How to Win Friends and Influence People
by Dale Carnegie
Top 10
A short classic on being genuinely interested in others, listening well, and disagreeing without making enemies. Dated in places, timeless in its core lessons. Read the full description
Best for: New managers and anyone shy in social settings
How to Win Friends and Influence People is #2 on BookWard's Top 100 books for September 2026, with a BookWard Score of 84 out of 100.
How to Win Friends and Influence People: reading interest over the past 12 months
Sources: Open Library’s public reading-log and ratings data (dump of 2026-08-31), Wikipedia page views and Wikidata. Monthly counts are exact; they show relative interest among readers of these public sources, not total readership.
Ranked against the other books on this list, How to Win Friends and Influence People’s reading interest has run from #16 to #35 over these 12 months. Interest rank blends shelf adds, Wikipedia page views and rating activity, each compared with the other 99 books that month.
Shelf adds by month
How to Win Friends and Influence People was added to Open Library readers’ shelves 2,094 times in the past 12 months, peaking in September 2025 with 239 (37% above its monthly average of 174). Over the latest three months (Jun 2026 to Aug 2026) shelf adds were up 3% on the three months before. 88% of the adds were “want to read”, 9% “currently reading” and 3% “already read”.
Want to read Currently reading Already read
Wikipedia page views
Its Wikipedia article was viewed 275,168 times in the past 12 months, peaking in March 2026 with 31,156 views. The latest three months were down 29% on the three before.
Source: Wikimedia monthly page views for the article How to Win Friends and Influence People.
What the data says about How to Win Friends and Influence People
- Steady demand. Monthly shelf adds for How to Win Friends and Influence People stayed within a narrow band around 174, which is what a book with a constant stream of new readers looks like.
- Busiest and quietest months. September 2025 was its busiest month (239 adds), about 2.3 times its quietest, December 2025 (102).
- Attention and shelf adds move independently. Its Wikipedia views and its shelf adds did not rise and fall together over these 12 months (correlation -0.06).
- Against its genre. It had 13% fewer shelf adds than the average Self-help book on this list.
- Share of the list. It accounts for 2.0% of all shelf adds recorded for the Top 100 over these 12 months, #8 of 100.
- Its age. First published in 1936 (90 years ago), it is older than 92% of the books on the list.
Each finding is computed from the public data above and shown only when the numbers support it.
How to Win Friends and Influence People on the Top 100: rank history
First charted in September 2026. The chart gains a point with every monthly update, so its peak, climbs and falls will show here as they happen.
| Month | Rank | Score |
|---|---|---|
| September 2026 | #2 | 84 |
Is How to Win Friends and Influence People rising or falling?
Holding steady Its weekly, monthly and yearly ranks are close together, so interest is steady rather than spiking.
On Open Library, How to Win Friends and Influence People ranks #7 this week, #6 this month, and #8 over the past year. A longer bar means a higher position. Comparing the three windows shows whether readers are arriving faster than the book's long-term pace. Readings as of 2026-09-30.
Why How to Win Friends and Influence People made the Top 100
How to Win Friends and Influence People made the list mainly on momentum (+33.4 points) and being read right now (+23.3 points). Its smallest contribution is rising (+0.1). The BookWard Score blends five public signals, each scored from 0 to 100 and weighted as shown.
The reading-now, rating and rank signals come from Open Library’s public data, not from BookWard’s own readers. The score measures reading interest, not quality or sales. How the score works.
Open Library reader stats for How to Win Friends and Influence People
Source: Open Library public reading logs, as of 2026-09-30. BookWard’s own monthly snapshots are added to the picture, and anonymous BookWard reader data will be layered in as the community grows.
More readers have How to Win Friends and Influence People open right now than 93% of the other books on this list. These counts come from one public source, so they show relative interest rather than total readership.
Where it sits among Self-help books
It is #1 of the 12 Self-help books on this month’s list.
About How to Win Friends and Influence People
A short classic on being genuinely interested in others, listening well, and disagreeing without making enemies. Dated in places, timeless in its core lessons.
Why it’s here: Nearly a century on, its advice still works in inboxes and meetings.
Best for: New managers and anyone shy in social settings
At a glance
- First published
- 1936
- Genre
- Self-help
- Length
- about 280 pages (the median across its editions)
- Original language
- English
- Languages
- editions in 11 languages listed on Open Library
- Editions
- 188 on Open Library
From Open Library and Wikidata public records. Missing rows mean the records do not list that fact.
Themes
- Listening and genuine interest
- Avoiding criticism
- Persuading without pressure
What reading it is like
Plain, anecdote-driven advice in short chapters. The examples are from the 1930s and feel dated; the principles are the point.
At about 280 pages it is a medium-length read: roughly 6 hours at an average reading pace (about 250 words a minute, 300 words a page). Audiobook and edition lengths vary.
Good to know
Short chapters make it easy to read in pieces, and each section ends with a principle you can practise.
The premise
Dale Carnegie's classic collects simple principles for getting along with people: take a real interest in them, listen, avoid criticizing, and let others feel important. Each idea comes with short stories and examples.
What you’ll get
- Practical habits for conversations and meetings
- Short chapters you can read in any order
- Advice that works for work and family
You might skip it if you dislike older writing styles or anecdote-heavy books.
Pairs well with: How to Talk to Anyone · Influence
Keep exploring the chart
Also on the chart at #1 and #3
Questions about How to Win Friends and Influence People
What rank is How to Win Friends and Influence People on the Top 100 books?
How to Win Friends and Influence People is #2 on BookWard's Top 100 books for September 2026, with a BookWard Score of 84 out of 100.
Is How to Win Friends and Influence People rising or falling?
Holding steady. Its weekly, monthly and yearly ranks are close together, so interest is steady rather than spiking. On Open Library, How to Win Friends and Influence People ranks #7 this week, #6 this month, and #8 over the past year.
Why is How to Win Friends and Influence People on the Top 100?
How to Win Friends and Influence People made the list mainly on momentum (+33.4 points) and being read right now (+23.3 points). Its smallest contribution is rising (+0.1).
How many people are reading How to Win Friends and Influence People right now?
Open Library's reading logs show 1,202 readers currently reading How to Win Friends and Influence People, 12,969 who want to read it and 525 who have logged it as read (as of 2026-09-30). These are counts from one public source, not all readers.
How much interest has How to Win Friends and Influence People had over the past year?
2,094 Open Library shelf adds in the past 12 months (peak September 2025, 239); latest three months up 3% on the prior three; 275,168 Wikipedia views in the past 12 months (down 29% over the latest three months). Figures come from Open Library and Wikipedia public data.
Who is How to Win Friends and Influence People best for?
New managers and anyone shy in social settings.
Ask a question about How to Win Friends and Influence People
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How we know
This page is built from public data: Open Library’s dated reading-log and ratings dumps, Wikipedia page views, Wikidata, and BookWard’s own monthly Top 100 snapshots. The interest rank blends shelf adds (45%), Wikipedia page views (30%), rating activity (10%) and, for months where a snapshot exists, BookWard’s own score (15%), each as a percentile among the Top 100 books. Every month shown is real data; nothing is estimated. Rankings reflect reading interest, not quality or sales, and can be affected by data gaps. Last updated September 2026. Read the full methodology.
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