Penny, The Review Group's reviewer Penny for Your ThoughtsThe Review Group
Series ✦ Penny’s Take 🎧 Audiobook

The Art of Public Speaking

Dale Carnegie & J. Berg Esenwein (preface) · 2025
🎙 Narrated by Varies by edition — most recent verified edition (2024, Nightingale Conant) narrated by Joe Nuckols; other in-print editions use different narrators (e.g., Tom Parks for the AmazonClassics edition)
83/100
👍 Worth It

This 1915 classic earns its lasting reputation — it's the foundational text on rhetoric and speaking confidence, practical and exercise-driven rather than academic, even if a few examples show their age. Because it's public domain it circulates in overlapping editions, but the most recently verified production is a clean, professional listen. A century-tested pick that genuinely rewards the time, on the page or in the ear.

✦ Penny’s Take — this is The Review Group’s own editorial assessment. Penny’s analytical review line researched this book from real sources and scored it across the lenses shown below. It’s an honest first-party read — not a page-by-page personal one. The gold ✓ Penny Tested mark is reserved for books Penny reads cover to cover herself.

▶ Listen to a sample

🎙 Narration: good Multiple public-domain editions exist; the most recently verified production (2024, Nightingale Conant) is narrated by Joe Nuckols, though other in-print editions use different narrators.

As an Amazon Associate and Audible affiliate, Penny earns from qualifying purchases. This never affects the verdict — see our affiliate disclosure.
Show the math
Verdict receipt0–100
Faith & family safety90
Substance / usefulness85
Craft & writing85
Originality75
Evidence & accuracy75
Hype vs delivers80
Age-fit75
Human-eye read85
Penny’s verdict83
Cross-pollinate