Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
What would happen if a self-help book actually worked?, 9 Jun 2004
Edwin de Valu is your typical American Gen-X anti-hero. Each day he stumbles out into the roar of a city he hates, to a job he hates, with a baby-boomer boss he hates. He lives beyond his means in a trendy rehabbed neighbourhood with a wife he, well, doesn't like very much. It's the contemporary, urban, American dream! As editor of the non-fiction division of Panderic Books, Edwin is put on the spot during a meeting. He has been promising an idea to fill the gap in Panderic's up-coming catalogue - a gap created by the prosecution of Mr Ethics, Panderic's biggest self help author, for tax evasion. Before he knows it, Edwin is pitching a book found in his "slush pile" that morning.' What I Learned on the Mountain', by Tupak Soiree, is a typewritten manuscript covered with stick-on daisies and a hand-written note on the bottom of the title page, which reads, "Live, Love, and Learn". Hardly the kind of sentiment Edwin is likely to applaud, but it's too late, he's pitched it and his boss loves it.
Edwin rushes from the meeting to retrieve 'What I Learned on the Mountain' from his rubbish bin and finds it missing. A chase for the book, and subsequently its author, ensues. Along the way Edwin discovers that the self-help book actually works. Its readers become fabulously rich, quit smoking, and have enhanced sexual prowess. Unfortunately, it turns out that a society full of enriched, happy people has dire consequences for the world economy and eventually someone figures out Edwin is responsible. The humour in Happiness TM is needless to embrace - from Canada to Denmark via England, Ferguson's laissez-faire satire proves itself universally insightful. Now, for the idea of this anti-hero being the Satre of 21st century... perhaps. He enlights the issues of instant gratifaction/gloricifation and concludes that our vices make us the protagonists we are - not by mocking the people who try and fail, but the people who succeed. For people like me who hate the way the world's turning - this is a must-read.
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3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the funniest books I have read for years, 30 Jun 2004
I laughed out loud reading this book -- and there can be no better recommendation as far as I am concerned. In fact I liked it so much I would give it six stars if I could. This is a review, not a synopsis, so all I will say is that if you like good story, good plotting,good pacing and good dialogue with lots of funny lines and wry humour you should invest in this book. I suspect you will read it in one sitting if you get the chance.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A very funny book on the self-help industry!, 24 April 2008
If you work in the area of self-help or have read lots of self-help books then you will love this book. It is a hugely enjoyable read from cover to cover. Watch out you won't want to put it down!
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