Care to recommend books about improving relationships with people?

[JMatt]

I’m looking for a book recommendation about interpersonal relations. I want to improve my relationships with people in my life.
I've read How to Win Friends and influence people and will re-read but I’m looking for something that has a better explanation of the dynamics of relationships and how to empathize better. HtWFaIP is great but it doesn't explain necessary aspects of a relationship or creating a relationship that people cherish.
I know this subject is huge and covers a lot of different types of relationships but if you think you know something along those lines I would love to hear it.

[Delta40]

Shouldn't you look at your own shortcomings first? It's likely your negative patterns of behavior will play out in any relationship you find yourself in so I would be inclined to explore them rather than read books on the theory of relationships since they are all unique in the first place. These patterns are usually developed in childhood, served us then but are of no use to us as adults but are perpetually triggered nevertheless. I think they're called schemas.

A friend of my daughters met a guy through an online dating service recently and before their first meeting he emailed her a 99 page manifesto about himself and his criteria of what a cherished relationship must be like with him. Needless to say her friend cancelled the dinner!

Good luck.

[mal4mac]

HtWFaIP is a collection of cynical tactics for sales people. For instance, it considers all people to be stupid, selfish egotists, ready to be exploited. I mean: "Remember that a person's name is, to that person, the sweetest and most important sound in any language...". What awful advice! Actually it's worth reading the book, or at least the Wikipedia page, to see why salesman often seem like idiots. "Why's he using that false smile? Why does he keep using my name?" Blame Dale Carnegie.

Try reading some good novels... start with Tolstoy and Dickens.

[kev67]

There's a book called How to Talk to Anyone. I noticed a friend of a friend had a copy on his bookshelf. He's quite easy to talk to. Looking on Amazon, there are quite a few books with similar titles, but I suspect they're all say the same sort of thing. I have to say, I'm never very sure of these self-help books. Even if what they say is true, it's a different thing putting it into action.