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The Secret (Unabridged) | 
 enlarge | Author: Rhonda Byrne
Publisher: audible.com
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
Buy New: $15.73
You Save: $14.22 (47%)
Avg. Customer Rating:  2230 reviews
Media: Audio Download
ASIN: B000LC3JX2
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| Customer Reviews: Read 2225 more reviews...
 Very poorly written August 28, 2008
I am very thankful I just checked this book out from the library. This book just reitterates common sense. This book talks in circles stating the same thing over and over and over again. Very boring to read, and poorly written. Don't buy this book, it would be a waste of money!
 Life Changing August 28, 2008
I absolutely Love the secret. I have the book, the audio and the DVD! The Secret was put together so well. I have always known about the law of attraction but after "The Secret" my life has completely changed.
I highly recommend it!!!
Con artists in spiritual guise August 26, 2008
The books reminds me of the Biblical saying "even the prince of darkness appears as the angel of light". The author of this silly book proposes that we believe the Cinderella story is true--that wishing and hoping will cause desired items and events to materialize.
I learned this magical thinking was not true when I was a young child. The baby of a neighbor died and our whole village of 100 in rural Minnesota sank into grief. Grown men and women wept and I, a young child, believed that if I prayed, the baby would come once again to life. I knelt on my little knees and I prayed but, of course, even the sincerity of my prayers did not yield the desired result.
Now that I am an adult, I realize that the magical thinking of fairy tales needs to be left behind and that instead of believing in magic we need to believe in principles. Instead of magical materialization and the "law of attraction", we need to believe in love for our neighbors, justice, freedom, service and sometimes even sacrifice.
Indeed, the greatest among us have always believed in these great principles and not in the "law of attraction". Instead of magic, the greatest among us have always believed in hard work.
Be Kind to Yourself and Others... August 25, 2008
Okay, somewhere in this 'blockbuster' book, we should hear that, right? Well sort of. But do it because of the expected reward not for the act itself. When I see this book being roundly endorsed by thousands of people, it makes me wonder where we have gone wrong in our thinking. Yes, horribly wrong.
As a believer in and teacher of positive thinking and PMA, it makes me sick to think "The Secret" is being compared with the writings of Norman Vincent Peale, W. Clement Stone, Dale Carnegie, or Earl Nightingale. I am THOROUGHLY acquainted with these gentlemen's works and there is not one place where they say or imply that a victim of tragedy is to blame for the occurence. Not one.
But according to Ms. Byrne, those killed by suicide bombers on 9/11 attracted that tragedy. As well as those with AIDS, those who have been raped, those with cancer, victims of molestation, victims of tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, famines, oppresive governments, dictatorships, etc. And here people are literally buying that notion. But let's go deeper.
If we adopt the ideas of "The Secret" then when someone is hurt profoundly by life in whatever form, we can sit back and say 'Well, after all they attracted it to themselves." We don't have to care. We don't have to empathize or sympathize, and we get the feeling of being superior because, after all, that didn't happen to us.
Going deeper still, where would we be as a society if everyone practiced "The Secret?" There would be no fire or police officers. Too negative. Ditto doctors, psychologists, and clergy. Why? The answer is obvious. There is a lot of 'negativity' connected with those professions and vocations. And according to Byrne, we shouldn't look at what we don't want to manifest in our own lives. Same with non-professionals. See someone drowning? Turn your head. Don't let the negativity be part of your conciousness. See a homeless person? Turn away-don't be part of what you don't want to see manifested in your life.
Does it get any meaner than that? And to think that so-called motivational gurus like Bob Proctor, Denis Waitley, and others signed onto this teaching shows me how low they will go for a buck. The blatant selfishness and insensitivity of the book/DVD is sickening. As a matter of fact, it amazes me that Rhonda Byrne can lay her head on the pillow at night. I suppose a fat back account makes up for it.
If you want true motivation and inspiration consider these: "Change your thoughts and you change your world"-Norman Vincent Peale. "Conceive it, believe it, and achieve it"-W. Clement Stone. "We become what we think about"-Earl Nightingale. "Your greatest power lies in your ability to choose."-J. Martin Kohe. "The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitudes of mind."-William James.
None of the above-mentioned people have DVD's with smoke, hundred foot genies, magic lamps, or special effects as does "The Secret." What they DO offer is truly practical and sincere advice for bettering your life and the lives of those with whom you come into contact. The law of attraction as Rhonda Byrne describes it is a bogus ripoff of the great thinkers of the past with her cartoonish spin on it.
In an increasingly coarse and hardened world all of us DO need inspiration and to learn to use our minds and change our attitudes. What we don't need is anything which encourages us to think less and less of other people and treat their suffering as something self-inflicted thereby diminishing not only their pain, but their humanity. Even religious fundamentalists are kinder in attributing suffering to a devil or demons. And believe me, there is not very much kindness in a fundamentalist/literalist.
So as far as this book goes? Pass it by. It's hype, trickery, mumbo-jumbo, and snake-oil. It is the product of brilliant marketing and an author who has perveted some of the worlds greatest ideas. The corruption of great philosophies and ideas would be bad enough, but this book is also cruel at its very essence.
I'm glad I bought it; reminds me: my feelings = my experience. August 22, 2008
Okay, parts are kind of dorky, things we already know ... but many good ideas on how to apply just simple things, like if you want a new job; get your wardrobe ready as if you are starting the next day, etc. Change your thinking, change your life. If you are cynical or negative don't buy this book ... it's for us positive, optimists. Oh yea.
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