Wow the two previous reviewers had contrasting views. I read this book in the UK and found it an antidote to the heavy theoretical books.
It does refer to the yale goal setting which has been challenged. However it does refer to some excellent research on the importance of goals and their effectiveness. The science is sound and the conclusions drawn are correct. The book is definitely an EI book. The definition of EI is not written in tablets of stone as the earlier reviewer believes. Leading figures like Goleman, Bar On and Savoley have sizable differences of opinion.
You get just enough science here. The real benefits are the insightful uses of popular culture to explain concepts. My students really bought into them. Then you have improvement techniques. These do not come from 'pop psyche'. They come from cognitive therapy, brief therapies NLP and other proven fields of psychological intervention.
If you want to understand EI try Goleman plus this book and you will be fine. Ironically people who knit pick over a book like this are the ones who need it most. More ironically, knit pickers have little sense of irony.