Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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70 of 80 people found the following review helpful:
slightly disappointing, 10 Sep 2007
I agree with the previous reviewers who mention that this book has many excellent aspects but is limited in some significant ways. In particular, I feel it is limited by putting much emphasis on achieveing your desires. Other books - like The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle or Making Time by Steve Taylor - would say that it's more important to try to live in the moment and accept life as it is. So this book needs to be read in conjunction with others. I was impressed with the Power of Now because of its emphasis on how the ego distorts our view of the world, and I liked Making Time because of its emphasis on controlling and expanding time in our lives and how it shows that time is an illusion.
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55 of 63 people found the following review helpful:
The Wisdom of Homer - Simpson, that is!!, 5 Jan 2008
I'm relieved to see so many bad reviews of this piece of nonsense - proving you really can't fool all of the people any of the time. The marketing strategy is so transparent, package the piece of trivia in a cover so obviously inspired by The DaVinci Code, lace the preface with references to "ancient books of secrets" and throw in the names of long-dead geniuses (who are not likely to sue) for credibility and you have - not a book of wisdom, but a book that will appeal to the suicidal browser in need of rescue. But it falls apart under the gaze of even the least discriminating browser - the "ancient" tome which started Ms Byrne on her "quest" is barely a hundred years old. My grandfather was writing Christmas cracker jokes at that time, hardly in the timeline of the Vedas, Bible or any legitimate writings of the sages. Anyway, if this un-named 100-year-old "ancient" volume is so wonderful and inspiring, why can't she name it? Better still, re-issue it in a Dan Brown-style cover and we can all buy it! And who said Beethoven, Moses, Louis Armstrong and the other famous deadies knew "The Secret"? All we have are random quotes completely out of context, with no mention of a particular secret. Then there is the list of Ms Byrne's "teachers", complete with photos showing the biggest array of teeth since The Osmonds smiled and destroyed Hiroshima. All of her mentors are American motivation "gurus" - and if that doesn't stop you in your tracks, nothing will. One of the "essential laws" of The Secret's philosophy is to, wait for it, Do The Thing You Love! At worst this gives carte blanche to paedophiles, rapists, murderers and Robbie Williams fans. At best it promises that if we want it we can have it - so all who want to be Queen of England, you can have it if you buy Ms Byrne's book, she promises...! Now the book I'd rather read is the one which - instead of advising "do the thing you love" - suggest we "love the thing we do", but that's not going to make a fortune for the likes of Ms Byrne and her grinning gurus. P.S. I tried to give it MINUS stars, but Amazon in their wisdom only allow a one to five rating, so everyone's a winner. Rhonda and her playmates would like that!
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16 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
Truly Inspirational, 3 May 2008
I really enjoyed reading The Secret by Rhonda Byrne. Bringing awareness to my own life, I could see how many of things Rhonda writes about has happened to me. What stood out for me is the very first chapter. It is summed up on page 25 in Secret Summaries. "Your current thoughts are creating your future life. What you think about the most or focus on the most most will appear as your life. I can see that when I believe I can do something I do and when I think I can't I don't.
The chapter, The Secret to Relationships, was also an eye opener. Dr John Gray says "You become the Solution for you" It was an eye opening idea that if my relationship isn't working the other person is not to blame and that I need to look at me. This brought to mind another book I've read and highly recommend:How To Create a Magical Relationship" Ariel & Shya's book is brilliantly written and guides the reader in how to have a Magical Relationship and how having a magical relationship is up to you and not your partner.
Thinking of both these books makes me smile. I highly recommend them both!
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