Ramius
26th May 2005, 11:59
Please, keep in mind that I actually wrote these for the company newsletter, yes, I get asked for reviews each month. I thought, maybe, possibly, some people could do with the info injected...
Family First – Dr Phil McGraw; Ok, Ok, I know what you are thinking, ‘not a book by Dr Phil, come on, we already have a television show, so why the book?’
After reading all the other books written by the man, it was only natural that I went to get his next. After reading the back of the book, which is always first on the card, one might get the impression this one is for those that are with a family. Well, just like his Relationship Rescue, this is not the case. It never hurts to learn something that may occur in the future, after all, “Chance favours the prepared mind” Never one for psycho babel, the good doctor presents his writing in a well developed and guided fashion. Never moving along too fast, and not going at a snails pace. The key to get the most out of this book is to actually do the assignments, do what he asks you to do. The downfall however, and this may seem like a contradiction to what I have written earlier, and that is he does have a tendency to go on a bit. Whether it is from his own personal experience or not. For example, the introduction, he speaks of a young adolescent struggling and basically playing a violin moment, this goes on for several pages and by the end, if you haven’t thrown up, or pulled all your hair out, your probably asleep. But don’t let this stop you. As one good writer once said, “Give a book a couple of hours, if it hasn’t got you, close it, put it down and let it on it’s way”
This is certainly not a light reading book, so if you are feeling a little woozy, its best you read something else.
The Ultimate Weight Solution Cookbook – Dr Phil McGraw; Yes, I have a lot to do with Dr Phil, from his show, his CD’s and his books, to now, his cookbook. The one purpose for me of buying this book was actually for my Grandmother, who, herself, likes to sit down and spend 12 – 1pm watching the good Dr. Reading through this cookbook, in which the recipes were written by someone else, I was awestruck, not at what was written, but because of the lovely pictures of food, it was an eclectic array of variety to keep everyone interested, with bits of information provided by Dr P. There is one pitfall however, and that is it was written for the extremely obese American market, and as such, some would have a hard time converting the recipes, one in particular calls for X amount of Grits, What the? Sounds like something I would find on the bottom of my shoe, or even sweep away from the floor. Either way, if you have $40 to spend on a cookbook, its probably better to go out and buy the Edmonds cookbook, but if you already have that and a whole host of other ones, don’t be afraid to dabble in the art of this one. Have a crack at the recipes. Try it, and once again, if you don’t like it, give it to someone. And come to think of it, my Grandmother hasn’t given mine back yet.
Change Your Life in 7 Day – Paul McKenna; I confess, I read a lot of self help books. Not because my life is a mess, but because I like to be well informed. I like to have answers when asked questions, and as such, I thought I would give Mr McKenna a try this time. When reading these self help books, wariness is always called for. If a book is full of psychoanalytical information, and spends a lot of time focussing on the names of problems, there could be trouble. For example, have you ever picked up a medical book and read through some of the diseases, and then found that you had some of the symptoms, or you started creating the symptoms. Well, that is one thing to be wary about. Going back to this book, all the information is presented to you in a very positive way, and tends to boarder on “positive thinking is the ultimate way to creating the reality that you want.” However, with this aside, the exercises are simplistic, and some would say too simplistic, but the thing is not to question it, just go with the flow. Some of you out there would never ever look at a self help book because you are either in denial, or don’t believe there is anything wrong, which is basically the same thing. Give it a try. Paul also gives you the sense that your whole life is not a complete mess, which, when you think about it, is what a lot of other books tend to focus on, the mess you are in. Also completing this written architecture is the “Mind altering, self hypnotic CD” I have listened to it a few times, and I guess its true, the last thing I remember him saying in the CD is “I want you to start counting back from 300” As to the content of the CD, I have no idea, so you would need to listen to it yourself. Is it working? Who would be the best judge of that? To add a bit of personal inflection here, I woke up this morning, or this afternoon, whatever time it was and it seemed that everything was brighter, the sun was out, oh wait, everything was brighter because there was no sun yesterday. Either way, I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful. Give it a try!
Man’s Search for Meaning – Dr Viktor E. Frankl; Honesty is called for, this is not a new book I have read, this is the only book I have read more than twice. And could quite easily be classed as my favourite. Dr Frankl, during the first 2/3rd’s of the book describes his time in clarity as a prisoner in the Nazi concentration camps. The descriptions he gives of his time there are not the normal ones you hear off. Sure, there is death, starvation, murder etc. But his personal story is more off what he felt, saw, heard and why he chose to live when so many others decided to die. To quote “The Shawshank Redemption,” You get busy livin’ or get busy dyin’” He chose, even after everything was stripped off of him that he would live, and he would give it his all. But that is not all to the story. It is one of those ones that takes you through into his world, seeing what he saw, but never feeling it, because there is no way, unless you were there that you would be able to even comprehend the feelings that he felt. Those 2/3rd’s take you from when he was first placed into a concentration camp, to the eventual liberation. The last 3rd of the book is about his new look into psychology, his new concept which is logotherapy. I am not going to try and describe it here, it is not up to me to redefine in a short few lines what one man has written over years of pain and suffering. As much as you read about the death, hurt and pain, you feel an overwhelming sense of freedom. This would certainly have to be the pick of the books today, as never have I found a book which can keep its reader compelled to keep reading. Personally, if there were ever a person that I would like to spend an afternoon talking to, it would probably be Dr Frankl, unfortunately though, that will never happen as he has now died.
And there you have it....
Check me out at http://seaniep.blogspot.com/
Family First – Dr Phil McGraw; Ok, Ok, I know what you are thinking, ‘not a book by Dr Phil, come on, we already have a television show, so why the book?’
After reading all the other books written by the man, it was only natural that I went to get his next. After reading the back of the book, which is always first on the card, one might get the impression this one is for those that are with a family. Well, just like his Relationship Rescue, this is not the case. It never hurts to learn something that may occur in the future, after all, “Chance favours the prepared mind” Never one for psycho babel, the good doctor presents his writing in a well developed and guided fashion. Never moving along too fast, and not going at a snails pace. The key to get the most out of this book is to actually do the assignments, do what he asks you to do. The downfall however, and this may seem like a contradiction to what I have written earlier, and that is he does have a tendency to go on a bit. Whether it is from his own personal experience or not. For example, the introduction, he speaks of a young adolescent struggling and basically playing a violin moment, this goes on for several pages and by the end, if you haven’t thrown up, or pulled all your hair out, your probably asleep. But don’t let this stop you. As one good writer once said, “Give a book a couple of hours, if it hasn’t got you, close it, put it down and let it on it’s way”
This is certainly not a light reading book, so if you are feeling a little woozy, its best you read something else.
The Ultimate Weight Solution Cookbook – Dr Phil McGraw; Yes, I have a lot to do with Dr Phil, from his show, his CD’s and his books, to now, his cookbook. The one purpose for me of buying this book was actually for my Grandmother, who, herself, likes to sit down and spend 12 – 1pm watching the good Dr. Reading through this cookbook, in which the recipes were written by someone else, I was awestruck, not at what was written, but because of the lovely pictures of food, it was an eclectic array of variety to keep everyone interested, with bits of information provided by Dr P. There is one pitfall however, and that is it was written for the extremely obese American market, and as such, some would have a hard time converting the recipes, one in particular calls for X amount of Grits, What the? Sounds like something I would find on the bottom of my shoe, or even sweep away from the floor. Either way, if you have $40 to spend on a cookbook, its probably better to go out and buy the Edmonds cookbook, but if you already have that and a whole host of other ones, don’t be afraid to dabble in the art of this one. Have a crack at the recipes. Try it, and once again, if you don’t like it, give it to someone. And come to think of it, my Grandmother hasn’t given mine back yet.
Change Your Life in 7 Day – Paul McKenna; I confess, I read a lot of self help books. Not because my life is a mess, but because I like to be well informed. I like to have answers when asked questions, and as such, I thought I would give Mr McKenna a try this time. When reading these self help books, wariness is always called for. If a book is full of psychoanalytical information, and spends a lot of time focussing on the names of problems, there could be trouble. For example, have you ever picked up a medical book and read through some of the diseases, and then found that you had some of the symptoms, or you started creating the symptoms. Well, that is one thing to be wary about. Going back to this book, all the information is presented to you in a very positive way, and tends to boarder on “positive thinking is the ultimate way to creating the reality that you want.” However, with this aside, the exercises are simplistic, and some would say too simplistic, but the thing is not to question it, just go with the flow. Some of you out there would never ever look at a self help book because you are either in denial, or don’t believe there is anything wrong, which is basically the same thing. Give it a try. Paul also gives you the sense that your whole life is not a complete mess, which, when you think about it, is what a lot of other books tend to focus on, the mess you are in. Also completing this written architecture is the “Mind altering, self hypnotic CD” I have listened to it a few times, and I guess its true, the last thing I remember him saying in the CD is “I want you to start counting back from 300” As to the content of the CD, I have no idea, so you would need to listen to it yourself. Is it working? Who would be the best judge of that? To add a bit of personal inflection here, I woke up this morning, or this afternoon, whatever time it was and it seemed that everything was brighter, the sun was out, oh wait, everything was brighter because there was no sun yesterday. Either way, I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful. Give it a try!
Man’s Search for Meaning – Dr Viktor E. Frankl; Honesty is called for, this is not a new book I have read, this is the only book I have read more than twice. And could quite easily be classed as my favourite. Dr Frankl, during the first 2/3rd’s of the book describes his time in clarity as a prisoner in the Nazi concentration camps. The descriptions he gives of his time there are not the normal ones you hear off. Sure, there is death, starvation, murder etc. But his personal story is more off what he felt, saw, heard and why he chose to live when so many others decided to die. To quote “The Shawshank Redemption,” You get busy livin’ or get busy dyin’” He chose, even after everything was stripped off of him that he would live, and he would give it his all. But that is not all to the story. It is one of those ones that takes you through into his world, seeing what he saw, but never feeling it, because there is no way, unless you were there that you would be able to even comprehend the feelings that he felt. Those 2/3rd’s take you from when he was first placed into a concentration camp, to the eventual liberation. The last 3rd of the book is about his new look into psychology, his new concept which is logotherapy. I am not going to try and describe it here, it is not up to me to redefine in a short few lines what one man has written over years of pain and suffering. As much as you read about the death, hurt and pain, you feel an overwhelming sense of freedom. This would certainly have to be the pick of the books today, as never have I found a book which can keep its reader compelled to keep reading. Personally, if there were ever a person that I would like to spend an afternoon talking to, it would probably be Dr Frankl, unfortunately though, that will never happen as he has now died.
And there you have it....
Check me out at http://seaniep.blogspot.com/