The book title should be "The Power of Wishful Thinking"
593407
This book is dangerous, particularly for naive people who believe that they can achieve anything by thinking positive.  When you face risk or danger, you have to explore and weigh the possible negative consequences.  I strongly recommend "Optimal Thinking: How to Be Your Best Self" by Dr. Rosalene Glickman.  This brilliant, realistic book points out the pros and cons of positive thinking.  It teaches you how to make the most of any situation and achieve your goals, without wishful thinking.  You learn how to ask the best questions to get the best answers.  You also learn how to identify and understand disturbing emotions, use them as optimization signals and make the most of them. In this age of terror and technology, you can't waste your time with wishful thinking. Optimal thinking is the optimal path.
624136
I expected great things from the title of this book, but it wasn't what I was hoping for.  I was hoping for insights on how Michael J. Fox remains so optimistic in light of his disease.  However, most of the book dealt with politics (about 100 pages), and how he has raised funds for their foundation.  There were a few humerous parts of the book, and I enjoyed the stories about his family, but it was not the uplighting, optimistic book that I had hoped for. I also felt like Michael J. Fox was flaunting his wealth in many parts of the book, which saddened me.  We all know he is wealthy, but he didn't have to make a point to tell the reader several times throughout the book.
2310460
The core of the book is great advice that I agree can make a positive difference in a persons outlook and subsequently the results they achieve.

That-being-said, the author makes fallacious claims that science (physics and psychology) has proven that thoughts can become things because they are both made of the same stuff (matter & energy).

Sound personal and business advice veers off course into sometimes bazaar metaphysics.
Thoughts are made of energy, the theory goes, and, when released into the universe have no choice but to eventually manifest themselves into their material equivalent. Think on what you want with a clear head and true heart and what you want will become what you have.

Thoughts are not material though, they have no mass, no temperature, gravity does not draw them to the floor, and they are not subject to the principles of thermo dynamics. The author mistakes the measurable energy we expend to think about our ideas with the ideas themselves.  Yet the fact remains that ideas are immaterial. And even if a thought was energy and possessed equivalence with matter (as all energy does) there is no automatic, effortless mechanism that converts the energy of thought into the object of thought.

At one point, he even sites as evidence for the correctness of his views the testimony of a dead man as delivered to the mans family through a medium.

Without proffering spoilers I will say that there are definite benefits to following the steps outlined in this book. I must also say that, for me, the general flavor of eastern religion, the strange interpretation of the laws of physics and the attempt to reinvigorate new age philosophies discredited in the 80s, make the book wholly untenable.

I regret the purchase.

I will however be buying his next book on creating and running a virtual business. The author is not a self help sage, he is a pioneer and innovator in the realm of making a business out of nothing but intellectual property and a bank account and he is very forthcoming with help and advice.
4102765
Let me start by saying that I enjoyed the book if only because the author writes well, and because each chapter lets you get a good glimpse into the way the game is played around the world. Basically, each chapter reads like a good New Yorker article, and certainly there's nothing wrong with that.

The downside is that the book's title is misleading. The book is pretty short on theory. It offers little in the way of a theoretical take on globalization, on how the world works. You can't help but think that the whole "theory" idea was a bit of an afterthought. I can almost imagine someone down the line wondering how to market the book better, how to make it more relevant and zippy, and that's what they came up with. Not that this is a real condemnation of the book. You should just know what to expect and what not to expect of it.
4063954
"The Power of Positive Thinking"... the title instantly grabs you.  After all... who doesn't want to be happier? And a book that was written in the 1950s and has sold 5 million copies should be a good read.

I was surprised, but pleasantly surprised, at the level of spirituality in this book.  The entire book focuses on how you can use the power of Jesus Christ to transform your life and your thinking.  Norman Vincent Peale also goes through several other negative habits such as worry, overcoming sickness, optimism, and overcoming a broken heart.

On the downside, this book is a bit repetitive.  What's the answer?  Look in the Bible!  I did like the lists he included at the end of some of his chapters, but I wish he would have spent more time on describing and explaining those instead!  Additionally as the book was written in the 1950s, some of the English is awkward, but is still readable and therefore effective.

I highly recommend "The Power of Positive Thinking".  However be warned of the Christianity present in it.  If something like that offends you, best to steer clear.  Otherwise... this is a must read.  4 out of 5 stars.
2910220
Not enough concrete advice.  Its main focus is that "if you believe it, it will happen."  If you support this philosophy, positive thinking will help more than this book.
3759645
** This review refers to the audiobook **

I had high hopes for this audiobook but was so disappointed that I gave up after the 2nd CD (I think there are 5 in total). While I admire and applaud Ms. Armstrong's intent and her work in this area, I think the book's title is very misleading. I was expecting practical steps and exercises on leading a compassionate life and instead got an overly detailed religious history lesson. Yes, Ms. Armstrong is incredibly well versed in religious history, as she should be, but her ability to provide concrete steps on living more compassionately is really lacking here. I personally don't feel that an entire chapter/CD devoted to the history of teachings on compassion in the major religions is necessary in any way to becoming a more compassionate person. Leading a compassionate life is anything but an intellectual or scholarly pursuit. As Ms. Armstrong herself says 'you cannot learn to drive a car by reading about it' and in the same way, you cannot learn to be more compassionate by reading about how important religious thinkers viewed compassion. While it was somewhat interesting, it wasn't helpful or relate-able to my own life in any way. It was akin to buying a car manual and instead of steps on how to run your car, there is a history of the automobile. I kept thinking 'ok great, when is she going to get to the point??' And while it is a personal preference, I found something about her voice grating -- I suppose I was expecting a warm, encouraging voice and instead I found her distant and scholarly. Sorry to say but her writing style and tone also come across sounding very pretentious and pedantic.  I found the repeated etymology references particularly show-offy and unnecessary ("Look! I know the Greek root of educative, mythology, and compassion!") I felt as though I were listening to a religious history lecture rather than a useful guidebook. And after listening to almost 2 full CDs with no concrete steps other than 'learn more about compassion', I gave up. It seems that there are many others that rated this book highly so I can only hope that it did eventually improve.
3992390
It's hard to tell whether Rao's advice is something that you can really apply or something that falls into the New Age category of wishful thinking.  Rao, otherwise a mainline business professor, uses teachings from eastern mysticism to help people improve their lives.  At times, however, he steps into the realm of the incredulous with notions that are similar to the New Age nonsense of the Law of Attraction.  You can create miracles on a daily basis, he says, but he also tells us that we can only control the process but not the outcome.  These viewpoints are diametrically opposed.  How does he reconcile them?  He doesn't because he can't.

Some of the advice is good and supported by psychological studies.  For example, an "attitude of gratitude" does help people feel better because their attention is more focused on the good and less on the bad.  Being optimistic and believing that the universe is benevolent also tends, by virtue of your demeanor, to attract more pleasant situations - if you expect the waiter to be a jerk, you'll probably find something - anything - he did that was jerk-worthy; if you don't expect him to be a jerk, you'll probably have a pleasant dinner.  But there's nothing magical or mystical about this - it's human nature and relationships at play.

So what to make of this book?  It's basically a good guide for attitude adjustment -changing mental models, adopting a perspective of gratitude, etc.  It will help the reader to achieve a good level of equanimity but will it really create all these miracles he promises?  I'd like to see some feedback from readers who tried it and got what they sought.
2193612
The title is completely wrong and not indicative of the contents. Maybe he could call it "I hope that some day there is an end to illness". There are very few takeaways from this book (don't take supplements, take baby aspirin, many more people should take statin drugs).
I listened to this audiobook from the library.
49043
There are many books out there on positive thinking that paint rosy pictures as they embrace the concept of "just think positive and your life will be perfect too."  And about the time I'd really wrap my brain around the idea that I must always think positive inevitably, something totally beyond my control, would go terribly wrong.  A family member would be diagnosed with a serious illness. Or my spouse would lose his job.  Next thing I know I'm blaming myself for not thinking positive enough and tossing the book aside, thinking that it's nothing more than feel-good New Age hooey.

"The Law of Attraction" has an entirely different approach.  First the author talks about the power of the words we speak and the words we think.  Then he applies practical, common sense excercises to help up change the way were perceive things so we can open our minds to the possibility getting the things we really want in life.

Maybe it's coincidence, (or maybe it's not), but as I've been reading this book some of the things I desire the most are coming my way.  No, I've not won the lotto, but little things are improving.  And it's those little improvements that have a way of adding up to becoming big things.

Of course, I can't guarantee you'll win the lotto or the perfect man or woman will miraculously show up at your door if you read this book.  But if nothing else, it may have you rethinking about the way you look at life.
1473605
The first thing that struck me about this book is how much I got for my money. Some examples: want practical tips on combatting insomnia? Ten are offered. Want a better sex life? There are 15 tips. The name of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the 18th Century philosopher, should ring a bell from your history courses. We get a short explanation of how strongly his baneful influence haunts us to this day.

But Virtue of Happiness is far more than a compilation of tips and tricks. It adds up to a disquisition on just what it means to lead a happy life.

While the eight chapters (Perspective, Thinking, Lifestyle, Feeling, Sensing, Connecting, Doing, Vision) are necessarily brief, there are extensive references, most of which look like they would be accessible to lay readers.

I got hung up on one aspect of this book, and it could be just pedantry on my part.  This is his non-standard use of the term happiness. The word is commonly used to denote a state of being. After all, the purpose of the suffix -ness is to convert an adjective into a noun indicating that someone has the quality that the adjective denotes. Dr. Wade insists that happiness is not something you have, its something that that you do. Yet in the very next sentence he speaks of how our thoughts and actions can lead us toward greater happiness, which implies the conventional use of the word. As I see it, the thoughts and actions are properly called virtues, and happiness is the value to which they lead us. Notwithstanding this confusion, however, his message is clear: there are specific kinds of thoughts and actions that can make us happier.

For those who care about such things, I found the binding inconvenient, the typesetting amateurish, and the sans-serif font mildly annoying.
4934080
This book made me hope it would be good because it was a good idea to take the wisdom of Benjamin Franklin and apply it to business today and seeking to gain wealth. I found myself skipping past the in-between content to find more of what Ben Franklin had to say. It is hard to put today's writing alongside the brilliance of Franklin's so I give the author kudos for courage, but it didn't quite hit the spot for me. By the way, Franklin's Autobiography which contains his list of virtues is one of my favorites. It was part of the inspiration for my book series mentioned hereafter.

Connie Neal, author of many books found at www.amazon.com/author/connieneal
4098789
The title sums it all. 'The Secret' is revealed in the first few pages of the book and the rest of the book just elaborates on 'The Secret'.

You become what you think so think positively, act positively, entertain positive emotions and curtail negative ones. If you want to live happily, think about being happy, if you want wealth think about it, if you want good health think about being healthy and the list goes on and on....The placebo effect is given utmost importance.

If a storm or a natural calamity kills masses, it's because of their thinking which happened to be negative in some capacity, totally unknown to them - Give me a break!

Abundance is the way to go. The book advocates 'Giving' but undermines 'Sacrifice'. Because, 'Giving' indicates prosperity and abundance and 'Sacrifice' indicates poverty. A tremendous let down to conventional religious patrons.

The book might be helpful if you are in deep distress but fails to impress any sane rational thinker. The author tries to substantiate her holistic approach through some quantum mechanics etc but doesn't do a good a job. If you become what you think and you think positive about yourself and 10 others think negatively about yourself. What happens then? What if 100 or 1000 think negatively about yourself. Are the effects totally and utterly negated against you? If you don't want to think much and just want some 'feel good' philosophy, then this book is for you and you will probably enjoy it.
4877318
I should enjoy any book that uses jokes for an illustration of an ideal mental process, but Snap (2012) by Katherine Ramsland is smothering such insights with the social needs and individual ambitions of a society that finds itself becoming too bored to function in a way that sustains complex relationships or institutional thinking. I looked for food in the index because I long for a world in which someone thinks of an ideal form of nutrition that anyone can produce on the spur of the moment to keep 7 billion people from becoming hungry. Big problems exist if patent protection gives monopoly rights to the companies that provide the seeds for what we eat now, but the commercial functional clusters of global trade do not conform to what this book is describing with:

Anyone can pack a lot into
his or her own chunks. (p. 69).
4673137
I was excited to read this book based on the description.  A book about success over the struggle of compulsive eating, self-loathing, and being overweight?  Sounds interesting and helpful, bring it on!  And, with the clever title, I was sure it would be fun to read.
Well, it was fairly interesting, but not at all helpful.  Certainly I now understand what Ms. Lerner went through as far as self-loathing and depression.  I caught a glimpse into how that manifested itself in her eating.  That's all well and good.  There was a lot of focus on the "Loathing" part of the title - her bipolarism, her mental states, finding solutions to the chemical imbalances.
What was missing was the "Food" half of the title.  There were little scraps of the eating disorder and how the depression affected that, but very little deep discussion of any of those issyes.  I didn't find out HOW she made progress, grew, and changed.  Sure, the anti-depressants helped and the mental health experts (and hospital stay) had influence... but HOW?  What changed in her mind?  How did she change her relationship with food?
It's a fine memoir with a misleading title.  I wanted what the title promised, not what I got.  If you're wanting to explore the mental side of weight, food, or eating issues, don't be fooled by the cover.  This isn't that book.
150545
I liked the reading, the author approach the subject in simple terms, I think it deserves two stars, because the book has no references and it is mainly based on personal thinking, however sometimes personal thinking can be helpful, that's why I gave three stars...
I recommend the book as a magazine article...
I recommend the author to include the technique of "5.4.3.2.1" mantra to stop the brain from looking for excuses when action is required, for example to takeout of bed early..

Thanks
2122009
My grandchildren told me President Trump should read ""Wonder." Good idea. Maybe it could be assigned to the world. Read!