professional and personal life .. this a great read to understand how to 1) not let these people get to you; and 2) communicate with them in a way they understand.

The basic prescription of this book is:1. Become superficial. Isolate yourself from any meaningful relationships in the "war zone" occupied by your "opponent," because you can trust no one in your quest to bring down the villain. You must assume the persona of an affable, sincere and therefore innocuous person who is intensely interested in others, most especially your opponent. The sole purpose is to bank personal facts and proclivities that you can leverage to either induce them to do your bidding, or that will ultimately be of use should they turn out to be your next opponent. You must divulge no personal facts or proclivities of your own to anyone, since they could be used as leverage against you.2. Deal with the manipulator by stealth and stealth alone. Tell no one. Anonymity is key. You are alone in this quest.3. Now that you are a shadow (of a) person, you will anonymously plant seeds. Among the goals of this covert activity are ruining the opponent's reputation, framing them for wrongdoing, and inducing emotional disarray such as paranoia. Lest you think the last sentence is an abstraction from the text, know that the author's examples include starting a rumor about your opponent, framing them for theft, or just "creating little hassles" that cumulatively will break them down psychologically, such as taking all their pens or "accidentally" spilling coffee on them.This book wasn't quite the handbook that I hoped would coach me on how to detect and deflect attempts at manipulation. Nonetheless, I'm giving it one star for a couple of useful pointers: First, that you take care when dealing with a manipulator that you speak and act based on your thoughts and not your emotions. Second, in dealing with the manipulator, take your time. Urgency and chaos tend to make us respond emotionally. Be in a calm and stable frame of mind before reacting to anything that the manipulator says or does.So if winning by deception is not distasteful to you, then you may find this guide useful. You may also enjoy reading The Prince. If you are not willing to cast your lot with people of your opponent's ilk, you may just want to move on. (Though you still may enjoy The Prince).

Extremely intelligent author writes outstanding 'straight up' tactics and techniques that really work, Love this book, I am reading it a second time.

straight and simple guide to helping me think about a manipulator. I can look in mirror with this book and think about the person I would not want to be.

I bought another book which was cheaper and better then this one. I actually was waiting for this one to be better however it just generalized the whole topic in chapters without actually stating what you can do. It says to do cognitive therapy ..so go and see a therapist or something and not to basically lose control of yourself... If a genuine person is not a manipulator and is not used to manipulating others how the hell are they supposed to know what plans to make? It doesn't provide the full help it only touches few points. I needed something really stating what to do back and how it will effect the other person in more details.... sorry 2/5... Yet I will still probably buy it to see what the book is about :)).. your choice

It is not as substantive as I was hoping it would be. I was hoping for more individual stories.

If one has to use the tactics in this book to achieve success then one has sunk to the level of the perpetrator. Suggest reading instead "The H Factor of Personality: Why Some People are Manipulative, Self-Entitled, Materialistic, and Exploitive—And Why It Matters for Everyone".