Product Description

At last, a concise encyclopedia of NLP patterns!

The Big Book Of NLP contains more than 200 patterns & strategies written in an easy, step-by-step format. The methods include a full array of the fundamentals that every practitioner needs, such as the Swish pattern and The Phobia Cure, as well as advanced and unique patterns, such as The Nested Loops method and Learning Strategies. Many of these techniques were never published before and cannot be found elsewhere.

Perhaps more important, and unlike most other NLP books and programs, the patterns are written with great care and testing to ensure that they are clear and can be followed immediately.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3677 in Books
• Published on: 2008-12-11
• Released on: 2008-12-11
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 720 pages

Review
"NLP is all about learning how to think of things differently; particularly negative things that drag you down. Buy this book and you own THE sourcebook on how to think differently and change yourself and others effortlessly with NLP. It is now the most useful book in my practice and I give it to all my students." --Isaac Gozlan, NLP, Trainer

From the Author
If there was one really useful book on NLP... ...it would be full of NLP patterns!

Everyone who learns Neuro Linguistic Programming knows the power of the patterns and strategies that employ the skills and knowledge of NLP. Whether you have just been introduced to the basics, or you have mastered advanced material and patterns, this work provides you with more than 200 patterns in a concise reference format, with step-by- step instructions.

I have selected each pattern for its value and relevance. If you know the pattern, you can refresh your memory; if you want to learn it, you can do so without wading through any "fluff" such as ridiculously long explanations of NLP terms, or "magical stories" of healing and success. I chose to make this book clean of theories and fiction stories, and packed it with the most practical guidelines and advice.

About the Author
Shlomo Vaknin, C.Ht, is the founder and chief editor of NLP Weekly Magazine (est. 2001), an international professional publication on NLP and Hypnosis, with circulation of over 70,000 subscribers. Shlomo is an experienced therapist and maintained a successful private practice in Los Angeles for more than 5 years. Shlomo has authored hundreds of articles and published several books on NLP and Hypnosis.

Customer Reviews

A Practical Sourcebook
After reading the previous reviews and comments here I have decided to write a thorough review of my own, since it seems the others are a bit too short.

To put my review in context, I am a certified NLP trainer, working in the field full time since 2005. I work mostly with adolescents at risk.

The Big book of NLP, as described, is packed with NLP patterns. The reason I gave the book 5 stars is that it is exactly what the Product Description on Amazon says it is - no fluff, all practical sourcebook. In the past couple of weeks I've been experimenting with the patterns written in it, and I must say that the explanations are very clear, to the point and without (so far) any "space fillers". I came across more than a handful of techniques of which I was not aware of at all, such as The Inner Hero pattern and Rhythmic Learning strategy.

The techniques in the book are in Step-by-Step format; however, the author advises early in the introduction chapter to be careful about memorizing steps and does point out that in order to master these concepts and ideas, one must remain flexible and creative. He also gives "additional advice" for almost every technique, giving some more ideas on how to use the process more efficiently.

I did appreciate the credits given to originators of NLP patterns, and not only to Bandler & Grinder.

Out of the few techniques I've tried on myself this week, the "Aligned Self" (#71 in the book) made a great impression on me. It is based on Robert Dilts' Logical Levels concept, and the purpose of this pattern is to get you into an aligned state of mind. The result is that you feel as if all your values, beliefs, thoughts and attitude are aligned and working together in a strong unity. It is well explained in this book and it is a process I recommend everyone to experience.

The first 30 or so patterns (out of the 210 I counted) in the book are the known, basic, NLP techniques - Swish, Mirroring, as-if, collapsing anchors, outcome definition and so on. From page 100 or so the more complex and "juicy NLP" stuff begins. There are a lot of ideas and techniques here that are taught only in Master Prac. and Trainer's Training programs, and plenty of specialized techniques that deal with individual challenges. Among the more advanced techniques I found really useful is the "emotional pain management" and the nested loops method.

Regarding the physical layout of the book - as you might suspect from the title, it is BIG. It's a 7x10 inches, and heavy! the print is large enough to read when you work with a client and "cheat" by glancing at the instructions. Most of the book is in columns, which makes it easier to read on the fly (speed readers like me appreciate it a lot). There's a grey box with only the steps outlined so that you can read them quickly once you learned the details of the pattern. The book has more than 700 pages and they are used almost fully; there isn't much of empty space to write comments on, so I attach sticky notes everywhere.

In conclusion, I highly recommend this book because it is well written and it serves the need of NLP practitioners and students to have a complete practical sourcebook of techniques to work with.

The Big Book Of NLP Techniques: 200+ Patterns & Strategies of Neuro Linguistic Programming
I've been applying NLP since the early 1980's. I went only once to professional training in NLP, but I did read a whole lot of books on the subject. This book deserves 5 stars rating for many reasons:

1. It's more than what the author promises in the introduction. I like that a lot in a non-fiction book.

2. Perfect organization - it begins with the common techniques and concepts, then builds up on those to present more complex and advanced methods. It takes away the "anxiety" of learning to use NLP on your own and doing it right...

3. The author uses a down-to-earth language, avoiding lengthy academic/scientific statements - keeping it easy to understand, yet not ignoring the complexity of each subject.

4. A thorough overview of the techniques ahead of time - there's a nice section in the beginning of the book which gives in one or two sentences, the "essence" of each numbered technique in the book. It makes it comfortable to skim and pull out what you need when you need it.

5. There are a lot of "nuggets" in the book - one line advice, additional tips, warnings and notes, which helps you understand how to better utilize the ideas.

6. The content is a great combination of "self help" and "therapy"; in methods that require another person to guide you through the process, it is mentioned and explained why.

7. In an average NLP book you would learn perhaps 10 or 15 techniques; there's a very high chance that some or all of these will be repeated in the next book you buy... The Swish pattern, for example, is mentioned in almost every NLP book I read. The Big Book of NLP, however, teaches you 215 techniques.

8. This book has no fiction in it at all. No seminar stories, no therapy stories, ONLY pure practical guidelines. It's really a reference or an encyclopedia as the cover says.

9. The reason I wrote this review - "Criticism Analyzer", pattern #77 in this book. I am more than amazed and I thank the author many times for putting it out there in such a clear language. I didn't read the whole book yet, but these few pages have made the investment worth it.

10. Perhaps it belongs with #8 above, but I wanted to emphasize it - there is no "EGO" in this book. The author does not praise himself and his work and he takes no credit at all, even for the numerous advice he gives throughout the book. This is the kind of approach I absolutely love, and truly it is very unique in the field of NLP.

So these are the reasons why you should buy the book.

Now, here are a few things I'd be happy to see in future editions:

1. Hardcover! Yes, the author says we should not treat this book like it's holy, but I would still pay a few more bucks to have it in a hardcover. Publisher, to your attention.

2. More Illustrations - wherever possible, add them or put some on your site, that would help the less visual oriented among us.

3. :) What about Volume II? "Yet another 200 techniques of..." - I'm sure that in 35 years this field has gathered a whole lot more.

Anyway, this is definitely a book that is worth buying and keeping on your desk.

Thanks for reading,
Stephan Thieme

Great for Begginer or Advanced
I got this book for Christmas and I was absolutely stunned. It has no fluff just like in the description and it was surprisingly easy to understand. It gives you step by step instructions on how to do the pattern and tells you what the pattern is supposed to accomplish. It even seems to go from fundamental to more advanced. It is very helpful and has helped me achieve some levels of nlp that I though I couldn't reach for a while. Great book.