Jay Heinrichs has authored three books on rhetoric, including the New York Times bestseller, Thank You for Arguing: What Aristotle, Lincoln, and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion. The book has been published in 14 languages and 3 editions, and ranks among the 10 books most frequently assigned to undergraduates at Harvard. Middlebury College has named him a Professor of the Practice in Rhetoric and Oratory. As a persuasion and conflict consultant, Heinrichs has conducted influence strategy and training for clients as varied as Kaiser Permanente, Harvard, the European Speechwriters Association, Southwest Airlines, and NASA.
Fourth edition: Broadway Books (2020)
THANK YOU FOR ARGUING: What Aristotle, Lincoln and Homer Simpson Can Teach Us About the Art of Persuasion
“Cross Cicero with David Letterman and you get Jay Heinrichs.”
—Joseph Ellis, author of Founding Brothers
*Bestseller on Amazon.com*
*New York Times Education bestseller*
THANK YOU FOR ARGUING is one of the top-ten most assigned books at Harvard University. It has gone back to press 27 times, with 300,000 copies sold. For when you really have to get your point across…
THANK YOU FOR ARGUING is a master class in the art of persuasion, taught by professors ranging from Bart Simpson to Winston Churchill. The time-tested secrets disclosed in this book include Cicero’s three-step strategy for moving an audience to action, and Abraham Lincoln’s “Shameless Trick” of lowering an audience’s expectations by pretending to be unpolished. It’s also replete with contemporary techniques such as politicians’ use of “code” language to appeal to specific groups and an eye-opening assortment of popular-culture dodges.
You’ll learn how to set your goals, shift the discussion onto favorable ground, and convince your audience—all while making them feel like they won.
Whether you’re an inveterate lover of language or just want to win a lot more anger-free arguments—THANK YOU FOR ARGUING is for you. Written by one of today’s most popular language mavens, it’s warm, witty, erudite, and truly enlightening.
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Rodale Books 2018 / Penguin Press UK, 2018
HOW TO ARGUE WITH A CAT: A Human’s Guide to the Art of Persuasion
It’s well known that cats can convince us to drop everything and play with them; talk us into serving dinner way ahead of schedule; and get us to sit down and provide a lap. In HOW TO ARGUE WITH A CAT, rhetoric expert Jay Heinrichs has teamed up with illustrator Natalie Sutton to show how cats can teach us the ancient art of persuasion. They’re naturals at such rhetorical principals as “know your opponent,” “spot fallacies,” or “argue logically,” skills that Heinrichs demonstrates for human use. In this funny and informative book, both young and adult readers will learn how cats apply rhetoric to get whatever they want, and how we can too.
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WORD HERO: A Fiendishly Clever Guide to Crafting the Lines that Get Laughs, Go Viral, and Live Forever
“If you love words, WORD HERO will magnify your wit, wisdom, and creative expression.”
—Dave Trottier, author of THE SCREENWRITER’S BIBLE
Ever hear someone utter an amazing phrase and feel yourself reacting with…well, awe? Or read a great quotation and wonder how you could ever come up with anything that clever? Daunting as it may seem, crafting memorable lines doesn’t require genius DNA. It does require some knowledge of the tricks and techniques that make words stick.
With WORD HERO, Jay Heinrichs rescues the secrets of “witcraft” from forgotten texts and makes them entirely fresh—even a little mischievous. You’ll learn to plant your words in people’s heads and draw indelible mental pictures by wielding such tools as “rapid repeaters,” “Russian dolls,” and the powers of Mr. Potato Head.
WORD HERO tucks the tools you need into your verbal utility belt to be a greater speaker, writer, Facebooker and raconteur.