The examples given and the suggestions made were all pretty lame and watered down
346797
I must've read a completely different book than the one the other reviewers read.  As of the time I'm writing this review, everyone has given this book 5 stars, which is baffling to me.  The book appeared to be written as an advertisement for the author's consulting business.  The examples given and the suggestions made were all pretty lame and watered down.
292758
"Cold calling 2.0", which relies on mass emailing leads or their managers, does not work anymore.
These tactics are outdated.

Furthermore, the book outrageously promotes Salesforce.com, an outdated product itself
that kills team productivity, suffering from a 15 year-old UI, and requiring endless clicks for the most basic actions.

The rest of the book is full of obvious advice (no one will seriously consider the opposite of any recommendation),
that you can find on countless blogs online.

Overall, was very disappointing and painful to finish.
252116
This book might have some inspiration in its "can do" attitude but otherwise it is worthless.  It reminds me of high-schoolers' papers when they slip in quotes that seem somewhat relevant in order to take up space and seem intelligent. The author's use of scripture is often out of context.

While I recognize that we have some control over our thoughts and attitude and can make changes, the author's general premise is that bad thoughts and feelings are the result of our own choices. How do you explain that to the 9 year year old with severe anxiety or the 12 year-old that is abused and now has serious depression?  This promotes the blame the victim mentality.

I was excited to learn about the 21-day program.  But when I got to that part of the book, there really was no program.  There were some vague ideas with no examples or explanations of HOW to carry it out.

I rarely write reviews but I was so disappointed in this book and author. I hope that people who read this don't really believe that their diseases are always their own fault. It worries me.
2220939
I was disappointed with this book.  There were a few worthwile tips (such as going to bed early to take advantage of the more productive morning hours) but mostly the author solved her problems by throwing money at them.  If I could pick anywhere in the country I wanted to live, buy $700 coats and hire people to run all my errands, hey, I'd be organized too!  As for "simplicity"....there is nothing here that anyone with even a passing familiarity with the simplicity movement would recognize.
451688
I read this book for work. I found it boring and uninspiring. The techniques provided are not new or creative, but seemed to be based on the observation of how "innovation" occurs. Most of the examples given seem to be chosen because they fit into the author's preconceived innovative technique. Many of the examples given are old - this book was published in 2013 and ~10% of the examples are from the 21st century. The Division technique is breaking down an object or service into multiple parts and then reworking the individual parts into something new. An example provided of this technique is Les Paul who experimented with "multitrack" recordings in the 1930s. The Multiplication technique involves copying internal components and then devising new uses for the copy. One example given is about the panoramic camera developed and patented in 1859.

The bottom line is that this book had the potential to be really worthwhile, but the authors felt the need to spread it out over 226 pages and include all sorts of "examples" that fit into their specific techniques. The book would have been better if it was written in a concise matter with a few clear examples.
307819
Lots of unnecessary, pointless discussion and testimonials, short on actual useful guidance beyond the obvious.
1887802
I kept hoping for something helpful to turn up, but ended up tossing this book in the bin.  No pictures or real advice, just a lot of attempts to be silly at the expense of the older woman.

For example, in the section about skin care: "Marie Antoinette had 'her people' dutifully protect her skin from the sun at every outdoor moment. ... Marie's idea of SPF was Servants Protecting my Face."  Or take, for example, the section on the cost of skin care products.  "Isaac Newton, most probably had his inspirational moment at breakfast looking across the table at his aging mother.  Her skin was going south.  Something was pulling it down.  A-ha, gravity!"

The whole book is peppered with this kind of silliness.  Obviously some people found it funny, but I was not one of them.  I was really hoping for something more.
685140
I am the kind of guy who buys and loves most every book that is recommended to me by one of my mentors.  As I am in the process of trying to learn and grow and apply the tools of the new social media and latest technology, when I read the recommendation I snapped this book up with great expectations. I Sat for hours in hopes of really getting the usable tools that the book seemed to promise.  The recommendation, the landing page and the reviews on Amazon all had me keyed up for great.  The book unfortunately delivered nothing of substance.  It was a mish mash of generic, over used popular business pablum.  And never delivered on the promise of usable, nuts and bolts information.

I wanted to love it.  But after devouring it, sat the book down and felt like I had been duped by a great marketing campaign.  I honestly feel bad about writing a bad review like this, but I feel worse about letting unsuspecting would-be buyers waste their time and money.

Not sure how all of these rave reviews ended up here on Amazon, but my guess its the product of good friends, or readers who have are unsophisticated and easily pleased.
1688420
After reading the reviews I thought that this book would (at the very least) have some gold nuggets of wisdom in it. I was sorely disappointed. For starters this book might have had a place in pre- 1993. The internet has made this book almost completely obsolete; Too many things have changed in manufacturing, pricing, shipping, and technology. Here are a few examples.

1. Except for a few businesses, computers are a luxury, not a necessity (and have no place in the home.) I'll make sure to tell prospective employers that I have no computer skills because they aren't necessary in today's world.

2. Use WD-40 on a typewriter ribbon to extend the life of the ribbon.

3. Use an old dish soap container for a canteen.

These are just a few of the laughable suggestions. Some of the detrimental ones include the level at which the frugality extends literally has you dressing in rags, cutting off the tops of elastic socks to tie up your hair, and sending your kids to school that (especially in today's age) will get them beat up, bullied, ridiculed, and cast out. Show up to work like this and watch your career dead-end.

This book becomes dangerous when it advocates
-Making infant formula from powdered milk, corn syrup, etc.
- Taping up magazines in a block to use as a car booster seat / (Just tell the cop that pulls you over and puts your kid in the custody of the state that you are  saving money.. I'm sure he'll understand)
-Eating from the dumpster and using dumpster food that "you don't want" to eat to give it to your pets (forget the fact that a single Dr. / vet bill will negate all savings.)
-Scrounging used soap from dumpsters for personal use.

What this over-zealous person did was to ignore consequences that can arise from a lot of this stuff. I guess if you are either homeless or live in a rural area, are retired on a fixed income, and don't care what others think of you then maybe you can glean some utility form this book. For everyone else... realize that the internet revolutionized EVERYTHING. Then again you already know that since you are reading this review on amazon (probably looking for a good deal.)
75319
I was disappointed to find that most of these tactics were either impractical or outdated or both. Some examples described in the book:A man who puts on a gasmask, knocks on a door in the middle of the night with a large toolbox in his hand while wearing a gas company uniform and yelling out warnings that the whole block is getting ready to explode. After the home's occupants dissipate he goes through the house placing cement mix in their toilets and scattering rotten meat throughout the house. Huh? In a day and age where you could spend a few years in the slammer if you mailed somebody an envelope full of baby powder?One example suggests that you should buy a chemical made by "Aquatect" which leaves a bright red cloud around anyone who pees in your pool. One small problem- no such chemical has ever existed in the history of the Earth. This has been outed as an urban legend over and over again, even on TV. (A chemical that in concentrations of less than 1:5000 would cause a bright red cloud when it comes into contact with small amounts of urea, despite the fact that it is in a gigantic vat of bleach water? Ummhmm.)On the good side however, you will find that the book is a very quick read and may offer some laughs, as well as possibly a handful of ideas on elaborate pranks. The guy actually has a decent writing style, he reminds me a little bit of Hunter S. Thompson. But the long and short of it is that there is no "Oh, now I've got 'em!" within the pages of this book. (Unless perhaps you are irked at a UPS driver who runs over dead dogs, and you wish to wire explosives in the carcass of a dead dog to blow out his tire as in one example.)
1006712
Amazon proves the value of traditional publishing houses every time it put out cliched dreck like this.  Filled with cliches.  The fight in a Texas bar where the inscrutable Chinese man uses martial arts was the tipping point.  Free from Amazon was not enough, reading this book was just a waste of my time.  Publishers earn their keep by filtering out mediocre writing and editing it to be publishable.  There are promising ideas in this book but not enough for me to waste more of my time on.  I gave up at 30pct of the book
4199327
The premise that one person in a two-person relationship can do all the work and save the relationship is a faulty one to begin with.  I had purchased this book after reading reviews which hyped the book as something other than it really is.  Simply put, it's yet another example of reinforcing the idea that women should be saddled with the entire responsibility of keeping a marriage together.  The more progressive-minded couple will probably not be convinced by Page's arguments.

For example, early on Page answers questions she presumes naysayers will ask.  One asks if it's fair to expect just one person in a relationship to do all the work.  Her reply is "not much in life is fair."  Honestly, we don't need a book to tell us this, and it doesn't answer the question.  Another question brings up the problem of women being the ones expected to salvage a relationship.  Page's reply is to claim that is a false generalization and that women call men "jerks" all the time, while men never do the same in return.  Really?  She's never watched a sitcom where all the men sit around playing poker and grousing about "the old ball and chain"?  Either Page is woefully underinformed or deliberately misleading, and either one is unacceptable for someone who is promising to help you with something as important as your marriage.

Much of the advice in the book is passive-aggressive nonsense, such as refusing to do your own chores if your spouse doesn't do their share, leaving without your spouse if they're late getting ready, or pulling a prank on your spouse if they have a small quirk that irritates you.

Other advice is downright dangerous.  One example is her contention that you should let go of being right in a situation and letting your spouse think they're right. This may be fine when it comes to something mundane like doing dishes, but not so good when dealing with a workaholic or overcontrolling personality.

Page is also sadly old-fashioned and out of touch.  She recommends pretending that you want to have sex even if you don't ("lie back and think of England", basically) and says that if your husband doesn't compliment you on looking nice, don't worry because women only dress up for other women, never for men.

I also found the examples from couples to be written very stiffly (a problem I admit I find in a lot of self-help books, this is not at all the only one) and too numerous.  Page makes plenty of references to what seem on the surface to be scholarly articles, such as a reference to "that teacher who believed her above average students were below average, and caused the students to perform below average due to her expectations".  However, nothing in the very short bibliography explains this allusion and there are no footnotes.  For all we know this is just an anecdote that Page heard somewhere.

The good advice in this book can all be found elsewhere.  The notion of understanding your anger is a good one, but you can get much better books such as Thich Nhat Hanh's Anger, or Full Catastrophe Living by John Kabat-Zinn.  Self-affirmation is the subject of Chapter 7, but almost any book on self-affirmation will give you more of what you need.  Page advises the reader to ask several questions of themselves, but there are a lot of books out there with the same questions presented in a much more readable manner.  Too Good To Leave, Too Bad To Stay is one such book.

I urge people to look elsewhere for good advice.  There's no shame in taking the lead in trying to rescue a relationship, but one should not expect to work entirely alone in the task.  And if you have more than a few surface problems, this book will not help you.
3052988
I'm a huge Bennis fan, but this is lame.  A lot of stories that point to the obvious: if the #2 and #1 guy are going to work towards the same goal, they have to also work together while respecting each other's roles.

The last pages of "advice" are so obvious as to be worthless.  Some obvious things need to be stated at times, not these.
887654
All the same old stuff that is already out there - and all the meat information is based on grocery store meat; no mention of grass fed - which is a whole different level of nutrition.  No mention of pesticides and trace toxins that can hinder an otherwise good diet plan.  Also, when mentioning some of the supplements - there is no help in finding good foods with them, only warning that some brands don't carry inside what they claim - and no real help in how to find out how to make sure a brand is really pure.

All in all - nothing new, spends most of his time introducing concepts and very little really getting to any "action plan"

I was so totally disappointed.
3360549
This book was overly-simplistic, filled with examples that make no sense and based on marketing insights that most of us acquired years ago.  Jiwa contributes absolutely nothing to the field.
612401
If you ever wonder why energy workers are stereotyped as newagey, flaky, and also inprecise in how they define energy, i.e. they say energy is in everything, you won't wonder after you read this book. I picked this up on a whim, curious to see if it really offered a break through in energy healing.

There is nothing innovative about this book. You can find the concepts the author discusses in books on taoism and tantra that are better written and have a better explanation.

I tried his exercises out and found them to be not nearly as effective as he promised. If anything it seemed this was more like a diet lite soda than anything that promised a break through. I wouldn't really recommend this book.
4601616
While I'm not the most prolific or most experienced writer, I am familiar enough with the field to not be talked down to like a 6th grader in a father-son chat.  While the authors attempts to be "chumy" with the reader, they really do no more than patronize and make apparent their academic lack.  There were no new ideas presented here--even for a beginning text, I would recommend looking elsewhere for a better basic understanding of the guidelines that will help your work work.