Book Description
A classic since 1928, this masterly encyclopedia of ancient mythology, ritual, symbolism, and the arcane mysteries of the ages is available for the first time in a compact "reader's edition."
Like no other book of the twentieth century, Manly P. Hall's legendary The Secret Teachings of All Ages is a codex to the ancient occult and esoteric traditions of the world. Students of hidden wisdom, ancient symbols, and arcane practices treasure Hall's magnum opus above all other works.
While many thousands of copies have sold since its initial publication in 1928, The Secret Teachings of All Ages has previously been available only in oversized, expensive editions. For the first time, Hall's celebrated classic is now published in an affordable trade paperback volume. Literally hundreds of entries shine a rare light on some of the most fascinating and closely held aspects of myth, religion, and philosophy from throughout the centuries.
More than one hundred line drawings and a sixteen-page color insert reproduce some of the finest illustrations of the original book, while reset and reformatted text makes this edition of The Secret Teachings of All Ages newly accessible to readers everywhere.
Download Description
Simply put, this is the most fascinating and complete occult book ever published. It represents a lifetime of research into the mythology, symbolism, and magical practices of countless cultures. From the secrets of Isis to the teachings of mystic Christianity, nearly every occult dogma imaginable is represented here. PDF searchable text-only format.
Customer Reviews:
A very good color paperback of a classic book.......2007-10-05
The Secret Teachings of All Ages is a must have book for anyone interested in esoteric knowledge. This is the best version of the book, short of obtaining one of the original 800 hard covers. It has all of the essential pictures and insets, many of which are absent in the reader's edition.
cheap and handy but not so very illustrated.......2007-07-12
a nice book containing alot info on many ancients topics. see index. Manly Hall has done a great job here. At some chapters it is nice to know some more of the current mytology on beforehand.
for a book this big it's good to have it in a handy paperback. The text is over 70 years and copyright is not renewed so this book is also freely available on the internet. I was hoping this printed book would be more illustrated than the online version. it does have some nice color illustration in the midle but througout the book it was not as illustrated as I expected.
A penultimate work in the history of the occult!.......2007-06-08
This is probably one of the most voluminous books I've ever read, but I won't complain. I really think that the author had a keen knowledge that seems to be missing among more "elusive" new-age types. I am almost finished reading it and I can say this book is quite interesting; the only chapters that didn't fascinate me had to do with science, but I'm really not one for science and never have been.
A Book to be Ensouled.......2007-05-19
I can add little to what the others that have reviewed this book have said other than to give it my highest personal endorsement. Mr. Hall was that rarest of true scholars- the Agrippa of our age.
There are those that will question why genuine "secret teachings" should be published for the general public. The author answers this near the end of the book in recounting the tale of Alexander's displeasure in hearing that his mentor Aristotle had published one of his most profound discourses for anyone to read. Aristotle's reply was that those who lacked spiritual comprehension would gain little from reading the book. That is also true in our time. Most people will not read this book, and those who do (if not ready) will dismiss it as nonsense. That certainly applied to me in my youth. It is a foolproof lock to wisdom- it will sound like foolishness to those who have not yet obtained to spiritual comprehension. You have to be capable of contemplating such teachings and then internalizing them (or "ensouling" them in the author's terminology.)
This book is truly a link of the Golden Chain. The author understood the importance of the Mysteries, of Pythagoras and Plato, of the perennial wisdom that flows through the ages. That is why this book will never be dated- such wisdom springs from the Source and can only be recollected. That Hall could have mastered so much in his 20's is remarkable. That he was sensitive to the growing danger of unbalanced soulless materialism so young makes him a true prophet. Given his times and backgoround I can only assume that this man was directly initiated by the Gods themselves.
This Tarcher/Penguin edition is truly a reader's edition. The type is actually readable as opposed to some of the reduced facsimile editions. It is unabridged and most of the important illustrations are included. The table of contents is very detailed and useful and there is a full index. Still, one day, I will own my own copy of the magnificent full-sized original for it is as much a work of art as it is a compendium of knowledge and wisdom.
Interesting Overview and Good Starting Point.......2007-04-12
This is a good overview of some of the various "secret" teachings throughout history. Rather than sate my curiosity, it made me more curious about these teachings and the unifying themes within. I think the book was a little too speculative at times and had a heavy leaning towards Masons and Rosicrucians. That said, I recommend it for anyone who wants to get a sense of the secret teachings that seem to be a part of all ages, both outside and hidden within the traditional religious teachings.
Book Description
This book tells the fascinating story of how the American continent, described by Lord Bacon as "The New Atlantis," seems to have been set apart for the great experiment of enlightened self-government long before the founding fathers envisioned the rise of the American Republic. Drawing upon often neglected fragments of history, evidence is presented which indicates that the seeds of democracy were planted one thousand years before the beginning of the Christian Era, suggesting that America is not merely a political and industrial entity, but an "assignment of destiny."
Customer Reviews:
The Secret Destiny Of America.......2007-08-07
Prolific author Manly P Hall's life work was getting to the bottom of stores of historical, hidden, fundamental knowledge of human life on earth. Here he chronicles the efforts of quiet real leaders of human/social/political/human spiritual development from pre-history to the end of World War II. In the United States Of America, he tells of the reason for the establishment of an entirely new type nation in a new world which is to be a model, mentor and guide to other nations which have people aspiring to the universal and common human goal of liberty and self determination. To wit: "WE hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness--That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed...." As he wrote at the end of WWII, it seemed to Hall that humanity had at last a solid hold on a corner of the goal. It is terrifying (to me) to see our government racing madly backwards toward a "Directorship" heedless of the agonizingly won and saved freedom we uniquely cherished as a light to struggling peoples and a human spiritual (not sectarian) guide and help to right and happy living on earth. Is "America" over?
America's Occult Blueprint.......2007-06-27
Reveals western civilization's hidden history and America's true founders. Other excellent works: Brotherhood of the Sun and The Christ Conspiracy.
LIFE, LIBERTY AND THE FREEDOM TO PURSUE HAPPINESS.......2007-06-08
WHEN THINGS ARE AT THEIR DARKEST THERE IS ALWAYS LIGHT THE NEXT DAY. GLORIOUS BOOK, WE MUST MAKE IT TRUE: HERE AND NOW.
Fantastic.......2006-04-17
This is a fantastic book. I have been reading Hall and his books are very intelligent and enlightening. I have little doubt that what he writes here is true. I do fear however that this vision of America becoming an enlightened nation has been lost in a cloud of greed. America is now a large corporation where the rest of the world has placed it's stake. Look at our nation, we are now a nation of obese, greedy, lazy, uneducated, and apathetic slobs. We are caught in what I call Celebrity-ism (in wich we idolize and obsess with celeberties and their every move)and drowning in materialism. It is sad really. Maybe one day we will re-awaken to fufill the Secret Destiny of America.
long lost paradigm.......2003-06-04
recaptures the essence of the constitutional founders of AMERICA
Book Description
Here is Manly P. Hall's classic work on history's most secretive brotherhood- reset and collected with two additional celebrated Hall volumes on occult Masonry.
Freemasonry is the subject of perennial fascination-recently the cover story of a national newsmagazine, the premise of the movie National Treasure, and the anticipated basis of a forthcoming novel by Dan Brown. The twentieth century's great scholar of occult and esoteric ideas, Manly P. Hall was a Mason himself and nurtured a lifelong interest in the secret fraternal order, making it the focus of one of his earliest and best-loved books, The Lost Keys of Freemasonry. In this celebrated work, he examines the ethical training required of a Freemason, and the character traits a Mason must "build" within himself. Hall's 1923 volume is now reset and made available exclusively in this new edition, along with the author's two further classics on Masonry:
- Freemasonry of the Ancient Egyptians (1937), which explores the roots of Freemasonry in the initiatory temple rites of Pharaonic Egypt; and
- Masonic Orders of Fraternity (1950), a fascinating work of short history that chronicles the reemergence of Freemasonry in Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. It surveys the lives of Masonry's modern architects and the secretive organizations that immediately preceded the brotherhood.
This three-in-one volume features the original illustrations of each book, for a total of nearly thirty images, including recreations of scenes and rites from Masonry's unusual history. It also includes a new index encompassing all three titles.
Average customer rating:
- When did James Herbert get old?
- Swish Thwack Snore
- Things that go (very gently ) bump in the night
- Crickley Hall
- and the secret is... 'read Clive Barker'...
|
Secret of Crickley Hall
James Herbert
Manufacturer: Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
 Herbert, James | ( H ) | Authors, A-Z | Horror | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Ghosts | Horror | Genre Fiction | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 1405005203 |
Book Description
The Secret of Crickley Hall is a new take on the classic ghost story in the same way that his bestseller Once was a new take on the classic fairy tale. The Secret of Crickley Hall is set in a childrens home in a coastal town in England. Some of the children are persecuted by the people who run the home and have found places between the floors and walls of the home toavoid the adults. They can also spy, of course. One day there is a flash flood which sweeps through the town and the childrens home. All the children escape, except the kids in the walls and floors, who drown. They come back as ghosts and seek their revenge.
Customer Reviews:
When did James Herbert get old?.......2007-08-30
Reading some of the reviews on both Amazon and Amazon UK infuriates me as reviewers are trying to peg James Herbert as some Stephen King wannabe. As most true horror readers realize, this assertion is totally absurd as King has written three good horror novels in his career ('Salem's Lot, The Shining and The Tommyknockers)while Herbert, in my opinion, has spent twenty five of his thirty two year career writing excellent horror novels. The Rats, The Fog, The Survivor, The Spear, Lair, The Dark etc., not a clinker in the bunch.
Unfortunately, Mr. Herbert has lost a few miles on his fastball as his novels after the outstanding "Ghosts of Sleath" have devolved into overly introspective, sentimental and maudlin first person narratives (the wickedly funny Creed being the exception).
"The Secret of Crickley Hall" is no execption. I purchased the hardcover with high hopes of a cracking good Herbert ghost story complete with his excellent pacing, scene construction and characterization and instead got more of the same overwrought and overlong occult drama that should have been half the length of it's 500+ pages. Fortunately, Herbert regains his form in the last 100 pages and is able to rescue this novel from total dreck to something on the border of readable to good.
Gabriel Caleigh rents an old manor in the Devon area of England in an attempt to alleviate some of his wife Eve's grief over the diappearance of their son. The first anniversary of his disappearance is upon them and Caliegh believes that a change of scenery may help his wife. The family has the requisite other two children (Loren and Callie) and a dog named Chester that freaks out and attempts to run away when the family settles into Crickley Hall.
Anyway, mysterious things start to occur, a locked cellar door at night is found to be partially open in the mornings, mysterious puddles form on the floor, strange noises come from a wardrobe and the dank and forbidding cellar complete with a well and an underground river and mysterious flashing lights that seem to become ghosts of children. Investigating further, the Caleighs discover that Crickley Hall housed eleven orphans during WWII under the supervision of a most unpleasant man named Augustus Cribben and his sister Magda. All the orphans along with Cribben believed to have drowned in a cataclysmic flood in 1943, but only nine of the bodies were recovered and buried. Of course the family tries to get to the bottom of the Crickley Hall mystery as to whether the place is haunted and by whom. They are assisted in their quest by an old groundskeeper who believes that the children died under more sinister circumstances than publicly reported, a psychic who is trying to help Eve contact her missing son and a psychic investigator who doesn't believe in ghosts.
James Herbert's past reputation and the last 100 pages of this novel gives this book 4 stars. If someone is interested in reading James Herbert, this is not the novel to start with. I would recommend "The Spear" which I believe is his best work, or "The Survivor" which is almost as good, as books to start with. These were published when Herbert was younger, nastier, and a much leaner writer than he now.
Swish Thwack Snore.......2007-08-28
There's a Stephen King novel called "Bag of Bones", in which the Protagonist (a writer), after the untimely death of his pregnant wife, suffers an extreme case of writer's block. To offset the impending loss of his job he publishes two of his earlier, unseen manuscripts, that have been lying in a safe, retained for just such an emergency.
That was fiction. But one can't help feeling that, in publishing "The Secret of Crickley Hall", James Herbert is doing just the same thing as King's hero: this is a novel that surely could not belong to "Britain's No. 1 bestselling writer of chiller fiction". Could it?
The Caleigh family, supernaturally-sensitive family dog in tow, move into a haunted mansion, and begin to uncover the tragic secrets of Crickley Hall's murky past.
Now, read this next bit carefully: The Caleighs (a family with a dog), who have a dog (who is sensitive to ghosts), move into Crickley Hall (a spooky, scary sort of manor, now home to the Caleighs, a family with a dog who is sensitive to ghosts), a Manor that is both spooky and scary (called Crickley Hall).
This is the most basic flaw of Herbert's novel: the repetition of basic plot elements occurs at such a frequent rate that after a few short chapters we wonder how he's managing to forward the (basic) plot at all. Also, this repetition becomes tiresome after a while: we KNOW that Lili Peel's a psychic, we were introduced to her as one, we don't need to be told again two pages later. We are WELL AWARE that the Caleigh's little boy is missing and that father Gabe is emotionally detached from that fact: that point was laboured plenty already, why keep doing it? Things go on in this manner for almost all of the novel, and the promising characterisation and relatively interesting premise of the Manor and its history are left, sadly and wastefully, unexplored.
There's not a lot one can do with a Haunted House premise anymore - personally, I think Shirley Jackson ("The Haunting Of Hill House") and Steven King ("The Shining") said all that can be said on the subject - but that's not to say "The Secret of Crickley Hall" has a boring premise, or is pointless in its subject matter - quite the contrary. There's a definite sense of a terrific novel lying underneath the frankly amateurish quality of the prose and the absent characterisation - Herbert obviously has talent (50 million copies worldwide can't mean that one million stupid people bought fifty of his books apiece), and in places, there's plenty of atmosphere and tension - the scenes where Serafina and her brother break into Crickley Hall immediately spring to mind, as well as the initial supernatural goings-on that befall the Caleighs - but sadly, and confusingly, Herbert's good bits seem to be accidental - they are few and far between, and it's in the mundane, irritating in-between that the essence of a great novel is totally lost.
Avoid. Like another reviewer said, Clive Barker's where it's at, as far as contemporary British horror fiction is concerned.
Things that go (very gently ) bump in the night.......2007-07-17
This here's a haunted house novel. I read Herbert's "Once..." and thought it was kind of ok, and was willing to give him a shot at the classic haunted house story. The author has a very simple style of writing that reads like a young adult title. He repeats himself constantly, as if he's talking to a young child. Not sure if he's just padding the page count or what. As well as the simplistic style that repeats itself constantly, the characters are stock and thin, and the plot a yawner. This one adds nothing to the haunted house genre. Try Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House" or Matheson's "Hell House" instead.
Crickley Hall.......2007-06-10
James Herbert is capapble of writing great ghost stories like Haunted and The Ghosts of Sleath and the Others. With this one however, I think he's fallen short. It concerns a family moving into Crickley Hall, a very large house for rent, for a week or two. The head of the family is Gabe, an american. Why did Herbert spoil things already by so obviously pandering to hollywood? Anyway,back to the story. The parents and two daughters, and a dog find that the place is haunted by children and their former guardian. The dog, as horror writer's tend to do, is part-psychic himself, and runs off at the point where it would get in the way of the plot. I found this book very technical and cliched: At the end of each relatively short chapter you get the hook to make you want to read the next one. But the first two hundred pages are quite slow and you'll have every chapter that is boring ending with a couple of sentences announcing a banging door or an unnatural shadow etc.Why Herbert needed to make this 620 pages long is beyond me. So many cliches in the book like the old gardener Percy with his cornwall accent, the rain and the thunder and lightening all the time- Once when someone says aloud 'Augustus Cribben' lightening lights up his ghost! Herbert even makes a little joke about it as if he's apologising for it. Perhaps I've just read too many James Herberts or perhaps he's written too many like this. But I did actually think it was okay despite the gripes, though because of the length, I can't recommend it. Why did he make it so long? At first everything seemed to be so slow and Herbert kept going into detail about trivias and ending the boring chapters with his little hooks- at the end of one early chapter the wife, Eve, sees a frightening hooded presnce outside the window looking in! (It turns out to be only Percy, the gardener)...No, if you fancy a James Herbert ghost story buy Haunted or The Others.
and the secret is... 'read Clive Barker'..........2007-02-06
This is the first James Herbert book I have ever read despite having been a horror fan for many years, and to be honest I was extremely unimpressed. The story revolves around the ancient manor of Crickley Hall set deep in the Devonshire countryside and a young family escaping from the anniversary of their son's disappearance who come to inhabit it for a short break. Then things go bump in the night, and ghostly events begin to unfold as the family struggles to understand what is happening, and begins uncovering the house's disturbing history and their place in it's future. Despite being somewhat constrained by the trite nature of it's genre (the haunted house story), the opening and first few chapters really exhibit some potential, however as the pages turn, Herbert basically ends up giving us nothing more than a rather bland and obvious tale, populated with a small host of matter-of-fact characters that fails to engage.
As a first time reader it was also interesting to experience Herbert's writing style as well, which to be honest was as unimpressive as the tale he was telling. This is Britains best horror novellist?? Really?!? I found his whole style to be extremely repititious, whether it's the use of language as he describes people or places, or the fact that he feels the neccessity to frequently remind us of bits of story and events that happened as little as two pages previously. I almost felt in places like I was reading a book aimed at a young adult audience, as if he actually mistrusted the reader to 'get' his plot points, or perhaps that he had decided to write a 600 page novel and could not deviate - kind of like Little Britain's Dame Sally Markham 'How many pages Miss Grace?? - Oh publish...'
A lot of Herbert's style is probably what detracts from the novel, he goes into too much detail where it's really uneccessary, and not enough when it really IS neccessary. A good example of this is the character of Lili, versus the ghostly events themselves. Herbert spends probably a combined sum of some 40 odd pages dedicated to Lili's back story. To me as reader, a back story is only neccessary in so much as it maps the character out, and that we understand their relationship to the unfolding tale. We don't need to know about what happened to her when she was 12, how she became psychic, how she was bullied at school, what she eat for breakfast etc. All that we really need to know beyond her place in the story is the experience she had that makes her reticent to be involved with the Hall. This large scale meandering by Herbert really stifles the book's pace in many places, especially (and most criminally) towards the end and to be fair you can skim read this pointless waffle and be no worse off for it - perhaps a note for your editor Mr Herbert..? Adverseley, The moments of 'horror', the nights spent at the house are delivered very basicically and are almost over as soon as they've began, there is little tension and atmosphere - it is all pretty matter of fact, and as a result is neither scary nor horrifying.
So perhaps the wrong introduction to James Herbert, or maybe this is an apt appraisal for most of his work, in which case I would definitely stick to Clive Barker if you want to fly the flag for British horror.
Product Description
Manly Palmer Hall wrote this book at a very young age and self-published it later in his mid twenties. The book is pure conceptual truth without bogging ourselves down with the details. Great read for anyone who likes Joseph Campbell and wishes to follow up on the Power of Myth and get into the right-hand occult.
Customer Reviews:
Secrets of All Ages.......2007-02-07
Thank you the book was in great shape for a great price!
Book Description
With tools for gaining as many as 30 times the execution speed, this handbook educates database administrators on how to rewrite SQL into PL/SQL and how to use advanced Oracle bulk array processing techniques to achieve high performance. Ready-to-use tips for saving hardware costs by running applications at peak efficiencies are provided for senior Oracle DBAs and developers, and powerful PL/SQL techniques are outlined.
Customer Reviews:
PL/SQL Secrets revealed.......2007-10-09
This book has been a great resource for me as I get acquainted with various Oracle assets, including many things that I was not aware of concerning PL/SQL. Expect to learn improved ways of handling Oracle, knowing that this book is for the advanced and eager Oracle user. Dr. Hall obviously has experience in Oracle, to the point where he can exemplify these complex concepts in an easy to follow format. From one Oracle professional to another, I highly recommend this book.
sql tuning.......2007-09-17
This book sucks; they should call this book useless way to try to improve the performance of oracle. For instance the author simulates a slow sql statement by using example of a state that counts the time for a number of seconds, like of like a sleep command. Doing this for a number for year I never came across a sleep or wait command for slow query. The authors also never say why or go into detail about his suggestion. It is like he does not really know what he is talking about but gives you example of the problem and solution but never really goes into why.
Book Description
From April through December of 1945, ten of Nazi Germany's greatest nuclear physicists were detained by Allied military and intelligence services in a kind of gilded cage at Farm Hall, an English country manor near Cambridge. The physicists knew the Reich had failed to develop an atomic bomb, and they soon learned, from a BBC radio report on August 6, that the Allies had succeeded in their own efforts to create such a weapon. But what they did not know was that many of their meetings and private conversations were being monitored and recorded by British agents. This book contains the complete collection of transcripts that were made from these secret recordings, providing an unprecedented view of how the German scientists, including two Nobel Laureates, thought and spoke about their roles during the war.
Customer Reviews:
Get it from the horse's mouth, Werner Heisenberg himself........2002-09-05
This book consists of expertly annotated transcripts of conversations of German scientists taken at Farm Hall after the end of the WWII in Europe. The book is based on the recently de-classified "Farm Hall Transcripts", a revealing set of informative statements which demonstrates the low level of understanding that the German Scientists had of how to build Atomic Bombs. It is written and annotated by an American physicist, so you get some insights as to Heisenberg's mistakes. The book is a refutation of the book "Heisenberg's War" by Thomas Powers, a revisionist history that claims that Heisenberg, Germany's top scientist, really knew how an Atomic Bomb worked, but withheld this information from his colleagues and the German Government.
Heisenberg remains a mystery. He won a Nobel Prize in Physics in the early 1930s for his "Uncertainty Principle" which deals with Quantum Mechanics. Yet despite his brilliance, he sounds pretty ignorant at Farm Hall. Was he faking? I think not. To paraphrase Watergate: the question still is "What did Werner Heisenberg know and when did he know it? At Farm Hall, when he found out about Hiroshima, his ego deflated like an untied balloon. His comments were made at a vulnerable and candid moment. They reveal a knowledge one would expect from someone you picked at random at a shopping mall.
The Manhattan Project was at least as much engineering as science, and Heisenberg was more of a theologian than a nuts 'n bolts guy.
But hey, don't take my word for it. If you are really interested, I recommend this book along with "Heisenberg's War" so you get both sides. Then read "Alsos" by Samuel Goudschmidt, the scientific leader of the famous Alsos Mission, who along with Col. Boris T. Pash ("The Alsos Mission"), followed the allied armies into France and captured Heisenberg and the others. Goudschmidt was a physicist who offered the earliest (1947) and perhaps the most philosophical postmortem on the German A-bomb "program".
A biassed book.......2002-05-15
The author tells an interesting story about some of the most known german physicist and their role in the attempt to produce an atomic bomb. Unfortunatelly he does not tell the pure facts, he gives his personal interpretation on each comment made by the germans and tries to make you think that they wanted to produce a bomb at any cost, that one of the most famous physicist, Heisenberg, did not know enough nuclear physics and that everything Heisenberg said, was just to hide his failure. A biassed book.
A startling and sobering set of documents.......2001-03-19
Toward the end of World War II, ten German nuclear physicists were captured by American and British forces and sent to Farm Hall, An English country house near Cambridge for six months. While there they were interrogated about Germany's nuclear research. Farm Hall was a comfortable prison, but it was bugged and their every word was secretly monitored by British agents. Now in a revised and updated second edition, Hitler's Uranium Club: The Secret Recordings At Farm Hall is a complete collection of transcripts made from those secret recordings in 1945. Expertly annotated by Jeremy Bernstein and put in context by Bernstein (and with an informative introduction by David Cassidy). This startling and sobering set of documents provide an insight into the thoughts and feelings of these ten scientists as they considered the destruction of the Third Reich, the failure of their beloved "German Physics", and the roles they played in the Nazi war effort. Hitler's Uranium Club is a unique, informative, invaluable, and at times unsettling contribution to World War II studies.
Book Description
Ever notice that the upper 20 percent of salespeople tend to close more than 80 percent of the sales? Since 1940, Secrets of Closing Sales has helped thousands of salespeople rise to the top. Now in its seventh revised edition, this classic bestseller has been updated to meet the challenges of today's competitive and changing sales environment. With detailed coverage of new selling methods, innovative strategies, and a treasury of real-life examples, this book will teach you, step by step, how to:
• Read a prospect's unspoken signals
• Combat objections such as “I'll think it over” or “Your price is too high”
• Ask for more than you really need—and get it
• Uncover your buyer's hidden weakness—and overcome it
Highlighted by actual case histories that demonstrate these successful selling strategies and techniques, Secrets of Closing Sales is the one tool that sales professionals—whether veterans or newcomers—need to double or even triple their current income.
Customer Reviews:
You Won't Be Inspired Here.......2006-03-09
This is an OK book about sales. It sort of reminds me of the information I would get if I was talking to an average but intellectualized salesman. You can always learn something. An endorsement from a reviewer below is taken from Marketing Times, but maybe the reviewer is unaware that Roy Alexander (the author) was the editor of this journal. Feel my pain and read this book.
Three Stars
word nerd reviewer.......2005-02-27
I am writing this rebuttal to a previous reviewers misconception of the english language.
Dear reviewer who wrote about niggardly:
Before passing judgement and assuming on words how about picking up a dictionary. Text Book definition of niggardly: reluctant to spend or grant, stingy.
For future reference, reading allows you to articulate rescripts better in sales.
Comments from Marketing Times and Entrepreneur.......2005-01-11
With Secrets the reader gets Coach Torres right over the shoulder. This best-selling sales book helps salespersons make all the good calls all the time, buttressed with proof-positive case-in-pointers --- Marketing Times
If I'd had this book a year ago I'd be on a yaght -- or thinking about buying one. In a warm, lead-by-the-hand style, Alexander has been ther, done that - and that means implementing a fail-safe system of selling that rocks bottom lines for any business or serivce. ---Entrepreneur
A Better Title for a Good Book.......2004-07-23
This is a resource for a salesman with a few years in the field. The proper title should be
Should be called Secrets of Closing Sales in the 1950's.......2002-10-25
Very outdated material. The book is completely disjointed and is an insult to professional sales people. The book uses outdated jargon and actually used the word "niggardly" to discribe a situation in the book. That word has been and should be scrapped years ago. Aside from a brief portion at the beginning of the book, I assume the revised portion of the book, the rest of the book is tough to read and outdated for today's sales professional. I can't believe some one actually recommended this book to me!
Book Description
What conceptual states do you have and 'never leave home without'? What attitudes do you seem to take everywhere you go? Do you tend to think optimistically? Do you tend to see the dark side of things? When we have recourse to such high level states of mind, we access a 'place' or 'attitude' that has more influence and more power than just an everyday frame of mind. These states-upon-states, or Meta-states, govern our experience. So what if you had the ability to alter those Meta-states, and the executive powers that lie at the higher levels of your mind? Secrets of Personal Mastery enables you to access your executive levels and take charge of your mental-emotional programming. Treating mind as an emergent process of our entire mind-body-emotion system, this book teaches you that it is not so much what you are thinking that controls your destiny and experiences, but how you're thinking your frames of reference determine your experience of life. To achieve your personal mastery, this book guides you through various Thought Experiments that work upon your 'executive' mind powers. As you partake in these processes you will enter into the higher management of your own mind at all its levels, and that will prepare you for the ultimate development of excellence accessing your personal genius. Exploring the structures that now organise and govern the very basis of your life, Secrets of Personal Mastery takes you through a course 're-structuring' that addresses: the mind and emotion; the excellence of expertise; the tragedy of complacency; identity and existence; madness and genius; language and semantics; procedures and magic; the mind-muscle connection; personal and interpersonal development.
Customer Reviews:
Good theory but no practice.......2006-11-10
The book is good on theory. But weak in examples of real use. You can have sometimes a sensation of understand. But, don't know how to put it in practice. Next edition may be... five stars for theory and zero for none examples. Three stars is good.
Man who edits own work has a f o o l for an..........2003-12-07
It took me a while to figure out why this great communicator's books are panned for their writing - sometimes you have to read between reviewers' lines to understand comments like: "This book was written by Michael Hall... need I say more? Yet it is useful." Yet? Oh, I see.
Unfortunately, I learned the expensiv e-way on this item. "Hard" reading indeed! Perhaps the man knows how to communicate (since his Games Business Experts Play actually does)... it's just not his intent to demonstrate that ability in most titles. :(
There is a collection of a dozen or so reviewers who find themselves able to read almost any of Michael's titles and benefit. [?They are apparently skilled at going into trance and instantly comprehend Meta-Speak(TM)?] Only one brave, lonely soul has had the audacity to make such a claim for THIS title.
Save your money. Actually, there's a huge caveat emptor for ALL books from "Crown House" publishing: it's owned (and apparently edited) by Michael. "A Ph.D. does not an editor make." Once you have mastered (MASTERED!) Joseph O'Connor's Introducing Neuro-Linguistic Programming (one of the few NLP books where the goal seems to be reader comprehension rather than just seminar-promotion by an NLP trainer), THEN you might consider reading Dr. Hall (still NOT the present title of his). Whether or not business is your interest, you might then consider reading Hall's Games Business Experts Play. It one of few that makes sense - and it tells you where Hall is coming from, including the fact that he is playing the "Success Game" - a game that does not always include the "Give Your Customer Top Benefits" game.
If you have also thrown dollars after this book and are happy about it, please amaze me with details of what you actually comprehended by reading it... and sharing that in these reviews. [Offer not good for people trained (mesmerized?) by Michael's seminars or for cronies who have published with his company or where taxed or regulated.]
Obscured by jargon; prerequisite: 5 years speaking meta-NLP".......2003-12-01
Given his credentials and accolades from peers, I wanted to get Dr. Hall's latest insights. Other reviewers said it right - LABORIOUS to slug through. If I want to communicate with my "Executive Self" must I learn an entire lexicon of meta-jargon first?
When I finally unearth the exercises they seem to involve little more sophistication than the average well-written book on self-hypnosis. No huge revelations from the "secrets" of "mastery" via NLP.
I kept struggling through the interminable meta-meta-metas waiting for some awesome "secrets" to reveal "higher level" tools of self-programming. But I am left with the puzzle: is this the best that cutting edge NLP has to offer? If NLP has powerful tools to offer, if Dr. Hall breakthroughs in "meta-states" offers "significant and critical contributions," their successful transmission to the (even well-educated) public requires someone with mastery of pen and ink.
Dr. Hall: please hire a ghost writer - if your INTENTION is to grab and hold our ATTENTION (not to mention make it comprehensible).
If you believe in NLP for communicating with master parts of your self, do you not believe it fitting to find effective tools for communicating with your readers? Might not clear, efficient communication be worth considering?
Very useful but hard work.......2002-12-27
Michael Hall`s books are for people who are interested in cutting edge ideas. You couldn`t honestly claim they`re well written but you won`t find this information elsewhere. I have read Secrets of Personal Mastery many times and I`m still learning about my thinking patterns, changing my meta-states, adapting my thinking, forgiving mistakes I make yet trying to improve over time. I think this book is one that you will need to return to, if you are to get a lot from it. Mastery does not come easily nor quickly.
If spelling mistakes or grammatical errors really put you off then this isn`t the book for you. He writes for an audience with at least a fair understanding of NLP and ideally Meta-states too. I still think you could benefit from this book without that knowledge but some parts of the book might be difficult.
To be honest, I really like this book - it is difficult but each time I return to it I feel I`m learning something and this is a very rare occurrence with NLP books nowadays. It is definitely one of my top 5 NLP related books. I use it a lot to assess how I`m doing, how I might improve etc.
Poor Writing From a Linguist.......2002-09-09
Pearls of wisdom there may be, but they're buried within some of the most painfully poor writing I've ever seen. Here's a passage from page 62:
We can quickly and succinctly summarize the two private powers as our thoughts-and-feelings. In thinking and emoting we collect up all of our cognizing--i.e. thinking, information processing, valuing, believing, making decisions, understanding, etc. . . .
If you don't like seeing italics spilled carelessly on every page of a book, don't buy this one.
His ideas might be all right, but he needs more than an editor--he needs a ghostwriter.
Book Description
More than 1,000 years ago, the people of Iga, the mountainous region of Japan, were forced to rise up against their merciless Samurai oppressors. Out of this struggle, nine traditions of the ninja arts grew. The ninjas' strength enabled the mind to believe it was the master of its fate. This power is known as ninjitsu.
In his groundbreaking books Knights of Darkness and Mind Manipulation, Dr. Haha Lung has shown the ultimate power of controlling the mind of your enemy. In The Nine Halls of Death he reveals the mystical power of overcoming your opponent's body through the Japanese art of ninjitsu. Dr. Lung reveals the secret to mastering all nine "halls" (training areas) of the ninja; from unarmed combat and combat with various weapons to the mental crafts of stealth and spying.
Dr. Lung guides you through such invaluable ninjitsu techniques as:
- The art of disguise; physical and mental discipline
- The Seventh Hall; the art of Espionage
- Mastering self and others through hand yoga (kuji-kiri) and upsetting balance (in-yo-jutsu)
- The art of mysticism (which include memory enhancement, visualization, and even self-hypnosis).
By unlocking the ancient secrets of the masters, the modern fighter will learn to unleash the warrior within and discover the magical point where physical mastery melds with mental clarity.
Books:
- The Situation Is Hopeless, but Not Serious (The Pursuit of Unhappiness)
- The Spy Wore Red: My Adventures as as Undercover Agent in World War II
- The Trouble With Physics: The Rise of String Theory, the Fall of a Science, and What Comes Next
- Three Plays: Desire Under The Elms, Strange Interlude, Mourning Becomes Electra
- Treks Not Taken: What If Stephen King, Anne Rice, Kurt Vonnegut, and Other Literary Greats Had Written Episodes of Star Trek : The Next Generation?
- Undressed: The Naked Truth about Love, Sex, and Dating
- Up Close and Dangerous: A Novel
- What A Lady Wants
- White Lies: A Tale of Babies, Vaccines, and Deception
- 25 Ways to Win with People: How to Make Others Feel Like a Million Bucks
Books Index
Books Home
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