Book Description
Known as the father of the new science of positive psychology, Martin E.P. Seligman draws on more than twenty years of clinical research to demonstrate how optimism enchances the quality of life, and how anyone can learn to practice it. Offering many simple techniques, Dr. Seligman explains how to break an “I—give-up” habit, develop a more constructive explanatory style for interpreting your behavior, and experience the benefits of a more positive interior dialogue. These skills can help break up depression, boost your immune system, better develop your potential, and make you happier..
With generous additional advice on how to encourage optimistic behavior at school, at work and in children, Learned Optimism is both profound and practical–and valuable for every phase of life.
Customer Reviews:
Life-changing material.......2007-09-28
I have read 30 self-psychology/motivational books, and this is by far the best! The author presents an entirely different approach to changing your outlook. He shows the reader how to apply the psychological concepts of Cognitive Therapy to his/her own situation.
Finally, someone who does not just say to blindly be an optimist! He teaches you to become a REALIST, by showing you the tools to realize what a situation really is. Sometimes it's bad, but that does not mean that you are bad, or that it is necessarily your fault. Beliefs are the key to the equation. If you believe that you are the cause of everything bad in your life, or that you are helpless to change your situation, then you will become depressed. He helps you to interupt the equation of Action-Belief-Consequence, and look at it from a fresh, objective standpoint.
The only bad thing I have to say is that the middle of the book is a little dry. That is the area where he is supporting his claims with proven research. This part of the book is important to convince a more cerebral reader, and to separate his fact-based book from the litany books written during this self-help/motivational revolution that are all bells and whistles. So, it does serve a purpose.
Learned Optimism.......2007-09-26
This book has really changed my way of thinking. It is written so convincing and in such a language, that even a foreigner living in Spain can understand it. For me the book gives a new definition of the expression "if there is a will, there is always a way". Many thanks, André
Excellent book about optimism and pessimism.......2007-09-08
This excellent book contrasts pessimism and optimism in a compelling manner. It serves as an excellent eye opener, particularly for the individual with a negative explanatory style who is prone to depression. The book is also invaluable for the unrealistic optimist who believes they will find a parking spot just by thinking about it. Well balanced, well researched, and well presented, this book should be on the bookshelf of every family.
In addition, I unequivocally recommend Optimal Thinking: How to Be Your Best Self, a classic book that reveals to the reader the language of the best self. Optimal Thinking empowers you to balance optimism and pessimism with optimal realism (making the most of what is). These books in combination enable you to make the most of your thinking and life.
Great Book!.......2007-09-06
Great book that changed my life into positive way. Another motivating book that I higly recommend - How to be a Super Hot Woman: 339 Tips to Make Every Man Fall in Love with You and Every Woman Envy You
Information From Forty Years Ago.......2007-08-22
I can only assume the readers who raved about this book are young and have never read any basic self-help books before, because virtually everything in this book is at least forty years old. For anyone who has taken Psych 101, seen a therapist, or read anything on positive thinking, this book is of no value whatsoever.
For those who want to save money and time, the author suggests we Look On The Bright Side Of Life except in devastatingly traumatic situations where it might be inappropriate.
That's it.
If you want to find actual help, track down an old copy of You Can't Afford The Luxury Of A Negative Thought, which is written without rhetoric, with humor, and gives wonderful insights that really do help.
This book is woefully outdated, pedantic, and useless.
Book Description
Dr. Dan Baker, director of the Life Enhancement Program at Canyon Ranch, has devoted his life to teaching people how to be happy. And apparently, most of us could use a little tutoring. Research has shown that the root of unhappiness--fear--lies in the oldest, reptilian part of our brains, and negative reactions are often dictated by primal instincts. We're literally "hardwired for hard times." In What Happy People Know, Dr. Baker uses evidence from the new science of happiness to show us how we can overcome this genetic predisposition toward negative reactions and lead a truly rich, happy, and healthy life.In this book, Dr. Baker shares the program that has revolutionized the lives of countless unhappy people, VIP's and regular Joes and Janes alike. First, you'll learn the only two issues that ever cause unhappiness and devise your plan to overcome both of them. Then, Dr. Baker teaches you how to spot the happiness traps, the five doomed ways we try to make ourselves happy, only to dig ourselves further into misery. Finally, he shares his happiness tools, the six simple skills that, when practiced consistently, will inevitably lead to greater optimism, courage, good humor, and fulfillment--in short, to happiness.
Customer Reviews:
A Realistic Prescription for Happiness.......2007-08-22
This book falls within a self-help sub-category that deals with happiness issues in a realistic, almost "tough love" style. I'm thinking of two other simlarly styled works - Resilience: Discovering a New Strength at Times of Stress, by Frederic Flach and Grow Up!: How Taking Responsibility Can Make You A Happy Adult, by Frank S. Pittman. These works present happiness not as some idealized, feel good, eternal emotion, but as a state that is achieved through discipline, diligence and responsibility, despite and even becuase of the crises and challenges that come upon us. This is in stark contrast to some of the other happiness prescriptions written by other books that promote affirmations, positive thinking and some downright corny activities.
Baker decribes the 6 happiness tools that he employs in his own life and tries to get his clients at the Canyon Ranch Lie Enhancement Program to apply. He describes the need for the intellect and spirit to override the functions of the reptilian brain, which is still mired in our survivalist flee-or-fight past, and tends to lead us into fear based, and therefore debilitating, responses to life's challenges. The number one antidote to fear is appreciation, as a from of love for people and things in our life, because the two - fear and appreciation - can not neurologically co-exist in the mind.
In addition, Baker delves into the five traps that lead people astray when trying to find authentic happiness, and ulimately cause them to spiral into unhappiness, anxiety and depression. The tragic stories of some of his patients can be jolting but they bring home the point that happiness is not a polyanna achievement but rather something that comes from the very nature of struggle and suffering within the human condition, given the proper attitudes and approach.
Increase in happiness level!.......2007-05-05
I read self improvement books quite often. But I just couldn't seem to put this particular book down! It's opened up my eyes to a lot of the things most people aren't aware of. So many of us are enslaved to society's expectations and have become "lost souls." Everything is routine and the happiness through material things eventually dies out. This book helps you to realize and maintain true happiness. What YOU really want and all the possibilities you have out there. It's definitely changed the way I perceive things in certain situations. I now catch myself when I feel fearful and think back on some of the things Dan Baker has mentioned in this book. Surprisingly, it is one of the best books I've read. It is life-changing. =)
What Unhappy People Need To Know.......2007-04-08
Dr. Baker writes about the science of happiness in a very understandable down-to-earth style that also weaves in humor, pathos, ethics, and the relatively new paradigm of positive psychology. He writes a lot about how fear governs our thinking and actions. In a cardiac rehab unit, he encountered people who were focused on money and status. He states,"You wouldn't want to be a mugger sticking a gun in those guy's ribs and demanding, 'Your money or your life'-they'd spend all day deciding." The book offers a detailed "action plan" that distinguishes between "happiness tools' and "happiness traps." It is a blueprint away from what he calls "the lesser life" to what he refers to as "the emotionally enhanced life." "What Happy People Know" could also be titled "What Unhappy People Need To Know."
Suprised! :).......2006-11-22
I have to admit, I picked up this book in a book club signup. I half expected it to be one of the gimicky "secrets to happiness" books. What I found was completely different. In general I am an optimistic person, but I have my downtimes, as everyone does. This book put a lot of that into perspective, and also helped me understand a lot of people. Not only did it help me realize how I could be a happier person, it helped me let go of a lot of the stresses I normally put on myself.
I've now reread this book three times, and am starting it for the fourth. I have given it to 3 different people as presents. To me, this book was no gimmick, it provides some self introspection and guidance that is long needed by many people in this world. It looks at a more scientific side of happiness, yes there is still some psychology to it, but it shows how all the freudian and psychological tricks dont always come into play. We have power over our own happiness, and we dont just have to "force" ourselves to be happy. Its not about fake smiles, its about understanding and perspective.
If you are looking for ways to reduce your stress and generally just become a happier person, and are open to change, check out this book.
A Life-Changing Book.......2006-10-20
This book has changed my life - and I'm only half way through it. Dr. Baker engages and entertains by writing in a conversational style sharing inspirational experiences and insights. The book takes a "positive psychology" approach teaching the reader what actions one should take to be happy and suggests that simply talking at length about a person's problems in a private office can't get you as far as going out and taking action. He says love is the answer - we should practice altruism, appreciation, and forgiveness. This great book is easy reading but unbelievably interesting and thought-provoking. It's a slightly taller and wider paperback, easy to hold and highlight. The author has given me courage to face life in all its roughness, saying that Happy People know there will still be hard times but they will see the silver lining and peacefully overcome any difficulty. It's a ground breaking book in my opinion.
For perspective here is a little about me: I am 31 years old with a wife and a few kids. I have read numerous self-help and marriage books. My big problem has been with toxic criticism, a generally negative outlook I have about myself and by extension everything and everyone around me. But an open mind, six sessions with a great marriage counselor, and this book have equally contributed to a gradual process of turning my life around. I hold this book in even higher regard than my former all time favorite self-help book, "As a Man Thinketh" by James Allen. I am happy I found "What Happy People Know".
Average customer rating:
- Feng Shui - Simplified!
- Well written and easy to understand
- Full of facts, well written
- Rave Reviews for this book
- A lot of Nonsense
|
Move Your Stuff, Change Your Life : How to Use Feng Shui to Get Love, Money, Respect and Happiness
Karen Rauch Carter
Manufacturer: Fireside
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Clear Your Clutter With Feng Shui
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Feng Shui for Dummies
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Fast Feng Shui: 9 Simple Principles for Transforming Your Life by Energizing Your Home
ASIN: 0684866048 |
Book Description
Promising health, wealth, and happiness, feng shui offers endless appeal -- at least in concept. Unfortunately, feng shui's seemingly complicated methods are often difficult to learn and apply in a meaningful way. Fortunately, Move Your Stuff, Change Your Life is written in plain and simple English for the modern Western reader. Revealing the ancient Chinese secrets that are as useful and necessary today as they have been for centuries, Move Your Stuff, Change Your Life communicates how to:
* MEET "THE ONE"
* FIND A DREAM JOB
* EARN BETTER GRADES IN SCHOOL
* ENJOY A BETTER SEX LIFE
Customer Reviews:
Feng Shui - Simplified!.......2007-07-10
This book makes feng shui easy and fun! Karen Rauch Carter uses the Black Hat style which is a very simple, but effective, form of feng shui. With this book you don't need a compass, pendulum or certified feng shui expert, in order to enjoy the benefits of this timeless art. You'll be able to start making changes to your home, and your life, immediately with the easy to follow instructions that are provided.
Inside, you will find a chapter for each of the 9 sections of the Bagua. Immediate action items and a short summary are provided at the end of each chapter, which can be referred to over and over. Karen will keep you entertained though out the entire book with her quirky sense of humor! She also provides loads of examples and stories of how feng shui can improve your life. I am an antique dealer, by trade, and I own my own business. I can honestly say that after decluttering my laundry room (my prosperity area) and painting it a pretty shade of lavender, I immediately noticed and increase in sales at my shop!
Just A Tip: Make sure you read chapter 12 before you start making changes in your home, the affirmations in this chapter will make all of your actions much more effective!
Well written and easy to understand.......2007-05-20
This is probably on the top five list of good feng shui books that I've ever read. Very informative and easy to understand and follow. It's really put together nicely.
While I do think there is definately something to harmonizing the energy around you, I don't think that moving your stuff is any guaranteed way to bring a certain thing to yourself. I have a love/hate relationship to books like this. I find some really good ideas, and some I think are silly and just don't work. I know that there are other issues involved. -Like what's in a person's birth chart for example. If someone is having a difficult planetary aspect in their money house, then, no amount of moving furniture/furnishings is going to change that aspect. Although, I do think it COULD help the person deal with it better. By moving something, it could represent a shift in how one has arranged or re-arranged their thinking about the problem. So, in that way, I think it could have a beneficial side.
I found many interesting things in this book, for example, in my helpful people/travel section of my home, that's where I already have the computer (World wide web) and I just happened to have a world map there. I found a lot of other helpful information too.
This is a fun and interesting book, and it's not gonna hurt anything to give something a try afterall. Just see what works for you.
Full of facts, well written.......2007-04-12
Excellent explanations and suggestions without getting bogged down in thousands of years of history. Written in 21st century speak with humor and intelligence. The best Feng Shui book in my bookcase (I have a few) -topping Lilian Too's series. Even tells you the anecdote when the sink is in your romance corner!
Rave Reviews for this book.......2007-04-03
I LOVED this book, and I am having so much fun with this, I have completely redecorated my home, using mostly stuff I already had, and all my friends are commenting "What have you done?" "It feels different in here" and "Everything seems to flow better". I hung a cutglass windchime in my missing "family" space to energize the space as recommended, and within minutes my youngest daughter called me. Amazing! And so much FUN! Now I am waiting for my romance energy to imporove!
A lot of Nonsense.......2007-03-19
I purchase several feng shui books and this one was the easiest to understand. However, nothing happened after purchasing several hundred dollars of feng shui items. Instead it seems bad things were happening to me. I junked all the stuff. I think it's total nonsense and more like witchcraft...stay away from it.
Book Description
Most people can think of a time when their lives changed in just a few moments. Over the next seven days, you will experience dozens of those moments, and the resulting changes in your life will positively affect your happiness, success, and well-being for years to come.
Paul McKenna has helped millions of people to quit smoking, lose weight, increase their self-confidence, and change their lives. He is well aware that even small changes can make a huge difference. For years, he has consistently astounded his audiences and clients with his ability to cure lifelong phobias in less than an hour and clear up deep-seated issues in just a few days. Now, Paul McKenna will show you how to use his time-tested, state-of-the-art techniques to help you break through your limitations, release your true potential, and become a happier, more confident, and powerful person.
Paul McKenna has studied many highly successful and effective people around the world and discovered that success and happiness are not accidents that happen to some people and not to others—they are created by deliberate ways of thinking and acting. In this highly practical and engaging book, he distills the core strategies and techniques of the super-achievers into an amazing life makeover that will help you to think and act more positively and confidently, and noticeably improve your life in as little as one week.
• Would you like to make more money and be more successful?
• Would you like to have more energy and feel happier every day?
• Would you like to start living the life of your dreams?
Paul McKenna helps us to integrate powerful new “software” into our minds, using his unique combination of checklists, exercises, informative sidebars, and anecdotes from people who have used this program successfully. Filled with encouraging advice and carefully crafted exercises based on the amazing mind-control techniques he has developed over many years, Change Your Life in Seven Days is designed to help you make a small yet monumental shift that will, over time, lead you to a brighter and more successful future.
All it takes is seven days to turn our lives in a positive new direction. This book will take you there.
Customer Reviews:
Practical Techniques for Change.......2007-04-10
I expected much more from this book , however there were some very practical techniques that were useful for living successfully.
Life change made possible.......2007-01-31
I started to use a review title of "Life change made easy", but that just wouldn't be true really. You still have to work at it if you want to change your life. However, I did find this book to be both interesting and useful. It was interesting as it provided a different perspective on change than I had previously encountered and it was useful because you could actually try the different techniques to see if they work.
The author's use of imagining is very powerful and can be done with the book, however, you will probably have to read through the imaginations multiple times before you can actually do it effectively. When you can go through the process without interruption (to read the next step), you'll be amazed at how it impacts your sense of being.
I enjoyed the book and hope you will too.
Tom Carpenter, Senior Consultant - SYSEDCO
Helping IT Professionals Succeed
This book does not contain a CD.......2007-01-24
I ordered this book because I mistakenly thought it was the hardcover version of Paul McKenna's "Change Your Life in Seven Days" paperback published by Bantam Press. The paperback and hardcover may contain the same text (both are 256 pages), but only the paperback version contains an audio CD. This harcover version does not contain a CD, but shows you where to download the audio online.
Other than being miffed that I didn't get a CD with this hardcover, I am a big fan of Paul McKenna. His audio trances really work for me.
Make your own mind up.......2006-08-03
Pay no attention to the vitriol of the english reviewer below. McKenna won his court case against claims that he knowingly bought his doctorate from a disreputable university. He also won a previous case brought against him. And if you have Sky TV, he is on TV over the last year with shows about confidence, fat loss etc. His reputation in the UK is pretty good.
A good read from a great motivator.......2006-07-31
I enjoyed reading this book McKenna is great at motivating you to change your life and provides very common sense approaches working on you from the inside. It is not a great book that will radically change your life but it is a good book with good advice, it is a mixture of cognitive psychology and self hypnosis. Here are a couple of great quotes from the book:
The changes that matter most are more often changes in perception than changes in the world outside us. And we can change the way we perceive in a heartbeat.
Your experience of life is primarily affected by the perspective you view it from. Depending upon the meaning we give to situations or events,we will feel and behave differently.
If you like these quotes and you think thinking this way will help you buy the book. If you think this is common sense search else where.
Book Description
"Intuition isn't mystical. It's a sort of background sense of how things should work; it's facts hidden in the brain. Intuition is logic. Laura Day guides you step by step through a systematic approach to getting in touch with this important faculty." (Dr. James Watson, Nobel Laureate and co-discoverer of DNA)
What if a single wish could change your life? It can-if you know how to use it to harness energy within and all around you that you never knew existed. This is the promise of Laura Day's The Circle.
The Circle shows readers how one carefully crafted wish can serve as a match to ignite potent and lasting transformation in their lives. Each of the book's three sections features exercises that lead readers to discover the hidden potential in themselves, in others, and in the surrounding universe. By the end of The Circle, readers will know how to use their own wishful thinking as a force for powerful change.
Customer Reviews:
One Focused Wish Can Change A Life.......2007-08-13
This little book is a gem! It is concise and direct to the point. In addition it is simple. Author Day has written this small book that far outshines The Secret and simplifies all the other 'get rich' books. Esoteric teachings and metaphysical teachings have been teaching this for eons. It takes a deep desire to change and in order to create a new reality, one must practice, practice, until the camera of the mind has the perfect picture. For wishes to come true, one must not allow doubt or fear creep in. Bettye Johnson, award-winning author, Secrets of the Magdalene Scrolls.
A life changing book.......2007-07-26
Too often, books that promise life transformation say that if you change the way you think, your life will change. Many of us have tried that method and failed in the long run, thinking we were doing something wrong. This book reads easily, but contains within its pages a very practical, realistic and holistic approach to changing your life that goes above and beyond positive thinking and affirmations. As with anything, the process brings up your blocks, but what you learn and integrate along the way just enriches your life and makes life more joyful and fun. I heartily recommend this book for anyone seeking a heartfelt wish that they'd love to see come true. What I also love about this book is that there is a community that supports each other on the web([...]).
What "The Secret" Wishes it Was!.......2007-07-17
The Circle is life changing. It provides the "how to" missing from publications like "The Secret". This book is an easy read, but if the reader is willing to commit to the work -- WATCH OUT. Your life will never be the same.
Awesome.
Wishes Come True Because of YOU.......2007-03-16
One wish ... that is all you need ... to work your energy like a laser to make it come true. The Circle explains the phenomenon once considered magic or metaphysics. This is a book on what do you from the inside out to get out of your own way and recalibrate your system towards a chosen reality. When you subconcious and conscious mind blend together ... it creates the kind of focus you need to direct all your energy into the life you truly desire. No woo-woo, no wizardry, no magical thinking, just plain old intention, action, and healthy surrender.
thought-provoking.... a catalyst for change.......2007-03-05
When I knew it was time for change in my life, I began searching for ways to make those changes manifest. I needed to reconnect with my true self and find answers. This book assisted me in my process. It served as further enhancement to another book (Islands of the Soul: A Guide to Personal Truth and Happiness) that I read at about the same time. Sometimes we all need some gentle reminders as to the desires of the deepest part of ourselves.
Average customer rating:
- Kind of a yawn
- Inspirational
- Read and Reread - Full of Wisdom
- Your Life is Your Gift to the World
- Do it and see the result in your Life!
|
How to Change Your Life
Ernest Holmes , and
Michael Beckwith
Manufacturer: HCI
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Psychology & Counseling
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ASIN: 1558746862 |
Book Description
Ernest Holmes's rational, lucid explanation of why our thoughts have power will instruct readers on how they can change their lives by changing their thinking. "The wisdom of God is within you, and you can use it to improve your life." How to Change Your Life presents: ideas on life and God essential to contemporary spiritual understanding how science and spirituality have merged and what that means for you step-by-step instructions on how to use Science of Mind to improve your experience of life These principles, along with techniques for applying them, are thoroughly described in this book. If readers are ready to positively jumpstart their lives, this is the book that can help them do it.
Customer Reviews:
Kind of a yawn.......2007-08-05
Unlike many others who read this book, I found the presentation pretty boring. The thoughts are great but the book was, to me, dull.
Inspirational.......2007-06-13
This book was "The Secret" written several years ago. I believe this book can inspire you to really use your mind, heart and soul to reach your goal, whatever it may be, without losing site of our Creator.
Read and Reread - Full of Wisdom.......2007-04-19
This book, not unlike all of Ernest Holmes books, is instructional in nature and makes a case for using your mind to get what you want. It's not alot of metaphysical mumbo-jumbo. This stuff works. I read the book all the way through and now I keep it by my nightstand and read sections every night to help me with a situation I may be facing. My life is better for having read this book.
The book that got me started down this path is , The Secret by Rhonda Byrne The Secret. Start here and you will eventually come to know Ernest Homles as the father of the Science-Thought-Mind connection and the Law of Attraction How to Change Your Life.
I am a devout Christian and have given my life to Christ. I assure you that this will only enhance your belief in God and the power of creation.
Buy this book and then post your own comments. I know you'll be motivated to tell other people - what a great source of personal success stories - Amazon feedback!
Your Life is Your Gift to the World.......2006-05-21
This is a great book and yet I have a little bit of a problem with it. It's really insignificant, but it still kind of bothers me and that is, the title of the book. You can't change your life. Now hear me out before you think I'm being pessimistic; you can't change your life because your life is essentially that which cannot change. Your life is God Itself...Spirit...it is that which cannot change. Now, by all means you can realign your thinking and by changing your perspective on life it will appear as though your life is changing but only because now you are in alignment...in agreement with what God was ALREADY providing you with; a life that is BEAUTIFUL, RICH, and WONDERFUL; a life where EVERY MOMENT is an opportunity to express Light, extend Love, and experience Life Itself.
I recommend this book because it does help you to remember what we already know within; that we are whole and holy beings living in a whole and holy universe right here and right now.
Ernest Holmes expresses powerful ideas and amazing insights in this book. Is there anything new in it? Mmmmm...let me think...nope, nothing new but nothing new can be added to Truth because Truth is a constant just like God and cannot be changed, cannot be added to, cannot bend to suit our wants and our needs so if you're looking for something to get "bowled over" with, you're looking for something outside of yourself and not willing to go within. And that's okay, but I would rather go within than go without. Besides, if you're not getting excited or enthused about Truth just as Truth then you're really not hearing it or understanding it because Truth should always be setting off fireworks within our minds, hearts, and souls. We should walk away feeling incredible and then ready to live the stuff out because it works if you work it and it'll work even if you don't work it because the universe is always willing to prove to us exactly what we believe.
It's an amazing thing this life we've been given. Let's start today by getting this book and deciding once and for all that we are here to truly live and to live abundantly.
Peace be with all of you...
Do it and see the result in your Life!.......2004-11-21
What can i say about this book, other than, the techniques and affirmations written by Holmes WORKS! I have been exposed to Holmes' work for a few years, but just for casual reading. Recently, I went deeper than just 'reading for knowledge' to living the knowledge.
I was affirming a perfect job with higher salary, and within 1 month, I got a job in another city, and i got a $15,000 increment in salary! (something that a lot of job agents told me is 'impossible' or 'get real'). WHat happened was, my friend called me out of the blue saying his boss suddenly wanted to hire someone with my capability. I sent in my resume, and got an interview. And the old company was having some business changes and decided to split, and I took that as an opportunity to get out. And i went to another city, and got a job immediately.
I also treat my health very often and see great result. I once had a condition, and it healed when I affirmed before i sleep. The next day i woke up, its like there was no condition.
Holmes' work is thick in wisdom for living. If you are interested, also read books by Thomas Troward. Also get "Love and Law" & others by Ernest Holmes.
Book Description
Television host, widely-traveled speaker, and gifted communicator Marilyn Hickey reveals the surprising power and rich benefits of fasting in her 21-day program. The discipline of fasting is little discussed today, but Christians worldwide advocate itboth for its spiritual and physical benefits. Now, Marilyn Hickey personalizes fasting for readers by looking in-depth at its purpose, as well as medical issues and side effects of concern. With a personalized, interactive journal, readers will enjoy positive confessions of faith, Scripture, short teachings, and space for personal notes and reflections. Understanding the importance of total healthspirit, soul, and bodyMarilyn discusses such topics as overeating, overcoming anxiety, depression, and fear. Suggested recipes for fasting meals are also included. Marilyns 21-day program connects the discipline of fasting to achieving stability and building character in everyday lifethings were all advocates for.
Customer Reviews:
Understanding fasting.......2007-05-22
This book has inspired me to looking into the various fasting methods and apply them to my own life. Fasting for your needs and those of others works, because these are principles from God's Word.
Amazon.com
This is a genius-level piece of writing that manages to blend literary biography with self-help and tongue-in-cheek with the profound. The quirky, early 1900s French author Marcel Proust acts as the vessel for surprisingly impressive nuggets of wisdom on down-to-earth topics such as why you should never sleep with someone on the first date, how to protect yourself against lower back pain, and how to cope with obnoxious neighbors. Here's proof that our ancestors had just as much insight as the gurus du jour and perhaps a lot more wit. De Botton simultaneously pokes fun at the self-help movement and makes a significant contribution to its archives.
Book Description
Alain de Botton combines two unlikely genres--literary biography and self-help manual--in the hilarious and unexpectedly practical How Proust Can Change Your Life.
Who would have thought that Marcel Proust, one of the most important writers of our century, could provide us with such a rich source of insight into how best to live life? Proust understood that the essence and value of life was the sum of its everyday parts. As relevant today as they were at the turn of the century, Proust's life and work are transformed here into a no-nonsense guide to, among other things, enjoying your vacation, reviving a relationship, achieving original and unclichéd articulation, being a good host, recognizing love, and understanding why you should never sleep with someone on a first date. It took de Botton to find the inspirational in Proust's essays, letters and fiction and, perhaps even more surprising, to draw out a vivid and clarifying portrait of the master from between the lines of his work.
Here is Proust as we have never seen or read him before: witty, intelligent, pragmatic. He might well change your life.
Customer Reviews:
A well written and thoughtful book.......2007-05-12
Several friends and I decided to read this book to learn about life. It is thoughtfully written and an entertaining to read. The author has a style of writing that is clear, introspective and interesting. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to learn about themselves and about the world.
N'allez pas trop vite !.......2007-01-15
Yes, don't go so fast...stop, savor and enjoy the many extraordinary pleasures of the ordinary things which are strewn around your everyday life.
This gem of a book is filled with these kind of delightful bon-mots distilled from Proust's life and works. Alain De Botton's entertaining,educating and often illuminating book belongs to a unique genre. It is is part literary criticism, part exploration of Proust's life and work and a part self-help manual.
I gained a lot of perspectives from this book, on topics as varied as
"How to read for myself" to "How to be a better friend". This book also opened up two interesting authors for me ...Marcel Proust and am now itching to read his oeuvre as well as Alain De Botton's body of work (especially his treatise on architecture)
I am sure i will go back to this book from time to time for a dose of some witty and well articulated "life lessons".
Slim but nicely written.......2007-01-12
I have to appreciate Alain de Botton's graceful prose and neat (if somewhat arbitrary) categorizations of human problems. The title is more or less a joke--this is not liable to institute sweeping changes in your life, but may change your perspective on certain matters, which is more or less changing your life, I suppose. It made a very good before-bed book.
Proust and me.......2006-10-20
From being a bit of a science fiction junkie (because there was no sex in it) I've become a bit of a literature junkie. Joseph Conrad probably started it, but the non-SF novels of Philip K Dick had a big influence too. Gradually I've explored Turgenev, Huysmans, ETA Hoffman - as well as more traditional fare such as Dostoevsky, Eliot, Sands ..... (And the less traditional - Anna Kavan, WH Hudson, and so on). But not Proust.
I'm not sure why I picked up 'How Proust Can Change Your Life' - perhaps I was looking for something - anything - that would change my life. I recognise that my view of Proust is entirely coloured by de Botton's view, but even so I am amazed at what I read. It's not that I think there is anything especially good about Proust - a battling, struggling individual who just happened to have a way with words - with lots and lots of them. But I do see so much of myself in Proust. And I can understand why some people don't get it: to see the world the way Proust did (as described by de Botton anyway). For example, to be free of the mask of familiarity that devalues so much of the - no, it's not beauty of the world although that's what de Botton calls it - it's the reality of the world. And yet, if what de Botton is describing is accurate, it is something I share with Proust. And, with that overwhelming view of the world, I can understand why so much of Proust's life was 'degraded', 'diminished', 'withdrawn' - scattered with bursts of escaping but having to return to the seclusion.
Will I read Proust for myself? I am unsure if I can. I am unsure if I will be able to resist. If this book doesn't mean a lot to you on first reading, I suggest you read it again. It's not such a labour to do so. Keep an eye open for surprising views of things, and let me assure you that such sensitivities do exist - although I have no reason why.
The one thing I would have liked with this book is a list of references. Since Proust wrote so much - where do de Botton's quotes come from. There are authors quoted too, without specific refernce to where the quote came.
How de Botton can change your reading of Proust.......2006-10-09
My 2006 reading project was to get through Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time and De Botton's book was a great help at the end.
I love Proust's long meandering dreamy sentences describing the things and people the narrator encounters, but I tend to tune out when Proust explains his theories on how memory works, on how we should appreciate a work of art, of how we should read a book, etc.
De Botton concentrates precisely on the parts of Proust I find most tedious, and in his short book he gives us a sampling of Proust's philosophical approach to life. What's more, De Botton takes pertinent passages in ISoLT and contrasts them with how Proust actually lived his own life. Sometimes Proust writes one way but lives a different way; for example he was a great friend, generous and attentive, but he writes that friendship is a waste of time. Which is his true opinion? Probably not that friendship is a waste of time... But the point is that De Botton breathed life into parts of Proust I previously dismissed, including the last hundred pages where the narrator finally experiences the "how and why" of his life.
I'm always a little suspicious of self-help books. Too often they're written by quacks and sometimes the advice they give can be dangerous. I'm also always open to good advice and De Botton showed to my surprise that Proust is full of genuinely helpful hints on how to live better. I bought How Proust Can Change Your Life because I was interested in Proust not because I wanted to change my life; the helpful hints are a fringe benefit.
Vincent Poirier, Tokyo
Book Description
ARE YOU HOLDING YOURSELF BACK?
Without knowing it, most of us impose limits on our achievement and our happiness by approaching life's problems and challenges with unnecessary pessimism. Now, Dr. Martin Seligman, a pioneer in cognitive psychology and motivational research, tells you how to identify your own self-defeating thought patterns -- and how to harness the powers of your conscious mind to break those patterns.
The Science of Personal Control
Based on years of rigorous research, Learned Optimism examines the importance of "explanatory style" -- the way in which we explain our problems and setbacks to ourselves -- and offers a series of exercises that will help you target unhealthy habits of pessimistic thinking and bring them under your control. More powerful and pragmatic than a simple program of positive thinking, Dr. Seligman's principles of reasoned, flexible optimism will help you:
* Attain maximum personal achievement
* Avoid feelings of helplessness and depression
* Develop a hopeful, healthy outlook
"A Marvelous Achievement!
Learned Optimism blends hard-edged science with practical advice to give us an understanding of how we hold ourselves back and how we can change for the better."
-- Dr. Wayne Dyer
Customer Reviews:
helpful.......2006-11-10
I haven't gotten all the way through it, because there are alot of assignments, where you have to stop the CD. I usually listen in my car, so it's taking me a while to finish. I'd recommend buying the book too, which I haven't purchased yet.
Nothing new or not obvious here.......2006-07-14
It's not that the information insn't correct, but it certainly isn't insightful. This seems like a mental exercise for a professor who just wants to get his name in print. Right away you're in trouble becuase he has you go through an exercise and then rate your optimism to see if this book could help you. if you are low on optimism, you need this book, if you are balanced, you need this book and if you are very optimistic, you still need this book.
My view, try to see things from others perspective and find out what your unique service and contribution is to a given situation and ulitmaley your whole life. The rest will fall into place.
CD on Learned Optimism is good supplement to book.......2005-10-01
If you are interested in how optimism can be learned, Seligman's book/CD is a great resource.
Learned Optimism.......2005-02-06
I received this book about a year ago and I think it is the best self help book on the market. It has been fantastic and has helped me so much by giving me scientifically proven techniques to change the way I look at events or situations.
I use to read a few self help books to stay positive and ended up giving them up as I found they never gave me any help and where filled with 'take care of your self, your precious' and `say these nice things to yourself and you will have a better life'. I suppose that is all well and good but at the end of the day it never really helped me or changed anything. They could never snap me out of a downward spiral however the techniques in this book can. This book gave me concrete ways to help myself in situations where I get emotional or upset and it is something that will always need to be worked on but if you do it then it gets easier and you are in more control and you are a more rational and effective person.
The book is easily understood even though alot of it is scientific and best of all the principals are backed up by studies so the book has validation. All of the principals are pretty basic and leave you feeling `well of course' however they really do help and like most books it brings your attention to things you may already know, but may not apply. If you enjoy going to psychologists and raking up all the bad events of your life and leave with no way to help yourself in these emotional times when you are alone, then you may not appreciate this book. While it is great to get help, it is important to get the right help and understand why something may not be helping you. Cognitive therapy seems to put the responsibility back on the individual, while you may not have chosen the way you choose to perceive your life (usually from parents) it is your responsibility to change this and to make the long term commitment to change.
I have also read 2 other books by Martin Seligman and I also found these great. It is not essential to read all of these books but I found Learned Optimism so interesting, and that I got so much out of reading it and using the techniques that I wanted to see what was included in the other two books. The other books hold similar material however go into greater detail in other ways like talking about the angry person and why they are like that etc... I would recommend any of these books to everyone as there is something there for all, it would probably be best though to start with Learned Optimism.
Great book, but awful audio version!.......2003-07-26
I received this book several years ago and can say it literally changed my life. It gives great advice on how to deal with habitual pessimism and the free-floating anxiety that often accompanies it. I use the techniques in the book and they really do work. My copy is dog-eared and tattered from lots of use!! Thank you Martin Seligman!!!!!!!!
I cannot recommend the audio version. I got it several years after buying the book, thinking it would be a nice refresher. It was so badly done I was amazed. The abridged version of the book is read in a very boring style and LOTS of minutes are wasted in a detailed explanation of how to do a written self-test. I remember thinking "I can just read the instructions, why are they reading all the instructions out loud?" Horrible.
So definitely BUY the book and benefit from it, but SKIP the tape version.
Book Description
In 2004, Carl Schramm, president of the Kauffman Foundation, the world's leading foundation for entrepreneurship, published a groundbreaking essay with a radical premise: that Americans literally have no conception of the secret that truly underlies our economic success, and that for the United States to survive and continue to lead the world's economy, it is imperative we learn to understand and employ that secret.
The secret that has led the American economy to become the world's strongest? Our unparalleled skill as entrepreneurs. As Schramm compellingly shows in this sweeping manifesto, entrepreneurship alone—not anything else—can give America the necessary leverage to remain an economic superpower. Not technology, since everyone now has the same technology, or access to it. Not education—we are years behind other nations in this area. Not basic manufacturing, long since moved overseas from the United States. And not capital markets, now truly global entities.
Drawing on detailed research conducted by the Kauffman Foundation and on his decades of experience as an entrepreneur himself and as a leader and mentor to other entrepreneurs, Schramm persuasively demonstrates in detail what this entrepreneurial imperative means for the way we run universities and foundations, lead companies, make personal job decisions, and even conduct our foreign affairs. The Entrepreneurial Imperative will change not only the way our government, corporations, and nonprofits operate, but also our day-to-day lives as working Americans.
Customer Reviews:
Fresh insight to economic thinking.......2007-01-12
I enjoyed Carl's book. He provides fresh insight among the many economists that all think a like. Carl's insights gave me a fresh perspective on America and what is driving the new economy. I think the book is a required read for anyone managing their own investments, or thinking of a career change.
Everyone Needs Basic Business Skills.......2006-12-22
As a former liberal arts major who picked up my business skills on the fly, I agree with Carl Schramm's contention that entrepreneurial skill development should become a mandatory part of the basic education here in the U.S. While it would have been nice to have learned more about business basics during high school, I think it was too easy to bypass the real world until college was in the rear-view mirror. Now, with the benefit of experience, I wish that my academic experience would have contained some rooting in the entrepreneurial spirit put forward in this book.
With ten years of business ownership now under my belt, I can see the mis-steps that could have been avoided with just a few basic teachings. While I always thought I had "the" idea, I only recently grasped how much earlier my current success could have come if I had leveraged the benefits of others' experiences. This book echoes my personal experience that the power of ideas is substantially strengthened by a collaborative network of people and institutions focused on creating something more. I now see that providing a benefit to a larger group also leads to benefits for me. From that point-of-view, I think Carl Schramm's positions are headed in the right direction.
Mixing it up is a good thing.......2006-12-21
I was taken with Mr. Schramm's challenge to consider how every individual has a part to play in maintaining America's economic strength. While all of us will have different ideas about how to sustain a strong economy, it seems to me that entrepreneurial activities are keeping the innovation engine flowing while politicians and more entrenched institutional structures struggle to keep up.
I look at my own experience in a large company and see that our business could be more strategic and objective-oriented. If we are open to being more entrepreneurial, as Mr. Schramm suggests, smart and fresh ideas for growth and improvement could come from anywhere: our co-workers, our customers, our partners, our vendors.
I see the concept of American entrepreneurialism advocated here as more about providing empowerment to people to shape their own destinies. Looking around the world right now, I'd hope that anyone would agree that we could all use some of that.
Getting The Facts and the Arguments Wrong.......2006-12-19
I was one of the first people to rush out and get this book. I assumed that a book written by the President of the Kauffman Foundation would have important insights into entrepreneurship. Boy, was I wrong!
The book is riddled with inaccuracies. For example, it says that only Israel is a more entrepreneurial country than the United States when the Kauffman Foundation's own research shows only a middling rate of entrepreneurship in the U.S., below that of Peru and Uganda of all places.
In another example, the book says that the current period is the most entrepreneurial in U.S. history, when, in fact, rates of entrepreneurship in the U.S. have been declining for decades.
But it is not just the facts that are a problem. The book's arguments are flawed too. The idea that U.S. foreign policy should focus on entrepreneurship smacks of the 1950s argument that "what's good for General Motors is good for the country". That seems naive, at best.
Similarly, the book is critical of US technology transfer operations. However, we would be hard pressed to improve a system that gave us a company like Google. Dr. Schramm should read the history of Stanford's involvement with Google before he criticize American universities' technology transfer operations.
Finally, the tone of the book is grating. It is both a polemic for entrepreneurship and a PR job for the Kauffman Foundation. Had I wanted that, I could have saved my money and read the materials that the Foundation gives away for free.
Incorrect, Ignorant, Procelytizing.......2006-12-17
I bought this book because it appeared on Economist's list of recommended books. This was a mistake.
This book is written as a pamphlet, and its central theme is the glorification of American Enterpreneurial Capitalism. It is all about American self-glorification.
Unfortunately, this book is a poor pamphlet. Worse, it has got many of its facts plainly wrong. It is amazing that the CEO of the Kauffman Foundation, one of the largest supporters of entrepreneurship research in the US, would be so ignorant of basic research facts, as well as of economic growth in general.
The book defines entrepreneurship as "the process by which one or more people undertake economic risk to create a new organization...". Entrepreneurs, then, are people who take risk to create new organizations. So far so good. Too bad that this definition is not actually used in the book. Only 7 pages later, Schramm states that "Entrepreneurship is a mindset." It is unfortunate that this seems to be the definition that he really uses throughout his book.
A "mindset" is an infinitely pliable definition. Indeed, Schramm appears able to see this "mindset" whenever he so chooses and not see it when he does not care to. Sometimes Schramm's "entrepreneurship" appears to be best described as innovation. In other times he appears to refer to plain initiative, as in the case of those early "entrepreneurial" American university presidents Schramm appears to admire (now, how many new organizations did UC Berkeley president Daniel Coit Gilman start, and how much economic risk did he undertake during the process?).
Schramm reveals some of his ideological undercurrents by stating that there is only one country on this planet more "entrepreneurial" than the US. You guessed it: Israel. According to Schramm, Israel is the most "entrepreneurial" country on this planet.
Too bad that available data on new business foundings, new business ownership, and nascent entrepreneurs does not support Schramm's contention. Much of this data his own foundation has helped create.
It is also astonishing how Schramm ignores some 25-odd years of research by suggesting that "entrepreneurs" are special people who are distinctively different from the mainstream population. Schramm would be well advised to publish his discovery, as he seems to have succeeded where hundreds of researchers have failed over 25 years.
Schramm's argument rests on a few key premises: (1) America is the best country on this planet (except perhaps Israel); (2) American "Entrepreneurial Capitalism" is the best economic model there is (Schramm's model is, in essence, one of uninhibited market capitalism with little or no regulation and minimal government); (3) America should actively export this model to other countries so that World Peace would become possible. This is breathtakingly ideological and naive, given, e.g., the disaster USA has recently inflicted upon Iraq.
The closest equivalent of Schramm's economic model appears to be late 19th-century US. At least he does not hide his admiration of the robber barons of that age.
He gets too many facts wrong to list them all here. He maintains that America invented entrepreneurial capitalism. I wonder if he is familiar with the history of 18th and 19th-century England. Similarly, Tim Berners-Lee might be interested to learn that Americans invented the internet.
As an economist, Schramm comes across as surprisingly ignorant of mainstream economic growth theories. As his pamphlet is all about the creation of economic wealth, it is surprising that productivity does not feature anywhere in his story.
So, how good is Schramm's model? Schramm might be surprised to learn that in Sweden, whose 'socialist model' Schramm surely despises, a child born into low-income family is much more likely to advance to a higher income class during her life than is a child born into a poor family in the US.
In other words, to realize the 'American Dream', so extolled by Schramm, he would be well advised to move to Sweden.
In summary, this book is a waste of time and money. It is not a good source of facts, it does not accurately describe the entrepreneurial phenomenon, and it does not even begin to uncover the factors underlying economic growth.
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