Book Review: The Secret
Book Reviews August 11th, 2007
Category : Books
Genre : Health, Mind & Body
Author : Rhonda Byrne
Well, the book and the secret is more of a collection of many other concepts and ideologies with little explanation and little depth in any of them. Everything in this has been written by someone else and many times over, yet Byrne makes no references to any previous authors or work and claims this is a new found secret. Its NOT. I and many others have known “The Secret” for a long time before reading this book (from other teachers and authors) and while I do believe every bit in how powerful our thoughts are, I also know there is more to it than this. First, the whole thought aspect, is true to everyone for state of mind and what that does in a person’s life. Yes, it affects MANY things. However, there are a few more things in this Universe involved than each individual’s thoughts, such as:
1. Taking action, practice and work to get what you are thinking about. The whole point of thinking and focusing and attracting what you want, takes some amount of work, its not just thinking. Get real. The thoughts will lead to action, the action leads to results. And its the results that count. Yoda even expressed this in his way in Star Wars.
2. Others play in this universe so each individual’s thoughts are not the only thing affecting what is attracted like Byrne clearly accuses people of in the book. Circumstances are not just an accumulation of thoughts of many, its a dynamic social world, not just thoughts. Sorry Byrne, little too simplified there.
Anyway, if this is all new to you, its a great read and worth thinking about, because it can help you improve your outlook in life. It takes practice and work though, in addition to your thoughts to guide you. The content of the book is good with only a few debatable areas to me and I’d certainly recommend that you read more on the scientific aspects of state of mind (thoughts) and what that does to the body and mind. Its huge!
I’d recommend you don’t bother with this and jump back to a much better source for discovery of the secret such as the classic book Think and Grow Rich instead. It’s far better written, more intriguing and not just a long commercial promoted by big names.
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Mike King
June 10th, 2008 at 6:32 AM
I’ve avoided this book because when I had reviewed it in the store, it appeared to just focus on “positive thinking” which like you said, is only one piece of the equation. It also seemed to imply that thinking about something would simply make it appear which is not so. I also saw a short segment on TV about it and people were wishing for material things associated with wealth and that didn’t much appeal to me since most of my motivation in seeking help is to improve my own mental health, not get that new car I’ve had my eye on.
This reminds me of the basics of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy – the concept that thoughts are powerful is indeed true but they must then lead to action for real change to occur.
November 8th, 2008 at 10:31 PM
i loved the story
November 8th, 2008 at 10:34 PM
Kjeld, what story are you referring to? The Secret is no story book, it’s a bunch of disconnected ideas and theories about changing your thinking for one purpose. Is that what you are referring to? It would be great if you can elaborate some more.
December 8th, 2008 at 4:14 PM
Really I admire every single word…
It’s really amazing…
June 9th, 2009 at 1:34 PM
Interesting review. I haven’t read the book myself, but heard about it on number of occasions. Can’t say much before reading it, but you make a reference to author not covering enough ground in it… can any book really do that… I think one needs to read many theories including the ones that that contradict each other before drawing any conclusions on what is what is not true… I think for those who want some more connection to real life there is a short book called “How to live a live in a 24 hour day”… just my 5 cents here… I know I am posting 1 year after… 🙂
June 9th, 2009 at 8:03 PM
Volodymyr – Most books cover their topic from a number of angles and look much deeper at the content than this one.
The author claims this to be a new found secret and the her and her guests to be the ones that have discovered it. That is bull and no credit is given where credit it due. It’s an old theory, written about many times and their are authors who’ve done a much better job writing about it and have MORE content than this promotional material. That is what I mean by not covering enough ground in it. It reads like a sales pitch! While that is a good intro for some, I can only recommend going back int he ages and reading Hill’s books or even Wallace on the same subject.
March 23rd, 2010 at 7:50 AM
This excerpt is from the website, so I don’t see where she claims to be the one who discovered it. Regardless, I’m skeptical of the whole thing. Anytime somebody suggests you can eat whatever you want and not worry about it, loses me.
Rhonda Byrne’s discovery of The Secret began with a glimpse of the truth through a 100 year old book. She went back through centuries, tracing and uncovering a common truth that lay at the core of the most powerful philosophies, teachings and religions in the world
October 5th, 2011 at 1:53 AM
After reading the book you start thinking positive in every single thing you do , but when you don’t see +ve results the effect reduces and you will not believe it anymore.
That was my experience may differ as per person.
Thanks