People read too much into this.

According to the Preface, this book was not written for the purpose to make friends or influence people. The design from conception is to chronicle a movement, not create one.

As a whole one can have an opinion as to the results of the book. However with out reading it the opinion has no chance to be informed. Another flaw with not reading this work is that you are relying on others opinions and inferences. Taking most of the statements and conclusions from this book and displaying them separately you would be surprised as to how many you would agree with.
Just a sample of what is on the inside:
"I know people who ’read’ enormously, Book for book, letter for letter, yet whom I would not describe as ’well-read.’ True they possess a mass of ’knowledge,’ but their brain is unable to organize and register the material they have taken in For reading is no end in itself, but a means to an end."
These are not platitudes but examples of observations of