Editorial Review

Cancer survivor, poet, and philosopher Mark Nepo has consciously allowed life to move through him. The Book of Awakening is the result of his journey of the soul and will inspire others to embark on their own.

Nepo speaks of spirit and friendship, urging readers to stay vital and in love with this life, no matter the hardships. Encompassing many traditions and voices, Nepo's words offer insight on pain, wonder, and love. Each entry is accompanied by an exercise that will surprise and delight the reader in its mind-waking ability. ... Read more

Reviews

Learning who I am
I start every morning with an inspiration from this book. I take the time I need to reflect on the daily passage and have found it to be a way of learning about the real person I am. I have been searching for inner peace for so long , this book has helped me to meditate on the important things to make my life and my inner self more complete and at peace. I love this book and want to give everyone I know a copy.

Editorial Review
There are very few books in this world which elicit the question `Why have I such an array of books on this subject when this one would suffice?' The entry of Mark Nepo's Book of Awakening into my life not only presented this question but also initiated an immediate removal of the other six inspirational books waiting in a tumbled line by my bed, making space in my overcrowded life for the simplicity of one source of wisdom.

The Book of Awakening, which is beautifully produced by Conari Press, is in the form of a daybook, having an entry of wisdom for every day of the year. This allows us to take a dip into this vast ocean of insight every day or to dive in at random when the spirit moves us. Each page of wisdom is followed by a short and profound meditation on the topic at hand which helps put the reading into the context of one's own life, and is suggested in such a way that even the meditation-shy could be enticed to participate.

In his introduction, Mark describes his book as `a companion and a soul-friend'. I agree that this book can act as a soul friend, which is a different relationship than is possible with most wisdom books. And that is quite a gift to give to yourself or a friend. The key reason for the possibility of this almost human relationship with the book is, I believe, to be found in the divinely human writing style of the author.

Mark is born a poet whose eyes perceive the divine patterning within the everyday experiences of life. He has crafted the art of painting that depth so that others may begin to see into and beyond the mundane. Each new entry seems to invite a deeper friendship of the soul as Mark lays himself bare in his truly personal stories of struggle and revelation. He interweaves his own perception with gems of collected treasures from many spiritual traditions, giving us access to his own spiritual advisers in their many forms.

--- Carmella B'Hahn, Sufi Journal, London

A Daybook with poetry, inspiration and much more!
Mark Nepo's day book is a wonderful way to remember the importance of enjoying the details that make life a mystery and a gift. The book includes inspirational quotes, beautiful poetry, points for mediationsand heart-warming glimpes of life. Although each day's entry is meant to be savored, I gobbled them all up and now will go back to holding them close to my life one day at a time.

A beautiful offering.
To be honest, this book caught my eye first because of its beautiful cover of the Lotus. I opened the book read a passage
and felt deeply moved almost to tears. This is a beautifully orchestrated book. Its daily reflections, passages and quotes
are soul food for our journey. This book is definitely a work
of love. You can feel the intent put forth and given to the reader by the author. What a blessed contribution it is. The foreward by Wayne Mueller sums this stellar gem up perfectly.
A difinite addition to your collection, if not the only book you will ever need and keep close to your heart, spirit and soul.
Dear Mark Nepo,
You have written a book that has moved me so, there are
no words to describe it. I thank you for sharing your beautiful offering. I am so happy to have come across it just in a time
when I was so ready and open to its messages.
Blessings,
Christine/Toronto, Ont. Canada

Beautiful Daily Contemplation Book
Written by a poet and teacher, this book is organized by date, with 1-2 page offerings for each day of the year. Beautifully written, each entry begins with a quote from another poet, saint (practically every spiritual tradition is represented), or other literary work, followed by the author's musings and a set of questions to contemplate that day. Some random samples: "August 1: The Pain of Becoming - We do ourselves a great disservice by judging where we are in comparison to some final destination." "April 10: At Home in Our Skin - The spiritual life is about becoming more at home in your own skin."

Mark Nepo's Book of Awakenings
This is a wonderful daily reader - a great way to start the day - sometimes I just pick up the book and randomly pick a reading. Truly inspiring stuff - it's like a yoga class for your mind.

timeless
A beautiful gift for yourself or a loved one. Dated daily essays to ponder along with daily exercises to strengthen those spiritual muscles. I'm admittedly a biased huge fan of Mark's writing. I've never bought a daybook before and didn't realise that's what this was when I purchased it. If I'd known I might have missed out on a treasure. It is structured with dates but there is no year so this book can be read and re-read year after year and I'm sure each read will reveal another level of wisdom. If you're on the fence about making this purchase, I'm sure you won't be sorry if you decide yes, and there's no reason to wait until the beginning of a year to buy it.

Deep, courageous, vivid, tender, honest, treasured
In every reading I find extraordinary insights I underline and carry with me. I actually am purchasing a copy for my desk at work. It is definitely a gift giver. So many of the daily meditation books I've purchased are disappointing, or I've gotten used to something kind of nice or merely reflective. Nepo takes me to an edge I've wanted to see time after time. I leave his readings better for the experience, eager to share.

A good book for the grieving woman
I am a life coach for widows.
I suggest to all my clients that they purchase this amazing book. It gently, lovingly and firmly reminds us each day of who we are and that in order to emerge, we need to accept that where we are is where we are supposed to be. Even if it is messy. I am so grateful for this book.

A Beautiful Devotional Read
I have found this book to be a beautiful daily devotional. It is rich
with poetic philosophy and heart opening passages that take you deep
within yourself. The guided meditations allow you to expand around the
everyday circumstances that life graces us with, and allows you to go
to the depths of your own heart and knowing you are better than you were before. This read is a portal into the self thatis conscious and aware of the inner workings behind every perceived problem and lifts you to the higher ground of expansion. It is a delight to read it daily and lift myself out of limiting beliefs into other perspectives that free me of conditioned responses. ... Read more

Editorial Review

More than 100 pages of new, cutting-edge content.

Forget the old concept of retirement and the rest of the deferred-life plan–there is no need to wait and every reason not to, especially in unpredictable economic times. Whether your dream is escaping the rat race, experiencing high-end world travel, earning a monthly five-figure income with zero management, or just living more and working less, The 4-Hour Workweek is the blueprint.

This step-by-step guide to luxury lifestyle design teaches:
•How Tim went from $40,000 per year and 80 hours per week to $40,000 per month and 4 hours per week
•How to outsource your life to overseas virtual assistants for $5 per hour and do whatever you want
•How blue-chip escape artists travel the world without quitting their jobs
•How to eliminate 50% of your work in 48 hours using the principles of a forgotten Italian economist
•How to trade a long-haul career for short work bursts and frequent “mini-retirements”

The new expanded edition of Tim Ferriss’ The 4-Hour Workweek includes:
•More than 50 practical tips and case studies from readers (including families) who have doubled income, overcome common sticking points, and reinvented themselves using the original book as a starting point
•Real-world templates you can copy for eliminating e-mail, negotiating with bosses and clients, or getting a private chef for less than $8 a meal
•How Lifestyle Design principles can be suited to unpredictable economic times
•The latest tools and tricks, as well as high-tech shortcuts, for living like a diplomat or millionaire without being either ... Read more

Reviews

Better Than The First Version By A Very Long Shot . . . Definitely Worth The Investment
I reviewed the first edition of The Four Hour Workweek and was surprised by the content, it was a fresh look at a new idea (Lifestyle Design) and it offered some really practical, useful advice that virtually anyone could implement. I recommended the book to many people, most liked it some didn't.

I eagerly pre-ordered this version of the book when I first heard about it mostly because I was curious if it would really be better . . . and boy was it!

I sat down with this book and read until the wee hours of the morning. Sure a lot of the material is the same, but there are around 100 new pages of material and that material is what the first edition desperately needed. The new material is solid examples, case studies, new resources and it addresses how to navigate lifestyle design in a rapidly changing economy.

Tim includes a list of things learned in 2008 along with lessons learned, this section of the book was priceless. Here are a few of the things he talks about:

1. Don't accept large or costly favors from strangers - Exceptions, uber-successful mentors who are making introductions and not laboring on your behalf.

2. You don't have to recoup losses the same way you lose them - An interesting discussion of mortgages.

3. One of the most universal causes of self-doubt and depression: Trying to impress people you don't like (This one really hit home with me . . . hard)

4. Slow meals = life

5. Money doesn't change you; it reveals who you are when you no longer have to be nice.

6. It doesn't matter how many people don't get it. What matters is how many people do.

7. I should not invest in public stocks where I cannot influence outcome (Another hearty agreement from me).

The list goes on as does the new information in the book. This one is a must read for anyone who wants to break the slave-save-retire cycle and live on purpose now.

Reading Comprehension is Key
I'd like to preface this review with something interesting about the Amazon reviews for this book. Many 1-star reviewers accused the 5-star reviewers of being "plants." Especially the ones who hadn't reviewed a book before on Amazon. How do they know that the person wasn't just so moved by the book they made their first Amazon review? We all had that first book we reviewed at one point or another. And extreme feelings about a book, either extreme love or extreme hate, tend to motivate one to share that view with the world.

What I found amazing was, most of the 1-star reviews were reviews of positive reviews, not the book, even though they claimed to be reviews of the book. With all that was taken out of context and twisted, it was clear that most of the 1-star reviewers either didn't read the book or don't have sufficient reading comprehension to be a critic of anything. I find this unfortunate since many negative-minded people read these reviews and respond with things like: "This was what I suspected, glad I didn't waste my money." I'm not sure what exactly the threat is in exploring new ideas whether you agree with them or not, at least allow your mind the opportunity to choose.

This book is not about being lazy. It's not a get-rich quick scheme. It's not about being dishonest or unethical. It became very clear that some people really truly believe that working few hours on work you hate to free up time for more productive and meaningful life activities is somehow "immoral." I guess the Puritanical mentality this country started out with (earliest settlers here) has seeped deeper into our overall culture than we once imagined.

I used to be very held back by the notion of "the other people in the world who are suffering." i.e. why should I seek to make my life situation better when it seems selfish compared to all the starving Ethiopian children, for example. But the crux of the issue is this... I am either helping, being helped, or breaking even. Breaking even would be when a person barely scrapes by enough to support and take care of their own family unit (people living in the house with them.) They are often in debt, middle-class generally, but living paycheck to paycheck or not far above it. They live from scarcity rather than abundance and so any little bit they have over they have to save rather than use to help someone else.

Others are constantly "being helped" by the government, by charities, by whoever. Now I'm not making a moral judgment against either of these groups of people. Living in a money-based instead of a community-based society is hard. However... people often rush to judge those who either HAVE money or WANT to have money as automatically immoral or bad people. And that's not true. Who do you think the helpers are? It's certainly not the people who need help, and it's not the people in that middle class prison that can't seem to get ahead. It's the people who have extra money TO help. And those are also the people who volunteer the most because surprise surprise they have more TIME to donate than any of the other groups.

So I think people would benefit themselves quite a bit if they changed their attitude about acquiring money. Yes, there will always be greedy people who acquire at the expense of others. There will always be people who are materialistic and just want more and more useless "stuff." But then there are others who acquire money and more personal freedom who use a good portion of both of those assets to help others. And contrary to what many readers seemed to get out of the book (or out of their reading of the reviews only), the author's message isn't about being greedy, but about acquiring freedom and then using that freedom for something that benefits both you and others at the same time.

Pointless drudgery and suffering for the sake of it is... pointless. It's not character building necessarily and it doesn't make you a better person necessarily. And especially if a lot of the suffering is self-imposed based on a refusal to think outside of a very limiting box.

The author's definition of the "new rich" is a sliding barometer. For example his view (and I agree) is that someone who makes $40,000 a year and is totally 100% mobile and can live ANYWHERE in the world, and go anywhere in the world, is far more rich than someone making $500,000 a year who hates their job, works 80 hour weeks and is trapped in one location (usually a very expensive American city like NY or LA.) This is very true. You'd be amazed by the variable in quality of life for your dollar depending on where you live, even just in the United States there is huge variability.

This book explores a lot of ways for you to simplify your life and get work done with as soon as possible so you can get on to other things. Timothy Ferriss is NOT saying that you can work 4 hours a week starting tomorrow. The goal of this particular book for this particular outcome is one of two things: either to work remotely for your employer and increase productivity to the point that you can work fewer hours (though probably more than 4 a week) from home or anywhere else you are, or starting a business with the goal of automation at the end. i.e. internet business, product-based businesses (online), information products. You do a lot of work on the front end to create a product and set up an infrastructure so you don't have to continue to micromanage the business forever. You can go on to doing other things, either another income stream or micro-business on another topic/idea/product, or some other activity that interests you.

This is the kind of track I'm on and have been on for a little while now. This book wasn't overly novel to me because I'd already been initiated into this type of "Freedom-based" thinking through books like: "Unjobbing: The Adult Liberation Handbook," "Making a Living Without a Job," and "How I found Freedom in an Unfree World," all amazing books and paradigm shifters that make you take stock of what YOU want and not what you're "supposed" to want and that also make you look at money and acquiring it in whole new ways. Every single one of them is valuable in their own right and reading those books probably made this book far less "out there" to me. Since apparently it seems pretty "out there" to a lot of people.

I've owned a service business before (wedding coordinating) and a craft business (candlemaking) and on both fronts I realized quickly that even if I was spectacularly successful, that there was a definite ceiling on the amount of money I could earn with either without adding significant complication into the mix (i.e. working long hours indefinitely and employees which I would then have to manage.) In the case of candles I could have gone an entirely different route into outsourcing manufacturing, but then it would cease being a "crafts" business and turn into just retail.

There is a common saying among entrepreneurs that they would rather work 16 hours a day for themselves than 8 hours a day for someone else. Well I don't even want to work 8 hours a day. It's not that I'm lazy, I just have other things to do, and if you enhance your productivity there really is no genuine reason to work that many hours a day. Most people in 9-5 jobs are getting about 3-4 hours of genuine WORK done a day. Well that's about what I do, but I just do it in a concentrated effort and don't get sidetracked by other things. Some days I work 6 hours especially when I'm in the new phase of a project, but that's about my max. Granted, we are talking about income producing activities here. This doesn't include cooking and cleaning which is also technically work, or exercise, which is a form of work. I enjoy exercise, but I enjoy most of what I do to one degree or another so liking or not liking the activity can't be the barometer for what is and isn't work.

Anyway this is an incredibly long-winded way of saying that I really enjoyed this book, and didn't find it that "out there." It's somewhat amusing to see the people who "do" find it that "out there" because I don't really think I'm an impractical person. But I will admit that it has probably helped that I'm so stubborn, I just pretty much refused to buy into many of the ideas I was "supposed" to buy into regarding work. So even with the first paradigm-shifting book I read in this category, I was open to the ideas. I'm not a lazy person but I also don't mistake "busyness" for productivity or accomplishment.

I was already familiar with a lot of the mentalities and ideas in the book from my exposure to the above mentioned books as well as learning experiences I've already had in business and things I'd figured out on my own, but I did learn a few new techniques and he also helped to boil down some things for me that will be useful in launching my next income stream which will hopefully eventually replace the freelance work I'm doing now. Because the goal eventually is automation so I can free up time to just write what I want (with or without big profit at the end of it), and focus on other pursuits.

One of the top 3 influential books I have read!
Brief Background: I owned and operated 4 bookstores in Austin, Tx for 13 years. I have read a lot of books and have sold many books on being successful in business and life. This is my first review.
I was given this book by a business partner and I was reluctant to read one more book on the secrets of a great life. I was fascinated and hooked after the first few pages. I am going to keep this simple. If you are clear that greatness is inside of you, then this book is for you. If you are clear that you have nothing to offer, then this book is for you. This book is a paradox as is Tim Ferriss. This is not a get rich quick book. It is a book that gives you all you need to have an amazing life. And along the way you may get rich. If you just do part of what he says your life will be great. If you attempt all of his recommendations...who knows. He gives you assignments at the end of every chapter to explore your limitations. Thanks Tim for pushing yourself beyond what experts said you couldn't do.

P.S.
Because of Tim's book I started 6 internet websites...3 made me zip and didn't cost me much except some time and a little money(under $100 each). The other 3 are making me a total of $2000 a month profit for the last 6 months. I also drastically reduced the amount of time I work at my other business'. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Reviews

Wonderful Insight into Real Problems - Not for Everyone, November 15, 2010
If you are already a fan of Marianne Williamson, you will probably enjoy this book. If you are not familiar with her, it may help to know her background before considering this book. She has spent many years studying and teaching the concepts of "A Course in Miracles" which is a spiritual book. She noticed that while embracing these concepts, her emotional need to use food to suppress her negative feelings disappeared. The idea of writing this book came from a conversation with Oprah Winfrey, one of the world's best known dieters.

As you might suspect, this book is not about food, it is about spirituality. It is about finding a power greater than you for help. As Marianne told Oprah, "If you could do it by yourself, you would have done it by now". Good point!

Many people will relate to the thoughts in this book. Childhood wounds create addictive behavior to treat the wounds. When you overeat for comfort, you are not doing it to give yourself love - you are doing it because you dislike something about yourself. When you eat one cookie, it is okay. When you eat the whole bag, it is an act of self-hate.

The premise is that the cause of excessive weight is not in your body, it is in your mind. More specifically, it is fear which blocks feelings of love. The purpose of this course is to find the fear and replace it with love.

There are several exercises and assignments to help you put names on the feelings, such as pain, shame, loathing and whatever you are personally feeling. There are prayers and mental exercises, as well as a journaling section. This is not a book to read passively and expect your life to change. If you really do these things to find and change your feelings, it will probably work for you. This is also a book that is meant to be reviewed several times to reinforce your feelings.

If you tend to be more of a passive reader who wants to read a book and go on to the next one, you might want to consider the audio version of this book and listen to it several times. Marianne is an excellent speaker and really connects with the listener. She is very passionate.

If you are turned off by spirituality and references to God, you may be tempted to skip this book. The ideas and principles are really about your subconscious feelings and how they drive your eating. You are feeding your feelings and not your body. They can apply to anyone no matter what your spiritual beliefs are.

This is not a book to be used alone, because it does not address food. Eating is not rocket science. There is not a heavy person in the world that doesn't know that broccoli is good for you and donuts are bad. However, in today's world it is important to understand more about how certain foods affect your body. Dr. Dean Ornish writes the forward to this book and discusses addictive behavior and diet failure. He and others like him are a good source of information on nutrition.

I highly recommend this book to everyone who has struggled with their eating. An obsession with food is like any obsessive relationship. It is about getting and not giving. What is missing from your life? What are you trying to get from food?

Close, but yet so far, November 19, 2010
First let me say I am a huge fan of Marianne Williamson. I own every book and every tape that has been available to purchase. I get her message and genuinely admire her teaching abilities. She has made a huge difference in my life and helped me get through some of my biggest challenges. As a clinician who is passionate about weight, weight related issues and health I wanted to love or at least like this book. It's message while I don't totally disagree with some of the ideas and most of the principles, I can also see as harmful. I found my self wincing at the tone, the judgement and for me the blatant inauthenticity of this book. It seems to have a singular premise that obesity is based in fear predicated on self loathing. This is a wrong assertion, not totally but in part. The book has a judgmental feel and a distinctive labeling that somehow one must be a compulsive eater to have issues with weight loss. The letters and examples feel contrived. None of this seems like the authentic writing of the author and speaker I have come to know love and admire. So I don't like this book for many people especially the hundreds and hundreds of overweight people I have worked with, but I am sure it will help some. The relentless exercise demands relative to developing a spiritual plan would likely overwhelm a spiritual marathoner. It is in my opinion boot camp in a world that just isn't set up to support that. I could go on and on, but it hurts me to even criticize the work of someone I admire so much. But I love my patients more and I would hate for them to get hold of this, get overwhelmed, and give up. I hope many people feel differently and can do it all. I hope MW turns out to to be the right one, starts a revolution and gets the financial rewards that come with success. I just see it differently. All the best and love to anyone struggling.

Perhaps, Just Perhaps Marianne Williamson May have Gotten It Right - 5 Stars !!!!, November 13, 2010


I found this book inspiring. Every page had something significant to say, and the author came at the topic of weight loss from an entirely different perspective from anything on the market. We all know that thousands of books on weight loss have been published. We also know that none of them really seem to work over time. If any one of them did work, then the scientific community would have no choice but to pursue that particular concept with all out zeal and we would all beat a path to the door of the person who created the system.


Now having said that, it seems to me that Marianne Williamson has latched onto something, and its breathtaking in its scope and the promise it holds for the tens of millions of Americans who are just carrying around too much weight. The Foreword by Dean Ornish is worth its weight in gold. Make sure you read it. Dr. Ornish has been a world renowned heart specialist for more than 20 years and a very prominent author in his own right.



Ornish mentions in this section that for years he could not understand how people could be addicted to overeating, smoking, drinking, substance abuse, and other maladaptive behaviors. One day a patient said to him, why are you saying maladaptive, the behavior is totally adaptive to me, not maladpative to me. These behaviors get me though my day. I have 20 friends in that pack of cigarettes. You know you simply have to look at it from the user's perspective. Another patient told him if he feels lonely, he eats. He coats his nerves with the food he consumes, it numbs his pain.


The Introduction is also a must read. It will set up the rest of the book for you. The third part of the book is "Embarking on the Journey", and in this section Ms. Williamson goes through the thrust of her presentation, and that in the end, it is your belief and faith in God that will help you shed the weight that you have carried for so many years.


I want to give you a flavoring of what she has to say from different sections of the book and you will see for yourself how different this book is from all the rest on weight loss.


* Unless your subconscious mind is enrolled in your weight loss efforts, your soul will find a way to reconstitute the excess weight regardless of what you do.


* Root out your fear, and replace it with inestimable love.


* Addiction is when you can't STOP.


* Freud felt that Intelligence will be used in the service of neurosis (an absolutely extraordianry statement)


* No matter how smart you are, or how much work you have done on yourself, you alone cannot outsmart the psychic force of compulsion and addiction


* God can outwit your insanity.


* The Great Lie is that food that is actually bad for you has the power to Comfort, Nurture, and Sustain you.


* Unhealthy eating is an act of Self-Hate. Overeating is a form of violence. You are taking up the Sword against yourself.


* You don't have the human capacity to fix this problem. If you did, you would have done so already.


How the book is Organized?


After the Preface, Introduction, and Embarking on the Journey, comes 21 different short chapters. It seems that they are to be read one a day, and over and over again, until you internalize them. The author has gone through considerable efforts to name these chapters with highly appropriate powerful phrases. It works.


My personal favorites were:

Chapter 1) Tear Down the Wall

Chapter 2) Thin You, meet Not-Thin you

Chapter 5) Start a Lover Affair with Food

Chapter 7) Love your Body

Chapter 10) Consecrate Your Body

Chapter 17) Forgive Yourself and Others

Chapter 18) Honor the Powers

Chapter 21) The Body Brilliant


Summary:


We all know that to whatever extent we believe, that faith has the ability to move mountains, to effectuate profound change and make it permanent. Everything starts with belief. Nothing is manifested in reality until it is first a belief in the mind. Marianne Williamson has now taken these concepts and applied them to the world of weight loss, insisting that only a belief in a divine power, and then giving yourself over to a divine force is the only way to effectuate a true re-design of your body and your spirit.


Now having read the entire book and having tried to internalize it, I think she may just have something. Everything else has seemed to fail through the years for so many. Why not try a little old fashion faith in the divine power of God to help so many transcend and finally conquer a problem that has caused so much pain and agony. I gladly give this book five stars, and thank you for reading this review.


Richard C. Stoyeck

Ladies...set yourself free...look and feel great all the time!, December 9, 2010
I adore Marianne Williamson and her ability to guide you right to the place you need to be. It is more than what you eat...it is how you think about yourself...and others. Being overweight is more than overeating... it is "over-thinking." I can see now that I don't look as good as I want to, because I've been ignoring the real issues that made me want to eat unhealthy foods more than I wanted a healthy body.

In "A Course in Weight Loss," Marianne gives lots of great tips and strategies, but she also gives deep and profound spiritual truths that make you feel like you enter a whole new place of understanding. This is fresh approach to discipline that first deals with past emotional experiences that cause a person to not care about how she looks and therefore sabotage the menu with terrible things to eat.

This book took me several days to read because I actually had to work my way through it. It required deep contemplation and consideration. I had to release the things I worry about and learn to love myself even though I'm not perfect. I also learned to forgive and come to the realization that It's okay that others aren't perfect either. Now I am losing the excess weight naturally and I've learned to take full responsibility for how I feel. Most important...I feel happier.

I read this book directly following another book called, Serendipitously Rich: How to Get Delightfully, Delectably, Deliciously Rich (or Anything Else You Want) in 7 Ridiculously Easy Steps. Both books were an answer to my prayer for help with my life. I see so many similarities with the concept of Serendipity that Madeleine Kay teaches and Marianne's spiritual philosophy. I recommend both books because they both move you positively on a path of change in your life and both of them give you practical steps that teach you how to make good decisions and get right with yourself.

A Totally different "diet book", November 2, 2010
Marianne Williamson, bestselling author of The Age of Miracles: Embracing the New Midlife, returns with a fascinating idea of helping us lose weight- and keeping it off.

Now you see, that's the real problem. Most diets *DO* work- for around 2-6 months. Then it gets boring or you get cravings, you dump the diet and regain the weight. Yo-yo dieting is also bad for your health. What's needed is a way to adjust your lifestyle so that you keep the pounds off.

As the author says "I was never a food addict, but for years I was a compulsive eater. Diets did not work. I would starve myself, then binge, starve myself, then binge, in a constant cycle of self- abnegation and self-indulgence. I hated many things about the situation, but what was worse than anything else was how much I thought about food. I was obsessed with it. The thought of eating hardly ever left my mind. And then it did, in a miraculous way.
When I began studying A Course in Miracles, I wasn't consciously thinking of my weight as an area where I needed a miracle. But one day I looked down and couldn't believe what I saw, on the scale or on my body. Weight had simply dropped off and I realized why. The weight had merely been a physical manifestation of my need to keep other people at bay. I feared other people and I'd built a wall to protect myself. Practicing the Course, I'd learned to extend my hand across the wall. I learned ways to replace fear with love. I asked God to enter my life and make all things right. And the wall had disappeared.""

The central message of this book is simple- "that your path to weight loss is a path to the highest expression of who you are. This makes the journey a spiritual quest."

I have to admit I have not lost any weight yet, or even undergone all 21 steps. But, I agree with the basic message here- that we MUST change our life in order to change our weight. And, this book may well be the right path for some of us to do so.

And, the author writes so beautifully and clearly, it's so easy to read. Mind you, it's over 250 pages, and true understanding of all the lessons is not an easy road.

Is this book THE answer? Not for everyone, I am sure. However, it will work for many and it certainly is better than "yo-yo" dieting.

Look into it if this seems to be your problem. It might just be the right solution for you. Of course, one should always discuss any new program with your Physician.

Beyond Miracles, November 2, 2010
This book is a blessing to anyone who needs to release weight.

Marianne has the KEY to freedom. "Love is your true healer", November 2, 2010
Marianne Williamson's profound words will be the KEY for many of us to "give it up" forever. I have had issues with food and the power it has had over me since I was 11 and my dad suddenly passed away. I felt powerless except when I ate whatever I wanted and felt I was in control. No grieving, or crying just eating. For years Marianne's wisdom and Love have soothed and healed me. She has taught me, as she says in This book, "God is the source of your comfort." "Love is your true healer and miracles occur naturally in the presence of Love." A Course in Weight Loss is a profound concept where spirituality IS the difference. Marianne says,"Are you willing, even if for a moment, to consider the possibility that God can outwit your insanity?"
YES I AM! This book will be the KEY for so many people to root out fear and "turn on our light!"
I am so grateful for this astounding book! Marianne always shows us that LOVE is the answer.
I'm so thankful that I'm on the Earth at this time so I can be taught by her.
Thank you God! Thank you Marianne!

At last, a weight loss book that gets to the core of the problem, November 4, 2010
Marianne Williamson has referred to herself as a "spiritual aerobics instructor" and that title really fits here. There is nothing better than getting advice from someone who has firsthand experience with a subject. Marianne systematically walks you through the process of dealing with the underlying issues that cause weight gain in the first place. She helps you fall in love with yourself, which then manifests in your physical apprearance.

Even people who are not struggling with weight issues may very well find this book helpful. There are lots of addictions and lots of ways people sabatoge their own happiness. This book helps with all of it. If you've read any of Marianne's other books or heard her lectures, I don't have to tell you how astute she is. If not, you are in for a real treat.

surrender, December 4, 2010
the book reads easily,yet with its deep and profound spiritual truths gives enough pause to ponder.
fills one with hope and inspiration out of diet hell!
inspires a fresh approach to weight loss,and powerfully reminds one of the bottomline-love heals.

Not a Solution for everyone, November 26, 2010
I bought this after reading about it in O Magazine, however it didn't resonate for me. I am not saying that the concepts and steps in this book will not work, just that I didn't find it relevant or useful to solve my weight issues. Two things turned me off: many references are to a paternal male God, and references to 12 step programs. Most authors give their readers some latitude in their references to God, such as "or Source or Whatever you understand..." But in this book, she frequently and very clearly refers to God as the traditional male. I just couldn't accept that and it was difficult to substitute another word for all the references to "him," praying to "him" etc. If this is your belief system this may be just what you are looking for, but if this is not your belief system it's difficult to relate to.

There are several references to Overeaters Anonymous. Anyone who has a weight problem or who eats compulsively knows about OA. If it was a solution we'd have gone that route already. Her approach, and again I am not saying it's right or wrong, is very traditional, i.e. get in touch with your repressed feelings, dig into past hurts to release your extra weight.

So the bottom line for me is that the ideas and exercises in this book are not as innovative as I had hoped for. This book just didn't resonate for me. I am a firm believer in the Law of Attraction, and the concepts in this book are completely opposite of that-"surrender to God," " you are powerless," etc. ... Read more

Editorial Review

In the instant number one New York Times bestseller Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, Steve Harvey gave millions of women around the globe insight into what men really think about love, intimacy, and commitment. In his new book he zeros in on what motivates men and provides tips on how women can use that knowledge to get more of what they need out of their relationships, whether it's more help around the house, more of the right kind of attention in the bedroom, more money in the joint bank account, or more truth when it comes to the hard questions, such as: Are you committed to building a future together? Does my success intimidate you? Have you cheated on me?

In Straight Talk, No Chaser: How to Find, Keep, and Understand a Man, Steve Harvey shares information on:

How to Get the Truth Out of Your Man
Tired of answers that are deceptive? Harvey lays out a three-tier, CIA-style of questioning that will leave your man no choice but to cut to the chase and deliver the truth.

Dating Tips, Decade by Decade
Whether you're in your twenties and just starting to date seriously, in your thirties and feeling the tick of the biological clock, or in your forties and beyond, Steve provides insight into what a man, in each decade of his life, is looking for in a mate.

How to Minimize Nagging and Maximize Harmony at Home
He said he'd cut the lawn on Saturday, and you may have been within reason to think that that meant Saturday before ten in the evening, but exploding at him is only going to ruin the mood for everyone, which means no romance. Steve shows you how to talk to your man in a way that moves him to action and keeps the peace.

And there's much more, including Steve's candid answers to questions you've always wanted to ask men.

Drawing on a lifetime of experience and the feedback women have shared with him in reaction to Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man, Harvey offers wisdom on a wealth of topics relevant to both sexes today. He also gets more personal, sharing anecdotes from his own family history. Always direct, often funny, and incredibly perceptive, media personality, comedian, philanthropist, and (finally) happily married husband, Steve Harvey proves once again that he is the king of relationships.

Reviews

Harvey is Open, Revealing, and Helpful to All Who Choose to LISTEN - Four Stars, December 10, 2010


Comedian and media star Steve Harvey has now penned his second best seller. In this book he is directing his advice to women, but I believe that men will benefit from this book just as much. The objective is to give women an informed understanding of men, and only a man could write such a book. There is no question that he is coming at relationships from a different point of view based on having living in his own intense relationships.


He knows what works and what doesn't, and he has spent considerable time trying to figure out how a man is hardwired in his brain differently than a woman. Most of us are dealing with the behavior resulting from how we think. Harvey is suggesting that we deal with the thinking itself.


A key thought that he has developed is that everything we as men do is filtered through our title, which simply means who we are. The next question is how we get that title, which means what we do for a living. The final question becomes what regard we are held in by our fellow human beings. He is very honest in saying that by this we mean what is the compensation we receive.


Harvey believes that unless we come to terms with these three questions prior to marriage, we probably can't be successfully married and therein lies the enormous divorce rate we witness in our society. Men are marrying prior to having an understanding of who they are. Without that self knowledge the relationship is doomed before it even gets started.


I believe that Harvey is touching new ground in this book, and certainly has become his own person. In the book he develops the idea that we as men have to learn how to be men before we can be anything to anyone else, who chooses to love us. What's even more important is that we certainly must do this before we can love them back.


We probably all realize by now that women prefer flowers, and yet men wish to buy them plants that will live for years. It's the same concept with weddings. Women dream about weddings, and yet have any of us ever met a man who dreams about his wedding day? Strange isn't it?


The author goes through the ages of a man's life and what a man has to figure out during each decade of his life. What Harvey has to say is fascinating:



The 20's
You must make a decision to figure out your life, what do you want to do, what is your work? While we are figuring out our work, a woman is concerned with her biological clock, while for us it's the financial clock.


The 30's
The game is getting old. We are looking for a woman with the least amount of drama. Can she add support to our lives, is she loyal, and will she bring fun to relationship as well?


The 40's
Nothing can be as good as coming home to a family of people who threw their arms around you. A man needs somebody he can talk to, who can give you comfort, and companionship.


The 50's
It's time to solidify your legacy, as well as to realize that your body is starting to betray you.


CONCLUSION:


As men we are hunters, and we show our love for a woman by doing three things:

1) We PROVIDE for her

2) We PROTECT her

3) We PROFESS our love for her


I think we as readers will learn a great deal from this book. There is much wisdom in what Harvey has to teach us. Whether it's regarding the conflict of he won't commit, while she won't leave, or how to claim the blessing of the breakup, there is much to gain. Just remember not to buy into the fairy tale, and thank you for reading this review.


Richard C. Stoyeck

Good Advice for Young Women, December 7, 2010
First, let me say that I am not a fan of Steve Harvey. I've always thought he was a bit pompous and "me" centered and that hasn't changed after reading his book. I still think he's a tad arrogant to be writing relationship books; I ordered this book only because it was available briefly for free on Kindle pre-order. Who made him an expert?

That said, what makes him an expert is that he's a MAN. He knows what men are like and he's honest with women about what men really think and how they really behave when we're not around. I think every young woman should read the section where he delineates what men are looking for in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and beyond. As a 61 y/o woman who has been happily married for 15 years to a good yet flawed man, I think Mr. Harvey gives sound advice, whether women want to hear what he's saying or not.

What makes me choke on giving 5 stars is that I do not like being placed inside a category (ie. the assumption that all women think or act the same). For instance, his first book's title: Act Like a Lady but Think Like a Man. As a woman, I think like I think; I do not think like either a man or a woman and resent the inference that we are all cookie-cutter copies of one another. As a young woman, I thought like a ditz and now, as a 61 y/o woman working on her doctoral program in Psychology, I use critical thinking and hopefully think like a scholar.

Also, not all women are so desperate that they are in a hurry to get married. Some women prize an education and desire to have a career while they are still young enough to enjoy its rewards just as much as a man does. No woman should ever "settle" for less than what she wants in a man just to alleviate her loneliness. A woman, like a man, should learn to be at peace with herself and with her God before she attempts to attach herself to a man.

If you can get past the sexism and the man's obvious admiration for himself, this book has good advice for any woman who wants to understand men better.

Good information, December 18, 2010
I have to give Steve Harvey credit for his attempts to make women aware of how men think and how we can prevent ourselves from making the same mistakes over and over again. Much of the book is common sense and it's really nothing new that hasn't been said before. Makes a good read however and I enjoyed this book as much as I did the first book.

What a great read !!, December 14, 2010
I started reading this book and knew from the first few chapters this was going to be a great read !
I found it very insightful & useful in my own relationship. Sometimes its better to hear from a man, how they operate. This book definitely helps to understand them & their thought process.
I would recommend this to any lady wanting an inside view to the mans brain & how he feels about relationships. Thanks Steve !!!

Great Book for Women Already in Relationships, December 12, 2010
I really enjoyed Steve Harvey's first book Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man: What Men Really Think About Love, Relationships, Intimacy, and Commitment. I've read a lot of relationship books and it was the first one that I had read that really focused on a man's point of view and basically told women when it was time to walk away and how to recognize whether a man is a good man or not, not yet ready to commit or never will commit, etc. I'm giving this book four stars because it lives up to it's title - it's straight talk. He's telling women things they might not want to hear. I'm not giving it 5 stars because I got bored with his personal anecdotes pretty quickly and because I know some men who are not anything like the men Harvey describes. I don't doubt that his analysis is accurate for most men, though.

This book is a good follow-up for women who were left with a lot of questions after reading Act Like a Lady, Think Like a Man. So, I would first suggest reading that book and then reading this one. As a single woman in my 20's I didn't find this book as helpful as the first - don't get me wrong. There was a lot of good information, but it seemed to aimed more at women trying to keep/satisfy/or get along better with their man. For single gals, a book on how to find a man and cultivate the relationship early on would be better. I mean, I'm dating men in their 20's and early 30's and a lot of the advice seemed tailored toward more seasoned daters.

Steve's advice for women looking for a man is basically to look your best all of the time, and to hold out on the bedroom for 90 days until you get to know him better - which requires being inquisitive and asking detailed questions. This book is chock full of great tidbits for women already in a relationship, living with a man, and married to help you get along with your man better. That's the other reason that I give this book 4 starts. I'm glad I purchased it on my Kindle, because I'll definitely go back and re-read it once I meet someone new.

Second Recipe for Loneliness, December 26, 2010

Recipe for Loneliness Number Two
The simplistic and formulaic notion that men want different things than women, and that Love is simply
figuring out those two sets of criteria and applying them, is a recipe for loneliness and relationship failure.
The central concepts of Harvey's relationship opus fail to touch the mythical and truthful core of Love--the melting of Self and Other.
Harvey doesn't even go in that room.
Instead he leaves men and women with lists of ways to get along with the Other. No pass;not Love. More like highly-refined roommatehood.
Friends with privileges.
A rehash of John Gray's, Men are from Mars...and a rehash of Harvey's first book, this self-help book in neither about the Self nor helpful.

Common Sense, December 12, 2010
Ladies, why buy a book to try and figure out men. Don't you think there is more time to spend on your future, you self-esteem, etc? You can take this guys advice and have low self-esteem and issues and things will always be the same. Yes he is a man, but he categorizes way too much. Not every woman is the way he describes and neither is every man.

I never liked Steve Harvey either, he is very stuck on himself and is making money off of telling women something that should be common knowledge. Notice how no men are running out to buy books to figure us out? Straight talk, no chaser: Pay attention to what men say and do and have a level head and you will never go wrong. Do not stick around for bs, give 2 chances and that is it.

He is going to make a monopoly off of desperation.

Straight Talk for Men and Women also in..., December 7, 2010
Steve Harvey has a new book about men, why they cheat and why they commit. There are so many new books by Black authors this fall! Great. Re: Harvey's book, yes, men do cheat, and even after they commit, they might still cheat. And yes, sometimes they lie to get what they want :-). So women need to maintain themselves amidst it all--their health and their sanity. There is more "straight talk" in the book Living Well, Despite Catching Hell: The Black Woman's Guide to Health, Sex and Happiness. In that book, the Happiness section addresses relationships and gives the younger set of women in a not-so-committed relationship a four-step approach to healthier lives; they are "Close Your Legs, Be Well Read, Tend that Body and Sweat that Head." Hello! Now that's some "straight talk!" As women, we love our men, and the Sex section encourages women to overcome some long-held hang-ups to enjoy intimate relations. But we have to also deal straight up re: health issues, so it's important to "Trust, but Verify!" Congrats on the new book. Between Straight Talk and Living Well, the beauty and barber shops will be busy with conversation in 2011.

Quicker delivery, December 7, 2010
I thought I would receive this book on it's release date. Otherwise I would have gotten it at a book store. Very disappointed. ... Read more

Editorial Review

In his #1 bestseller The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell redefined how we understand the world around us. In BLINK, he revolutionizes the way we understand the world within.How do we make decisions--good and bad--and why are some people so much better at it than others? That's the question Malcolm Gladwell asks and answers in BLINK. Drawing on cutting-edge neuroscience and psychology, examining case studies as diverse as speed dating, pop music, and the New Coke, Gladwell shows how the difference between good decision making and bad has nothing to do with how much information we can process quickly, but rather with the few particular details on which we focus.BLINK displays all of the brilliance that has made Malcolm Gladwell's journalism so popular and his books such perennial bestsellers as it reveals how all of us can become better decision makers--in our homes, our offices, and in everyday life. ... Read more

Reviews

Absolutely enthralling and fascinating throughout.
This is one of the most fascinating books I have read in some time. The book centers on the concept of how fast we really do make judgments, called "thin slicing", and how deeper analysis can sometimes provide less information than more. It is all about cognitive speed.

The concept of "thin slicing" is dissected and explained. What I found fascinating, and also common sense, is that we process information on a subconscious level, "behind the door", and process so holistically that to over analyze can actually hinder our ability to make decisions.

Several key points are applicable in business. One of the in depth studies looked at a military leader who was particularly successful. One of his more poignant observations was that a great leader needs to let the people do their work. When deciding how often to follow up "you are diverting them, now they are looking upward instead of downward. You are preventing them from resolving the situation". (Page 118) Further "allowing people to operate without having to explain themselves constantly ... enables rapid cognition" (Page 119). It seems that most micro-management actually prevents people from successful decision making.

Another strange phenomenon occurs when we try and explain how we come to some conclusions. It seems that the more we try to analyze how we come to some conclusions the less reliable they become.

The ability to absorb and detect minute changes in facial expressions allows us to essentially "read minds" if we pay attention. There are several chapters on how reliable we can be in predicting behavior with very little information.

Overall, this book is so well written that I had a hard time putting it down. My only compliant, and it is a minor one, is that the book just ends. No summary or wrap up, just "boom", it's over. However, that is more a testament to how engaging the book is I suppose. Highly recommended!

Our Hidden Programming
I bought the book before a flight after reading the adulatory comments on the front and back.

It started well, with the premise that the subconsious forms a conclusion long before the consious mind is aware of it. I suppose it is obvious, but he makes the point well.

From there things get a bit lost. Reading along I soon realised that I was nearing the end and the number of pages left for a profound and all-encompassing conclusion was rapidly diminishing.

Unfortunately it never came.

This is a very short book which promises much but delivers little. I hope that the author will follow up with something more worthy of the title. It is really just a collection of true stories, mostly about racial or sexual prejudice, which leave a bad taste in the mouth. Each story is drawn out as well, a little like the History Channel.

I'm sure that there is a good book somewhere in this subject matter, but I can't for the life of me reconcile the reviews that this book has received (Compelling, Astonishing, Brilliant) with my experience. Maybe they only read the first chapter. Maybe I missing something.

Since reading this book I have been looking around and found this one:

The Genie Within: Your Subconcious Mind, how It Works And How To Use It (Paperback)

Maybe this would be a better choice for this subject matter. ... Read more

Editorial Review

In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, author Stephen R. Covey presents a holistic, integrated, principle-centered approach for solving personal and professional problems. With penetrating insights and pointed anecdotes, Covey reveals a step-by-step pathway for living with fairness, integrity, service, and human dignity -- principles that give us the security to adapt to change and the wisdom and power to take advantage of the opportunities that change creates. ... Read more

Reviews

The book is very good reading material.
As the title of the book implies, Covey describes the seven habits of highly effective people and techniques for adopting the seven habits. Covey makes clear that an individual must make a paradigm shift before incorporating these habits into his/her own personal life. A paradigm is essentially the way an individual perceives something. Covey emphasizes that if we want to make a change in our lives, we should probably first focus on our personal attitudes and behaviors. He applies different examples via family, business, and society in general.

This book's focal point is on an approach to obtain personal and interpersonal effectiveness. Covey points out that private victories precede public victories. He makes the example that making and keeping promises to ourselves comes before making and keeping promises to others.

Habits 1, 2, and 3 deal with self-mastery. They move an individual from dependency on others to independence. Habits 4, 5, and 6 deal with teamwork, cooperation, and communication. These habits deal with transforming a person from dependency to independence to interdependence. Interdependence simply means mutual dependence. Habit 7 embodies all of the other habits to help an individual work toward continuous improvement.

Habit 1 discusses the importance of being proactive. Covey states that we are responsible for our own lives; therefore, we possess the initiative to make things happen. He also points out that proactive people so not blame various circumstances for their behaviors but they realize behavior comes from one's conscious. Covey also explains that the other type of person is reactive. Reactive people are affected by their social as well as physical surroundings. This means that if the weather is bad, then it affects their behavior such as their attitude and performance.

He also explains that all problems that are experienced by individuals fall into one of three categories, which are direct control, indirect control, or no control. The problems that are classified under direct control are the problems that involve our own behavior. The problems classified as indirect control encompasses problems that we can do nothing about. The problems classified as no control are those that we can do nothing about.

Habit 2 focuses on beginning with the end in mind. Covey wants the reader to envision his/her funeral. This may sound disheartening but his goal is to help you think about the words that you wish to be said about you; it can help the individual visualize what you value the most. To begin with the end simply means to start with your destination in mind. That gives an individual a sense of where he/she presently is in their life. One has to know where they are going to make sure that they are headed in the right direction. Covey also mentions that the most effective way to begin with the end is by developing a personal mission statement. After doing that, you should identify your center of attention. Are you spouse centered, money centered, family centered, etc. The he tells you depending on you core of interest, your foundation for security, guidance, and power.

Habit 3 is the practical fulfillment of Habits 1 and 2. Covey accentuates that Habits 1 and 2 are prerequisite to Habit 3. He states that an individual cannot become principle centered developing their own proactive nature; or without being aware of your paradigms; or the capability of envisioning the contribution that is yours to make. One must have an independent will. This is the ability to make decisions and to act in accordance with them.

Habit 4 deals with the six paradigms of interaction, which are win/win, win/lose, lose/win, lose/lose, win, and win/win or no deal. Win/win is a situation in which everyone benefits something. It is not your way or my way; it is a better way. Win/lose declares that if I win then you lose. Simply put, I get my way; you don't get yours. Win/lose people usually use position, power, possessions, or personality to get their way. The win/lose type of person is the person that feels that if I lose; you win. People who feel this way are usually easy to please and find the strength of others intimidating. When two win/lose people get together both will lose resulting in a lose/lose situation. Both will try to get the upper end of the stick but in the end, neither gets anything. The person that simply thinks to win secures their own ends and leaves it up to others to secure theirs. The win/win or no deal person means that if there is not a suitable solution met that satisfies both parties then there is no agreement.

Habit 5 deals with seeking means of effective communication. This habit deals with seeking first to understand. However, we usually seek first to be understood. Most people to not listen with the intent to understand but with the intent to reply. The act of listening to understand is referred to as empathic listening. That means you try to get into the person's frame of mind and think as they are thinking.

Habit 6 discuses combining all of the other habits to prepare us for the habit of synergy. Synergy means that the sum of the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Possessing all of the habits will benefit an individual more than possessing one or two of them. Synergism in communication allows you to open your mind to new possibilities or new options.

Habit 7 involves surrounds the other habits because it is the habit that makes all of the others possible. It is amplifying the greatest asset you have which is yourself. It is renewing your physical, emotional, mental, and social nature. The physical scope involves caring for yourself effectively. Spiritual renewal will take more time. Our mental development comes through formal education. Quality literature in our field of study as well as other fields help to broaden our paradigms. Renewing the social dimension is not as time consuming as the others. We can start by our everyday interactions with people.

Moving along the upward spiral requires us to continuously learn, commit, and do on higher planes. This is essential to keep progressing. At the end of each habit, there are application suggestions or exercises that help you become a more effective person. This is definitely not a quick fix it book. The concepts should be studied in order to be fully achieved. I think if you learn to use these 7 habits, it will change your life.

This is a must-have book.

A OUTSTANDING BOOK!
Stephen Covey has written one of the best works ever in personal development and a refreshing change from so much verbage out there in other works. I have been an avid student of personal development since the 70's and learned a lot from this excellent work. I also highly recommend "SUPERSELF" by Charles Givens, another extraordinary work by an equally extraordinary man. I have read & reread Seven Habits and SuperSelf several times over the last few years and always get something new out of each every time. Excellent books to help you succeed in any area of endeavor.

This is a SUPER BOOK
Although I have read many personal development books, 7 Habits is by far the best. No hype, hoopla, pyscho-babble that is so prevalent today, however, I submit that 7 Habits will be around long after the hypsters are gone. I work in a 1,500 staff facility and 7 Habits is required reading for all management staff. I also recommend Superself, possibly one of the most underrated books out there and Financial Self Defense which in my opinion, is the financial book version of 7 Habits.

Strategies for Effectiveness
Knowledge is the quickest and safest path to success in any area of life. Stephen Covey has encapsulated the strategies used by all those who are highly effective. Success can be learned and this book is an excellent way to learn how to do that.I also highly recommend Turner, Turner, Turner: The King of Network Marketing to learn strategies from another highly spirited man who has learned how to achieve maximum effectiveness and keep balance in all aspects of life.

Restores character to our culture.
Stephen Covey has written an excellent book which should be read by everyone. This great work restores character, or at least underscores the need for character ethic in our society.

Must reading for all value driven people.

A MASTER PIECE IN PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT!
Dr Covey has put together one of the best works ever. The key word in the title is "habits", no thinking about, setting goals to do something, swishing or anchoring yourself, but actually developing habits and actually doing it.

I've read this book several times and I get something new out of it every time. The only other self development book that helped me this much (I've read them all) is "THINK & GROW RICH" by Napolean Hill I also highly recommend "BUSINESS BUY THE BIBLE" and "DON'T SET GOALS" by Wade Cook. These books are very much in the tradition of "SEVEN HABITS".

To me, this book is not only "not over rated" as one reader indicated, I believe that it is grossly under rated and arguably is the best self development book on the book racks right now!

Sensible and pramatic
I found this great book by Dr. Covey to be both sensible and pragmatic. This is an outstanding book that really delivers. Follow the 7 habits and you will become a success.

Other books I recommend include The Purpose Driven Life by Rick Warren and Super Self (if you can find a copy) by the late Charles Givens.

"Habits" is the Operative Word
If you've ever truly mastered anything, you know there's a "zone" where your efforts start to produce disproportionate results. This is absolutely true for at least six of the seven habits (I haven't seen any quantum leaps with Sharpen the Saw, but that's not surprising).

I, too, found the book obvious on first reading, so I ignored the contents for several months. Then, on a long road trip, I worked hard at perfecting "empathic listening" with my wife, almost as an escape from boredom. The results were unexpected, so I spent an entire vacation trying to strictly practice -- and perfect -- as many of the Seven Habits as applied. As we drove home, she mentioned how much our relationship had improved and how happy she felt. Years forward in our closeness in a single long weekend.

Out of habit, I started using these habits at work, especially workign with my boss; within days, she couldn't wait for me to call her every day -- and I have since had to quietly put a time limit on our conversations, and she is constantly asking me to "delegate upward."

Word spread, and pretty soon my boss' boss was calling to spend an hour at a time telling me all kinds of things that most VP's wouldn't share with a first-line manager. He also started giving me all sorts of opportunities, saying "I know you will be able to handle them."

The real surprise came when the CEO of our company asked me to deal with a particularly difficult customer because she'd heard that I had a "knack" for getting along. This was a shock, because until 7 Habits, I was pretty much an antisocial loner who just happened to be good at what I did. BTW, that customer ended up doubling their order, but more important, ended up increasing their own effectiveness as a result of my sharing just bits and pieces of the Habits.

Since then, I've worked hard at polishing my technique, and found that 1-6 all produce the same effect. After really working on them, I've found myself to be healthier, happier and ... oddly enough ... much richer, both in money and in relationships.

Obvious is one thing; obvious results are something else altogether. ... Read more

Editorial Review

As you read my story, there is something I want you to understand. That in spite of all the pain—past, present and that still to come—I wouldn’t have done anything differently. Nor would I trade the time I had with him for anything—except for what, in the end, I traded it for. Beth Cardall has a secret. For eighteen years, she has had no choice but to keep it to herself, but on Christmas Eve 2008, all that is about to change. For Beth, 1989 was a year marked by tragedy. Her life was falling apart: her six-year-old daughter, Charlotte, was suffering from an unidentifiable illness; her marriage transformed from a seemingly happy and loving relationship to one full of betrayal and pain; her job at the dry cleaners was increasingly at risk; and she had lost any ability to trust, to hope, or to believe in herself. Then, on Christmas Day, as she rushed through a blizzard to the nearest 7-Eleven, Beth encountered Matthew, a strikingly handsome, mysterious stranger, who would single-handedly change the course of her life. Who is this man, and how does he seem to know so much about her? He pursues her relentlessly, and only after she’s fallen deeply in love with him does she learn his incredible secret, changing the world as she knows it, as well as her own destiny.

From the New York Times bestselling author of the beloved classics The Christmas Box and The Christmas List comes a breathtaking story of the transcendent power of love. ... Read more

Reviews

Let Down, October 14, 2010
I have been a RPE fan for more years than I care to share... and this was just a huge let down! The story was just weird and creepy for me. The first half had me hook line and sinker (as all of his books do) but the second half just left a really bad taste in my mouth.

Not My Favorite, October 31, 2010
I did not like this book. It was too far out there and a little creepy. Not one of his best.

Interesting, but..., October 21, 2010
I agree that this book is certainly a little different from JPE's other bestsellers. That doesn't mean that it is bad - it's just a little off-kilter compared to most of the others.

I suppose it all comes down to why you want to read it in the first place - as purely a 'novel' or something more 'meaningful' (like my favorite, but often overlooked book on the more spiritual side of life - Spiritual Meaning: 92 Tips For Changing Your Spiritual Reality By Bringing More Spiritual Awareness Into Your Life)

Nevertheless, whatever you may be looking to get from this - it is, as usual, very well written and certainly will keep you interested, even if the 'twist' is a little out of context with what came before it.

Honesty?, October 28, 2010
I, too, as many of the reviewers of this title, read many of Richard Paul Evan's books. This one is a big disappointment to me. Not only did I not care for the time slip story line, but I question the gambling with pre knowledge to be something the characters were willing to do without any thought of it being flat out cheating. I hope his next book is back up to the standards of his earlier ones.

What a gifted story teller, this Richard Paul Evans!, October 27, 2010
Wow! I just finished Promise Me. I was prepared to be disappointed because of some of the reviews. There is absolutely nothing to be disappointed about! Creative! Heart-warming! Even moral in what could have taken an immoral twist. I don't have enough words to describe the incredible talent Richard Paul Evans posseses in his writing. The Christmas Box and The Timepiece were small inklings of what his future in writing would be. The Sunflower - a memorable book, perhaps my favorite up until Promise Me. The Looking Glass and The Carousel - beautiful love stories. But none compare to the creativity wrapped up in this time-travel novel. When I grow up, I want to write just like Richard Paul Evans! Kudos!
Dawn M. Kurtz, author of Secret of the Mexican Doll

Not worth the price, November 3, 2010
This was my first RPE book and will probably be my last. I found it whiny and uninteresting and then just plain creepy. I was barely able to finish the book once it was revealed who Matthew was. Worst book I've read in a while and definitely not worth the Kindle price.

That Time of Year, October 28, 2010
Richard Paul Evans returns with one of his seemingly annual holiday potboilers. This maudlin, tree-killing bit of puffery goes down quite well, especially provided one lives in Utah County in the State of Utah.

At a recent signing, Mr. Evans quietly bemoaned the polarity of his audience for this book: some like it; some think it is creepy. I'll opt for the latter.

Caveat lector.

good but not great, October 9, 2010
I am a Richard Paul Evans fan and have read them all. Promise Me is another extremely well written book...lots of details...keeps you reading. BUT, as much as I liked the book I was diappointed with the ending. I won't give anything away here, but I would have been much happier if Beth and Matthew had shared their sectret with their spouses. It left me with a bad feeling about them having a private secret like that. After I closed the book I went on to pretend that Beth told Kevin everything and Matthew did the same with Charlotte. Sorry, but especially after the fact that Beth's first husband had kept such big secrets from her I did not feel good about the ending Richard left us with. A bit creepy. I still love his writing, though.

promise me, November 21, 2010
This is the first book I have read by Mr. Evans. It is a poorly written book--without substance and without style.
His popularity does not, therefore, surprise me at all.

Disappointed, November 3, 2010
I was disappointed in this book. Richard Paul Evans usually writes very spiritually meaningful books that are somewhat realistic in nature. This is not realistic at all. It might should be classified as science fiction. I think it would have been better if he had written "Matthew" to be someone other than who he turned out to be. ... Read more

Editorial Review

The bestselling author of Saving Graces shares her inspirational message on the challenges and blessings of coping with adversity.

She’s one of the most beloved political figures in the country, and on the surface, seems to have led a charmed life. In many ways, she has. Beautiful family. Thriving career. Supportive friendship. Loving marriage. But she’s no stranger to adversity. Many know of the strength she had shown after her son, Wade, was killed in a freak car accident when he was only sixteen years old. She would exhibit this remarkable grace and courage again when the very private matter of her husband's infidelity became public fodder. And her own life has been on the line. Days before the 2004 presidential election—when her husband John was running for vice president—she was diagnosed with breast cancer. After rounds of surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation the cancer went away—only to reoccur in 2007.

While on the campaign trail, Elizabeth met many others who have had to contend with serious adversity in their lives, and in Resilience, she draws on their experiences as well as her own, crafting an unsentimental and ultimately inspirational meditation on the gifts we can find among life’s biggest challenges. This short, powerful, pocket-sized inspirational book makes an ideal gift for anyone dealing with difficulties in their life, who can find peace in knowing they are not alone, and promise that things can get better.

... Read more

Reviews

Incredible Insight and Honesty
I have so much respect for Elizabeth Edwards. She has written a beautiful and heartbreakingly honest book - I have read all her books and have found all of them to be inspiring. This most recent book however, is the best. She is brutally honest about her cancer, the loss of her son and especially about the infidelity of her husband. I don't know why her husband chose to be unfaithful, but I hope he can live with himself. Elizabeth is a tremendous lady. I am grateful she has chosen to share her experiences with us - I draw strength from her wisdom.

The Power of Adversity...
... is something that Elizabeth Edwards knows a lot about. Grieving mother, cancer patient and a wife scorned could all fit her very well, but the label she wears most proudly is survivor, to the nth degree. Edwards new book, which she muses about the nature of resiliency, is a powerhouse of endurance, self-help, and perseverance.

I can imagine that many people who are going to pick up this book are looking for the lurid details of the latest news in Elizabeth Edwards' life, mainly, the affair her husband Democratic Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards had with a videographer on his campaign. As Edwards says herself, those details will not be found in the book. What is there, which she talks about in her second to last chapter, is her reactions to the affair, and her thought process she went through as she dealt with the betrayal of vows.

But oh, the book is so much more than that. Sometimes, "celebrity" writers are choppy and rambling in their books, even if "ghost written" by someone else. Not so Edwards. Her writing is evocative, personal, and incredibly engaging. Much of the book she wanders through the myraid of feelings she had as her sixteen year old son Wade died in a freak of nature car accident. Edwards as a grieving mother is beautiful and heartbreaking. The chapter she devotes exclusively to Wade cannot be read with a dry eye. Her writing evokes her personal journey in a way that has to be experienced.

But this is not a book of sadness; no, this is a book of continuing on. In the first chapter, she talks about her father's massive stroke and how, after she was told he was brain dead, he continued to live on, almost eighteen years. That lesson gave Edwards the stamina and courage to face whatever obstacles she would encounter in her own life. As she so beautifully put it, you have to "adjust the sails".

I am planning on keeping this book for my lifetime. When time offers trials to me, and I feel like I cannot endure, Edwards' words will give me a renewed sense of comfort. This book would also be an excellent gift to anyone grieving the loss of a relationship, a child, a parent; while each of our journeys is personal, the wisdom shared from that path, as Edwards remarkably does in this slim yet powerful book, can enlighten the road for all of us.

Enlightening and empowering
I found Elizabeth Edwards' opening chapter on her Dad compelling, empowering, and inspiring. Two weeks ago, I flew home to care for Mom. She wanted to get better, but her digestive system had inexplicably shut down. She was recovering from surgery and unable to eat more than a few bites per meal. The food at the 24-hour nursing facility was terrible. I cleaned by night and cooked by day...brought in alternate lunches and dinners...waterboarded her with food. Sometimes she would eat just once bite out of a whole entree. But Mom did not give up on herself, and I did not give up on Mom. "Do NOT go gentle unto that good night."

The breakthrough was my finding a drug side-effect that had been stanching her appetite among her dozen drugs. Now she's eating full meals and slowly regaining strength. Don't trust the "experts" to know what they are doing.

Mom says I had won her trust. Priceless.

The one thing that made me wrinkle my brow was that Elizabeth felt diminished by what her husband did. I don't think she should. Women often try to be all things to all people, and that is humanly impossible.

Regarding the chapter on Toshiko...who put on a resolute face despite her physical and emotional scars from the first atomic bomb. Geishas are trained to not show negative or strong emotion because that leads to wrinkles, which limits one's career. Emotional botox.

It is a pleasure reading Edwards for her wisdom and thought processes. My lessons from this book...keep a steady hand on the tiller and don't give up...do the hard work of working through adversity.

Misrepresented In Media
My spouse of 45 years died very suddenly 20 months ago, - 8 weeks after a terminal diagnosis of "unidentifiable Cancer". If I had listened to the press surrounding the release of this book, I may not have purchased it. Anyone who inferred that this was a juicy story about a politician husband having an affair DID NOT READ THIS BOOK. This book is Elizabeth's journey - and it's REAL! I went back thru the book and underlined thoughts that jumped off the page related to moving forward after ANY STORM that life presents. How do I embrace my new reality?? How do I create a new normal? ....one moment at a time... I'm doing that now after losing my husband. Elizabeth Edwards is an Incredible Inspiration to me - she affirmed MY journey without ever knowing me. I'm a breast cancer survivor - Elizabeth isn't so fortunate, but her RESILIENCE will live on far beyond the day that she leaves us.
Sharon Sprunger, Las Vegas, NV

I wish I was as reslient as Edwards
I am a great admirer of Elizabeth Edwards. It takes enormous courage to write about such personal and painful subjects as your own cancer, the death of your father, the death of your son and your husband's affair. She is certainly resilient, a quality one needs when faced with the kind of betrayal she has faced--both from her own body, and from her husband.

As the author of a book about older women and divorce, He's History, You're Not: Surviving Divorce After 40I am nowhere near as resilient as Edwards--I became clinically depressed when my husband left me for another woman. Eventually I moved on but it took a long time and a lot of therapy. It was touch and go for a while which was scary. However, I did run across many divorcees who went through worse experiences than mine, who were remarkably resilient and bounced back from incredible adversity.

Resilience is both our genes and our upbringing. If we're lucky enough to have a sunny disposition to begin with, and the kind of parenting which sets us up to feel secure and capable in the world, we can rescue ourselves when we need to. If we didn't have that kind of parenting, we can still overcome obstacles, but it's a hell of a lot harder. Edwards is a role model for women who face tragedy and who need inspiration and the reassurance that it is possible to survive just about anything.

Erica Manfred
author
He's History, You're Not: Surviving Divorce After 40 ... Read more

Editorial Review

By the author of the modern classic The Black Swan, this collection of aphorisms and meditations expresses his major ideas in ways you least expect.

The Bed of Procrustes takes its title from Greek mythology: the story of a man who made his visitors fit his bed to perfection by either stretching them or cutting their limbs. It represents Taleb’s view of modern civilization’s hubristic side effects—modifying humans to satisfy technology, blaming reality for not fitting economic models, inventing diseases to sell drugs, defining intelligence as what can be tested in a classroom, and convincing people that employment is not slavery.

Playful and irreverent, these aphorisms will surprise you by exposing self-delusions you have been living with but never recognized.

With a rare combination of pointed wit and potent wisdom, Taleb plows through human illusions, contrasting the classical values of courage, elegance, and erudition against the modern diseases of nerdiness, philistinism, and phoniness. ... Read more

Reviews

What's the rush? Slow down and think .....

An intriguing book based on an interesting thesis, well presented, in saying "we humans, facing limits of knowledge, and things we do not observe, the unseen and the unknown, resolve the tension by squeezing life and the world into crisp commoditized ideas ..."

"The person you are most afraid to contradict is yourself," Taleb begins, and shortly after continues, "to bankrupt a fool, give him information."

Okay, I declare bankruptcy. These aphorisms are an eloquent Luddite protest against the madcap technological excesses and follies of the modern world. I agree. Every new technology blossoms into excess, then retreats into practical use as newer ideas develop. Obsidian was once a new idea in cutting; but, anything this good soon evolved into ornaments and other impractical uses.

It's the inevitable fate of all new technology and all new ideas. All good ideas become complicated into absurdity, until wiser people ask, "Just what are we trying to accomplish here?"

Taleb is a wise man asking such questions, and this book is one of questions and relevant observations. It's the same question anyone with a cell phone and the choice of 250,000 apps might ask, like Taleb, "Why?" and the answer is "I dunno."

In brief, this is an eloquent plea to slow down and think.

What's missing is a recognition of human curiosity which creates all technology, from obsidian blades to Blackberrys. It's a book devoid of curiosity, of Rudyard Kipling's Five Faithful Serving Men and the journalist's eternal questions, "Who? What? Why? When? How?"

Of course, I'm not aware of the Luddites having many answers. But, Taleb, like those who sit and refuse to budge do serve to remind the rest of us that scurrying about accomplishes little. More power to him, and to those who ask, "Is this trip necessary?"

Now it is proven that you don't need to be dead to have people enjoy your aphorisms
I love this book. If you are a thinking businessman or academic, I think you will like it. The style is harsh, masculine, thoughtful, to the point, non-religious and timeless. The style reminds me a bit of Livingstone (Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart: Thirty True Things You Need to Know Now and Never Stop Dancing) even though he writes prose. The title of the book alludes to Greek mythology, but you don't need to know who Zeus was to enjoy the book. However, some people dislike the style of both Taleb and Livingstone, so the book is not for everyone. Finally, since the book is published this year (2010), you can utter some of the aphorisms out loud, causing the belief that you are a witty person :)

Potently distilled Taleb
I'm among those people who will read pretty much anything Nassim Nicholas Taleb writes, so I preordered this book without needing to know anything about its specifics. I just finished my first pass and am not disappointed (and will need to read the book again, probably many times).

We shouldn't make the mistake of getting so impressed that we're in danger of worshipping Taleb, and indeed some of his points may be exaggerated, inconsistent, partially wrong, or even completely wrong (I think he might even agree with that), but he's also genuinely and uniquely brilliant, and my sense is that he's right about most things and thus a source of valuable real-world insights.

Others have suggested that one shouldn't try to summarize Taleb, but we can surely say that his work revolves around the realization that we humans, both individually and collectively, are unknowingly prone to many kinds of errors and biases, so we need to develop practical tools to help compensate and especially to avoid disastrous consequences.

Using its densely aphoristic format, the book richly and wittily fleshes out this general idea by providing more specific insights on a wide array of "philosophical and practical" topics spanning much of the human condition. And I'll add that while Taleb seems ambivalent about Wittgenstein, I think his ideas are closer to those of the later Wittgenstein than he may realize (which I intend to be a compliment, while agreeing that Wittgenstein can sometimes be rather opaque).

If you're willing to take a serious look at yourself and the social world in which you're embedded, at risk of undermining some cherished illusions, this is a book not to be missed. Others have made many of the same points as Taleb but, to my knowledge, no one else writing today has done so with the same level of broad erudition and artistically powerful flair (hence his outlier level of readership and influence).

Excellent Book!
If you've read Nassim Nicholas Taleb's other books ("Fooled By Randomness" and "The Black Swan") then you have an idea of the power and magnificence contained in his writing. In my humble opinion, "The Bed of Procrustes: Philosophical and Practical Aphorisms" is excellent; it's a must read. I have been anticipating this book's release for quite some time. Several months ago Taleb was testing out many of these aphorisms on Twitter, so it's interesting to see how the book came together. I certainly enjoy witty aphorisms and this book contains some of the best I've ever read.

"My best definition of a nerd: someone who asks you to explain an aphorism."

As Taleb says, aphorisms lose their charm whenever explained so I'll refrain from demonstrating my foolishness and ignorance by trying to interpret any of them in this forum.

Excellent-Nassim Nicholas Taleb at his best
My copy arrived today, and I was anxious to read Taleb's book of aphorisms after following his progress at his website. He does not disappoint; he will make many laugh, many angry, and most think. His wit and insight spares no one; particularly academics, economists, and bankers (politicians, too).

The chapter I most anticipated was Robustness and Fragility, given Taleb's continuing dialogue at Facebook concerning anti-fragility.

This slim volume is highly recommended if you enjoyed Fooled By Randomness and The Black Swan. Highest recommendation.

Sam Kinison of contemporary philosophy
Taleb is the Sam Kinison of contemporary philosophy: He shrieks mischievously about how we delude ourselves and allow others (e.g., consultants and intellectuals) to delude us. "The Bed of Procrutes" tells where not to look for answers and seems grounded in a profound respect for the ever-elusive: human dignity and courage. Unlike his seminal "The Black Swan," which overflowed with examples and explanations (and which should have been proofread more carefully) this book is spare and copy-edited. It is compulsory reading for the aspiring fl�neur.

Great encouragement to think more!
I'm a big Taleb fan, but this review is not biased. I enjoyed this book a lot. It's a quick read, but is intended to make the reader think. Highly recommend it. ... Read more

Editorial Review

The Secret revealed the law of attraction. Now Rhonda Byrne reveals the greatest power in the universe -- The Power to have anything you want.

In this book you will come to understand that all it takes is just one thing to change your relationships, money, health, happiness, career, and your entire life.

Every discovery, invention, and human creation comes from The Power. Perfect health, incredible relationships, a career you love, a life filled with happiness, and the money you need to be, do, and have everything you want, all come from The Power.

The life of your dreams has always been closer to you than you realized, because The Power -- to have everything good in your life -- is inside you.

To create anything, to change anything, all it takes is just one thing…THE POWER.

Reviews

A NEW WINDOW INTO PROSPERITY . . ., August 18, 2010
Rhonda Byrne has been a long-time favorite author of mine. Through "The Secret," Rhonda has helped me to have an inner confidence in the law of attraction. I've come to believe that what I think about (in the right way) will come into my life.

In "The Power," Rhonda takes the law of attraction in another direction and teaches the power of using your emotions to FEEL what you want to have so that what you desire will come quicker. It is a way of engaging the mind and heart and getting them to work together.

I felt "The Power" was inspirational, because it reminded me of why we have feelings and the different energy that comes from feelings. Not surprisingly, love is the most powerful feeling . . .genuine love can change anything. . . or any situation.

Rhonda teaches how to use the power of love in all aspects of your life, from relationships to money, to health, and more.

I would highly recommend getting this book along with another that I read early this summer and has meant a lot to me. It seems that there is a 3rd dimension to the Law of Attraction. The best way to describe it is "Serendipity."

I've been so inspired by Serendipitously Rich: How to Get Delightfully, Delectably, Deliciously Rich (or Anything Else You Want) in 7 Ridiculously Easy Steps which was written by Madeleine Kay, along with a foreword by Joe Vitale (a star in "The Secret" movie). This book gives you a really fun and delightful feeling as it moves you positively on a path of change. However, it also gives you some practical steps which are akin to putting the law of attraction into action by teaching how to make decisions based on serendipity.

It is like having a deeper level of faith. It has made a difference for me. . .it might for you too.

I Have A Decision To Make, September 10, 2010
"The Power", by Rhonda Byrne, is a book about the power of love. The author wrote "The Secret" in 2006 and it became a world-wide bestseller. The author promises that this book will add immeasurabley to what you learned in "The Secret".

My father suffered a heart attack and I was spending endless hours at the hospital. One evening, I went to Walmart and I noticed this book on the shelf. I was instantly drawn to it. I spent the next couple of days reading this book as I sat in the hospital. It was a very anxious time but this book helped me gain a different perspective. The "power" in this book is the power of love. Your life is made up of only two kinds of things...positive things and negative things. This book explains how your attitude and way of thinking can make bad things seem better.

Most of the information in this book comes from the New Thought Movement of the early 1900s. These authors taught the principles of positive thinking and the law of attraction. Ms. Byrne quotes many of these authors in this book but she also describes how these principles can be used in everyday life to produce positive results in your life.

My favorite chapter in the book is "Keys To Power". One of the topics in this chapter is the "key of gratitude." Everytime I start feeling down, I think of things that I am thankful for. I am soon feeling much better. Ms. Byrne says, "No matter what negative situation you may find yourself in, you can always find something to be grateful for, and as you do, you harness the force of love that eliminates negativity."

Positive thinking does not always come easy to me. I remember my mom telling me when I was a child, "All you ever do is grumble, gripe and complain." Children tend to live up to spoken expectations so I tend to see the cup as half empty instead of half full. I like this book because it reminds me that changing your mind can change your life. I have a decision to make.

Even better than the Secret!, September 13, 2010
I loved it! I thought it was even better than "the secret", but I love both. I have read "the Secret" several times and will do the same with "the Power". It's easy to flip through for quick inspiration and the book radiates love, which is what the power is about.

Do not judge this, or any book until you APPLY it., September 17, 2010
The one star and five star reviews differ with people's attitude toward what this book calls them to do. It doesn't say sit and salivate and drool with love like a puppy. It tells you to take the attitude of love, meaning positivity in outlook and focus. So if you are the type of person that is mired in negative stuff and you cherish your state, then you will keep saying "buh-humbug" all the way. But if you have had enough of your pity-parties and you want to clear the junk in the attic of your head, then you will decide to APPLY the book's suggestions and God forbid, you may actually get out of your misery corner. So if you have no such intention, then don't waste your money. Not too many of the reviewers seem to have actually tried any of the concepts in the book. So they are not at all talking from experiential evaluation of the book. IF you want to try and APPLY the ideas, the book will be an uplifting start. Take the ideas and build on them, practice thinking only what you love and want, and if you still do not get any results, then come back to review with complaint that it was painful reading. If you honestly put it into practice, you will not need to! If it will sit on the shelf with all your other half-baked, half completed projects of yours, then save time and money now. So my suggestion:

You want to really APPLY and practice the book's way of living = BUY!!!!
You do NOT want to APPLY and practice = Don't buy.

You decide. Simple: In the end what you get is what you want and love.

Yes, I liked this book!, September 7, 2010
When I was in seventh grade, I made my first "vision board." Of course, that was many, many years ago. Back then, I called it (among other things) my "dream poster." I cut up magazines and newspapers and did drawings of things I wanted to do and places I wanted to see. I also wrote in notebooks with different colored pencils a "diary" of all the things I had achieved in life -- before any of it could have actually happened. I focused on my desires. I read biographies and novels and watched movies about people who did what I wanted to do. I worked on making my dreams come true. I got into the schools I dreamed about. I owned a business -- back when the "glass ceiling" in business was proudly made out of solid cement! I took a trip to Europe, and got a newspaper to foot the bill for all the expenses. I danced professionally. Yep, I was on the stage at Lincoln Center once! Later on, I got yet another job of my dreams.

And, I did this while lots of people spun their wheels in the background telling me what a fool I was, that I should give up -- over and over and over again. I've faced ridiculous obstacles, and conquered them every time.

So, I guess I discovered "The Secret" before Rhonda Byrne made it popular. But, even Rhonda Byrne admits that it is not her invention at all! Dream. Focus on those dreams. Keep going, even when reality and so-called realists tell you that you are wasting your time.

I laugh when I read the one-star reviews for The Secret and The Power. Sooo many people have the answer, they think. It's just that their answer is always "no." No, you can't have more money. No, you can't have that career. No, you can't get into that college. No, you can't dance, can't sing, can't paint, can't..... anything. And, for them, people who keep moving on are stupid, because we can't see it their way.

Enjoy your negativity, folks. I can't imagine what I might achieve next. But, I assure you it won't be sitting on my rump insulting others who dare to dream, and dare to achieve.

The Power, by Rhonda Byrne is an excellent book, and I highly recommend it to anyone capable of thinking outside of narrow limitations.

something everyone should own, October 17, 2010
This is a book all should read and have to just open and take in daily. It is amazing how you can start to feel confused or down and just a few pages puts you right on track. It answers alot of questions and helps to understand why we and others do the things we do. And how we can look at something different to DO something differently.

A Bible for us all!, September 21, 2010
Rhonda Byrne's timing in publishing her latest book was perfect! In these trying times when negativity abounds...we should all read and live "The Power"...the world would then be a wonderful place! Thanks, Rhonda, for your beautiful book and thought provoking words.

"The Secret" changed my life. Using the power of positive thinking, my house sold on the day I invisioned, for the amount I wanted, I was able to quit my job at a bank (Great timing there!), and move closer to my children and parents. My future husband then 'found' me and we are now happily married and living the life I had dreamed about. Does the Secret work??? You bet it does! I am living proof. All of my friends and family are amazed at how my life turned around. It can and will for them and for you, if...when...you start to live "The Secret" and harness "The Power"!

What a great way to live......., October 21, 2010
I have finished reading "The Power" for the 2nd time. This book has life changing suggestions to change the way you think to change the way you feel - it tells you how to look for the positive in all situations. Even when it is really hard to find a positive aspect to something that has gone wrong - there is always a lesson to be learned so that in itself is positive. It also has made me realize what love really is - not just for a person or family but for the whole of life. I have just purchased the audio as well because I'm going to take a 2-3 hour driving trip and I would like to listen to it on the way.

I'm not saying you are going to receive a million dollars but I'll bet you'll feel better about it if you don't :)

Barbara Johnson
Cave Creek, AZ

Getting stronger everyday, October 20, 2010
I purchased this book in an airport in Washington DC on my trip home to Florida. I have been battling a life threatening disease for some time now. I love reading Rhonda Byrne. She gives me inspiration to keep up with the fight.

words to live by, October 17, 2010
I love this book and it has changed my life and the way I live. The world would be an even more beautiful place if everyone lived this way. If you want happiness in your life and good things to follow you, read this book. Even after reading it, I still refer to it often, especially if I am having a bad day or a challenge in my life. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Fragments of a Great Secret have been found in the oral traditions, in literature, in religions and philosophies throughout the centuries. For the first time, all the pieces of The Secret come together in an incredible revelation that will be life-transforming for all who experience it.

In this book, you'll learn how to use The Secret in every aspect of your life -- money, health, relationships, happiness, and in every interaction you have in the world. You'll begin to understand the hidden, untapped power that's within you, and this revelation can bring joy to every aspect of your life.

The Secret contains wisdom from modern-day teachers -- men and women who have used it to achieve health, wealth, and happiness. By applying the knowledge of The Secret, they bring to light compelling stories of eradicating disease, acquiring massive wealth, overcoming obstacles, and achieving what many would regard as impossible. ... Read more

Reviews

The Review "They" Don't Want You To Read, March 6, 2007
Catchy review title? Thought so. Robert Cialdini, renowned psychology researcher and author of Influence: The Power of Persuasion (perhaps the best book ever written on the subject) identifies six basic rules employed by politicians, advertisers and scam artists alike to persuade others. Each of them are employed quite adeptly by Rhonda Byrne in this book.

Cialdini's first principle is SCARCITY; people want what's expensive, exculsive, or otherwise attainable. Byrne's mastery of this principle is clearly shown by the very name of the book: The Secret. We all learned this the first week of kindergarten as we felt the jealousy of watching two classmates, hands cupped over ears, sharing a secret out of earshot.

This message is reinforced throughout the book and its advertising campaign which pitches "The Secret" (whatever it actually is) as jealousy-guarded information hoarded by the happy, wealthy and successful. Whenever someone tries convincing you of something, whether it's a way to make enormous sums of money, to lose weight, etc - be wary of when it's pitched as "the knowledge THEY don't want you to have." Think about it - everything from the "secrets that Wall Street doesn't want you to know" to "uncovered - celebrities' secrets to staying young" are phrased not simply to pique your interest but to make you jealous. Appeals to our emotion are far more powerful than appeals to reason, and Byrne demonstrates mastery of this principle throughout "The Secret."

Cialdini's second principle is LIKING. We like those who like us, and in turn, we do business with them. Positive thinking and emotional intelligence has been linked to strong interpersonal relationships, academic and professional success, and good health, but there is a fine line when positive thinking crosses over to unjustified exuberance. Instead of simply noting the substantial benefits of positive thinking (a well-accepted principle which wouldn't sell books), Byrne crosses the line so blatantly that anyone with a modicum of modesty would find it blasphemous.

AUTHORITY is another Cialdini principle, also in play in "The Secret" in quite subtle ways. Another technique which differentiates this book from just another book of positive thinking is the heavy use of quasiscientific language, which gives the impression that the "law of attraction" is (or will become) an accepted scientific principle, just like the law of gravity or the law of attraction of oppositely-charged particles in chemistry. Many people are both intimidated and confused by the authority of science, a fact exploited by manipulators ranging from Byrne to peddlers of magic weight-loss pills.

Since no respected physicist would ever publish a paper on the universality of the "law of attraction," Byrne indirectly seeks experts in other ways. She attributes the success of people ranging from Einstein to Beethoven to adherence of "The Secret," thereby manufacturing experts. After all, if Einstein and Shakespeare mastered "The Secret," who are YOU to question it?

The last two Cialdini principles are CONSISTENCY and SOCIAL PROOF. The success of this book should leave little doubt it will be followed by more (and more expensive) forms of media peddling "The Secret." The audio recordings, weekend seminars, advertising tie-ins, and other follow-up products certain to follow will exploit these two principles. Once people commit themselves to believing happiness will come from "The Secret," they will attribute future successes, whether a promotion or a great new relationship, to adherence to it. Conversely, setbacks will be even more powerfully in committing people to "The Secret," as people will attribute their failures to not living up to "The Secret" (and buying more of Byrne's books). Consistency dictates it will be less painful to buy more books and immerse one's self further into "The Secret" than to accept the whole premise is a quite ridiculous; while not as pernicious as a domineering cult, "The Secret" promises to charge you handsomely for a positive outlook on life.

Byrne's book is problematic on many levels. On it's face, it's a manipulative marketing tool meant to flatter, confuse and deceive. It's also pseudoscience at its best, the last thing we need to encourage in an increasingly technological world which requires healthy skepticism and critical thought. Most damaging, though, is how the book perverts reality by encouraging people to equate a positive outlook on life with a childish, idiotic narcissism. Ayn Rand must be rolling in her grave hearing about the modern manifestation of her objectivist movement reduced to the intellectual equivalent of canned pork.

If you're interested in "The Secret," I highly encourage you to read the book - yeah, READ the book - if for any other reason so not to be manipulated by its brilliant marketing. Read it with a critical eye, with a copy of Cialdini's book in the other hand. You may not learn the secret of happiness, but you WILL learn a lot about manipulation and influence from a master of the subject in Rhonda Byrne.

Reaches Too Far, Oversells, Underdelivers, January 1, 2007
I think a book like this, which makes some really big claims, should, roughly, do the following:

1) Present it's premise clearly
2) Since it's a self-help book explain clearly what you need to do
3) Provide compelling evidence that it's ideas work
4) Be credible.

The book does a decent job of explaining its premise, which is that everything in your life is the result of the law of attraction. I quote, "the law of attraction says like attracts like, so when you think a thought, you are also attracting like thoughts to you." In other words, think good thoughts and good things will come to you and if you think bad thoughts then bad things come to you. I've simplified this a bit but not a whole lot as the concept isn't rocket science.

Now, does this book explain clearly what you need to do? Actually, for a self-help book it does a very poor job of this. How do you control your thoughts? What kinds of practices and thinking produce the best results? The author and contributors basically tell you a bunch of stories about how "so and so did something and you can too by changing your thinking".

And that's it for the "how to" part of the book. There isn't any.

Now, if I wanted to prove something worked from a scientific perspective it would seem to be easy to test this stuff out. You take two groups of people, teach one the secret, let the other go on with their lives and see what happens. In theory those that know the Secret would be happier and more successful than the control group. It might not be perfect but it'd be a whole lot better than what we get in this book. But, of course, you'd have to have an actual methodology to test.

Instead the authors cite numerous anecdotes of how the Secret worked. One person's cancer went away. Another individual walks after a brutal accident. Still another finds romance. That's all fine and perhaps it's evidence but it's not proof. Cancer can be misdiagnosed. How many people who were injured like the "Miracle Man" never walked again despite the best attitude and trying the approach perfectly? The problem with anecdotes is that it's easy to start with a result, work backward and assume the conclusion. It's also very easy with anecdotes to only present the ones that make your case and ignore those that don't (when someone dies of cancer while practicing the secret for instance). It's just not good enough to use anecdotes for large claims like those made in this book.

The following quote struck a nerve.

"People hold that for awhile, and they're really a champion at it. They say, `I'm fired up, I saw this program and I'm going to change my life.' And yet the results aren't showing. Beneath the surface it's just about ready to break through but the person will look just at the surface results and say, `This stuff doesn't work.' And you know what? The universe says, "your wish is my command,"

I thought it was interesting that the universe instantly manifest failure but isn't quite so fast with success. In fact, a cynical individual might conclude that what they are really saying is, "when this program works it's because the secret always works, but, on the off chance it doesn't work, well, that's your fault." An even more cynical person might think, "gosh, I wonder what would help a person who failed? Maybe, a seminar with Bob Proctor would be just the thing to get them over the top?"

Lastly, is the Secret credible? On the one hand, I think a lot can be said for the idea that if you change your thinking you'd change your life. In many ways that seems obvious to me.

On the other hand, if the secret actually was true, especially at the scope claimed by the book it would mean that everything that's happened is the result of your thinking. So, when a child dies of pneumonia, well, it's because they brought pneumonia into their lives. Michael J. Fox, not only did you bring Parkinson's into your life but change your thinking and it will go away. Obviously these things aren't true and they obliterate, in my opinion, any credibility in the book.

Not only does the book go too far but most (I'd argue nearly all) of the contributors aren't credible. On a topic of this scope: the ability to 100% change your life and the world in an incredible fashion, does anyone really think you couldn't find psychologists, top flight scientists, therapists and thousands of mainstream individuals to support it, if it worked? Wouldn't there be tons of research instead of anecdotes? Instead we get a Feng Shui Master, a chiropractor, motivational speakers (err trainers), a metaphysicist, etc. combined with a half dozen anecdotal stories. So the most powerful like changing idea ever and you get it from the crew in this book presented in this fashion? I don't think so!

If this idea really worked, at anything other than giving material to self-help speakers and generating repeat students, it just wouldn't be found here. The book wouldn't even have to be written because we'd all already know it and be practicing it. Remember, this is not a new idea, it's been around for a very long time, and it's been the topic of literally thousands of seminars and hundreds of books.

In conclusion, I'm not opposed to the idea on a small scale but this book just goes way too far and I'm left with the feeling that all that's really going on is a bunch of people trying to get their name out and get you to pay for their seminars.

a best-seller; folly of the masses, June 25, 2007
This book was given to me as a gift on father's day. I started reading it the way I read any book but soon I started reading faster and faster, more like scanning, with speed-reading techniques, and finished it in 2 hours, while taking notes at the same time.

I have no interest in self-help books or concepts like power of positive thinking. This book combines the two, with the main thesis being that the "secret" to anything in life, wealth, health, success, love, romance, happiness is positive thinking, thinking positive thoughts. More specifically, imagining things that you want to have and really, truly believe that you already have them, and feel good about having them now!

For example, if you want to be rich, you should first imagine that you are already rich; second, you should really believe that you are already rich; and third you should feel yourself in a rich life style, feel happy about it. If you keep doing this for awhile, miraculously the doors of wealth will open to you, all the opportunities will line up at your door and you will be well into your way to becoming that rich person you are imagining. Similarly, if you want to loose weight, you should imagine yourself in your ideal weight, really focus on that, only allow yourself "thin thoughts" and avoid "fat thoughts", and you will get thin. I quote; "if someone is overweight, it came from thinking fat thoughts". Another one; "Food cannot cause you to put on weight, unless you think it can."

I felt like putting a smiley face right after the last sentence as I am smiling now, and was smiling throughout the book. All you have to do is just ask (oh, and believe, and feel) for the thing you want and lo and behold, thou shalt have it! I quote: "Make a command to the Universe. Let the Universe know what you want. The universe responds to your thoughts." Another one: "The Universe will start to rearrange itself to make it happen for you." Really? I didn't know the entire universe cared so much about me!

The method even works for some frivolous things. Like always finding a parking spot, never having to wait in lines, never being late etc. And a lot of people are, allegedly, already doing it: "We have received thousands of accounts of The Secret being used to bring about large sums of money and unexpected checks in the mail. People have used the secret to manifest their perfect homes, life partners, cars, jobs, and promotions, with many accounts of businesses being transformed within days of applying The Secret."

One look at the titles of the co-authors of the book says a lot: Metaphysician, moneymaking expert (ha?), healer, life coach, law of attraction specialist, feng shui consultant (sure)... How about gullibility specialist, swindling expert, or snake-oil salesman?

Actually I shouldn't be so hard. At least one person, the main author of the book made her wishes come true. In the foreword of the book, and elsewhere inside, she says that she was going through a very bad time, her company of 10 years was about to be history. In desperation she looked everywhere for answers and that's how she discovered "the secret". Judging from the success of the book and the film, it must have worked for her. I suppose she must have thought, believed, and felt something like this: "I want a large number of credulous people to buy what I am saying (and the book, and the dvd) so I can make a lot of money".

Think and Grow Rich Meets The Power of Positive Thinking in Brief Quotes, February 22, 2007
I am in complete agreement with the idea that our thoughts need to be carefully marshaled and focused on what we want. My comments focus on how Ms. Byrne has expressed that point in this book.

Everyone I know swears by the DVD version of The Secret. I decided to read the book first and then look at the DVD.

In grading this book, I am comparing The Secret to the many books that encourage you to create your own reality through mental focus including books written by those quoted in The Secret.

First, what is the secret? As stated in a quotation by Bob Proctor:

"The Secret is the law of attraction!

Everything that is coming into your life you are attracting . . . by virtue of the images you are holding in your mind."

Second, what causes the law of attraction to work? According to Ms. Byrne on page 11:

"You are the most powerful transmission tower in the Universe. Your transmission creates your life and it creates the world . . . . And you are transmitting that frequency with your thoughts."

Third, what's the evidence that this secret is true? Each of 24 authors tells anecdotes of people who overcame hurdles after envisioning a more positive result. A few claims are made that quantum physics supports this conclusion, and Ms. Byrne confides that she understands a great deal about this subject.

Fourth, why is this a secret? Because Ms. Byrne had never heard of the law of attraction prior to a year or so ago.

Let me make a few observations about the development of this idea in the book:

First, science has shown us that we ignore almost all of the sensory input we receive. Our minds focus on a small percentage of what's considered relevant through something called the reticular activating system. Change what you focus on, and you notice things for the first time that have been there all the time. That's one reason why envisioning what you want works: You notice helpful resources around you that you've been ignoring. That observation, however, has never been tied to any evidence (to my knowledge) that we physically create anything with our minds beyond our own bodies, except by manipulating the physical world in various ways.

Second, religion points to a different phenomenon. Christians, for example, read in the Bible that God has filled those who have been saved by repenting their sins and believing in Jesus with the Holy Spirit which permits good works (including miraculous works) to be done by the desire of the believer. The source isn't the believer's mind, but rather God's spiritual resources which are greater than the physical world. Anyone who read these Biblical texts would say that an individual is far from a powerful source of creating reality: An individual can do nothing to change reality without God, but can do anything good with God's help to change reality.

Third, in Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill reported the results of many years of intensive interviews with the most successful people on Earth of his day. Many of them believed that their thoughts physically changed the exterior world by opening the door to possibilities that otherwise wouldn't have existed. But Mr. Hill presented the idea as expressed opinions, rather than as a proven fact. He also pointed to many other things that these people had done that helped them succeed. Mr. Hill reported that it takes more just focusing on what you want: There are other steps involved such as working with a mastermind group.

Fourth, our own bodies are very strongly affected by our thoughts. Scientific research keeps showing new dimensions of that fact. Think certain thoughts and your immune system is stronger. Think other thoughts and your immune system is weaker. In addition, placebos do heal people who think they are getting real medicine when they are not. Why? Because people are really healing themselves. You can extend that influence by behaving well or badly towards others, causing a mental reaction in them, which in turn creates a change in their body chemistries.

By comparing those earlier works, my sense is that what The Secret really represents is one woman's quick attempt to make sense of this kind of information. In doing so, she seems to have oversimplified and misstated what is known about the role of thought in creating life experiences. I doubt if the intent was deliberate or not well intentioned. But after all, she is a film maker, not a student of thought.

By ignoring the full range and roots of the evidence, Ms. Byrne runs the risk of discouraging some people who feel like they are real losers because they cannot evince a perfectly positive reality. If it were as simple as The Secret suggests, we would have billions of people living trouble-free lives. To my knowledge, even the most successful practitioners of The Secret aren't as wealthy as those the most successful people who don't. That would make an interesting study, and a far more valuable book than this one.

Here's an example of a misleading example. Ms. Byrne argues that food doesn't make you fat; it's what you think about food that makes you fat. The punch line of her story is that "I now maintain my perfect weight of 116 pounds and I can eat whatever I want." Every person I have met who is an authority cited in this book is noticeably overweight. Why don't any of them want a perfect weight and be able eat anything they want?

My point for you: Avoid this book.

I encourage you, however, to think positively and learn about how your thoughts can improve your life!

If you want to learn about how to improve your life through your thoughts, consider reading more reliably based and carefully presented sources. If you prefer a secular book, try Think and Grow Rich or The Success Principles. If you would like a book that half-way between a religious and secular focus, try Your Best Life Now. If you want to draw totally on the Christian or Jewish religious roots, read the Bible.

I'll look at the DVD now and let you know what I think of that.

A book for losers, January 10, 2009
1. Bogus metaphysics, bogus science:

The Secret pretends it's a book about winners and how they win. It isn't. That's just the come-on. It's actually a happy make-believe feelgood book for losers.

Positive thinking is a powerful force, but it isn't magic. It's more like a necessary precondition to success: people who believe they can succeed are far more likely to succeed than people who are sure they'll fail.

For instance, say they're starting a new business, and they run into some big problem. The person who thinks in terms of success will say "Gosh, I'm going to have to figure out a way to get around this problem if I'm going to be successful." Then they get to work on figuring it out. The person who thinks in terms of failure will say, "I knew it was only a matter of time before the universe screwed me over -- I can never catch a break," and gives up trying.

Very important point: in both cases, positive or negative thinking didn't affect the universe. What it did was affect the way the people made decisions and addressed their problems in the real world.

That's the difference between a genuinely useful and valuable book like Norman Vincent Peale's The Power of Positive Thinking, and the pile of steaming tripe that is The Secret. Peale's book tells you that positive thinking is the best starting point for getting what you want. The Secret says that positive thinking is enough all by itself. It dresses its idea up in bogus pseudo-scientific language, but essentially what it's saying is that positive thinking is magic.

That's premium-grade hogwash. Positive thinking isn't magic. Thoughts are not magnets. There is no Law of Attraction, no primal universal force that makes the events in our lives match the way we think about our lives. Positive thinking is a good mindset for making good decisions about the actions we take, but it's the actions that have the effect, not the thoughts.

That's why The Secret is a feelgood book for losers.

===

2. Some real-world implications:

If Rhonda Byrne's advice were any good, neither she nor her publisher would have to publicize her book. They'd just think the right thoughts, and readers everywhere would automatically be moved to pick up a copy.

People cycling through the manic phase of manic-depressive bipolar disorder would be such a nexus of inventiveness, serendipitous insight, and luck, that major corporations would bid on their services.

No baseball game could ever end as long as the fans on both sides believed victory was possible.

We'd never run out of petroleum.

Average global income would be far more evenly distributed than it is. After all, anyone can hope. Anyone anywhere can think good thoughts.

Alternately, there could be Third World sweatshops available to do our believing for us.

Finally, if Rhonda Byrne's advice were any good, the Evil Overlord list wouldn't include the observation that an Evil Overlord who shouts "I AM INVINCIBLE!" is a sure bet to die almost immediately afterward.

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3. Fraudulent provenance:

If thinking the right thoughts really could do what The Secret claims, that fact could never stay a secret. Everyone has people they love; and because they love them, they want them to be happy and successful. If they learned an infallible secret for attaining power, wealth, and success, they'd pass it on to those they loved so that they could be happy too. Those people would tell others, and so the knowledge would spread. Soon it wouldn't be a secret any more. After that, people would start preaching it from the rooftops, and carving it into the sides of buildings.

Let's limit it to children. Can you imagine withholding such a secret from your own children? Could you keep silent while you watched them lead frustrated and impoverished lives, or died from conditions you knew how to cure? That's not believable.

Now, genealogists will tell you as a rule of thumb that everyone with European ancestry is descended from Charlemagne, who lived from 742 to 814 AD. That is: if Charlemagne knew this secret knowledge, and he only told his children about it, and they only told their children, and so forth and so on, by now half the world would know it. Yet author Rhonda Byrne says the Greek Philosophers and the Ancient Egyptians had this knowledge. The Greek Philosophers lived about 1,100 years earlier than Charlemagne, and the Ancient Egyptians lived more than three thousand years earlier. It's ridiculous to imagine that a simple, basic, easy-to-apply, and yet overwhelmingly powerful universal principle could stay a secret for even a fraction of that time.

===

4. Further real-world implications:

If what Rhonda Byrne says in The Secret were true, Las Vegas wouldn't exist. People don't place bets they think are going to lose. Gamblers are powerfully into positive thinking. Someone who's betting heavily while drawing to an inside straight is unquestionably visualizing success, and they're telling the universe exactly what form they want it to take. They nevertheless fail to fill their straights at exactly the rate predicted by plain old statistical probability -- that is, most of the time.

Positive thinking is all around us. New restaurants, new breakfast cereals, new television shows, and new political candidacies expect success. No one throws their heart into studying ballet from age six onward because they envision themselves having the wrong adult body type and winding up teaching tap and jazz to children in some dull but affluent suburb. The world is full of unemployed theatre majors, unpublished writers, unsuccessful beauty pageant contestants, unheard-of musical acts, and college athletes who never make the big time. None of them got there by thinking they wouldn't succeed.

If Rhonda Byrne's advice were any good, no singer would ever hit a wrong note. That goes double for singers who are drunk.

I know other reviewers have already covered the implications of The Secret's suggestion that misfortunes are caused by our own negative thoughts. Still, I have to say: NO KIDDING? SOMEBODY PHONE DARFUR NOW!

And while we're waiting for that phone connection: no kidding? Insanely bad high-level decisionmaking, failures of oversight, and a grossly irresponsible pursuit of deregulation for its own sake had nothing to do with our lives getting zapped by a collapsing economy? Look at Enron's employees and stockholders. They didn't expect to get screwed. New Orleans residents who didn't have cars never envisioned themselves drowning in their own attics. Homeowners with subprime mortgages never imagined they'd wind up in foreclosure.

Are we to understand that some families have an inexplicable tendency to attract the same ailment, generation after generation? How is it possible for devout Christian Scientists to die of cancer or eclampsia or ketoacidosis? If a guy in his late 50s has been in denial about his radiating chest pains for the last ten or twelve hours, and the first thing he says when the EMTs come through his door is "I'm not having a heart attack," has his attitude improved or decreased his chances of surviving the episode?

If I worry about drunk drivers, and then some night I get t-boned at 60 mph by an irresponsible lush with a DUI record as long as my arm, is the accident actually my fault because I had all those negative worries? If I've got a cheerful toddler with me, who's responsible for her death? If I kneecap Rhonda Byrne, and set fire to the warehouse where her books are waiting to ship, will she apologize to me for thinking thoughts that obliged me to do it?

===

5. In conclusion:

I swear, I've never had any thoughts that warranted the existence of this book.

Think for a minute with me before you buy, March 14, 2007
Let's say something first: if it makes you feel better, you can even believe in Santa Claus, and there's no problem with that.
So, if you want to believe what Rhonda says, it's up to you.
For me, there are too many lies in this book.
They are appealing, because we all search for an easy way out. They sounds beautiful, like birds in the sky. But they remain lies.
They are also immoral: I think one of the best teaching in christianity is compassion. Compassion means to feel the suffering of another, to understand him deeply. It's the feeling we all feel when we see a baby cry for apparently no reason, so cute and so defenseless.
We feel his pain, we think we have to help.
But if you believe that feeling (mental) pain attracts to you disgrace, how can you embrace compassion?
Also, why help others if when they are in struggle it's all their fault? Why try to help them if you believe that their minds are responsable for that?
When we think of World War II, and Nazism, are we going to say that all the Jews were vibrating in a bad mood? I don't think it's a good answer to the evil that men do (and what about 9/11, or Katrina?).
Were all the people in the '60 anti-war movement creating more war? Vietnam was caused by John Lennon? Don't be a fool.
The poet says: the good sailor moves the sails, for he knows he can't control the wind.

I take this very personal. When I was just a kid, a friend of mine died. He was the happiest child in the world, we were shocked and thought about death for a long long time. He didn't attract his bad destiny, and we didn't attract anything, except tears.
Leave this book alone.

P.S.
There's no need to say that the quotations of great men in the past are largely distorted. Take Bhudda: he spoke all the time against desire of material things, and he thought a lot about illness, aging and death. It's easy to take a quotation out of context and gain noble fathers for a poor idea.
Peace.

Unscientific Blather, April 5, 2007
The Latin phrase, Ad Ignoratium, is apt: the statements made in this book are true only to the degree of the reader's ignorance.

Hmmm, I can win the lottery just by thinking positively about it? What if everybody around me has the same thoughts? Can we all win? If I want a college degree, can I get one just by thinking really hard or do I have to actually attend classes? I have cancer; can I will it away by envisioning smiling faces? Or should I get chemo first?

The bulk of the book employs pseudo "experts" to elevate the very real power of positive thinking to the status of a wishing well. As most of us learned as children, wishing alone rarely makes things happen. Action makes things happen, and tragically little about action is talked about in this book.

Lots of people report great things coming to them after practicing the "Secret." But it's unlikely that anyone will report how often it doesn't work. Like psychic predictions, we breathlessly report the "hits" and ignore the misses.

I'm a believer in positive thinking, but not magical thinking. There is a difference. Keep that in mind when you read this nonsense.

nothing new, April 3, 2007
There is a lot of talk about the "Secret" but I really did not think it was "new" material. I find it rather interesting that with all the brilliant healers and scientists on this planet, that the people included in this work are only from the U.S..
I certainly do not agree that little children or unfortunate people that live in war torn areas "draw" this to them. Sounds more like a marketing tool than a message of peace. Where is the compassion for others less fortunate than us?

A Word to the Wise..., March 19, 2007
I am commenting on The Secret as a clinical psychologist who specializes in how cultural and spiritual beliefs affect health as well as the author of a book about converging science and mysticism to navigate our personal journey. First, The Secret is a compilation of opinions from a group of professionals in several fields, rather than a book by the author. It would be more accurate for Ms. Byrne to present herself as the editor, rather than the author of the book. Having said that, it is important to distinguish between wishful thinking and mind-body science. Although the concepts expounded in the book are beautiful examples of what we could achieve if we explored our potential, it leaves the reader with "feel-good" platitudes, by failing to convey that simply wishing something does not attract anything other than expectations that lead to disappointment. As a scientist, I have seen the mind bypass biology in miraculous ways, but this does not happen by just wishing and waiting for "the laws of attraction" to work. Instead, change requires honoring commitments, not blaming others for our failures, assessing the self-sabotaging that surface when self-esteem is compromised, and realistically defining goals.
The success of this book shows how hungry we are for someone to tell us that change happens magically without having to confront our demons and without taking responsibility for the life we created with our actions.
While I wish Ms. Byrne the greatest success, I want to caution the reader that if "wishful thinking" does not attract what you want, do not blame yourself, because it was only thoughts without action.

I wanted to like this book., April 8, 2007
Recently I was at the airport and overheard snippets of a conversation taking place nearby. A gentleman was telling a fellow traveler about "The Secret". Intrigued, I got the book and just finished reading it.

First I should say I really wanted to like this book. It's a delicious idea....to think that the happier, shinier, more successful people of this world have access to a certain "secret" that causes them to attract good things. Unfortunately, as much as I hoped this book would blow me away, it didn't.

I found it difficult to stay awake while reading the first four chapters. The same basic themes ("Your thoughts become things" and "The Great Secret of Life is the law of attraction") were repeated over and over again. Mixed with the boredom was a sense of surprise that the book was so focused on material things. A chapter called "The Secret to Money" came before chapters on Relationships, Health, "the World", You and Life, which definitely made me go "Hmmmm."

"The Secret" starts with a great idea, but develops a credibility problem when it uses All Or Nothing and Overly Simplistic language. For example:

(a) "Nothing can come into your experience unless you summon it through persistent thoughts." This would seem to suggest that everyone working in the World Trade Center on 9/11/01 somehow INVITED the terror attack through their own persistent thoughts (which is, of course, pure hogwash.) Or terminally ill cancer patients fighting for their lives... SUMMONED the disease.

(b) "You have two sets of feelings: good feelings and bad feelings. And you know the difference between the two because one makes you feel good, and the other makes you feel bad." This seems to wipe out several dimensions of human emotional experience. What about ambivalence? ("I'm happy about the job offer in LA but, gosh, I'll really miss my family and friends in Boston.") Are we wiping out the concept of bittersweet? Isn't it a balance of a range of emotions that makes us human?

It is fine to say that, within reason, what you take the time to visualize for yourself in glorious detail is more likely to manifest itself in your life, or even that you can accomplish things you never thought possible by first seeing yourself doing, feeling, and thinking like you have already accomplished them (and, of course, following up with massive action to get you where you want to go.) I also realize that repetition and simple phrasing can be useful tools for teaching new concepts; however the scope of "The Secret" is too broad to use these techniques. (We're trying to learn a new blueprint for life here, not how to care for a potted plant.)

"The Secret" takes a valid concept to extremes. The unrealistic wording is unnecessary and raised red flags that were distracting and interfered with my ability to remain open to the overall excellent and useful message of the book. If you seek to learn more about the fascinating power of positive thought and creative visualization but do not wish to be brainwashed with extreme claims, then this book is probably not up your alley either.
... Read more

Editorial Review

It's no wonder thatThe Power of Now has sold over 2 million copies worldwide and has been translated into over 30 foreign languages. Much more than simple principles and platitudes, the book takes readers on an inspiring spiritual journey to find their true and deepest self and reach the ultimate in personal growth and spirituality: the discovery of truth and light. In the first chapter, Tolle introduces readers to enlightenment and its natural enemy, the mind. He awakens readers to their role as a creator of pain and shows them how to have a pain-free identity by living fully in the present. The journey is thrilling, and along the way, the author shows how to connect to the indestructible essence of our Being, "the eternal, ever-present One Life beyond the myriad forms of life that are subject to birth and death."Featuring a new preface by the author, this paperback shows that only after regaining awareness of Being, liberated from Mind and intensely in the Now, is there Enlightenment. ... Read more

Reviews

Here and Now, November 2, 2008
After reading happiness books like "Finding Happiness in a Frustrating World", I felt like I had a good handle on what science had uncovered about how to live a happy life and have to say that I am MUCH happier for having read them. But, while the field of positive psychology has made some great contributions to my happiness levels, it's books like The Power of Now that come along and let you know there's STILL more you can learn.

A key concept of the book (if I'm explaining it right) is that you will start to experience a certain kind of enlightenment when you learn to leave your analytical mind behind. In other words, instead of "thinking" try just "observing your thinking." And when you do this, you also need to realize that all this "thinking noise" that goes on in your head all day long is not really who you are- an enlightening concept indeed!

To that end, the book is set up in a question and answer format to help you get to understand these kinds of concepts. While it might seem ridiculous to some, it really isn't. Case in point, we all talk to ourselves or have witnessed others talking to themselves at times (maybe during a sporting event perhaps). If you ask someone who they are talking to, they will usually say "I'm talking to myself." And this, by definition, means that there have to be two "selves", an "I" talking to "myself"- and so justifies the idea of two selves (a "you" and a "thinking you" in the book).

Well, if these seem to be the kind of concepts you're ready to explore, this is your book. It raises some good questions and certainly brings up one that you can't argue with: all we have is the here and now. As the book so astutely points out, "Nothing ever happened in the past; it happened in the Now. Nothing ever happened in the future, it will happen in the Now." And learning to live in the now IS the point of the whole book.

An idea whose time has come, October 11, 2002
You've heard the old maxim that there is nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come. That's what The Power of Now represents to me. I have been in the book business all my adult life and consider myself somewhat jaded when it comes to books on self-help, gurus or enlightenment manuals. In fact, I almost never read them. There is something unique about The Power of Now that makes it stand out in an otherwise crowded field. It may be the clarity of the language, the absence of technical language, or more likely, the fact the author is clearly writing about a place the he authentically inhabits; and that my friends, is rare indeed. When describing this book to others, I compare the concepts and practices to the teachings of Thich Nhat Hanh, and to the Dzogchen teachings of Tibetan Buddhism, as well as the core instructions of such Zen Masters as Dogen and Hongzhi. The thing that makes this book so magical is that you get all that pith instruction without having to wade through cultural artiface or the barriers of religiosity. This is only the second review I've written, and I'm doing it because I believe this book is fundamentally important. The teachings have had an immediate impact on my life in a way that few books ever have. I agree with the editorial review - within a chapter of reading this book, I was already holding the world in a different container. This is the real deal.

This may just be THE book!, November 23, 2001
Eckhart Tolle's message isn't new. His book is meant to point us toward enlightenment,
and thus his teachings aren't much different than that of Buddhism. But the way this book SPEAKS...

WOW!

I've been reading "Power of Now" slooowly, over the past week and a half.
I'm nearly finished with it, and plan on starting again on page one when I'm done.
This may be the ONE book that you've been looking for... it's that good.

You can FEEL the essence of Tolle's message while you read. The book BREATHES with spiritual insight.
As you read, you just KNOW that what Tolle says is "the truth."

In reading the book, meditating, and practicing these principles in everyday life,
I've noticed in myself an increased ability to be "fully present" in the world and STAY THERE.
This is the experience I've been wanting for many years.
I've been waking up each morning in a peaceful mood...
I think, while sleeping, I've been integrating the lessons I've learned!

Be here now... it's the only place and time to be.

and Now..., January 24, 2002
I picked up "The Power of Now" in the "New Age" section of the bookstore. I was determined to make the reading about "spirituality" a short episode in my life... and I was probably right, as far as the reading goes, that is.

I got the book and continued reading at home, and, as I often do with study guides and textbooks, started underlining what seemed most important. Soon it became harder to separate the important from the unimportant, because it all seemed important! Then, I stopped, put down the pencil and said: "Wow!"

Where did this book come from? Why aren't we hearing about it on CNN? Reading it felt strange at first, as it demanded my total attention: either I was drawn deep into it, or not at all. Do you like to eat while reading? Well, this book will make you feel ridiculous if you try to eat and read at the same time!

The book showed me that I have a pretty thick mold of the mind to break through, and it took me very far on the first day, even farther after that. The message went beyond what I would probably recognize on my own. After all, I was (and still am but to a lesser degree) one of those constant thinkers who mistakenly believe that it's good to think all the time but almost never stop to see, hear and feel the essence of being. Although the message in the book seems familiar and simple, in the end it provided exhaustive answers to the few questions that I had and also those that I wouldn't have thought of before. Amazingly, it also managed not to raise new ones. What it did was grab me by lapels and put me into the present moment. Over and over again, it told me what it means, how to enter it, offered a few different methods, and suggested that with practice many opportunities exist to enter it.

Another point is that once I finished the book, its message lingered (may I say "in my mind" here?). The author's obvious and at the same time subtly effective, repetitive approach somehow kept reassuring me that I was absorbing and remembering the material. The text never strayed far from the core of the message, which seemed to stick with vivid clarity.

I soon began to practice shifting myself into this state of intense concentration, and it feels strange and alluring at the same time, this detachment from the mind. At first, I could only do it while being completely relaxed, just before falling asleep. Later, it became easier to do along with other daily activities. Don't worry; you will not get hit by a truck while crossing the street and trying to focus into the Now! Also, the people at work will not laugh at you because you look weird trying to focus, but they may notice a difference in you: that you are relaxed, focused and less confrontational (because you are surrendered to the present moment). The most immediate effect for me was that focusing into the present moment helped me communicate better. I began to listen more intensely, meaningfully and less judgmentally than before.

However, I feel that this is only the tip of an iceberg. Trying to be in the Now has inspired me more than any miracle. At the same time, it's clear that learning to live in the Now is a skill, and like any skill it can be enhanced with practice. The more you work at it, the better and more natural you get doing it.

In short, I don't need to search for the truth anymore. I got lucky on the first try, by becoming a little curious with the book that seemed unassuming and light in physical weight. Thank you, Eckhart. NOW, I can be at peace, knowing how much I can look forward to in this life, and beyond.

Not a book for the mind - a book to teach you to be free, June 30, 2002
I have refrained from writing a review of this book for nearly a year and a half, being content to simply practice what Tolle has expressed so simply - remain in the present moment for that is all we have. After nearly three decades of practicing meditation to become enlightened (some day) I found it disheartening to conclude that I wasn't really getting anywhere, yet I was reluctant to give up the effort. Then Tolle popped into my life like a much needed life preserver, showed me who I really am, and put an end to my thrashing about in self-created whirlpools of despair - when you discover you are the ocean itself the whirlpools peter out in embarrassment.

Don't read this book in order to feed your mind, stroke your ego or validate your beliefs. Read it in order to learn to free yourself from pain and delusion. It is obvious when reading certain reviews that some people are looking to add mind stuff to their inventory and then to demonstrate what a fine mind they have with an erudite and academic rebuff. They will have to remain content with a mind dominated life, always looking for something outside themselves to give validation and meaning. At some point, however, if they are lucky they may tire of that and take the opportunity to practice living in the now. It takes courage to jump into the unknown and discover the freedom and joy in living life moment to moment.

Perhaps you are ripe for this book like I was. Even so it was not always easy to let go of cherished beliefs and practices, but ultimately it is the only thing you can do if you really want freedom. Tolle shows how conditioned we have become in a gentle and easy manner, leading you by the hand all the way to the door of freedom. But it is up to each one of us to open that door. At first you may spend only moments of clock time in the sweetness of the now. If you keep at it you will become more skillful in accessing the now, and you will find yourself dwelling there for extended periods of clock time. And then upon reflection you will realize the peace that is always available - that we ARE peace.

So, are you willing to see what life will be like without a mind and ego to steer your every move, as you have been so conditioned to do all your life? (and if you are, don't worry, you will always have access to the mind and ego). Are you willing to let go of everything and to simply BE and let life unfold naturally? (it will anyway, but not resisting it reveals the peace that underlies all phenomena). If you are you will not find a better guide than Eckhart Tolle.

Clear, Intelligent, Gentle, February 5, 2001
Although I have always felt myself to be vaguely spiritual, I had never bought a book on spirituality before, shunned anything that smacked of religion, and wouldn't be caught dead in the New Age section. However, a friend recommended Tolle's book, and I found myself completely absorbed in it from beginning to end. Tolle himself would probably agree that there is nothing essentially "new" about the ideas in the book; the value lies in the clear, intelligent and gentle way in which they are presented. This book is carefully, thoughtfully and beautifully written. Not only does it illuminate the fundamental, slippery, destructive patterns of the mind or ego which confound one's spiritual and even physical well-being, but it also provides a variety of simple and practical techniques for breaking down and dissolving these various forms of mental pollution. I use Tolle's calming, contemplative techniques every day and throughout the day, and they work wonderfully for me. I've read the book twice so far and have given it to others as a gift. The companion tapes are excellent as well.

One Power trip, April 13, 2005
In all of my 62 years, I have read numerous works on the topic of spirituality. Mr. Tolle's book follows many classics of which I so enjoyed-works by Ram Dass, Deepak Chopra, Andrew Harvey, Matthew Fox, Marianne Williamson, Alan Watts, Krishnamurti, Cayce ..ad infinitum. And though I enjoyed much of Tolle's book when it first appeared five years ago, when I look at it now(couldn't help but comment here on the author's vain and frighteningly egotistical preface to the new paperback edition), I am really wondering just who this teacher is.

I had the misfortune of hearing him speak when I was traveling in England last year, and the pomposity of which he came off -really appalled me. I never saw such an egotist in all my life. (in a so-called spiritual teacher-this is a bit off-putting) Tolle resonated with such vanity-that the spiritual "truths" he was attempting to make rang hollow. To me, those who remain modest and sincere and generous toward others are the real teachers. (Deepak Chopra, to me, is always so gracious and humble when he speaks; I also like Carolyn Myss and Andrew Weil-actually-- many spiritual communicators who come from a medical background-seem to walk their talk).

I can only say to those readers out there: "yes this is a good book-but pay attention to what may lie beneath the surface ". To me, the real spiritual teachers are always humble and helpful toward others. Tolle -in person- is very different from what he appears in his DVDs and books-I have heard he is cut-throat and very competitive when it comes to others' works (unfortunately, a good source of mine knows he has hurt others.) Bottom line? Everything must serve him. And that always says it all. Just be aware and go within and listen to your own inner communication to the divine. Forget this guy.

As one luminous Galilean soul once said: "By their deeds you shall know them".

Practical tips for joyous living, September 17, 2001
Philosophers like Krishnamurti say that the path of spiritual enlightenment starts with being aware of one's own thoughts. Commentators (of Upanishads and Gita) such as Swami Chinmayananda suggest that spiritual enlightenment is attained when the mind quietens. I have great respect for the above authors. However, I was frustrated for a long time as "watching my thoughts" and "quietening the mind" seemed impossible to achieve.

In this book, Tolle gives very practical advice on how we can watch our thoughts - the idea is to simply live in the present, in the Now. "...Make it your practice to withdraw attention from past and future whenever they are not needed. Step out of the time dimension as much as possible in everyday life. If you find it hard to enter the Now directly, start by observing the habitual tendency of your mind to want to escape from the Now..." is a brilliant piece of advice from the book.

The book is organised in a question-and-answer format and it is easy to read.

When we start reading the book, many questions rise in our heads. E.g.
*How can we forget the past? Doesn't past influence on our current situation?
* How can we not think about the future? How do we, then, plan for the future?
*How practical is it to ignore the time (future)?
All these questions and many other questions that come to mind while reading are answered in the book.

If you plan to read this book please think about the following: many of us read books like these and find them 'interesting'. As long as we are reading the book we feel inspired and we live in the Now. A while later, we go back to our routine and forget about living in the Now. To get the true benefit from this book, my suggestion is to create some measures so that you are reminded of the principles regularly. Some things you can do:

*Write down your questions, their answers and your other thoughts that come to mind, while reading the book. Review these regularly.
*Find people who are interested in discussing the issues relating to spiritual enlightenment and discuss.
*Make it a point to read or listen to books that relate to living the Now, on a regular basis.

The Truth is in the Power of Now, December 13, 2000
This book is so filled with truth, so powerful, so crystal clear that I was compelled to write this review and share it with other people. THE POWER OF NOW and WORKING ON YOURSELF DOESN'T WORK by Ariel and Shya Kane are the two most powerful and insightful books on self-awareness I've ever had the pleasure to read. Reading both of these books is like working with Zen masters, compassionate spiritual teachers who can free us from the torture that our minds and our judgments inflict on us constantly. I am not exaggerating when I say that THE POWER OF NOW was like a breath of fresh air. Tolle gets right to the point and explains so much about inner peace and how our minds actually work that I found myself wanting to share what he and the Kanes have discovered. If THE POWER OF NOW is the technical manual for reaching fulfillment (because it is mostly explanations about awareness rather than illustrative examples), then WORKING ON YOURSELF DOESN'T WORK is the practical guide with real world examples and insights that describe exactly how satisfaction is possible in everyday life. You'll want both of these books. I've found what I was looking for thanks to these wonderful authors.

The Power of Tolle's message, June 1, 2000
In the past 25 years I have read spiritual books ranging from the works of Gurdjieff and his followers to the discourses and satsangs with Maharaj, Poonjaji, and Gangaji. These have helped me and probably thousands of other seekers. They were the best written accounts available to all of us on the Path who refused to swallow the sugar pills of superficial knowledge of spirituality and enlightenment offered by many. NOW comes Eckhart Tolle with an unbelievably clear, powerful and succinct account of how and why our mind-based ego consciousness runs us, robs us of our birthright as humans, and why our society, at every turn, supports this process. His message is exquisitely eloquent and direct: Learn, through endless practice (unbending intent as Don Juan would say) to observe your mind without judgement. See where this leads you again and again as your sense of who you are escapes psychological time and the vastness, wholeness, and beauty of Creation opens before you. I have read only the first 50 pages and already I know that it will be THE ONE BOOK that goes with me everywhere as I read and reread it until it is part of me. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Forget everything you thought you knew about how to motivate people--at work, at school, at home. It's wrong. As Daniel H. Pink explains in his new and paradigm- shattering book Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us, the secret to high performance and satisfaction in today's world is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world.

Drawing on four decades of scientific research on human motivation, Pink exposes the mismatch between what science knows and what business does--and how that affects every aspect of our lives. He demonstrates that while the old-fashioned carrot-and-stick approach worked successfully in the 20th century, it's precisely the wrong way to motivate people for today's challenges. In Drive, he reveals the three elements of true motivation:

*Autonomy- the desire to direct our own lives
*Mastery- the urge to get better and better at something that matters
*Purpose- the yearning to do what we do in the service of something larger than ourselves

Along the way, he takes us to companies that are enlisting new approaches to motivation and introduces us to the scientists and entrepreneurs who are pointing a bold way forward.

Drive is bursting with big ideas-- the rare book that will change how you think and transform how you live. ... Read more

Reviews

Biased and selective presentation of important ideas
Before plunking down your credit card for a copy of Drive, by Dan Pink, consider making do with just his TED talk. The talk contains the substance of this book without the excess padding.

The book has about 250 pages. One hundred fifty or so of those are for the basic content. It includes the Introduction and Parts I and II (chapters one through six).

The other hundred pages are a "Toolkit." This includes some material that didn't seem to fit anywhere else, a glossary, a recap of Drive, twenty conversation starters (useful at cocktail parties), a reading list, and a fitness plan. That's forty percent of the book. And none of it helps you put what you've read to work.

The core points of the book are covered in the TED talk. You can listen to it in about fifteen minutes or read it in about ten. You won't get the fitness plan or the conversation starters. You will get the essence of Pink's message.

If you're a boss or concerned about leadership, you need to become familiar with that message. The ideas are important. Pink's rendering of them, for good or ill, will define and influence the discussion of motivation in business for quite a while.

He does get the big picture right. He says that people would prefer activities where they can pursue three things.

Autonomy: People want to have control over their work.

Mastery: People want to get better at what they do.

Purpose: People want to be part of something that is bigger than they are.

This matches research that I've done with class members for over twenty-five years. They discuss a time when "it was great to come to work" and then create a description of what those times are like. The descriptions vary slightly in wording but always include the following.

Productivity.
Community.
Interesting and meaningful work.
Clear and reasonable expectations.
Frequent and usable feedback.
Consistency.
Fairness.
Maximum control possible over work life.

I'm describing the kinds of workplaces where intrinsic motivation happens. Pink is describing three things that provide that kind of motivation. In most highly effective workplaces, it's the boss that is the most important force creating an environment when intrinsic motivation can happen.

Top management sets the basic compensation and benefits structure. If that isn't perceived as fair and consistent, natural intrinsic motivation won't kick in.

It's your individual supervisor who has the biggest effect on your daily working environment. That's why there are pockets of excellence in otherwise horrid companies and why even the best companies have workers who are unhappy and teams that are unproductive.

This book won't give you the connection from concept to workplace. But Pink does deliver many key ideas that matter.

Key Idea: There is a difference between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation.

Key Idea: Intrinsic motivators are more powerful.

Key Idea: If you use monetary rewards to get people to perform the way you want, those rewards may have the opposite effect.

These are important things for a boss to know, but if you only have Drive to guide you, you will get some things very wrong.

The examples that are used are heavily weighted toward academic and consulting studies. It's not apparent that Pink talked to a single worker or frontline supervisor. The book would have been more helpful if he had.

There are some pre-requisites to having intrinsic motivation kick in. Pink mentions in passing that there needs to be fair compensation in place. That's true, but it's not an "oh-by-the-way" point. It's Maslow's Hierarchy in work clothes.

Throughout the book, Pink equates "monetary" incentives with "extrinsic motivation." That ignores praise, promotion, preferment (in scheduling, eg), the admiration of peers, time off, and a host of other positive incentives. It also skews the discussion toward academic studies and away from the real workplace.

Pink also presents the issue as if it were intrinsic motivators (good) versus extrinsic motivators (not good). In the TED talk he even says "This is the titanic battle between these two approaches."

That's not how things work in the real world. Intrinsic and extrinsic motivators and their effects interact. You don't have a simple choice of which lever to pull. You have to understand and influence a complex system.

Those shortcomings are important. They derive from one of the most important things to understand if you've going to study this material critically and turn it to good use.

Pink has written this book like a political speech. He writes to make a point, not to present a balanced argument.

Like a good speech writer, Pink uses language that implies value judgments. He uses terms like "humanistic psychology" for things he agrees with. When he doesn't agree he uses terms like "rat-like seeking."

Like a good speech writer, Pink makes sweeping statements without providing support for them. "Sometimes" and "a surprisingly large proportion of the time" are used with no indication of what they actually mean. He says that sales quotas "can be effective," but doesn't tell you when or how often.

Like a good speech writer, Pink leaves out things that don't support his simplified message. There's no mention of studies that support the use of rewards in business settings.

Like a good speech writer, Pink boils his facts down to only the ones that support his argument. If all you read was Drive, you would think that the work of Deci and Ryan is about the superiority of intrinsic motivators to extrinsic in all situations.

But their work is more complex than Pink describes it. It includes analysis of effective extrinsic motivators as well as extrinsic motivators that are counter-productive.

Like a good speech writer, pink, picks up studies from one sphere and applies them elsewhere without telling you what he's doing. Deci and Ryan have done admirable and important work, but it's on motivation in personal development, not in the workplace.

Like a good speech writer, Pink ignores contradictions. He describes a horrid, slave ship workplace ruled by carrots and sticks. Later he mentions that most "flow" experiences happen at work.

Pink tells us about "20 percent" time for creativity at Google and Atlassian. But he doesn't discuss why they only offer their intrinsic reward of creativity to engineers and not the other workers in the company.

Like a good speech writer, Pink sets up the straw man of "Motivation 2.0" so that he's easy to knock down. And, inconvenient truths are sometimes mentioned in passing and then never heard from again.

The Bottom Line

You should learn what's in this book because, for better or worse, it is influencing the conversation about what makes a great workplace. But because of the presentation and selective use of facts, you can't rely on this book alone to help you do a better job as a boss.

Just as important as "A Whole New Mind"

A Real Winner

The "Light Bulb" turns on in your brain
Okay, so that's the way it really works!

Every now and then, I come along a book that challenges enough lifelong assumptions I've held about myself and others to be "enlightening", and this is such a book.

The book is easy to read and accessible, and the research backing up the author's conclusions are also laid out to impact.

I spent the first hour reading this book sitting next to my wife, and about every 3-4 minutes, I'd blurt out "Did you know . . ." or "I never knew . . . " and then read her a passage. A day later, the book was gone from the end table next to the sofa, and my wife had absconded with it. If you are a professional or manager, you will see major implications into your own behavior and that of others. If you are just reading out of interest, you will learn a lot about yourself I haven't seen in another place.

The writing is worthy of the exciting revelations -- fresh and vigorous, making the book as enjoyable for me as it was informative.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

If you hate your job, this book will help you understand why
I read 39 books in 2009, just "a few" shy of my goal of 50. Thanks to a little nudge from some friends I've set my 2010 sights just a little bit higher: a book a week, for a total of 52. I got the list off to a good start this weekend when I finished this latest from Dan Pink. Interestingly, one of the first books I read in 2009 was also one of his, A Whole New Mind: Why Right-Brainers Will Rule the Future.

In that previous book, as the title suggests, Pink describes the type of workers that will emerge - actually are emerging - to solve the complex business and social problems now facing us. Taking that as a starting point in Drive, Pink provides some guidance on what will be necessary to "manage" these new types of worker by exploring the what motivates these workers to perform. Or, as the title put its, what drives them.

Part One of the book explores the evolution of the motivation "operating systems" at play throughout human history and how the science of motivation is leading us to version 3.0 of that Motivation OS. Or, at least, how it should be leading us to this new version. I found it fascinating that much of what Pink describes in the book is not new at all, but has been known for several decades. Known and ignored. Known and actively buried buy those who just couldn't believe it or didn't want to accept what it meant for them and their positions of control within organizations. Fascinating reading.

At the end of Part One, Pink delves into the differences between workers who are intrinsically (Type I) and extrinsically (Type X) motivated, and leads right into Part Two, which explores the three elements that make up Type I behavior: autonomy, mastery, and purpose. The chapters for each of these elements includes some insight into each, along with practical examples of what they mean.

Part Three is the "Type I Toolkit", which includes suggestions, reading lists, and other tools for individuals and organizations to help them become more Type I. As Pink says, Type I's are made, not born, and this toolkit can help you remake yourself, or your organization, as a Type I.

Perhaps the most damning statement about the current state of affairs, at least in my mind, comes in the sentence: "Unfortunately...the modern workplace's most notable feature may be its lack of engagement and its disregard for mastery." Longtime readers of my blogs know that mastery is a concept I've long thought and written about. Pink's chapter on mastery in the context of work pulls together many ideas that I've struggled with over the years. This chapter alone was worth the price of the book.

All the rest is an excellent bonus.

I am giving this book to my son's school
One of the most helpful things that I took from this book is the varying value of rewards. I had noticed that bribing my son for even little things led to some less than desirable long-term results; I loved reading the research to back it up.

One measure of a powerful book is whether it leads to action. I just ordered a second copy for my son's middle school faculty library. It's my personal mission now to encourage them to include free-style learning/creating days in the curriculum. It's a pretty conservative school so I'll have my work cut out for me. Thanks for providing the inspiration, Dan! ... Read more

Editorial Review

No matter how sophisticated or wealthy or broke or enlightened you are, how you eat tells all.

If you suffer about your relationship with food -- you eat too much or too little, think about what you will eat constantly or try not to think about it at all -- you can be free. Just look down at your plate. The answers are there. Don't run. Look. Because when we welcome what we most want to avoid, we contact the part of ourselves that is fresh and alive. We touch the life we truly want and evoke divinity itself.

Since adolescence, Geneen Roth has gained and lost more than a thousand pounds. She has been dangerously overweight and dangerously underweight. She has been plagued by feelings of shame and self-hatred and she has felt euphoric after losing a quick few pounds on a fad diet. Then one day, on the verge of suicide, she did something radical: She dropped the struggle, ended the war, stopped trying to fix, deprive and shame herself. She began trusting her body and questioning her beliefs.

It worked. And losing weight was only the beginning.

She wrote about her discoveries in When Food Is Love, her first New York Times bestseller. She gave huge numbers of women their first insights into compulsive eating and she changed huge numbers of lives for the better.

Now, after more than three decades of studying, teaching and writing about what drives our compul-sions with food, Geneen adds a profound new dimension to her work in Women, Food and God. She begins with her most basic concept: The way you eat is inseparable from your core beliefs about being alive. Your relationship with food is an exact mirror of your feelings about love, fear, anger, meaning, transformation and, yes, even God. But it doesn't stop there. Geneen shows how going beyond both the food and feelings takes you deeper into realms of spirit and soul to the bright center of your own life.

With penetrating insight and irreverent humor, Roth traces food compulsions from subtle beginnings to unexpected ends. She teaches personal examination, showing readers how to use their relationship with food to discover the fulfillment they long for.

Your relationship with food, no matter how conflicted, is the doorway to freedom, says Roth. What you most want to get rid of is itself the doorway to what you want most: the demystification of weight loss and the luminous presence that so many of us call "God."

Packed with revelations on every page, this book is a knock-your-socks-off ride to a deeply fulfilling relationship with food, your body...and almost everything else. Women, Food and God is, quite simply, a guide for life. ... Read more

Reviews

"How We Eat is How We Live"--A Spiritual Perspective on Overeating, March 2, 2010
*****
Geneen Roth hits a home run with her latest book about overeating and so much more in "Women Food and God". The theme of the book is that the way we eat, the way we think about food and handle ourselves around it is the way we do everything. The author then shows us how and why this is the case. She describes the food retreats she runs and the women who attend them, and as a reader you will surely identify in some way with every single person--and with the lesson she illustrates from their lives. This is a more complex book than her earlier books because of the spiritual dimension; she sees problems with overeating as gateways to spiritual enlightenment. She convinced me (and will convince you as well) that instead of trying to get rid of or fix our eating problems, we need to use them to see within ourselves, to learn important spiritual life lessons from our feelings, and to grow and heal so that we will end up eating as a spiritual practice. And so that we'll have a permanent end to the misery of always struggling with our weight and self-image, and always striving to improve our relationship with food.

The book is so good that for me, just reading it was like a spiritual awakening in this area of my life. I found it motivational, inspirational, and scary in a good way--and the author makes the whole process doable with descriptions of practices that can be used on the food healing/awakening journey such as meditation, inquiry, and eating guidelines. These practices are all specific to the process and they are described in detail. This spiritual dimension is generic and does not require a particular religious belief, or even any religious belief. It would be compatible with any type of spirituality. The type of eating practiced is intuitive eating (listening to your body to discern what it wants), and no matter what your way of eating, you can apply an intuitive approach to it--this book is about a way of living and relating to food, not about a food plan.

If you have read the author's other books (as I have) you will find much new information here. Other key themes of the book include mindfulness, presence, and feeling your feelings. The author is brutal but honest in describing how destructive the dieting industry is to women. Again, this is definitely not a diet book or eating plan, but instead a way of experiencing life which allows you to be present and aware so that you are able to listen to your body and choose food based on nourishment and self-care.

Although it is a quick read (I read it in one evening), this book is so valuable that you will want to refer back to it, highlight it for future reference, take notes in the margins, and use parts for journal prompts. There is only one negative, and it is a biggy: the paper in this hardback book is similar to super cheap mass market paperback-type paper. I have never seen an actual book of any type with such paper, though! I tried to highlight sections and the highlighter not only would bleed through to the reverse side of the page, but sometimes onto the previous page! It is hard to describe how frustrating this was---a book that is a true keeper on throw-away paper. I highlighted anyway and my book is a mess, but I decided to rebuy it on Kindle when it comes out. I've never done this before, but it's that good of a book--worth months (or maybe years) of therapy. I also would buy it again if it is reprinted (and I'll bet it will be) with a paper that matches the quality of the book.

That flaw aside, I'm so glad I bought this book. I have read many, many books on overeating, diet and nutrition, self-help, styles of eating, and more, and this book stands apart from the crowd. The message is an important one for any woman who wants to handle her relationship with food, her weight, and her spirituality in a healthy way, and to become whole. If that is you, you will not be disappointed, I promise.

Highest recommendation.
*****

Read This and Start to Really Live Again, March 30, 2010
Wow, this book was wonderful. So well written, with humor and spiritual wisdom. Very powerful sentences throughout.
I have had eating disorders since my first diet at the age of 14. I remember getting a bit of approval for losing weight; even though I wasn't overweight to begin with. Thus started my long, sad, disordered eating story. I never did get the real love from my parents; but boy did I try to look good striving for it.
I continued to eat everything on my plate and be a "good girl". Certain foods were BAD, others GOOD. I was an excellent student. So, by the time I was an adult I am exactly as Geneen Roth describes herself - eating for every reason besides hunger. If I felt angry or lonely I'd eat. I'd binge when I couldn't express myself to those I wanted to be close to - family members and boyfriends. I was living on a field of death. I would get so tired of the yo yo, up and down with the weight gain and sorrow, then a time of eating healthy, and then cravings, and more binges.
Finally I understand more about this illness: Geneen makes it clear that I am distracting myself with the focus on this yo yo story. I now want to look at the truth, at all of me (short comings and positive traits), and start living. I don't need to be stuck in this compulsive eating hell. I no longer need my mom's approval, or anyone else's - just my own self- validation will do, thank you.
The guidelines and suggestions are helpful and yet, not so easy to follow; but well worth it for me. The spiritual guidelines and love throughout are priceless. Hello, I can really learn to love Eileen on a daily basis, around food, around work, my friends and family, anything (as long as I'm in the moment). Food is not love, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy it, and eat it when I'm hungry and when I'm craving something. It all comes down to what Geneen calls THE VOICE; and I know very well that mine needed to change. I have started that change. My voice speaks slower now, and with more kindness towards myself. I don't judge food and I don't judge myself eating food (all kinds of food). I find that I am even being kinder to my husband lately; he noticed as well.
I have heard a lot of these ideas before, but the way they are presented in this book; it's like a Bible for compulsive overeaters. Keep it handy; I will refer to this book, and read it many times - as it is helping me create the habits I want, to be as close to God, and to a normal eater as I can get.
Thank you so much Ms.Roth for this creative work of art and compassion!
Eileen

THE Book About Relationships, March 21, 2010
What is happening in your life is reflected in your relationship with food. This is my one sentence summary of this book. When you think of it you realize that this is actually true and obvious, yet we needed the insight of Geneen Roth to open our eyes and point that obvious fact to most of us. The most eating disorders, whether starving or overeating, stem from our psychological problems and our inability to cope with them. If we are unhappy or broken-hearted, food is often relied upon as a quick and temporary fix to the underlying bigger problem that we are not able to deal with at this particular point in time.

This book is for all food addicts, which means for most of us. In our culture food is not only there for you when you are hungry. It also plays a major role in our social life. When you want to meet someone, you often meet them for lunch, dinner, coffee, tea, desert, etc. Wherever we go, whatever we do, we surround ourselves with food and this becomes a major problem when food turns to a drug to hide from our feelings, to anesthetize ourselves, or to escape.

But this is not all the book is about. The author shows the reader how going beyond the food and the feelings will take you into spirituality -- "to the bright center of your own life."

It is true that the way we eat mirrors the way we feel. But the opposite is also true. The author of the book titled "Your Body Maintenance Handbook" states that "by reducing sugar, meat, and coffee in our diet we can reduce aggressive behavior by 50%" He further cites old Japanese joke: "If a couple starts their day with a fight, they should recall what they ate the previous day"

Doesn't Do It For Me, July 13, 2010
I am very happy for the people who find this book helpful, but I am not one of them. Some of this is quite logical, and it is certainly important to examine what your emotional motivation is for eating, but mindful eating is nothing new. I do not believe that every single thing you eat, you are eating for some deep, emotional reason. Sometimes, a piece of cake is just a piece of cake and I want it because it tastes phenomenal.

Inspiring, but Hard to Grasp, April 23, 2010
Women, Food & God: An Unexpected Path to Almost Everything is a book that could help you stop overeating. However, Roth's ethereal language can make the concepts hard to grasp in practical terms. Plenty of "aha" moments, but these can be fleeting with Roth's airy way of nailing it down and applying it to your life.

If you want a tool to reinforce what you've learned after reading the book, try downloading Geneen Roth's MP3s. Be forewarned, I don't recommend listening to the MP3s unless you've read the book, and it can be an expensive proposition to purchase each track at almost $14 a piece.

Ultimately, the book opened my eyes for the first time to certain patterns of overeating. While the book forces you to be more thoughtful, it's still up to you to reinforce the patterns and learn the new habits she introduces. I wish there were a workbook or some kind of lesson plan we could use to help make everything stick.

Update! Since my complaint about the book is that it's too hard to put into practice by myself, I hope Geneen Roth's weekly Women Food & God online retreat from May 25 to June 29 might address that issue. Check out my site for weekly reviews of Roth's online seminar.

Pedantic & Verbose, September 29, 2010
This material might have been better presented in a magazine article - and I still would not have liked it, but I would have wasted less time.

While I do not disagree with all of the author's ideas, I am immediately irritated by her delivery. Instead of, "This is my experience, perhaps you will find something useful in it," she seems to say, "This is my experience. This is the truth, and if you do not agree then you are in denial."

I'm glad I lent it from the library and did not run out and buy it as an enthusiastic friend suggested.

Total disappointment, July 20, 2010
I just finished this book. I knew from the first page that it wasn't something that would resonate with me. My heart bleeds for the women in Geneen's retreats. It sounds as if they all need some major couch time with a good psychologist. The book is full of comments about these women's childhoods, mostly aimed at their mother's who did these women wrong and are the source of their eating disorders. Geneen herself seems to have been raised by a real doozy of a Mother....

I'm not trying to dismiss the correlation between self esteem issues caused by inept parents and all kinds of disorders (including eating disorders), but NOT everyone has the issues that the author seems to believe are the sole source of over-eating. Not everyone had a horrible Mother, or was abused or stuffs their feelings or is lonely. The list of sheer misery goes on....and on...and on in this book. I kept hoping it would end but it was there, from start to finish.
There are some of us out there that REALLY just like food. People like myself who had a very loving, supportive Mother that told me how wonderful I was and how much she loved me every day....who has been in a great relationship, married for nearly 30 years to her best friend...has 2 kids that never have her a minute of heartache.
So where do the 'unscarred' women fit into this equation??
Nowhere.
As for God...God was hardly a part of this book. Geneen briefly talks about meditation, but that's about it.

If you have baggage...LOTS of it, or mother issues or have suffered abuses in any way, then this book is for you.
If you love food, love to cook, love to feed people and are just passionate about food and have battled with 40 pounds because of it, but otherwise have a pretty dang nice life and actually like yourself, SKIP this book. There are eating guidelines posted at the very end of the book...10 common sense things that are the only redeeming feature to the book, and if you can pick the book up in the store and find those, take 10 seconds to read through them, you'll have all the information that was worth reading.

Enlightening, Healing, and Nourishing for Disregulated Eaters, April 1, 2010
As a long-time fan of Roth's, as a recovered chronic dieter and binge-eater, and as someone writing, counseling and teaching in the same field, I wondered she could say that she hadn't said before. The answer is not so much about brilliant new material as it is her way of pulling it altogether and writing with such clarity, humor, and beautiful language. Roth is wise, no doubt about it. Her wisdom comes from working through her own struggles with food (and life) and from experiential study of what makes for health and happiness. As a secular-leaning person, my one fear about the book was that it was going to be about spirituality or religion. It isn't. It is about finding and loving the best in yourself. Whether you're an overeater, undereater or yo-yo back in forth, you will be moved and changed by reading this book.
Karen R. Koenig, LCSW, M.Ed.
The Rules of "Normal" Eating: A Commonsense Approach for Dieters, Overeaters, Undereaters, Emotional Eaters, and Everyone in Between!, Nice Girls Finish Fat: Put Yourself First and Change Your Eating Forever, The Food and Feelings Workbook: A Full Course Meal on Emotional Health, What Every Therapist Needs to Know about Treating Eating and Weight Issues

boring book, September 17, 2010
This book was so boring and repitiious that I eventually gave up trying to read it. Paragraph after paragraph it repeated the same ideas and concepts. Definitely not worth purchasing.

Great Publicist, Bad Book, August 13, 2010
After having read over 50% of this book and having the same idea presented in at least 20 different versions, I gave up...I got it the first time. There are no new ideas here folks. Just a great publicist that got her on Oprah. If it was at least well written I would feel a bit better about it, but she apparently believes her audience is incredibly dense and must be spoken to like 10 year olds to understand her "oh so deep" concepts.

I came home yesterday to find that my dog had taken this book off of my nightstand and ripped it to shreds. Smart Boy! I will not be replacing it so I can finish it. ... Read more

Editorial Review

"We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand."
--Randy Pausch

A lot of professors give talks titled "The Last Lecture."Professors are asked to consider their demise and to ruminate on what matters most to them.And while they speak, audiences can't help but mull the same question: What wisdom would we impart to the world if we knew it was our last chance?If we had to vanish tomorrow, what would we want as our legacy?

When Randy Pausch, a computer science professor at Carnegie Mellon, was asked to give such a lecture, he didn't have to imagine it as his last, since he had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer.But the lecture he gave--"Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams"--wasn't about dying.It was about the importance of overcoming obstacles, of enabling the dreams of others, of seizing every moment (because "time is all you have...and you may find one day that you have less than you think").It was a summation of everything Randy had come to believe.It was about living.

In this book, Randy Pausch has combined the humor, inspiration and intelligence that made his lecture such a phenomenon and given it an indelible form.It is a book that will be shared for generations to come. ... Read more

Reviews

If "he not busy being born is busy dying", Randy Pausch is immortal
In all mediums, Randy shows exceptional courage and grace in this real-time tragic situation. I found the book good, somewhat overlapping the lecture, providing interesting details.... I found the details on his wife and children more interesting having already seen the lecture. I had hoped for more philosophical reflections rather than stories, but that's apparently his communication choice and style. His intensity and certitude left me wondering what he was like before the cancer diagnosis. In fact, other than his talent for communicating, and substantial professional achievements, I think we are left with very little idea of what the man is like aside from his consistent messages of working hard and having fun, but that may be unrealistic realizing that the book was by necessity,a rushed book. It did relate a bit more perspective around the lecture itself which was interesting. It's a quick read, I suggest checking it out at the library for an afternoon read, unless you would like to buy it simply to benefit his family. The Diane Sawyer piece is good as well. ... Read more

Editorial Review

In today's world, yesterday's methods just don't work. In Getting Things Done, veteran coach and management consultant David Allen shares the breakthrough methods for stress-free performance that he has introduced to tens of thousands of people across the country. Allen's premise is simple: our productivity is directly proportional to our ability to relax. Only when our minds are clear and our thoughts are organized can we achieve effective productivity and unleash our creative potential. In Getting Things Done Allen shows how to:

€ Apply the "do it, delegate it, defer it, drop it" rule to get your in-box to empty
€ Reassess goals and stay focused in changing situations
€ Plan projects as well as get them unstuck
€ Overcome feelings of confusion, anxiety, and being overwhelmed
€ Feel fine about what you're not doing

From core principles to proven tricks, Getting Things Done can transform the way you work, showing you how to pick up the pace without wearing yourself down. ... Read more

Reviews

Best I've found.
OK, first I have to admit I picked up the book at a local Border's where I had a copy on reserve. Having said that... I think I've tried every 'system' for organizing yourself out there. In the 80's it was Day-Timer and Day-Runner. Good calenders and address books, but not much else. 90's was Covey, and Franklin planning. Now we have 'roles and goals' which helps with long term planning but both systems were very inflexible when it came to planning your day to day stuff. I can remember Covey wanting me to plan out my entire week in advance. Nice in theory, but nowhere near reality for those of us whose jobs tend to be more 'crisis-oriented'. I've also tried Agenda, Ecco, Outlook, etc. but its hard to lug around your PC or laptop all the time. About two years ago I came across David Allen's tape seminar and I have to say its the best system I've ever found for organizing 'all' of your life. I can't say it's changed my life (I still have the same job, wife and kids and I still procrastinate too much The book covers just about the same material that I learned in the tape series. The tapes have more anecdotes and 'real-life' examples in them, but the book has a few new pearls and tricks that tells me David's been refining and polishing this system since the tape series.

Two last quick points: first, it requires no special binders or refills. You could use a cheap spiral notebook if you want. Personally, I use a palmpilot, which works well. Second, (IMHO) the Weekly Review is the cornerstone of making this system work, and its worked for me for two years. Remember that; it'll make sense once you read the book :) Now if I could only get David to come up with a system for procrastination....

Flow from Angst to Action . . . and Relax!
This book is for all those who are overwhelmed with too many things to do, too little time to do them, and a general sense of unease that something important is being missed.

Everyone has experienced times when everything seemed effortless, and progress limitless. David Allen has captured ways for you to achieve that wonderful state of mind and consciousness more often.

His key concept is that every task, promise, or assignment has a place and a time. With everything in its proper place and time, you feel in control and replace the time spent on vague worrying with effective, timely action. As a result, the accomplishments grow while the pressure to accomplish decreases. As a result, the book contains many insights into "how to have more energy, be more relaxed, and get a lot more accomplished with much less effort."

The key psychological insight of this book is that rapid progress occurs when you take large, unformed tasks, and break them down and organize them into smaller, sequential steps for exactly what to do and when. The book provides lots of guidance and examples for how to do this.

The book is organized into three sections. The first gives you an overview of the whole process for how to get more done in a relaxed way. The second spells out the details of how to implement that process, in a way that a personal coach might use. The third provides subtle insights that help you appreciate the benefits that follow from using the process. Like all good coaches, Mr. Allen understands that appreciating a subject from several perspectives and getting lots of practice with it are critical steps in learning.

The process advocated by this book is described with lots of systems flow charts that will appeal to all of the engineers and left-brained people. The right-brained people will find lots of discussions about emotions, feelings, and stress. So both types of thinkers should do well with this material.

The essence of the process is that you write down a note about everything when you take on a new responsibility, make a new commitment, or have a useful thought. All of this ends up in some kind of "in" box. You then go through your "in" box and decide what needs to be done next for each item. For simple issues, this includes identifying the action you should take first and when to take it. For tougher issues, you schedule an appropriate time to work the problem in more detail. You organize the results of this thinking, and review your options for what you should be doing weekly. Then you take what you choose to do, and act. Think of this process as the following five steps: (1) collect (2) process (3) organize (4) decide (5) act.

For the tougher problems, you start with identifying your purpose and principles so you know why you care how it all turns out. Then you imagine the potential good outcomes that you would like. Following that, you brainstorm with others the best way to get those outcomes. Then you organize the best pathway. Finally, you identify the first actions you need to take. Then you act, as in step 5 above.

From this outline, I hope that you can see that this is not rocket science. It is simple common sense, but with discipline. The critical part is the discipline because that is what focuses your attention where it will do the most good. For example, rather than sitting on something you have no idea how to get started, you can decide right away to get ideas from others on what the purpose and principles are that should be used in selecting a solution. So, you are in motion, and you have saved much time and anxiety.

What I learned from this book is that many people allow a lot of time to pass without taking any useful steps because they cannot imagine what to do next. This process should usually overcome that problem by showing you what to work on, providing methods to accomplish that step in the process, and guiding you to places where you can get appropriate help. As a result, this book should help overcome the bureaucracy and communications stalls that bedevil most organizations.

This fits from my own experience in helping people solve problems. If you simplify the questions and make them into familiar ones, everyone soon finds powerful alternatives drawn from a lifetime of experiences and memories. Keep things broad, abstract, and vague, and peoples' eyes glaze over while they struggle for a place to begin.

After you have finished reading and applying this book, I suggest that you share your new learning with those you see around you who are the most stressed out. By helping them gain relaxed control of their activities, you will also be able to enjoy the benefits of their increased effectiveness in supporting your own efforts.

May you always get the tools you need, understand what to do next, and move swiftly through timely actions!

Time Tested Principals
I attended one of David's seminars in 1986. As a result, I was able to successfully manage 101 concurrent projects, finishing on time and under budget. Fast forward to 2001. I keep this book by my side at all times (David publish it in Ebook form so it's easier to carry!). The company I'm with now wonders how I get the "impossible" projects done. Using David's techniques in the book, it seems like I can complete a full work day in fewer hours because I know what all my "next actions" are, and do them promptly. Gives me a lot of worry free time.

This is a book you "DO" not just read. Be prepared to work when you start out, but when the initial work is done, that's when the fun begins.

I cleaned my inbox and email box of 300 items in less than 15 minutes, filtering out the junk, the things that needed immediate attention, and the "someday maybe" things (like buying my first Harley).

This works for my personal life too. No more missed anniversaries, birthdays, phone calls, errands, etc.

Do you ever think about work projects at home? Do you ever think about home projects when you're at the office? Ever worry about that phone call you need to make or that errand you need to run? Forget it! Get the book. It's awesome. Get the book - period. If you don't, you deserve your stress.

Make it Up and Get it Done
Is the methodology from Getting Things Done the silver bullet? Does David Allen's system really differ from other "time management" systems? I would say an unqualified yes based on my experience with the GTD process so far. In the one week since the book's been out I have made more progress with regard to collecting my stuff than previous attempts I have made in the past 6 years. I have actually started a filing system. More importantly, I am starting to deal with the "stuff" in my life faster and more efficiently. Just learning how to deal with "stuff" is a pretty big deal to me. My problem is that I have obsessive compulsive disorder, and it shows up in my life as compulsive hoarding. Couple the hoarding with attention deficit disorder and you have the ingredients for potentially disastrous living. In short, I have a damn difficult time staying on top of things and tend to struggle at times. David's method offers a practical yet elegant solution to staying on top of things. It starts with collecting the stuff, or as David calls it the "incomplete" and getting them out of your head into an external system that can be trusted. Then you process what's collected and then you organize it. Trust me, collecting and processing stuff is tough, really really tough for someone like. me. I am not used to making decisions on things that I collect. Now I am collecting the clutter and making decisions on it. More importantly, I am learning to let go of stuff I don't need and taking action on things I need to deal with. I have a long road to travel, but thanks to the common sense wisdom David Allen shares, I am on the road to a more sane way of living. ... Read more

Editorial Review

Gretchen Rubin had an epiphany one rainy afternoon in the unlikeliest of places: a city bus. "The days are long, but the years are short," she realized. "Time is passing, and I'm not focusing enough on the things that really matter." In that moment, she decided to dedicate a year to her happiness project.

In this lively and compelling account of that year, Rubin carves out her place alongside the authors of bestselling memoirs such as Julie and Julia, The Year of Living Biblically, and Eat, Pray, Love. With humor and insight, she chronicles her adventures during the twelve months she spent test-driving the wisdom of the ages, current scientific research, and lessons from popular culture about how to be happier.

Rubin didn't have the option to uproot herself, nor did she really want to; instead she focused on improving her life as it was. Each month she tackled a new set of resolutions: give proofs of love, ask for help, find more fun, keep a gratitude notebook, forget about results. She immersed herself in principles set forth by all manner of experts, from Epicurus to Thoreau to Oprah to Martin Seligman to the Dalai Lama to see what worked for her—and what didn't.

Her conclusions are sometimes surprising—she finds that money can buy happiness, when spent wisely; that novelty and challenge are powerful sources of happiness; that "treating" yourself can make you feel worse; that venting bad feelings doesn't relieve them; that the very smallest of changes can make the biggest difference—and they range from the practical to the profound.

Written with charm and wit, The Happiness Project is illuminating yet entertaining, thought-provoking yet compulsively readable. Gretchen Rubin's passion for her subject jumps off the page, and reading just a few chapters of this book will inspire you to start your own happiness project.

Reviews

Finding Happiness (and a Great Read)
I bought this book for my mother, who grew up during the Depression and has not had an easy life. I'm glad I read it first, because it would have been an insult to give this to a genuine person who's experienced some hard knocks.

According to Ms Rubin, the origin of this book is an epiphany she had watching a woman yakking on a cell phone, crossing a Manhattan street with a toddler and a stroller. She identified with this person, because for Ms. Rubin, that is the very picture of a sad, harried person who's life is just passing her by. Yeah, life's pretty tough when you've got to walk your kids home to the nanny between your pedicure and yoga class.

I found Ms Rubin's solution system humorous. Evidently, her problems were all of the sort that can be fixed by things like an orange scented candle, reading random magazines, a laminator, tossing out frayed underpants, shopping for bluebird collectibles and so on. That is, after she walked away from her high pay attorney job, thanks to her hedge fund manager husband's income. (It is sad to think some other applicant was refused a seat at Yale, so that this woman could squander her degree to make herself happy at an unrelated fantasy career.)

I also enjoyed the occasional insights on her neurotic personality and private life. M&Ms make her cranky, she prefers to wear yoga pants and her idea of fun in bed is reading Tolstoy, she considers herself fortunate because she has naturally red hair. She's quick to scold her husband, and while she buys her T shirts at Bloomingdales, she thinks a $[...] pen is an extravagance. She wore coke bottle glasses as a kid. I got the picture of a self-centered, controlling nerd with a quick temper, little appreciation for how insular and privileged her life has been, and lacking the self-realization to pick a more appropriate topic to write about.

I guess if any of that describes you, this trite little book might be helpful and insightful, if not, save your money. I quit half way through and give it two stars for the cheap laughs I got imagining this manhattanite's yoga pants lifestyle.

Hey, what's up with the cover? She doesn't live in a tenement and its nearly identical to this bookNaked City: The Death and Life of Authentic Urban Places

... Read more

Editorial Review

Updated November 2010!

From the author of the best-selling blog “Free Kindle Books Plus a Few Other Tips” and the #1 free Kindle book guide comes this handy, time-saving, collection of tips, tricks and shortcuts for your Kindle. Topics include:

• Archived Items
• Battery Replacement
• Calculator Functionality
• Checking Your Email
• Collections
• Contacting Amazon's Kindle Customer Service
• Converting PDF Documents to Kindle Format
• Discussion Boards
• Displaying the Time
• Download Problems - What To Do
• Flight Check
• Formatting Issues in a Kindle Book - What To Do
• Games on Your Kindle
• Gifting a Kindle Book / Gift Certificates
• Internet Access (it’s free) on Your Kindle
• Kindle Reading to You (Text to Speech)
• Losing Your Place While Reading
• Lost Kindle Tip
• Mobile Websites - Access Them on Your Kindle
• Password Protection
• Permanent Deletion of a Title
• Pictures on Your Kindle
• Playing Music on Your Kindle
• Popular Highlights Feature - Turning it Off
• Reset Your Kindle
• Samples of Books
• Screen Freeze Fix
• Screenshots - Printing Out What You See
• Social Networking with Facebook and Twitter
• Transferring Books to Your Kindle
• Transferring Existing Collections to Your New Kindle
• Checking the Weather
• Wireless Coverage for Your Kindle
• Random Tips
• Blogs Available on Your Kindle

... Read more

Reviews

Great book by writer of great blog: don't confuse them; book is super handy, and blog helpful, esp. for newbees., October 13, 2010
This review comments on both the BOOK as well as Michael's DAILY BLOG of the same or similar name. Both are set up to help you find free books and give help to lost or confused Kindlers. In the daily BLOG, the helpful links to the product saves typing/searching time. Before Amazon ranked top sellers WITHOUT sifting free books [which was not so long ago] this blog found them for us. Now that Amazon ranks bestseller free books separately, we still get numerous tips on Kindle functions and clarifications. Michael also refers out to other free/cheap sources online besides Amazon. I never would have found SMASHWORDS or tackled MOBIPOCKET, just for two examples, without the gentle and friendly guidance of this blog. I think of the book as my OVERALL guide and the blog as my current and updated info on finding inexpensive and quality sites for books. I bought the book and have subscribed for over a year to the blog: as a result I have 147 free books in my UNREAD collection! So Michael has really saved me some money as well as help me locate great books, some of which I've paid for, too! BOTH Book and Blog are worth every cent. Thanks!

great Stuff, October 14, 2010
Lots of tips in here, some I was able to see in the Kindle manual (yes I read it) but even more that are not included such as I was able to check in for my flight using my Kindle and display the boarding pass electronically for use on continental air. sure beats having to find a printer when you are in a hotel.

How to Love Your Kindle Even More, November 23, 2010
I've had my Kindle for four months....I read through the User Manual early-on....and, like so many others, have found my Kindle one of the best electronic device (and BOOK!) purchases I've ever made.

That said, this engaging and well-done Kindle guide has only deepened my understanding, enjoyment and love of this device. The author's conversational and understanding style makes for exceptionally easy and, most importantly, USEFUL reading. The book is well-indexed from the Table of Contents and serves as a ready reference whenever I need an answer. The author addresses all the stuff we Kindle users really care about.

In addition, there is an extensive list of Kindle/mobile-friendly websites one can access directly from the links in the book to the web. Everything from news, sports, travel, weather and business sites are listed. This list alone makes this book more than worth the measly 99 cents' cost.

The book is updated frequently and reflects all the latest software and Kindle versions available.

Along with the author's superb daily Kindle blog Free Kindle Books Plus a Few Other Tips (perched at #1 in Kindle blogs), this is the best 99 cents investment one can make.

You'll love your Kindle whole lot more with this ready-reference at your Kindle fingertips.

Little More A Than User's Manual, November 16, 2010
If you haven't reading the user's manual that comes free on your Kindle then most of this will be wonderful and helpful information for you. If you have more than skimmed the user's manual, then this will be a disappointment - as it is simply a regurgitation of what is already there. Of course there were a few helpful hints and I did pay only 99 cents for this - so I have to put the cost and content into perspective. Because of the low cost, and the sprinkling of a few things that weren't in the user's manual, I gave it a 3 star... otherwise it would've been much less. I would recommend, however, the author's blog 'Free Kindle Books Plus a Few Other Tips' - which I gladly rated a 5 star!

Awesome, December 16, 2010
I just did a quick read of this book and found so many helpful tips and suggestions. I am not extremely computer literate, but I believe the instructions provided are detailed enough that even I would be able to follow them. I had no idea that a Kindle could do so many things. This is a valuable guide for any Kindle owner.

No brainer, Great guide for Kindle Lovers +++, December 3, 2010
Listen: this is a no-brainer for many of us with no brains. Absolutely the Best .99 investment I could make in learning to use and protect the Kindle. In the first few minutes I found ideas that I applied immediately, for example: How many have considered what happens when you've LOST your Kindle - yes really walked off and left it somewhere in a distraction? Don't tell me you haven't ever done this with a cell phone, I know you better... The guide's suggestion to register the first name and phone number to appear on the owner's home page is priceless.

And I found out how to turn the Kindle off when I'm finished, duh. Again how many don't know how and have to wait for the sleep mechanism to shut it down? Don't lie...

How to turn on the reader's voice [grr..], listen to music on the Kindle, send and receive email, convert documents,
and organizing my growing stuff - all good information.

This is an excellent guide for the normal clueless. Michael, thank you for this and your blog.

Not for Gen-1 Kindle, December 23, 2010
$.99 isn't sending me to the soup line, but Gallagher should let us know before we donate a dollar to him that this book is useless for a first generation Kindle.

Kindle Tips, Tricks & Shortcuts, December 21, 2010
I just received this small text and have attempted unsuccessfully to use it for several simple instructions. One reference regarding reading my e-mail, instructs me to go to the kindle web browser, yet provides no information on how to do this or where to find it. I searched the table of contents, again no help. The author uses lots of unnecessary words but provides minimal information on most topics I've tried to find. So far (and again, I just received this "book"), I've had to go to the Kindle user guide to get my questions answered. ... Read more

Editorial Review

On the runway of life, Tim Gunn is the perfect life coach.  You’ve watched him mentor talented designers on the hit television show Project Runway. Now the inimitable Tim Gunn shares his personal secrets for “making it work”—in your career, relationships, and life. Filled with delightfully dishy stories of fashion’s greatest divas, behind-the-scenes glimpses of Runway’s biggest drama queens, and never-before-revealed insights into Tim’s private life, Gunn’s Golden Rules is like no other how-to book you’ve ever read. In the world according to Tim, there are no shortcuts to success. Hard work, creativity, and skill are just the beginning. By following eighteen tried-and-true principles, you can apply Tim’s rules to anything you set your mind to. You’ll learn why Tim frowns on displays of bad behavior, like the vitriolic outburst by Martha Stewart’s daughter about her mother’s name-brand merchandise. You’ll discover the downfalls of divadom as he describes Vogue’s André Leon Talley being hand-fed grapes and Anna Wintour being carried downstairs by her bodyguards. And you’ll get Tim’s view on the backstabbing by one designer on Project Runway and how it brilliantly backfired. Then there are his down-to-earth guidelines for making life better—for yourself and others—in small and large ways, especially in an age that favors comfort over politeness, ease over style. Texting at the dinner table? Wearing shorts to the theater? Not in Tim’s book. Living a well-mannered life of integrity and character is hard work, he admits, but the rewards are many: being a good friend, being glamorous and attractive, and being a success— much like Tim himself! He is never one to mince words. But Tim Gunn is always warm, witty, wise, and wonderfully supportive— just the mentor you need to design a happy, creative, and fulfilling life that will never go out of style. ... Read more

Reviews

Carry On!, September 7, 2010
Tim Gunn, from 'Project Runway' has written a book filled with tidbits of advice about life, love, celebrities, family and how to be your own person. It is an easy, fun book to read. Tim is a man of his word, he gives it to us straight, and tells the truth to whomever is asking. He doesn't play games, and the interesting stories of celebrities may be a seller for this book, but his advice and stories of his life are the real gold.

Tim grew up in Washington, D.C., the son of the ghostwriter for J. Edgar Hoover. The stories he could tell, and he does give us a few. One interesting bit is the day he and his sister were invited to see Vivian Vance in J Edgar Hoover's office. Tim loved Ethel Mertz from 'I Love Lucy' and was ecstatic at the meeting. A lovely lady but upon reflection she had a similarity in looks to Mr Hoover. Could it be that the rumors that Mr Hoover liked to cross dress were true, and Vivian was in reality the lovely J Edgar Hoover? Tim's dad never told any stories from his life with the FBI. His dad died from Alzheimer's disease, and his mother is still alive and driving him crazy in a loving sort of way. Tim knew at a young age he was different. He suffered from a stutter and was picked on. At one time he attempted suicide, and this opened the door to therapy, and that may have been a saving grace for Tim Gunn. Tim moved to New York and started his career in fashion. He was on the faculty of Parsons The New School for Design, and was chair of fashion design at the school from August 2000 to March 2007, after which he joined Liz Claiborne as its Chief Creative Officer.

His most famous role is that of on-air mentor to designers on 'Project Runway', and that role has led to Bravo's Tim Gunn's Guide to Style. He is such a leader of fashion advice and style that he is in great demand. Personally he would prefer to stay at home. He is a loner and loves his life. He had one great love, and that turned out badly. He is not sure that he won't meet someone, but he is happy with his life as it is. He has a sister and a niece, Wallace, whom he adores. The book is filled with amusing incidents with celebrities, e.g Issac Mizrahi and the 'Diva from Vogue', Anna Wintour. He likes Martha Stewart but thinks her daughter is perpetually angry. Tim Gunn believes in being nice to everyone unless someone cuts him off. He offers much good advice and gives examples-one issue that I wholeheartedly agree with is the manner is which we treat waiters and wait staff. To be mean and surly shows off your true personality, and those who under tip are sometimes the worst. The book is divided into chapters, and the heading sets the tone for the chapter. Tim Gunn has led a life of hard work but filled with such a quality of fun and good times. He is well respected and always well dressed. He is a handsome man and has the air and tone of someone who would be such a good friend.

Tim said in a recent interview for the 'Daily Beast' "It's easier to ask forgiveness than permission. In the fashion industry and the entertainment industry, there's a class system. I find it offensive. ... If one were to sit with me in a quiet little bistro somewhere, one would get these stories out of me pretty quickly. It's not as though I needed a sodium pentathol and a glass of room-temp gin to do it." His book is the quiet little bistro, and we have heard the stories. The dirt gets all the attention, but Tim Gunn's life and advice is the real book. As Tim Gunn frequently says 'Carry On'.

Highly Recommended. prisrob 09-07-10

Tim Gunn: A Guide to Quality, Taste and Style (Tim Gunn's Guide to Style)

92Y - Tim Gunn in Conversation with Budd Mishkin (March 11, 2008)

Tim Gunn is The Real Deal, September 10, 2010
Gunn's Golden Rules: Life's Little Lessons for Making It Work is a real jewel. For those of you who have seen Tim Gunn on Project Runaway, on talk shows like Bonnie Hunt or in other venues, his voice comes out strongly in the book. Gunn radiates warmth and a genuine spirit--seemingly an oxymoron in the cut-throat fashion world.

Which just proves that nice guys can finish first--that you need not be nasty, mean or impolite to climb to the top in any profession. With 18 rules, this book shows you how you can succeed in life--while being nice.

Gunn doesn't believe in luck to succeed--he believes in hard work, skill, dedication and creatively. One of his phrases that he uses on Project Runaway in in life is: "Make it work". He says: "You should use what you have on hand to transform your situation." In other words, if you wait until everything is perfect before proceeding, it ain't gonna happen!

He believes in politeness and in being kind to others. This book, he writes, is a "manifesto for kindness, generosity and integrity."

What I like about this book most is that, unlike so many recently published, Gunn emphasizes hard work, perseverance and creatively to reach goals--not magical thinking. Obviously, not all of us will reach the level of success that Gunn has. Bit the book is motivational, fun (the dishing--delightful!) and a guide to good living.

I also like the fact that he tells us that the world owes us nothing. There are far too many people who feel, for whatever reason, that they are entitled. Gunn does NOT like these people....These are usually the same people who are rude to waiters and other people (something Gunn rails against. Yes! I used to wait tables and couldn't stand people who were rude just because.)

Highly recommend.

While this is not a fashion/lifestyle book, you may be interested in it because you are a fan of Tim Gunn. If so, I recommend

Tim Gunn: A Guide to Quality, Taste and Style. As an interior designer, I would also like to recommend Harmonious Environment to add some style and beauty to your home!


Love the book!

Why I really enjoyed this book, September 10, 2010
As stated in the product summary, this is book is part memoir, part observations about life.

I am not a big TV watcher, but I got hooked on watching Project Runway around 5 years ago. Part of the reason was Tim Gunn. There is something so fundamentally decent and kind about that man, and you cannot help but feel affection towards him.

I am usually a fiction reader, but I picked up this book and started reading it and couldn't put it down. It's not simply clever commentary on fashion and etiquette but also replete with Tim's observations about such subjects as varied as child rearing, schooling, and therapy.

And did I mention it's laugh-out-loud funny? I must've woke my husband up a dozen times with my outbursts. One of the parts that really had me cackling were Tim's descriptions of eating (from foreign foods that have animals that are still alive and crawl off your plate) to the topic of vegetarianism.

If you are a fan of Tim Gunn, I don't have to sell you on this book - you'll probably be interested in reading it. And yes, he does dish on some of the designers as well as the judges. But I do believe that anyone could benefit from reading this - his decency, his honestly, and his integrity shine through every page. For those of you who are familiar with Tim Gunn, and for those of you who aren't, here's just a brief quote from the book that so well catches his wit and personality:

"I hold doors open for women, and I also hold them for men. When I'm at Macy's, I don't let the door slam behind me when I walk through. It has nothing to do with gender. I would hold a door open for anyone.

Would I hold the door for a dog? Okay, may not, because a dog shouldn't be at Macy's."

Recommended.

Golden Rules Never Out of Style, September 10, 2010

I picked up Gunn's Golden Rules: Life's Lessons for Making It Work as a gift for a friend who is a big fan of Project Runway, the show on which author Tim Gunn serves as a mentor. I've only seen an episode or two of the show myself, but when I started thumbing through the book before wrapping it up, I ended up sitting down and reading the whole thing. Gunn and his collaborator Ada Calhoun have penned an eminently readable and very entertaining book outlining Gunn's rules for living a life of integrity.

Gunn argues that those rules - working hard, treating others with respect, knowing when to speak up and when to keep your mouth shut, etc. - are not now and never will be out of fashion. Into his rules, Gunn has woven a number of great anecdotes centering around Project Runway and around some well known names in the fashion and entertainment industry, helping to keep the overall tone of the book light and amusing.

Gunn's Golden Rules: Life's Lessons for Making It Work isn't the type of book I usually read - fiction is more my thing - but I found it both a lot of fun and nicely inspiring. Even though I wasn't familiar with Gunn before reading this, after finishing, I felt I had come to understand the essence of the man and to admire the manners and methods that guide his life. It was nice to read something from someone with whom I apparently share a good many values and who can eloquently communicate them without sounding the least bit preachy!

Recommended.

Would that I were more like him, September 24, 2010
Tim Gunn is, from start to finish, from his marrow to his crisply pressed blazer, a gentleman of the first order. Here's to a man who sets a higher standard, yet helps us see that we are able to achieve them.

Some interesting parts, but.., November 30, 2010
I loved his first book, and still read it from time to time. This book however was a bit confusing, as a chapter's moral wouldn't necessarily stay on track, he would go off on tangents. It also seemed more like ranting and raving about the rudeness of certain people and even people in general. Which I think could be summed up in one chapter--yet each chapter seemed to end up in the same place as the chapter before, which is that people can be rude and obnoxious and how much better it is to be nice. Sort of like having road rage in print. The sort of things we say to ourselves every day when we come across nasty people. A whole book filled with just this sentiment--it was a bit random and a bit much. I still love Tim Gunn and will surely buy his next book if he writes another. Maybe better editing and more organization to the chapters and a distinct message in each chapter would be better. Still, an entertaining read in many places, with a little juicy gossip tossed in.

Gunn is Fun, September 16, 2010
I downloaded a sample of this book on my Kindle, and had to buy the whole book right away. It's a charming read that's almost like spending an evening with Tim. I didn't buy it to read his golden rules so much as I did just because I like Tim Gunn so darn much and wanted to see what he had to say. I'm glad I did--what an enjoyable read! Even if you care not a whit about fashion, you will like spending time with Tim Gunn.

Made it Work, October 25, 2010
Tim Gunn's new book was enjoyable, funny & really quite good. There was something to learn in every chapter.
i have always found him to be a sweet and gentle man. He made this book work just fine.

Good Manners by Tim., October 4, 2010
Love the Tim Gunn. he is such a nice man, just reading the book made me feel better about myself. Plus, he makes a lot of valid points about behavior and manners.

WWTGD?, September 26, 2010
What Would Tim Gunn Do? You'll know the answer to that after reading this! Tim Gunn has put together a highly readable book that is all at once an autobiography, a plea for better manners, and a gossipy little tell-all that will have you laughing aloud at times. New York fashion icons; Project Runway behind the scenes; popular celebrities; even J. Edgar Hoover get mentioned. But, Tim's own personal story is probably the most compelling reason of all to read the book.

A fun, intelligent, and at times painfully honest book. I wasn't prepared to like it as much as I did. An inspiring read. ... Read more

Editorial Review

With over a quarter million copies in print, You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy?! is one of the bestselling books on attention deficit disorder (ADD) ever written. There is a great deal of literature about children with ADD. But what do you do if you have ADD and aren't a child anymore? This indispensable reference -- the first of its kind written for adults with ADD by adults with ADD -- focuses on the experiences of adults, offering updated information, practical how-tos and moral support to help readers deal with ADD. It also explains the diagnostic process that distinguishes ADD symptoms from normal lapses in memory, lack of concentration or impulsive behavior. Here's what's new:

• The new medications and their effectiveness
• The effects of ADD on human sexuality
• The differences between male and female ADD -- including falling estrogen levels and its impact on cognitive function
• The power of meditation
• How to move forward with coaching

And the book still includes advice about:

• Achieving balance by analyzing one's strengths and weaknesses
• Getting along in groups, at work and in intimate and family relationships -- including how to decrease discord and chaos
• Learning the mechanics and methods for getting organized and improving memory
• Seeking professional help, including therapy and medication

Reviews

Know you're smart but think you're nuts? Then read this!, January 5, 1997
I first bought this book strictly because of it's title. Having spent 45 years feeling crazy & stupid and being accused of laziness most of my life, I decided this book was for me. I didn't realize how very right I was! When I started to read I realized I was reading about myself. I identified with many of the descriptions of ADD from childhood through to adulthood. It was incredible to learn I was not alone in my daily frustration. This wonderful, informative book started me on a road of self-discovery. I was subsequently tested and diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder. The authors describe this "disability" as an "ADD-ed dimension" and they are so right! I now have self-esteem and self pride. My intelligence has been tested and verified .. I'm not lazy, crazy or stupid and I thank the authors of this book for that discovery. This book has changed my life. I can now read a page without losing my place. I don't forget what I'm saying or lose things as often. I have learned that I am one of many who use an additional area of my brain & must therefore learn to "process things differently". I no longer feel timid, ashamed, afraid or just plain different. I can now accept and like myself for the first time in my life.

This book is written in a very "easy-reading" style. There is a wonderful blending of research facts and referenced stories and quips. As an adult diagnosed with ADD at the age of 45, I can attest to the value of this book. I highly recommend "You mean I'm not lazy, stupid or crazy" to anyone who has ever felt they were!

Needs updating, March 10, 2006
While reading some of the previous reviews, I saw one that mentioned "contemporary science" - written in 1999. The first Amazon.com customer review for this book is from 1997. If I'd read it then, I would have rated it higher. But a book that deals with anything medical needs to be updated long before it's a decade old, which this one now is. The chapter on medication is completely outdated; it shouldn't be referred to by anyone who wants to know what options are available now. And while all the scientific/medical questions about ADD/ADHD haven't been answered, more is known now than when this book was written.

The fact that this book has helped many people understand themselves better is great, and I'm not one who equates wanting to understand yourself with looking for excuses. This book has been recommended not only doctor to patient but friend to friend for a long time, and what it has can be helpful - the reason I gave it three stars. But I hope a second edition isn't being held back by the fact that the first one is still being recommended and purchased; it could be so much better if the information were updated.

I personally had a more general problem with the book, which may also be related to its age. I'm primarily inattentive type ADD, and felt like I was a real outsider while reading this book. Some things applied to me, but a lot didn't. And anytime there was a statement like, "We all remember from our childhood..." I'd think, "Nope. Not me." Not that there's anything wrong with a book aimed at people with combined or primarily hyperactive ADD, and I didn't take away a star because of it, but "nowadays" that would probably be stated more clearly in the information about the book, or even on the cover. But back in 1996, that might have been less likely. (I told my doctor that reading this book reminded me of my experience of going to a support group for people with depression and being the only unipolar one there. You're "supposed to" fit in, and you kind of do, but not really.)

If this is the first book about ADD someone reads, it would be eye-opening, and it was probably the best around 10 years ago. But I don't think that's true anymore. A second edition of it would be very useful.

A TERRIFIC resource!, January 18, 2000
"You Mean I'm Not Lazy, Stupid or Crazy! " belongs on the bedside table of every ADDer and of every parent, spouse or teacher who is trying to understand the ADDers in their lives. It was cutting edge when it was written and its information is still right on target.

As an ADDer, ADD Coach, and founder of a company that trains ADD Coaches, I not only recommend "Lazy/Crazy" to anyone who asks for an ADD book recommendation, it has been required reading for OFI's 18-month ADD Coach Training program since the first beta classes in 1994. (Kate joined us several years later and is now President of OFI; Peggy joined us in 1999 and now heads up OFI's Sliding-Scale Coaching Clinic -- all the more reason I can recommend this book WITHOUT reservation!)

An extremely readable book, obviously written from an "insiders" viewpoint, this book made me feel understood and validated -- like great advice from good friends. When I stumbled across it on the "New Books" table at a large Manhattan Bookstore (before I had met either of these authors) I started reading immediately. It was almost an hour before I finally forced myself to close the book, pay for it, and take it home. My copy is well-worn and multi-colored from all the highlighting I do to focus my attention.

DO take the time, as the authors advise, to carefully read the first chapter. Although it is a little "heavier" reading than the rest of the book, the ADD information it provides will prove well worth the concentration it may take to go through it.

(Helpful Hint: If your dominant modality is visual you will either LOVE the graphics or hate them. For my clients in the latter group, a sticky-note covering the graphics allowed them to focus more easily on the text.)

Madelyn Griffith-Haynie, MCC -- founder & CEO of The Optimal Functioning Institute�