The Secret: Amazon.co.uk: Rhonda Byrne: Books

Special Offers and Product Promotions

Save up to 80% on more than 40,000 downloadable audiobooks at Audible.co.uk. Listen on your ipod or MP3 player for £3.99.
See more Favourite Books at up to 50% off.

Frequently Bought Together

+

+

Total RRP: �38.35
Price For All Three: �22.52

Show availability and delivery details

This item: The Secret by Rhonda Byrne
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
The Secret Daily Teachings by Rhonda Byrne
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
Secret Gratitude Book by Rhonda Byrne
In stock.
Dispatched from and sold by Amazon.co.uk.
This item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

The Secret Daily Teachings

by Rhonda Byrne

4.5 out of 5 stars (17) �5.96

Secret Gratitude Book

by Rhonda Byrne

3.9 out of 5 stars (28) �6.61

The Secret (Extended Edition) [DVD] [2006]

DVD ~ Sophie Angelle; John Assaraf; Anthony Baron; Dr. Reverend Michael Beckwith; Lee Brower

3.8 out of 5 stars (83) �16.87

The Key to Living the Law of Attraction: The Secret to Creating the Life of Your Dreams

by Jack Canfield

4.6 out of 5 stars (8) �5.98

The Secret to Teen Power

by Paul Harrington

4.5 out of 5 stars (4) �5.96

› Explore similar items

Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested in These Sponsored Links

(What is this?)

Learn to use The Secret opens new browser window

www.TheMastersOfTheSecret.com - to create anything you want in life from the stars of The Secret. Free!

Secret Behind The Secret opens new browser window

BelieveAndManifest.info/TheSecret - "How Does The Secret Really Work?" The Answer Inside May Shock You!

The Secret DVD - Hype? opens new browser window

thelawofattractionsecretnow.com/new - Find Out What Bob Proctor Says. Was The Secret DVD Just "Fluff"?

Product Description

Once known only by an elite who were unwilling to share their knowledge of the power, 'the secret' of obtaining anything you desire is now revealed by prominent physicists, authors and philosophers as being based in the universal Law of Attraction. And the good news is that anyone can access its power to bring themselves health, wealth and happiness. Fragments of The Secret have been found in oral traditions, literature, religions and philosophies throughout the centuries. A number of the exceptional people who discovered its power went on to become regarded as the greatest human beings who ever lived. Among them: Plato, Leonardo, Galileo and Einstein. Now 'the secret' is being shared with the world. Beautiful in its simplicity, and mind-dazzling in its ability to really work, The Secret reveals the mystery of the hidden potential within us all. By unifying leading-edge scientific thought with ancient wisdom and spirituality, the riveting, practical knowledge will lead readers to a greater understanding of how they can be the masters of their own lives.

About the Author

Time magazine has called Rhonda Byrne - author of The Secret - 'one of the world's 100 most influential women of 2007'.

Inside This Book (Learn More)

Browse Sample Pages
Front Cover | Back Cover

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

(What's this?)

Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.

how to live in the here and now(3)

life changing(2)

self-help(2)

audio book(1)

law of attraction(1)

new age(1)

positive thinking(1)

secret(1)

success(1)

the secret(1)

Agree with these tags?

Customer Reviews

346 Reviews

5 star:		(152)
4 star:		(52)
3 star:		(41)
2 star:		(17)
1 star:		(84)

Average Customer Review

3.5 out of 5 stars (346 customer reviews)

Share your thoughts with other customers:

Create your own review

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars uplifting, but slightly disappointing, 12 Jan 2010

By	Simon - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Secret (Hardcover)

This book didn't live up to my expectations. There is a lot of uplifting material in it, and a lot of good advice, but I was put off by the over-emphasis on achieving your goals and attaining wealth as the key to happiness. In my view, attaining goals or wealth only leads to a very short term kind of happiness. It's more adviseable to try to find long term contentment through changing your state of being, and your relationship to the world. And there are some great books which can help you to do this, such as the Power of Now or the wonderful new book Waking From Sleep by Steve Taylor Waking from Sleep: Why Awakening Experiences Occur and How to Make Them Permanent

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you?

Report this | Permalink

Comment Comment

133 of 160 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Think and Grow Rich Meets The Power of Positive Thinking in Brief Quotes, 23 Feb 2007

By	Professor Donald Mitchell "Jesus Makes Me a P... (Boston) - See all my reviews (TOP 10 REVIEWER)

This review is from: The Secret (Hardcover)

I am in complete agreement with the idea that our thoughts need to be carefully marshaled and focused on what we want. My comments focus on how Ms. Byrne has expressed that point in this book.

Everyone I know swears by the DVD version of The Secret. I decided to read the book first and then look at the DVD.

In grading this book, I am comparing The Secret to the many books that encourage you to create your own reality through mental focus including books written by those quoted in The Secret.

First, what is the secret? As stated in a quotation by Bob Proctor:

"The Secret is the law of attraction!

Everything that is coming into your life you are attracting . . . by virtue of the images you are holding in your mind."

Second, what causes the law of attraction to work? According to Ms. Byrne on page 11:

"You are the most powerful transmission tower in the Universe. Your transmission creates your life and it creates the world . . . . And you are transmitting that frequency with your thoughts."

Third, what's the evidence that this secret is true? Each of 24 authors tells anecdotes of people who overcame hurdles after envisioning a more positive result. A few claims are made that quantum physics supports this conclusion, and Ms. Byrne confides that she understands a great deal about this subject.

Fourth, why is this a secret? Because Ms. Byrne had never heard of the law of attraction prior to a year or so ago.

Let me make a few observations about the development of this idea in the book:

First, science has shown us that we ignore almost all of the sensory input we receive. Our minds focus on a small percentage of what's considered relevant through something called the reticular activating system. Change what you focus on, and you notice things for the first time that have been there all the time. That's one reason why envisioning what you want works: You notice helpful resources around you that you've been ignoring. That observation, however, has never been tied to any evidence (to my knowledge) that we physically create anything with our minds beyond our own bodies, except by manipulating the physical world in various ways.

Second, religion points to a different phenomenon. Christians, for example, read in the Bible that God has filled those who have been saved by repenting their sins and believing in Jesus with the Holy Spirit which permits good works (including miraculous works) to be done by the desire of the believer. The source isn't the believer's mind, but rather God's spiritual resources which are greater than the physical world. Anyone who read these Biblical texts would say that an individual is far from a powerful source of creating reality: An individual can do nothing to change reality without God, but can do anything good with God's help to change reality.

Third, in Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill reported the results of many years of intensive interviews with the most successful people on Earth of his day. Many of them believed that their thoughts physically changed the exterior world by opening the door to possibilities that otherwise wouldn't have existed. But Mr. Hill presented the idea as expressed opinions, rather than as a proven fact. He also pointed to many other things that these people had done that helped them succeed. Mr. Hill reported that it takes more just focusing on what you want: There are other steps involved such as working with a mastermind group.

Fourth, our own bodies are very strongly affected by our thoughts. Scientific research keeps showing new dimensions of that fact. Think certain thoughts and your immune system is stronger. Think other thoughts and your immune system is weaker. In addition, placebos do heal people who think they are getting real medicine when they are not. Why? Because people are really healing themselves. You can extend that influence by behaving well or badly towards others, causing a mental reaction in them, which in turn creates a change in their body chemistries.

By comparing those earlier works, my sense is that what The Secret really represents is one woman's quick attempt to make sense of this kind of information. In doing so, she seems to have oversimplified and misstated what is known about the role of thought in creating life experiences. I doubt if the intent was deliberate or not well intentioned. But after all, she is a film maker, not a student of thought.

By ignoring the full range and roots of the evidence, Ms. Byrne runs the risk of discouraging some people who feel like they are real losers because they cannot evince a perfectly positive reality. If it were as simple as The Secret suggests, we would have billions of people living trouble-free lives. To my knowledge, even the most successful practitioners of The Secret aren't as wealthy as those the most successful people who don't. That would make an interesting study, and a far more valuable book than this one.

Here's an example of a misleading example. Ms. Byrne argues that food doesn't make you fat; it's what you think about food that makes you fat. The punch line of her story is that "I now maintain my perfect weight of 116 pounds and I can eat whatever I want." Every person I have met who is an authority cited in this book is noticeably overweight. Why don't any of them want a perfect weight and be able eat anything they want?

My point for you: Avoid this book.

I encourage you, however, to think positively and learn about how your thoughts can improve your life!

If you want to learn about how to improve your life through your thoughts, consider reading more reliably based and carefully presented sources. If you prefer a secular book, try Think and Grow Rich or The Success Principles. If you would like a book that half-way between a religious and secular focus, try Your Best Life Now. If you want to draw totally on the Christian or Jewish religious roots, read the Bible.

I'll look at the DVD now and let you know what I think of that.

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you?

Report this | Permalink

Comment Comments (6)

23 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Possibly the Worst Book of the Last 10 years, 2 April 2009

By	MD Healey "magdadh" - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: The Secret (Hardcover)

I can't believe this is STILL number 23 on the Amazon's bestseller list. Luckily, the spread of reviews suggests that most people buy it to see what the hype is about, and see it for what it is!

When I initially bought it, I expected a motivational book of self-help. But it's both much more and much less than that.

I won't keep you waiting. The secret is to think positive:
think that you have what you want to have
*visualise it,
*be grateful in advance,
*feel positive emotions as the thinking on its own won't work

"you have two sets of feelings: good feelings and bad feelings. And you know the difference between the two because one makes you feel good and the other makes you feel bad."

There. No need to buy.

The meagre 150+ pages are filled with unbearably repetitive reply of the advice listed above: plain, in-your-face, mercenary, repetitive regurgitation and nothing else.

Now, I am not arguing that positive thinking, affirmations, visualisation of goals are useless. They are fine. Fear and confidence problems can block our self fulfillment. People (at least sometimes) treat us the way we think we deserve to be treated. Generally, people tend to be happier and more successful with a positive outlook.

These are all true, useful and pretty inoffensive if fairly trivial bits of advice.

But "The Secret" claims that the ONLY thing between you and *anything* you want is your negative thoughts (or lack of positive ones).

The rich are rich because they think of themselves as rich so they keep and attract more money. It obviously has nothing to do with inherited wealth nor with ability, talent, hard work or social connections.

Even mass death is the result of people believing that they can be in the wrong place at the wrong time (and then finding themselves thus). The book doesn't devote much to such grim subjects, though - there is perhaps a paragraph about that and it singularly fails to address instances of mass suffering caused not by being in a wrong place at the wrong time (as in a case of a natural disaster for example) but by active, deliberate pursuit of evil ends by other human beings as happened during the Holocaust, Rwandan genocide or Khmer Rouge murders to pick just three random, obvious examples.

On some levels, "The Secret" is quite funny. It states, fore example, among other bits of nonsense, that according to the Bible, Jesus "was a prosperity teacher" who lived "a more affluent lifestyle that many present day millionaires could conceive of "(I am NOT making this one up, it's on page 109).

Throughout the book we encounter the most appalling abuse of scientific terminology I have ever seen. It goes beyond a mere misuse and strides happily into the land of pure nonsense.

The supposedly secret and mysterious "law of attraction" (=You Are What You Think) doesn't exist. There is NOT A IOTA OF EVIDENCE of external world reacting to one's thoughts. Despite Byrne's reassurances, we can't make the planets move according to our wishes by thinking about it.

Couching the idea in pseudo-scientific terms like "emitting this frequency into the Universe" doesn't make it any more viable.

Statements like "The feeling of love is the highest frequency you could emit" do not make sense.

There is no such a thing like "vibrations of mental forces". Modern physics' proposition that vibrations of so-called super strings is at the basis of all matter (or energy) DOES NOT translate into large-scale stuff like human bodies, brains or even (huge in comparison to strings) atoms.

Quantum physicists emphatically DO NOT tell us that the entire Universe emerged from thought.

All diseases are NOT a result of stress.

Healthy emotions do not guarantee a healthy body (though they might help recovery).

Ageing is not caused by thoughts, and even if you believe you can't catch something you still can if you are exposed to the infectious agent.

And the oil in Belize was not created by the belief of the team that discovered it.

I could go on for much longer, but these examples are sufficient to show to what lenghts this book goes. It's a pile of trite, mercenary, offensive and very, very silly nonsense.

And here is the question: does it matter?

Yes. It matters.

It suggests we should look inward and change our minds, instead of looking outward and trying to change the world.

It also implies that those who suffer exploitation, murder, robbery, rape, slavery, extermination, torture, abuse, poverty and inequality are responsible for their sorry situation, and that the best thing to do is to start thinking positive thoughts, grow self esteem and start "emitting frequencies of love and abundance".

It's positively destructive and deeply immoral (and IT DOESN'T WORK).

Help other customers find the most helpful reviews

Was this review helpful to you?

Report this | Permalink

Comment Comment

Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review

› See all 346 customer reviews...

Most Recent Customer Reviews

2.0 out of 5 stars Focussed too much on attainment of wealth as the key to happiness
I enjoyed "The Secret" initially but as I continued to turn the pages I became frustrated with some of the key messages. Read more

Published 5 days ago by Jo Hutchinson

5.0 out of 5 stars Thank you.

The Secret - This knowledge in this book is amazing and is helping to change my life and I thank Rhonda Byrne for sharing it. Read more

Published 7 days ago by Angela Fortune

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good offer
Hi everyone
I bought this book as I saw SECRET movie, and I was very happy when I knew there is a book for a SECRET movie. Read more

Published 10 days ago by Mr. Ahmed K. Nassrullah

5.0 out of 5 stars A thought provoking book.
I purchased this book after reading a review about it. At the time I was in a job that I struggled with and I felt very down about myself. Read more

Published 10 days ago by Koala

3.0 out of 5 stars wow
There are so many reveiws that ill keep mine short and sweet, its a good motivational book to get you to think about how you assert yourself, how to positivley change certain... Read more

Published 11 days ago by Soph "PiNkZ"

5.0 out of 5 stars Ssshh the secret!
The book is brilliant and definately worth a read even if you don't
have a profound view on this sort off thing.

Excellent!

Published 11 days ago by Maverik

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't buy
All of the other 1 star reviews of this product pretty much cover it, but I wanted to register my disgust. Read more

Published 12 days ago by Mr. P. Smith

1.0 out of 5 stars common sense stuff
Thought this book would really have some 'secrets' but it was an absolute dissapointment. In summary this books goes on about how you should think positive and do good things and... Read more

Published 12 days ago by a.m

1.0 out of 5 stars A very silly book..a very very silly book.
I try not to waste my time reviewing idiocy, but this book is super twaddle and needs as many folk as possible to identify it as such. Read more

Published 13 days ago by B. Bartlett

3.0 out of 5 stars The Secret
The book was for a family member who reports it as "Good but a tad repetitious".

Published 18 days ago by BNR

› See all 346 customer reviews...

Listmania!

My 5 Top New Age Books: A list by Dan Jones
My most influential spiritual books: A list by Ms. R. Martin "from the world of Mind Body Spirit"
The Law of Attraction: A list by Jerome Simonette "JeromeB'Fly"

Create a Listmania! list

Look for similar items by category

Books > Business, Finance & Law > Careers > Career Guides
Books > Business, Finance & Law > Careers > Job Hunting
Books > Health, Family & Lifestyle > Psychology & Psychiatry
Books > Mind, Body & Spirit > Thought & Practice > Disciplines & Techniques
Books > Mind, Body & Spirit > Thought & Practice > New Age
Books > Religion & Spirituality > New Age > Mental & Spiritual Healing
Books > Religion & Spirituality > New Age > Self Help

Look for similar items by subject

Feedback

Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.

	93% buy the item featured on this page: The Secret 3.5 out of 5 stars (346) �9.95
	2% buy The Secret Daily Teachings 4.5 out of 5 stars (17) �5.96
	1% buy The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 4.1 out of 5 stars (367) �3.48
	1% buy Blacklands 4.4 out of 5 stars (22) �3.86

The Secret [Audiobook] [CD] [Unabridged] (Audio CD)

Special Offers and Product Promotions

Frequently Bought Together

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

Product details

Customers Viewing This Page May Be Interested in These Sponsored Links

Product Description

Product Description

About the Author

Tags Customers Associate with This Product

What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?

Customer Reviews

Customer Discussions

Start a new discussion

Listmania!

Look for similar items by category

Look for similar items by subject

Feedback

Your Recent History