5 comments about The Seeker's Guide (previously published as The New American Spirituality).

1. One Day She'll Darken: The Mysterious Beginnings of Fauna Hodel
   
   I heard about this book..when I heard Oprah Interview Ms. Lessor...I ordered it..I found it to be informative..tying in all the religions..pointing us to our oneness...



2. I am approaching my 50's and one of the first things that changed was my vision. This being such a wonderful book for those in their "wisdom" years, I would like to recommend that it is reprinted and made available in LARGE print. I am really challenged with the fine print and the word congestion on each page. Thank you for the consideration!



3. Nicely written, personal and relevant for anyone "seeking" information on spirituality. It doesn't promise anything but makes a compelling case for meditation. Several tips for meditating are offered throughout the book and a variety of specific meditation practices are available to integrate into your life. I liked that the author understands that changing your daily routine to include meditation takes forgiveness and patience. If it becomes an exercise in obligations too early on, one may be easily discouraged.
   Well done and enjoyable read promoting meditation as part of a spiritual path.



4. This book is extremely hard to read because of the small print--some lines are squeezed together and the print becomes even smaller. The reader needs to be aware that this book is dry and much like a text book. The author concentrates so much time on her lifestory. There are many other books about spirituality that are positive and uplifting for the reader to enjoy.



5. I am about two-thirds into The Seeker's Guide. I read 10 - 20 pages per day. The subject matter is very interesting to me. However, I'm finding the writing tedious. I often re-read exerpts and have difficulty with Ms. Lesser's personal reactions to everything she has experienced. I find myself wanting to know her experiences but not her evaluation. She's traveled a phenomonal path and I'm anxious to learn about her evolvement, relationships, travels and teachers. Just as I begin to have some vicarious experience, I'm thrown off by another personal opinion she has. I find it distracting. To me, it feels like she wrote more for her personal gratification and not so much to assist the reader in a search for spirituality. Still valuable stuff!

5 comments about The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles.

1. This is a great little book with alot of wisdom. I am very happy with my purchase. The transaction, shipping and date of arrival were excellent.



2. If you are in a certain part of your life right now, you'll find the book profound.



3. What a great book. A very fast read. Honest, "tough love" for the stuck creative personality. Some coarse language I could have done without, but lots of sharp insight and effective support for his advice in the telling of his own stories and those of others.



4. This was a great book that a friend recommended to me and I'm glad she did. Sometimes artists get stuck or stagnant and more than once I have found myself "warring" with myself as we sometimes do. This book opened my eyes to some of my creative blocks. Great reading.



5. I cannot rate this book highly enough. It is one to read over and over again. I stumbled upon a copy years ago and each time I pick it up, I learn something new. Many thanks to Steven Pressfield for writing this very valuable, uplifting, "meaning of life" book.

5 comments about ADD-Friendly Ways to Organize Your Life.

1. I've not read the entire book yet, but I already know this book will change my life. (No, it isn't a cure all. We all know there isn't one, though we secretly wish one could be found.)
   
   I just finished reading Chapter 5, "ADD Decision Dilemmas". This chapter wonderfully describes problems I've always classified as "procrastination", but really aren't. I'm 40+ now and being introspective, I've really figured out some of my behavior patterns and partial reasoning for it, but this book really nails it. Not only will this book help you identify those behaviors earlier, it provides suggestions that will help you deal with it!
   
   Being the typical ADDer, I couldn't just read the book cover to cover. I've been skipping around (and this book is wonderfully arranged so that you can). I loved the suggestion about having a few files with labels like "I can't believe I haven't called about this!" and other file titles determined by your reaction to the task. (Chapter 17, Fear of Filing) How lovely! I've started countless piles of "things I need to take care of, and soon", that end up just being shoved in with other junk so I can clear a space... Well, now I've got a new plan for that. I'm going to order the "filing crate on wheels" or similar, also from the book, so that I can create files like "take care of this or I'm screwed". Of course, I still have to work on getting to the 'taking care of it' part. But with better organization, the rest should be easier. I'm sure I'll find a good suggestion or two in the book.
   
   I disagree to some extent with the reviewer that rated the book 3 stars because so many of the suggestions involve others. It is true, there are a lot of suggestions involving others. That isn't the book's weakness; That is just a fact of ADD and of life. Lets face it, having more people around to help us deal and remember is simply handy (especially if they don't also have ADD.) I'm single and live alone. Lots of these suggestions can be adapted. You can make use of helpful people that don't live with you. My sister visits from out of town from time to time, I have friends at work that are understanding, etc. Some suggestions may even be adaptable to remote interactions - telephone conversations and emails. As I read the book, I try to think of how these ideas could be adapted. Don't get me wrong, if another version came out with more suggestions targeted toward singles, I'd buy it again!
   
   Bottom line - if you've struggled with organization/disorganization, get this book! Especially if other organizational books haven't helped you. After all, ADD, like everything, is a matter of degree. Besides, you don't have to be diagnosed with ADD to find techniques crucial to ADDers helpful.



2. Too many books read like the author just copied articles on a subject and crammed them into a so-called book. This was one of those. There just wasn't any helpful information in it and I thought it was a waste of money.



3. These ladies clearly know first hand what it's like to live with ADD by any name. Their approach to the problem is easy to understand and effective in that it teaches you how to work within the limitations of this condition and play to it's positives. A very useful and practical approach.



4. This book addresses the challenges that adults with ADD face every single Day. There is a section in each chapter called: Is this your history? It is if you:
   1. Find that forgetfulness and lack of planning add to your daily stress;
   2. Resort to making an impulsive decision just to get it over with;
   3. Allow people or circumstances decide for you;
   4. Let escape activities interfere with your responsibilities;
   5. Tend to hyperfocus and lose track of time;
   6. Live in crises, reacting to circumstances;
   7. Thinks that everything is a "A" in your priority list;
   8. Rarely step back to consider what really matters;
   9. Have difficult to remember and follow future tasks;
   10. Has a cluttered house, bedroom, or office.
   You will find yourself in the stories related in this book and will find solutions for your problems. I did not give five stars because I do not agree with some "Level Three Solutions-Help from Professionals", but the book is good.



5. This book is a gift to adults with ADD. I have only read 2 chapters and it has already made a big difference in my life. As I read, I recognize myself on each page and then I get suggestions on how to better cope with different issues and situations.If nothing else, this book has given me hope. I strongly recommend it to any adult with ADD. It is a great tool.

5 comments about The Intention Experiment: Using Your Thoughts to Change Your Life and the World.

1. An important book on an important subject. A fabulous book that puts together research and science about the power of thought as a reality-maker.Coupled with another favorite of mine that I use daily,Living The Secret Everyday: My Secret WorkbookI have been on a joyful journey in my life.



2. The book spends all but a few chapters as a reference of all the previous studies done to show that intention and thought does affect our physical world. I've read almost every one of the books written on all those experiments, so it was a bit repetitious. So why another experiment? In the author's own words, "an inordinate number of books have been written about the power of the human being to manifest his or her reality, and while they have served up intuitive truths, they offer little in the way of scientific evidence." Spoken like a true egghead.
   
   We so value the intellect over any other form of knowing, even though in the author's compilation of tests, it showed the heart was higher intelligence than the brain! We let the intellect dominate how we experience reality to the extent that we have obliterated our perspective of common sense. A prime example is a Harvard study costing hundreds of thousands of dollars to show that cheese is the best bait to catch mice. How can our intellect not let us see what already is, unless it is measured by what is provable?
   
   And who can we have do these experiments? The pillars of the scientific community. Guys like Popp: these foremost, leaders in their fields who are hesitant to risk their reputations on any study which might fail, once he has made a name for himself? And these people are supposed to be on the cutting edge? Give me a break. How can anyone respect these people?
   
   What the author and most scientists fail to understand is that we live in a temporal world, but these intuitive truths they want to scientifically prove are eternal. If the scientists don't prove them, do they not exist, or did they prove that their methods are inadequate or their paradigm is insufficient?



3. The Intention Experiment: Using Your Thoughts to Change Your Life and the World
   By Lynne McTaggart
   Lynne McTaggart's first book, The Field: The Quest for the Secret Force of the Universe, documented discoveries in science that link us to a quantum field of energy, which ultimately becomes our manifested reality. Now through her new book she is providing the opportunity for people worldwide to take part in the Intention Experiment. She provides much-needed validation for the possibility of creating a new world through our thoughts. This is a great book that you can actually get involved with in a global way. See [...] Rahasya Poe, Lotus Guide, [...]



4. A couple of chapters into Lynne McTaggart's book, The Intention Experiment, I was disappointed. Bored and disappointed. Two emotions I certainly didn't expect to feel while reading a book on one of my favourite topics, the intersection of science and psi.
   
   It took me a while to figure out why I was feeling like this. It wasn't that the book didn't contain information from scientific studies on esoteric subjects such as meditation and intentions and healing. It did, and those studies in themselves were interesting. The studies presented do make one think about the connections between all living things and the power of the mind to affect matter. I finally realised, however, that I was battling to connect with Lynne's writing style. It reminded me of some students' literature reviews that I used to evaluate when I was an academic as well as of some journal articles that I would be asked to review - competent, don't get me wrong, very competent, but "disconnected". By this, I mean, they would present many scientific facts and figures, lists of studies and results, but ultimately not tie these together in any coherent way to give the literature review a sense of continuity and a central critical argument (possible, even when one is trying to fairly present both sides of a debate).
   
   I persevered with The Intention Experiment, however, and it did get better. By the time the final two or three chapters came round, linkages between sections and a critical viewpoint were emerging.
   
   The last section of the book presents some very practical guidelines related to setting and sending an intention. I found these very helpful and probably enjoyed this section, which applied the results of the scientific studies to very specific exercises, the most. The book is further linked to Lynne's website (www.theintentionexperiment.com), where you can join a community, discuss your own and others' experiences as well as participate in ongoing group intention experiments.
   
   My criticisms above notwithstanding, I am still very grateful to Lynne McTaggart (and all the scientists mentioned in her book) for their continued work to understand the nature of the universe and to make it accessible to everyone.



5. Easy to read, Very powerful and enlightening on how our intention can affect our lives and everyone around us.

5 comments about The Secret Gratitude Book.

1. After reading The Secret, I followed up with this book....A beautiful journal to write what you are grateful for. If you are looking for this plus an explanation of the Law of Attraction and where gratitude comes in nad to show you how, read Living The Secret Everyday: My Secret Workbook.



2. I thought this was more than a journal but this is what it is. A great idea but if you read Living The Secret Everyday: My Secret Workbook you will get the journal which I make my daily entries plus exercises on how to live the secret (Law of Attraction) daily...



3. Secret Gratitude Book The book is beautiful but I thought there would be more written content - not a diary style book. The shipment came within specified time and was packed well.



4. I use this book as a daily journal for writing what I am greatful for as well as future goals and aspirations. It's an excellent companion to "The Secret."



5. The Secret Gratitude Book is essential to anyone living The Secret life. I highly recommend it.

5 comments about Eat That Frog!: 21 Great Ways to Stop Procrastinating and Get More Done in Less Time.

1. I purchased, I read, I studied, I applied the information. Therefore, I did as directed, I did Eat that Frog! In fact I have ate several frogs now - and I ate the ugly one first. This book is an easy read, and is applicable in my life at work, home, school, business, church, etc, Eat That Frog is just a way of saying - Get'er done! Reasonable price, quick shipment, and I continue to be satisfied with every purchase made through Amazon.com



2. This book is not in-depth and does not waste time on figuring out all the psychological reasons why people don't get done what they want to get done...and that's what's so great about it! I read a little bit of this book everyday and it motivated me to stop wasting my time so much. If you want some quick tips and simple methods to help manage your time then this is the right book for you!



3. I couldn't think of a more apt title for this book. We all know that procrastination is what holds us back from being successful. Sadly it's often the hardest most disagreeable tasks that get the best results. This book is not reinventing the wheel but a quick read that teaches you simple principles that make all the difference. The main idea being if you tackle your worst job first the rest of the day should be relatively painless.
   
   Sure the print is large and the book is thin but how much do you need to read to realize you've got to get out there and do your work? It's common sense.
   
   I liked the book it was just what I needed when my motivation was flagging. I figure the cost is worth what you get back and it wouldn't hurt anyone to read it once a year to stay on track. I actually also have the audio book and it fills a long drive nicely.



4. I purchased the audio version of this book and listen to it over and over. Brian has a very positive and soothing voice and gets right to the point. No fluff. If you want fluff and lots of complicated language, check out Getting Things Done by David Allen. I started in on Allen's book and put it down after a few pages because Eat That Frog is so much simpler and concise. I like to play Eat that Frog and The Ultimate Goals Program over and over again in my car.



5. Don't look at the title - but the author! This is an excellent book with tips on how to be more productive and stop procrastinating!

5 comments about The Spontaneous Healing of Belief: Shattering the Paradigm of False Limits.

1. I finished this book about a week ago and have been deliberating it's content trying to post a suitable review. Quite simply: it seems as though there was a germ of a really good book in there somewhere, but it never materialized. It seems as though Gregg is just trying to replace one mental box for another, that in order for one to program the universe to ones liking, one must alter or change or abandon their beliefs in favor of a new system of beliefs, which in the final analysis seems to be at the very least - pedestrian. It's a new version of make new beliefs or rather, make believe. Gregg's use of scientific proof's is quite sloppy as well and very often unsupported.
   
   It is my considered opinion that it is the dispensing of ego driven belief systems, intellectualizations and judgments that will allow us to begin to experience the wholeness of life and creation; as a very wise being once said "a house divided against itself cannot stand."
   
   A disappointing journey.



2. If you want to know more about your subc.I heartily recommend these CDs
   
   The Power of Your Subconscious Mind
   The Master Key System
   Thought Vibration or the Law of Attraction in the Thought World
   The Science of Getting Rich
   The Science of Mind
   Think and Grow Rich: Original Version



3. "The Spontaneous Helaing of Belief" by Gregg Braden is a powerful and scientifically based book.
   
   Amazingly everything that exists emerges from a simple 'Reality Code' and this code can be changed/upgraded by intent/choice.
   
   Recent scientific evidence is confirming that the universe does in fact work like one big 'consciousness computer' This consciousness computer is programmed by means of the language of human emotion & focused belief. As a result our feelings about ourselves & our world are most important as a basis for constructing a new reality.
   
   "The Spontaneous Healing of Belief" is a highly recommended book & to think of ourselves differently is the beginning of spontaneous healing.
   
   Better read together with a New Energy novel "Nexus" by Morrison & Singh, deep, soulful, inspiring & transformational.



4. The hard-nosed skeptic will caricature Gregg Braden's "The Spontaneous Healing of Belief" as just another "New Age" book written about how we create our own world by merely believing. I want to defend Braden's book from such criticism, and I invite skeptical readers to study this interesting book with an open mind. It is not that belief provides the easy route to New Age enlightenment, it is that Braden's "belief" involves the hard work of purification as we learn to tune ourselves with something bigger than our narrow self interests. While Braden's treatment is not perfect, it is easy to find what he intends to say in the face of would-be criticism. Negativity will not have the final answer, even when it comes with a pretense of rigor. We must also put our best foot forward in a positive sense.
   
   Braden (page xi) summarizes his understanding of scientific evidence: "Paradigm-shattering experiments published in leading-edge, peer-reviewed journals reveal that we're bathed in a field of intelligent energy that fills what used to be thought of as empty space. Additional discoveries show beyond any reasonable doubt that this field responds to us -it rearranges itself- in the presence of our heart-based feelings and beliefs. And this is the revolution that changes everything."
   
   Braden (page 3) raises a troubling point: "What if we're living our lives shrouded in the false limitations and incorrect assumptions that other people have formed over generations, centuries, or even millennia? Historically, for example, we've been taught that we are insignificant specks of life passing through a brief moment in time, limited by `laws' of space, atoms, and DNA. This view suggest that we'll have little effect on anything during our stay in this world, and when we're gone, the universe will never even notice our absence."
   
   Braden (page 16) writes: "It becomes abundantly clear that something -some intelligent force- is holding the particles of you together right now, as you read the words on this page. That force is what makes our beliefs so powerful. If we can communicate with it, then we can change how the particles of `us' behave in the world. We can rewrite the code of our reality."
   
   Braden (page 20) writes: "The atoms of our reality either exist as matter or they don't. They're either here or not here, `on' or `off'." In the off position, Braden considers particles that are transformed into "invisible waves." Braden (page 21) writes that, "everything boils down to opposites: pluses and minuses, male and female, on and off."
   
   Braden (pages 23-24) writes: "Everything is ultimately made of the same stuff. From the dust of distant stars to you and me, ultimately everything that `is' emerges from the vast soup of quantum energy (what `could be'). And without fail, when it does, it manifests as predictable patterns that follow the rules of nature. Water is a perfect example. When two hydrogen atoms connect to one oxygen atom as a molecule of H2O, the pattern of the bond between them is always 104 degrees. The pattern is predictable. It is reliable - and because it is, water is always water."
   
   Braden (page 28) writes: "A fractal view of the universe implies that everything from a single atom to the entire cosmos is made of just a few natural patterns. While they may combine, repeat, and build themselves on larger scales, even in their complexity they can still be reduced to a few simple forms."
   
   Braden (page 31) relates belief to the universal: "Every day we offer the literal input of our belief-commands to the consciousness of the universe, which translates our personal and collective instructions into the reality of our health, the quality of our relationships, and the peace of our world. How to create the beliefs in our hearts that change the reality of our universe is a great secret, lost in the 4th century, from the most cherished Judeo-Christian traditions."
   
   Braden (page 41) writes on healing: "Beliefs have long been known to have healing powers. The controversy centers around whether or not it's the belief itself that does the healing or if the experience of belief triggers a biological process that ultimately leads to the recovery. For the layperson, the distinction may sound like splitting hairs. While the doctors can't explain precisely why some patients cure themselves through their beliefs, the effect has been documented so many times that at the very least we must accept that there is a correlation between the body's repairing itself and the patient's belief that the healing has taken place."
   
   Braden (page 46) writes: "Just as the belief that we've been given a healing agent can promote our bodies' life-affirming chemistry, the reverse can happen if we believe that we're in a life-threatening situation."
   
   Now it is clear that Braden's "belief" is not any belief, or a statement of faith. Rather, Braden describes belief as a synthesis. Braden (page 52) defines belief: "that it's the acceptance that comes from what we think is true in our minds married with what we feel is true in our hearts." Braden (page 53) writes: "Belief is our acceptance of what we have witnessed, experienced, or know for ourselves."
   
   So there can be wrong beliefs when our reason is not in balance with our emotion, and so to arrive at something self evident (as Braden requires) involves an innate error recognition. It is this way that belief can be tuned with the universal, but this requires discipline. Braden (page 59) writes: "the universal experience that we know as feeling and belief are the names that we give to the body's ability to convert our experiences into electrical and magnetic waves."
   
   Braden (page 74) writes: "Simply hoping, wishing, or saying that a healing is successful may have little effect upon the actual situation. In these experiences, we haven't yet arrived at the belief -the certainty that comes from acceptance of what we think is true, coupled with what we feel is true in our body- that makes the wish a reality."
   
   In is interesting that Braden sees reality as a computer simulation, and it comes with belief codes that act as part of the universal computer program. This admission would seem to delight materialists and science fiction writers that venture similar speculations. But Braden's usage is metaphorical, and there is a serious caveat that permits a break from a mechanistic world view: we are able to re-program our poorly tuned beliefs, because instinctively we know that the simulation is only an illusion. Because we know that an appearance is an illusion we are able to escape the dictates of a computer program, and therefore greater reality cannot be just a simulation. Braden (page 137) writes that, "while our bodies are certainly in this world, the living force that expresses itself through them is actually based somewhere else, as the larger reality that we just can't see from our vantage point."
   
   Braden gives us many helpful hints on how to re-program our beliefs. Braden (page 159) writes: "To make a change in something as powerful as the core beliefs that define our lives, we need a trigger that's equally powerful. We need a reason to jolt us from complacency of one way of thinking into a new, and sometimes revolutionary, way of seeing things."
   
   Because we can break away from the output of a mere computer simulation, Braden's big reality involves a spiritual realm that rediscovers the wisdom of Buddha and Jesus. Braden (page 199) writes: "Jesus taught that we must become in life the very things that we choose to experience in the world." This corresponds to Braden's belief code number 27, and by now I hope you feel the jolt of this remarkable book.



5. I found this newer version to be a "part 2" of the book, "The Divine Matrix". The information seemed to repeat everything I learned in that book. That book, "The Diving Matrix", I found fascinating and very interesting. This newer one is a comparable read, but not if you're looking for newer information.

No comments about Richard Bandlers Guide to Trance-formation: How to Harness the Power of Hypnosis to Ignite Effortless and Lasting Change.

No comments about Cherry Bomb: The Ultimate Guide to Becoming a Better Flirt, a Tougher Chick, and a Hotter Girlfriend--and to Living Life Like a Rock Star.

5 comments about Mindset: The New Psychology of Success.

1. As an executive coach, I've been a fan of Carol Dweck's work for a couple decades -- it was pretty obvious she wasn't just talking about children. Now she's finally written a book I can recommend to all my clients. The bottom line here is that your approach to life and learning -- whether you assume one's own (and hence everyone else's) capacity for learning is fixed and permanent or fluid and expandable -- makes all the difference in both your own success and that of the people who work for and with you (not to mention the ones you raise or educate).
   
   I've called those mindsets "performer" (focus on doing well and appearing to have no flaws) and "learner" (curiosity-driven, not concerned with how one appears to others.) She calls them "fixed-ability mindset" and "growth mindset." What she's done is explore their impact in nearly every domain of life -- failure and success, education, sports, business, leadership, and relationships -- and then explore how to change from a performer to a learner. Based on current neuroscience and her own experiences, this is one of the most practical and powerful pieces of work I've seen in a long time.



2. For several months now I've been enjoying and at the same time agonizing over the book, MINDSET, The New Psychology of Success, by Carol S. Dweck, PH.D., a Professor of Psychology at Stanford University. The book presents the results of over 20 years of research into the question of why some experience more success than others.
   
   "For 20 years, my research has shown that the view you adopt for yourself profoundly affects the way you lead your life. It can determine whether you become the person you want to be and whether you accomplish the things you value."
   
   The views she is talking about are our old friends, nature versus nurture, genes versus environment, I.Q. versus effort. She doesn't really get into the the issue of whether some people are naturally more intelligent or talented than others, that's all besides the point. What her research shows is that people with a fixed mindset, i.e. they believe that their intelligence, creativity, abilities and talents are fixed and cannot be increased, cannot be grown, tend to be less successful than people with a growth mindset, who believe that their intelligence, creativity etc. can be developed. The interesting thing is that it doesn't matter if your fixed mindset is high or low, that is if you're a positive thinker or a negative thinker; either way a fixed mindset will impeded your success.
   
   The book is filled with examples of the two types from the world of sports and business and sketches of her tests of the theory with elementary school children and college students.
   
   After thinking about it for several months, here's my take on what Prof. Dweck has discovered. The definition of success for a person with a growth mindset is growth and improvement. Have I improved? Am I doing better today than yesterday? These are the questions a person with a growth mindset uses to evaluate performance. If I have improved then I am succeeding. If I have not improved then I need to change the way I'm studying, or practicing or preparing so I can be more successful.
   
   On the other hand a person with a fixed mindset asks, What is my I.Q.? Am I smarter than the others? Am I better than everyone else? Am I worse than everyone else? Am I talented or untalented? Do I have musical abiilty or not? Do I have the talent to be a writer or do I not? I think that being discovered is one definition of fixed mindset success. If the fixed mindset person's talent hasn't been discovered he concludes that it's because he is not talented, or people are against him or no one will help him.
   
   The growth mindset person sees the trophy, the medal, the promotion, as a mere byproduct of the growth that he has experienced. For the fixed mindset person the trophy, the medal, the promotion, is the point, they are the outward manifestations of his inward superiority.
   
   The irony is that the fixed mindset person ends up sabotaging himself because his fixed mindset world view also makes it difficult for him to take risks, or to develop his abilities, in other words, to grow. The fixed mindset person doesn't, after all, believe in growth. As a result fixed mindset people become quite frustrated.
   
   Prof. Dweck's studies give a scientific basis for something that Coach Wooden, of UCLA Basketball fame, discovered long ago: Focus on effort not winning. The factors which determine whether you will win or loose are not all within your control, but the effort you put in to developing and executing your game is.
   
   I don't believe that I can overstate the importance of this book. I've been reading self help, positive thinking, motivational books since at 10 years of age I picked up a Norman Vincent Peale book that my mom had checked out of the library. Those books, all good, are trying to deal with the problem by attacking the fruit of an individuals mindset. Prof. Dweck is attacking the problem at the root.
   
   This book was for me a very uncomfortable read and forced me to analyze my own mindset and much to the chagrin of this basically fixed mindset person I've discovered that I am in many areas a fixed mindset person. OUCH! But what's worse is realizing that many of the things which I have said and done, thinking I was encouraging others and building them up to achieve success, were in fact helping them to fail. OUCH! OUCH! Well the good news is that you can change your mindset.
   
   Greg Marquez
   goyomarquez@earthlink.net



3. The underlying principle of the book - that valuing hard work is ultimately a better motivator than valuing inherent ability - seems to be a sound one. As another reviewer said, the problem with this book is that the author gets that across in the first chapter. After that, it's example after example, anecdote after anecdote, hypothetical situation after hypothetical situation. The only tool the author offers that would help you to bring this principle to your life, is basically "just do it". Other than the repetition of "you should value this rather than that, because it works better," you get nothing but a conclusion. I didn't find it that useful, even though I liked the underlying principle.



4. I first read about Dweck and her research in a NYT article on child development. This is the dose of reality that we all need after years of "positive thinking" mantras. Without responsibility, action and growth-orientation, we block the positive path and fail to realize our potential. This book hammers the points home with detailed anecdotes from business, sports and general society.. plus the research that backs it up is solid.



5. I had read some parts of the book and decided to own a copy. The price is not cheap but when I received the copy, it looks like everything is shrunk. The paper is very low grade and dark.
   Go for the hardcover or CD if you want to own one!!!!