5 comments about Unlimited Power: A Black Choice.

1. I found this book to be absolutely what the doctor ordered! Anyone can use these practical tips and techniques to change their thought patterns and create success in their lives. I have been a Tony Robbins fan for over 10 years and I read the original Unlimited Power and several others he has authored. I found this version, co-authored by Joseph McClendon III, to be refreshing, exciting, surreal and a must-have for any true booklover! Joseph adds a positive, dynamic force to this writing duo! I am interested in buying more books written by Mr. McClendon. I recommend this book highly!



2. Unlimited power is a milestone in black personal achievement. It tells the reader how to take control of your mind, body and emotions to get what you want and become a force for good. What I like about it the most and what sets it apart from other black self help books out there is its based on science. NLP is the science of modeling excellence in people wherever you see it whether its in self made millionaires or someone who just knows how to be healthy or you could even use the technology to learn algebra or calculus it doesn't matter. I've used it myself to learn computers now I'm using it to learn how to make more money. The book has Anthony Robbins name on it but it's Joseph's voice through the whole book except for the intro. I think it is essential reading for any black man or woman that wants to become a success in this white dominated society. This book does show you the skills of persuading yourself and other people to do what you want them to do.

   The book's goal to give black people access to "unlimited power" I think definitely this book should be read by all african americans because it got me to make decisons about what I wanted and got me to take action. I also learned to actually control my emotional states of mind. There are some deep things in this book about the lies of success that didn't make sense to me initially but they do now. I can sum this book up like this : If black people are to succeed they must change three things: 1. We must raise our standards. 2. We must change our beliefs. 3. We must change our strategies . This book if taken to heart is a golden opportunity to do all that.




3. This is based on Robbins's classic UNLIMITED POWER, which McClendon has rewritten from his perspective as a Black man. He starts off by telling of some of his experiences - being beaten up one night by a racist gang, being asked by the police `What were you doing in that neighbourhood?' when he reported the incident. He speaks of how this resulted in his developing a fear and mistrust of all white people - which also affected his relationships and interactions with Black people. McClendon's experiences, attitudes and feelings will echo those of many of us.

   He then goes on to describe his first meeting with Robbins, and the workshop Robbins led which helped the author to turn his life around. McClendon describes and explains many techniques which Black people can use to improve our mental and emotional states in order to empower ourselves in any situation. This book is very inspiring, as it proves that we truly have the power over our own lives in our hands.




4. This book as whole provided a great thought provoking experience. It starts out by addressing some of the real issues that plague African American people today dealing with racism and oppression. The fact that the book speaks directly to African Americans takes into account the lingering affects that past oppression has had on black psychology. I liked that the authors acknowledged that these problems are still present, but enocouraged a greater focus on self-accountability. They effectively motivate the reader to visualize themself as an achiever rather than a failure. It encourages people to focus on achieving the outcomes of their desire. The overall value of the book lies in the fact that the authors provide a great strategy for action.



5. As the London Financial Times put it, "NLP is simply a half-baked conflation of pop psychology and pseudoscience that uses jargon to disguise the fact that it is based on a set of banal, if not incorrect, presuppositions."
   
   NLP methods, put forth here, were scientifically tested by the US Government in the late 1970s in order to determine an ability to improve performance of civil servants, soldiers and police. Results showed a small, temporary boost but no long term effects.
   
   The disappointing, temporary nature of these results is corroborated by many Amazon.com reviews of Anthony Robbins materials.
   
   Sorry, there is no fast, cheap and easy way to success (unless you can cook up books like these).

5 comments about Lovingkindness: The Revolutionary Art of Happiness.

1. Book in impeccable condition. Fast shipping. Haven't read it yet, but am looking forward to reading.



2. I hesitated to buy this book because I thought it might be "too Buddhist" or too sentimental. Do not be deterred by these reasons. I have treasured it, recommended it, and as a minister leant it out with great joy to people from all walks of life, rich and poor, highly literate and plain-spoken. It is one of those books that cuts through a lot of folderol and gets to the inmost heart, giving folks something nourishing and simple like a good breakfast for the soul.



3. A great introduction into a way of thinking foreign to the western mind. Well worth the time invested in reading it and a treu value at twice the price.



4. A great introduction into a way of thinking foreign to the western mind. Well worth the time invested in reading it. A true value at twice the price.



5. This is a quick read, and the practice instructions are easy to find and understand, but after a while it starts to read like a collection of dharma talks (i.e., sermons). That said it's easier than slogging through the Vishuddimagga. The lack of discussion of absorbtion states is a significant weakness.

1 comments about Thirteen to Nineteen: Discovering the Light.

1. This concise book is an important read for trying to understand the ups and downs of adolesence within the context of a spiritual world. Sleigh has very practical descriptions, examples from his own family, and sane advice for parents, while keeping in mind the bigger picture of where human beings may fit in the universe. He employs the possibility of karma, reincarnation, and the soul and spirit concepts of anthroposophy while still adhering to the average teen and her/his parents. Whether you're a christian, buddist, or non-religious, this books will reassure you as a caring, hopeful parent.

No comments about A License to Chill: Nuggets of Truth to Encourage the Heart.

2 comments about Pleasant Dreams: Nighttime Meditations for Peace of Mind (Puffy Books).

1. Amy E. Dean provides her readers with peace of mind through night by night passages to explore different thoughts and aspects of your day. She then concludes her passage with an inspirational quote that the reader is directed to meditate on while falling asleep. This allows that thought to be focused on in the subconscious mind and gives chance for the reader to fall asleep confident on the day ahead of him. Dean focuses on one theme for each night. She varies her message but still allows it to be applicable to all readers. This book is great for the curious mind or one in need of self help.



2. This little book is a great inspiration that I recommend to all as you journey through life. The stories that apply to each day of the year are short, informative and uplifting. They really put things into perspective. I have had the book for about 4 years and continue to read it nightly year after year, and since you are not likely to remember a one-page vignette you read exactly one year ago, it continues to deliver a new message to me on a nightly basis year after year. You can keep it at your bedside forever potentially. An added bonus is a table of contents in the back so you can look up an inspirational story that applies to an area you're particularly interested in at that time like "communication" or "children," for example. This book really is a jem!

5 comments about How to Grow a Backbone : 10 Strategies for Gaining Power and Influence at Work.

1. This is a must read for anyone that wants to move further faster in the business world -- especially those who are fledglings in Corporate America! Marshall writes with clarity and good humor spiced with pithy observations and examples. This is more than a pie-in-the-sky, ethereal how-to book. She backs up her advice with practical, easy to implement ACTIONS to integrate the strategies into all areas of interactions with others. And her "excercises" are more than informative and effective: they're fun to boot!



2. I found this book to be different than the typical management book. Rather than filled with the usual platitudes, it contains some real world advice on how to deal with and capitalize on situations that occur in a corporate environment. The book starts a bit slow, but it gets moving once it gets into the 10 strategies. The author has a nice conversational, straight-talking style of writing. The exercises and advice at the end of each chapter are excellent. I would recommend this book for new graduates starting in management and for seasoned veterans.



3. After finishing Disc 1 of 7 it's a thorough pleasure to hear a practical approach to career development. While attitude is great, sooner or later the rubber hits the road. Ms Marshall provides excellent guidance for what to do in real, modern, business situations.



4. Encountered it first as an audio book and then decided to buy it as a print book. The book is small in size but has an impactful message. How to be assertive and cooperative at the same time. Very useful tips on how to achieve both in the workplace. Highly recommend it for people like me who cave in on pursuing their agenda in our current corporate culture.



5. I liked this book, but mine is better. Of course I am biased, I am like that. Secret Habits of Successful Bastards is the best self-help book for people who are too nice!

5 comments about Why Is It Always About You? Saving Yourself from the Narcissists in Your Life.

1. If you run from the narcissist in your life, you'll always be running, because there's always another one waiting around the corner. I am not speaking about physical abuse or horrifying marriages. I'm talking about the self-absorbed monsters that we frequently have to deal with at work, socially, or (God forbid) our own families.
   
   It's better to be fully prepared to deal with those who somehow manage to suck all the oxgyn out of the room as soon as they enter than beat yourself up wondering why you have such a problem in your life. They are the problem, and they are probably the problem in every relationship they have ever been in.
   
   If the realationship you are having with a narcissist is not of the "disposable" variety -- if it will not cost you unduly to walk away -- then this excellent book will teach you ways to take control as best you can with as little cost to you as possible.
   
   However, I must add that if your exposure to one of these monsters has involved physical abuse to yourself or a child (or severe emotional trauma) get away by any means possible. There's no negotiating safety issues!



2. "Why is it Always About You?" starts off being quite helpful but then falls into the "why did I start this" catagory. The book becomes very technical after the first couple of chapters and the jargon becomes disruptive to the non-professional reader's apprection of the subject.
   I didn't finish it and am now looking for something in a more "reader friendly" format. Big dissappointment.



3. After breaking-up with my boyfriend of several years, I started searching for answers to explain his unreasonable behaviors. I started looking into personality disorders and came across this book. For anyone who has experienced a narcissist, this is a must read! By the time you get done with the book...even before you're done, actually...you will understand so much more than you did. Your questions will finally be answered, and you will learn that you're not crazy afterall!



4. This book provided exactly what I needed to understand the underlying issues of a person with narcissism. It was in-depth, but in laymen's terms so the understanding came quite easily. I am better able to deal with the narcissist that I am in love with and the one that I work for. But most importantly, I'm better able to detect these traits in others that I meet and underdstand the part I play in engaging them in narcissistic behavior. My relationships are much better particularly because of the strategies to know myself, embrace reality and set boundaries. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand why a person is narcisssistic and how it affects us in relationships.



5. This book very accurately describes how narcissists become how they are in the first place, but even more clearly describes how you can be ensnared by them. I learned a great deal about myself and why I was vulnerable to codependent relationships with narcissistic individuals, and strategies to prevent this in the future. Most importantly, the author gives very practical and helpful ways to cope and thrive when exposed to a narcissist. The section on the narcissist in the workplace was phenomenal; this applies to the dynamics of a church with a narcissistic pastor at the helm, or any organization, for that matter, dominated by a self-absorbed individual(s).

3 comments about Hidden Language Codes: Discard A Weak Language of Doubt and Excuse and Acquire a Vocabulary o Power and Sovereignty.

1. Powerful, empowering and most compassionate is this milestone book. If you have read the original book, "Language Codes" before, this one is is greatly expanded and much more thorough. Nelville takes you aside and shows you the pitfalls of some inconspicuous areas of our language like a master would. As a reader, you are going to feel the shedding of those sticky self-fulfilling phrases and decadent clichés that have been since Gutenberg (or much earlier) strewn like landmines across the landscape of our consciousness. He delivers his points across so clearly and with great humor. I was amazed at how many traps he had unearthed concealed almost unwittingly within our language, particularly those expressions that often escape casual scrutiny right under our noses. The result for me is a restored sense of clarity and vision buttressed by a sense of improved mindfulness. I read this book non-stop in one solid day feeling very satisfied but more relieved as if I had received a good session of psychotherapy of a lifetime. Read what he says about "victimese"! 5 stars for Nelville for such exposé on a stellarly daunting semantic subject!



2. This book is mainly a long list of words and phrases ('doubt', 'fear', 'guilty', etc.) with 1-2 paragraph explanations about why you shouldn't ever say (or even think) them. (There's also a long list of words you should say). I tried hard to give it the benefit of the doubt--I enjoy studying languages and occult spirituality--but the writing is opaque and disjointed, and he doesn't seem to filter his thoughts at all. For instance: if you think we're living in "a male dominated society", that's just a figment of your imagination (you make it so by saying it). When someone asks you "why?" (about anything) the appropriate response is "You know why," and to give them any further information is to undercut them spiritually. (Johnston recommends against asking "why" in the first place.) But my favorite explanation was for the word "how": people who ask "how" reveal themselves as 'freaks' (yes, he uses that word!!) who are only concerned about the process of doing something. Asking "how" demotes you from 'human being' down to 'human doing'.
   The further I read, the more I realized it was some sort of cult manual. A few parts toward the beginning are slightly intriguing, but the book is ultimately pretty useless to me. (I'm not cutting "how" and "why" out of my vocabulary!!!) I will be returning it!



3. This book is for people who have already been introduced to concepts related to the science of mind. That said, it is a LIFE CHANGING BOOK. If you are a fan of Louise Hay's message, be prepared to go even deeper with Hidden Language Codes. Reading the book will awaken knowledge and power within you.

1 comments about Grace Notes.

1. "Grace Notes" is a wonderful, pocket-sized book that urges you to reach in to your inner-self and out to others. Each day list a thoughtful quote, two 'grace notes' and a spot for you to jot down your own ideas. I usually can't help myself and skip ahead to future days. The size is perfect and I can stash the book in my purse or briefcase so I'm never without some helpful encouragement. The only thing I didn't like was the book is a little drab. Everything in the book is black-and-white but I think for such a feel-good book some color is in order.

5 comments about Soul Stories.

1. I read one of this author's earlier books and found his karmic theories both creative and interesting but not entirely convincing. I recently acquired his THE DANCING WU-LI MASTERS and will read it next.
   
   Now as for SOUL STORIES, the first part was done very well I thought. It borrows very heavily from Buddhist cosmology which is a major interest of mine and there is nothing original by Zukav there, but it was good to read nonetheless because he synthesizes it in a very clear and readable manner.
   
   Then the rest of the book becomes the usual trendy, politically correct, pop culture nonsense. Artificially reversing gender roles, categorizing all humans as individually 'special' but as 'the same' in value, rejecting 'earth suits' as having no inherent value whatever, etc. Each of us being so special and unique but of the same worth, it is similar to the trendy thing where everyone celebrates their birthday on the same day in order to force-feed equality and make everyone feel good - and thus eliminiate the REAL special-ness of the individual and REAL birthdays and their celebration. With this kind of touchy-feely formula, everyone who is 'special' and 'unique' winds up in a vast, gray, boring mass.
   
   I personally much prefer the more noble Vedantic philosophy of a Nature inherently without any equality but in which individual humans are each given the opportunity to set themselves on a path towards the godhead/truth, their individual value and uniqueness predicated on how far they have moved themselves towards enlightenment and service to God. Most people are too materialist and selfish to get on the path at all and thus their value/uniqueness is low, others begin ascending but don't get very far. Yet a tiny few progress well and nobly and courageously upwards - THEY have great value and genuine uniqueness. THEY have risen above that boring gray mass of non-value.
   
   I doubt if Zukav would really understand any of that. He is just too pee-cee, period. AND is isn't the sort of thing people like to read as it doesn't make them feel good.
   
   This author has an interesting background but how he wound up immersed in all this New Age silliness is beyond me. Perhaps he is just cynically cashing in, as it is the sort of popular stuff people want to buy nowadays. Authors like this are a dime a dozen. As in, stick with the herd, feed the herd, and fatten on their stupidity.



2. As an avid reader of Brian Weiss, I had thought that I would have another dose of past life stories because of the title "Soul Stories". I was surprised, instead, to find several short stories that brought home the fact that many concepts including those of intuition, harmony, forgiveness etc. express themselves in our day-to-day ordinary lives, each and every day. We simply need to look within ourselves in order to find our own stories. A touching book that makes one think!



3. Great read when your feeling down, The best explainations of love and life and easy to understand and read... Thank you Gary .. Nicole Author Rainy day poems and more 1 and 2



4. Soul Stories is a medley of reflections, stories, anecdotes, confessions, and poetic vision. It is deep and touching. The author, Gary Zukav, appears vulnerable and willing to share the fears and emotions he experienced and moved through to become the person that he is today. He also makes it clear that spiritual growth and self-awareness are a way of life, not an ideal place to attain once and for all. He is of the opinion that the longing for growth, awareness and self-realization is now happening in many different places around the earth and will result in a transformation of consciousness for humanity. A shift is taking place where people are operating through their heart, reaching for their intuition to guide them, seeking harmony, cooperation and partnership in their relationships and exhibiting reverence for life. His message is that this shift of consciousness is within our reach and may be the next step for humanity.
   
   In that sense, Soul Stories, reminds me of the work of authors Ariel and Shya Kane who are also pioneers of the Transformation of Consciousness and have developed the concept of Instantaneous Transformation, a radical shift in consciousness which happens in an instant and brings about transformation in all areas of your life. Two of their books relate particularly to Gary's book: How To Create a Magical Relationship, which explores the basis of true partnership; and Being Here: Modern Day Tales of Enlightenment which explores the art of being present and discovering the extraordinary in the ordinary. If self-realization is on your list of aspirations, I urge you to check the work of the Kanes also.



5. I acquired this set of CDs to listen to while on a long-distance drive. They are very interesting and enjoyable. Zukov teaches moral principles with a series of parables--a long established tool for teaching. The principles he teaches this way are pretty basic, but foundational for us all. For those who feel they're more "advanced", remember that we ALL benefit from review and reminder on the basics. When he got to the subject of men and women that, at times, he came from a more narrow, "traditional" position, which saddened me. This seems to be the one area where he hasn't put away at least some of old fashioned but not necessarily good or helpful attitudes. Otherwise, I must say, this is worth your time. Parents, it will certainly give you additional resources for helping your children understand as well.