During my year of this near-cockroach existence, I
discovered the key to the mystery of manipulation: a
thorough understanding of human nature. First the
manipulator must grasp an intimate understanding of
human nature. Then he exploits these deeply in-
grained human tendencies, instincts, and weaknesses.
In the course of this book, I start with the basic traits
of human nature and describe the tactics manipula-
tors use to capitalize on them.
You can experience their methods by proxy as you
read about them. After that you should find it easy to
apply them to the situations where you need manipu-
lation. Because the ever-present traits of human na-
ture are universal, once you understand how to
exploit them in one situation, other applications come
naturally.
Learn the techniques quickly.
I hope that by reading this book, you'll learn to
harness the considerable power of human nature to
get what you want-without having to pay the dues
that such an ability usually demands. These tactics
are easy to learn from someone who's willing to teach
you, but figuring them out on your own through
trial-and-error would probably take a lifetime. I hope
this book cuts your period of trial-and-error to an
absolute minimum, or possibly eliminates it al-
together.
Figuring out the tactics of people-handling on your own is usually a syrup-slow process. It's hard be-
cause these techniques run contrary to what you're
used to doing. At times you'll have to learn to make
yourself shut up when your instincts are goading you
to "Scream at him!" Or you may have to feign disin-
terest when your insides plead, "Tell him you're des-
perate for his business."
As a result of these unaccustomed stances manipu-
lation often requires of you, only a handful of
people-around five percent by my estimate-ever
learn to get what they want from other people. The
other ninety-five percent just plod along following
their natural instincts, unable to tell why they nearly
always come out on the short end of situations.
I venture to guess that these people, frustrated by
their personal failure, flock in droves to John Wayne
movies. There they get their vicarious satisfaction by
watching The Duke, by golly, see that things are
damn well done his way. Unfortunately Wayne's
clench-jaw method of riding his gut instincts to vic-
tory only works on the silver screen, not in reality. A
person simply can't follow his impulses and still get
what he wants from people. Impulses are a fool's
compass.
Finally I must confess that few of the techniques in
this book represent original thoughts of my own. As
a reporter I mostly relate what the old hands in the
manipulative art taught me. I'm giving you advice
from people who are much more clever than I am. In
a sense, I let them take the years of hard knocks nec-
essary to develop these tactics, and paid as few dues as possible myself. I would have undoubtedly been
twenty years developing them on my own.
Also, in my role as a reporter, I only describe what
works-not what is moral. These tactics aren't either
moral or immoral. Like most powerful tools, they can
be used for either good or bad ends. For instance,
Lyndon Johnson, a master in the use of political ma-
nipulation, used the same tactics to gain the passage
of good civil rights laws as he used to marshal sup-
port for his questionable Vietnam policies. You see,
how you use these methods determines whether they
will be right or wrong.
Undoubtedly there's a great potential for abuse in-
herent in these techniques; I can only hope that you'll
apply them toward decent ends. I also trust that the
publicity this book gives the methods of manipulators
will awaken some of the gullible people in the world
from their trances. Then maybe they can defend
themselves against being used by these ruthless individuals DURING THE TIME I lived among the five con artists,
they lied to me and gulled me of so much of my
money that I was forced to cultivate cunning to sur-
vive. In a situation where the clever ones eat the gull-
ible, developing wariness isn't a matter of choice.
Luckily Hardy helped me by providing the kind of
knowledge that all but veteran manipulators are igno-
rant of.
Hardy taught me to recognize the subtle markings
of a situation that betray a well-laid deceit. If you de-
tect these tipoffs in a situation, you should develop
cold feet, and become mule-stubborn about releas-
ing any money to a person who shows these signs. In fact you probably should show him the door, and
end your association with him altogether.
Watch out for those who protest too much.
Remember Shakespeare's "Methinks thou doth
protest too much"? (In other words, ·'You've said it
so many times that you make me suspect you're lying
about it. ") Note the striking parallel between Shake-
speare and this situation, where I took a small finan-
cial beating. .
As I entered my apartment one night, my room-
mate told me that Hardy had just called me from jail.
He'd been arrested for public drunkenness. Since
Hardy considered me his "only real friend in the
world," he asked me to come and post bail for him.
Hardy begged me to hurry because he claimed to
be in a standing-room-only cell with "a bunch of
stinking, vomiting slobs." Hardy was always meticu-
lous about his personal cleanliness. And he insisted
on a hospital-clean apartment, so I knew he must be
enduring a living hell. But I also suspected that the
filthy jail might prove excellent therapy for his desire
to get drunk in the future. A sloppy, heaving deter-
rent.
"You'll never regret this. Just as soon as I get the
money, I'll see that you're paid back. You just don't
know how much I appreciate this," were Hardy's
grateful words. He told me this as we walked away
from the jail after I bailed him out. But despite this
bountiful outpouring of assurance on his part, I never