Nice advice for certain people, but not as helpful for others
586118
A lot of the principles in this book will work in the present day, though I doubt few could replicate Mr. Stone's personal sales records. Circumstances have changed since the 1920's, and there are obstacles in the way of other people that he did not have to go through. He admitted that his mother could have expanded her business if she'd had access to capital, but somehow the banks didn't like her as much as they liked him--and he doesn't say that he ever invested any money in her business himself. Sadly, women and minorities still don't have the same access to capital and the network that people like him still do. I would like to see something by someone who had family responsibilities (which Mr. Stone clearly did not) and had to overcome more obstacles than he did.
901856
The punch line of the book is very appealing: read what you want, not what others tell you to, and read at whim, don't care for rules. When the argument is developed throughout the book, we see that the approach of "reading at Whim" does involve some method, some rules, and that sometimes you should read what you don't want.

The complete advice goes like this: when you read for pleasure you should read slowly, with full attention, in silence and solitude, so that you can feel "raptness", maximizing the appreciation of the experience. Besides, you should use auto-knowledge to choose what to read, but you should not be satisfied with a too narrow taste: at times you should insist on reading a book  that you don't like at the moment, but that your "detached self" think is good, so that you can achieve "auto-conquest" and widen your taste.

I think this advice is really good. At some points I would have liked the author to develop a little more: e.g., on how to *learn* to suspend disbelief to improve imaginative experiences, or on what "put yourself in the way of events beyond your control" (which enables unpredictable tokens of auto-conquest) would mean for reading books.

I don't agree much with the case against the Adler-Van Doren model. The reasons the author gives for dismissing this model are very subjective and focus on the fact that they provide a list of recommended readings. I think recommendations are valuable, assuming that the reader will not blindly take them as assignments, but as mere suggestions. The recommendation list of Adler-Van Doren is only an Appendix of their book, and I quote them: "The list is not something to be gotten through in any amount of time. It is not a challenge that you can meet only by finishing every item on it".

In the end, the author of this book agrees to a large extent with Adler-Van Doren, not only on what he explicitly acknowledges. E.g., both insist that it is better to read well than to read widely, and they share most of the techniques for improving attention and understanding. The approaches are complementary: while one focus on reading for pleasure and the other focus on reading for understanding, there are large overlaps, with major agreements and only minor conflicts.
4211500
I know this book has gotten rave reviews, but I fail to see where it differs from other material on the same subject aside from, "BUY MY FITNESS PRODUCT TO HELP YOU!" Yes, this book is motivational and encouraging, but being an avid reader of fitness books I didn't see much that I didn't already know (such as the myths about women and weights) or hadn't read for free (the myths about aerobics) on the internet with the same informative detail and wisdom. And I just don't agree with the whole "many of us need supplements to lose weight." That doesn't settle right with me and can be seen as discouraging by someone who doesn't have the money to spend on "supplements."

But the book isn't all bad, as I've said. The writer is inspirational, and I do like the fitness portion of the book. I agree with his portions over calorie theory. His diet doesn't work so much for me, but it's great for others. I'd recommend this book for people who don't read as many fitness related things as I do and want to get into shape. For those who do feed on fitness books like me, there are much better books out there.
4456038
It seems that no matter which way you turn you bump into someone whose life is falling apart.  Maybe we have been living a fantasy for too long, delaying the cost of our consumer oriented society and all the bills are now coming due.  Or perhaps it is our self-centered attitudes that are destroying the very fabric of society.  But it seems that there is misery all around.  We desperately need some guidance in how to cope in these trying times.

This book is an attempt to provide some guidance and answers to what to do when your life falls apart.  The book attempts to give guidance that will be helpful no matter what the source of your problems.  The premise of the book is that no matter whether your problems are economic, health or relationship, following the guidelines in the book will improve your life.

I believe that the book tries to accomplish too much and therefore dilutes part of the message.  The book is not a how to deal with specific losses - such as loss of income, how to put your life back together after a foreclosure or even how to deal with devastating news about a health issue.  The steps or points are a little too general, one size fits all.  In my opinion, the book would be much better or much more helpful if it focused on very specific problems.

Daphne Kingma is a relationship expert and a lot of the advice centers around dealing with and improving personal relationships.  Much of the advice focuses on becoming more spiritual.  I certainly believe that a large part of our problems have their roots in our materialistic thinking.  I believe the process of becoming more spiritual is more involved than is presented in this book.

There is a lot of extremely good advice in the book.  Some of the "ten things" are much more powerful than others.  I think the chapters on: Face Your Defaults, Let Go, Persist and Live Simply are stronger than most of the others.

What you get from the book will depend on who and where you are in your life and what you are looking for.  If you are looking for a "How to recover from the economic disaster" I think you will be disappointed.  If you are looking for better tools to help you cope then you are more likely to find much value in the book.

All in all, there are a lot of great messages in the book.  My biggest issue with the book is I believe it tries to cover too much and therefore dilutes the message.  I would rather see a little tighter focus and I believe the message would be even more powerful.

If you are struggling and looking for some ways to cope, this certainly would be a good read.
774140
This book may be inspirational, but it's not as useful for someone who still has to go to work in order to support themselves, like me. I don't have a nest egg, or children or a husband with income to take care of me while I stay home and suffer.  I can see how the attitude parts of the book can be helpful, but alot of it has to do with accepting thngs as they are and a lot of folks don't have that luxury. I have to work AND suffer, I need to know how to do THAT. So, This book is not for everyone I guess, but don't let that stop you from gleaning from it anything that might help you not be as sad.  I'd say check it out from the library before buying it so you won't be disappointed or surprised, and if it's your cup of tea, then you can get a nice used copy to keep and review.
1759707
Great advice and confidence-building suggestions! I have used these general suggestions and they work well. The lists of potential topics provided were not as helpful though. I cannot imagine using many of these topics at events and feel like if I were asked many of these topics at an event I would find the asker to be creepy or nosy. Perhaps more should be said in the book about how context plays a role in using these topics, or the suggestions given could be more general. Additionally, perhaps the type of people I network with in my region of the US are within a different context than she has in mind, or perhaps my reluctance to use these lists is based more on my personality and place within the career world.
1026683
I picked this up this weekend at a bookstore and I found it to be a quick read with some really solid advice.  It sounds like a diet and exercise plan that is very doable for the average college student.

My big complaint, though, is that the book is apparently aimed for women, but that is not clear on the back of the book.  It's only apparent once you read a bit of the book.  The Amazon description does state this, but I purchased this in a book store.  Most of the information can be applied to anyone (such as the eating tips), but the chapter that suggests specific suppliments provides only information for women.  There are other instances where charts in the book only list stats for women when the same information could easily be included for men.

An easily avoidable omission hurts an otherwise very good and informative book.
3132119
When I was reading this book, the advice on every page had me thinking, wow, this advice is great! I wish I needed advice on how to handle business clients (I am a student, not currently employed or seeking employment) instead of advice on how to communicate better in my other relationships. My "personal life" rating of this book is probably more like 3 stars. The author did give a handful of good "personal life" applications for many of the communication techniques in the book, but not nearly enough for what I was looking for. Maybe I needed to do a little more research before purchasing this title, but now that I own it, I know it will come in handy when I get out of school and have a career. The author is very good at getting the points across, gives examples & lots of possible scenarios of dialogue between two people.
2102976
Like all 'self-help' books, this one needs to be read with a pinch of salt, and the 'one size fits all' advice is not for everyone. Still, for the discerning and alert reader, there is alot of good stuff in here. I suppose it's mostly common sense, but it doesn't hurt to be reminded. The book is probably not much use to those who haven't already come to some of some of his conclusions, such as

money is the friend, not an enemy
money doesn't make you happy
don't envy what others have
once you have it, don't flaunt it

If you need to be told these things, you're not ready for this book - or to be wealthy. The book is really just a distillation of what you ought to know already. Of course, it isn't going to make you rich!

Good, entertaining read though.
2664591
I got  into reading this book and soon ended up flipping through chapters and titles. I wound up at the end where I'm glad to see the authors have taken their hands off their hips (briefly) to stop being offended and propose some solutions to the problem. At one point it's mentioned that a solution might involve mindfulness, which I agree with. Unfortunately, I think the authors may have missed the point about being mindful. For example, if a person is mindful, they can see the benefit of dualitythat people are both similar and also unique. These are both potentially good traits, however the authors seem to be on a soapbox targeting any public campaign or self-help technique that emphasizes people's differences or "uniqueness." They tend to have the point of view that embracing uniqueness is "wrong" and promotes narcissism as well as many other negative traits. I don't agree with this! Overall, the book has some beneficial insights, but I get the impression that the content is more about winning an argument based on a confirmation bias. It does't seem like an honest attempt at being balanced and focused on finding truth in the issue.
224527
I saw this mentioned in the same section of my last book review. I decided to give a read to see if it had good advice. As much as I thought it did, I also thought it provided food for thought.

On that note, the advice ranged from how to live to how have a successful relationship. Here's the thing: There's so much work involved because, the author delves into how much you'll be tested. And how much trust-earning you'll need to do. Of course, there's no inherent wrong in that because. why be with someone you can't trust? However, when you have to do that a lot, you might have to consider if it's worth it. It doesn't help that we're living in an age where you can get discarded, even though you're a decent person. It doesn't help that you're expected to take it on the chin. That an we have things to take the place of another person while still providing the benefits.

On the other hand, I found out a couple of things I wanted to point out. First off, celibacy just refers to not copulating. There's nothing to say you're not involved with the world. And why couldn't you be when you'd have more energy to devote towards it? Also, us and primates experience something called loss aversion. That's why negative comments hurt more than positive comments will make you feel good. I bought up because, the author claims that guys who grow up with a father will know how to take criticism. I doubt that for the reason listed above and I had my dad tell me once that if I didn't like his juice, then I should make it. (Yes, he is old enough to know better.)

In contrast, a guy who I'll call FYIJ (dislike name dropping) handles criticism concerning his controversial quite well, even asking other people for their opinions sometimes. Keep in mind that he admitted to having a single mother, and he's grown up something where they expect you to behave (unless senile) all the time. Of course, he might be the exception because, if a child starts to identify with the mother, they'll be fine with giving criticism yet get defensive when it's their turn. That's coming from someone who learned that firsthand.

All that said, this is a short book about several aspects of life. However, this might make you wonder if a relationship's worth it. Of course, that was just me. However, I appreciate the fact that he lets you know how hard it's becoming to be. That's because, I've noticed how people will tell you can do it yet leave out how hard it is. Still, he makes many great points (even if he was a bit off at times.)
3565332
While parts of this book are informative, other parts I disagree with. I believe it's wise not to fill your mind and thoughts with negative chatter, but in the other hand is it wise to suggest one to ignore there thoughts? Thoughts resolve situations, lead to new inventions, or solve \ work through problems or best way to deal with them. Sure, Love in the present, but do it using your head. Not sure I like how this book was presented, but it could have potential for good informative guidance of some things were worded or put differently.
1694926
Like a lot of people, I found this book to have quite a few good bits of advice.  When you put it all together, especially if you do the homework he assigns, you will become a better speaker.  Some of the advice is stuff one should know or find obvious, but they are only obvious in hindsight. Like telling stories about yourself instead of other people.  He's right--stories about yourself are more interesting that stories about someone other than the speaker.

While the advice is pretty good, the delivery is a (oddly) rather dry.  He keeps either getting onto tangents, or just prattling on about some story that is often not very amusing.  There was a bit too much rambling which detracted from the message of the book.  I suppose to make the book long enough to charge money for, and to keep it from being a dry how-to, the stories were needed.  Overall though for advice, I would give the book 5 stars.  For readability, I docked a star.
4682550
Steve and Vera Bodansky offer a crash course in preparing for pleasure. They encourage readers to find out what feels good to them, and then communicate that to their partner. They also instruct readers to make "connections" between their pleasure areas and a secondary body part, which can increase sensitivity during sexual encounters. They give specific, explicit instructions, complete with illustrations, on techniques to create and intensify the orgasmic response.

I had a mixed reaction to this book. I think the authors offered some interesting and useful information, presented in a clear, easy to understand manner. However, I found myself put off by the style of writing the authors chose. Their switches from technical, medical terminology to slang for female genitals felt awkward, and their attempts at humor often fell flat. I think the authors tried to write in an informal, conversational style.  This did not work for me, but I understand it might appeal to a larger audience. I did not find this a book I would choose to keep in my collection, but because it has so much good information, can see that it could be helpful to other readers.
1622863
There are a few good suggestions in this book.
840443
For someone that criticizes other financials soothsayers for platitudes, it is ironic that this book thrives platitudes to prove points.  Yes, as a consumer of personal finance information it behooves you to take advice from multiple sources and not buy into one seminar or book as the solution to your problem.  However, that doesn't mean that you discard financial common sense, because you don't agree with everything commentators are saying.  I came out of this book worried that people actually might listen to the author and take her seriously.  Consider this book only as a biased political commentary that brings up a few interesting points, but not worth the money.
116346
DISCLAIMER: I am going to qualify my review by first acknowledging that I am new to the genre of self-help books. With this being the first one I've listened to and now read, I do not have the ability to compare its philosophies with predecessors or others.

With that out of the way, I believe that this book has a lot of good ideas and concepts in the first 5 chapters of the book. With those concepts, there are some great anecdotes to drive the ideas home and allow the reader to take a step back and possibly consider things from a different perspective. Sure, there is a lot of swearing in the early chapters but that is most certainly intentional. In my opinion, it exists to narrow the audience such that those who are left are the ones that are truly searching for help.

The last 3 chapters did not have the same impact on me. While they also had their share of nuggets, I did not find them nearly as insightful as the first 5. That's ok though. Nothing and no one is perfect.