The Mystical Cachet of Writing Manuals

When I was a boy, I discovered a leather duffle in my dad's closet, and inside was a cache of paperbacks by Dale Carnegie, including How to Win Friends and Influence People. I was fascinated. This secret power of influencing struck me as a good thing to possess, and any book that taught it must be worth reading. So I did. My expectations weren't exactly met, but that didn't stop me from believing that, whatever arcane skill one might like to acquire, its mysteries were revealed in a book. It was only natural, when my interests turned to writing, for my shelves to fill with how-to manuals.