Let me start by saying I don't really believe there is such a thing as a "bad" book. Well, I suppose there might be one or two extreme examples out there with no redeeming features! But generally speaking whether or not you enjoy a writer's style or the ideas and concepts in a book resonate with you, the act of reading a book is about exposing yourself to new ideas, new perspectives, new ways of thinking and that can never be a bad experience. To truly understand who you are you must understand who you are not. Reading a book and thinking "what a load of rubbish, I don't agree with that at all" helps you understand who you aren't!
The idea of these book review is to provide you with a brief insight into the books to help you identify which you think might be of greatest interest to you, but I do wholeheartedly encourage you to read a few that you don't think sound particularly interesting, because you just never know!
The idea of these book review is to provide you with a brief insight into the books to help you identify which you think might be of greatest interest to you, but I do wholeheartedly encourage you to read a few that you don't think sound particularly interesting, because you just never know!
- The Four Agreements - don Miguel Ruiz
- The Fifth Agreement - don Miguel Ruiz and don Jose Ruiz
- Present Moment Awareness - Shannon Duncan
- You Can Heal Your Life - Louise L Hay
- The Monk Who Sold his Ferrari - Robin Sharma
- The Seat of the Soul - Gary Zukav
- Spiritual Partnership - Gary Zukav
- The Tipping Point - Malcolm Gladwell
The Four Agreements - don Miguel Ruiz
In The Four Agreements, Ruiz shares with us ancient Toltec wisdom and offers us four agreements that we can make with ourselves to transform our lives. He observes that our lives are built on a series of agreements we make with ourselves and each other – agreements on language, customs and values. Our self-image is in effect a series of agreements we have made with ourself about who we are, what we are capable of and where our strengths and weaknesses lie.
Ruiz urges us to confront these agreements and break those that are fear-based to reclaim our personal power. He offers four new agreements as a basis for a powerful personal philosophy:
This book is an easy read and I believe is, as it labels itself, a practical guide to personal freedom.
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In The Four Agreements, Ruiz shares with us ancient Toltec wisdom and offers us four agreements that we can make with ourselves to transform our lives. He observes that our lives are built on a series of agreements we make with ourselves and each other – agreements on language, customs and values. Our self-image is in effect a series of agreements we have made with ourself about who we are, what we are capable of and where our strengths and weaknesses lie.
Ruiz urges us to confront these agreements and break those that are fear-based to reclaim our personal power. He offers four new agreements as a basis for a powerful personal philosophy:
- Be impeccable with your word
- Don’t take anything personally
- Don’t make assumptions
- Always do your best
This book is an easy read and I believe is, as it labels itself, a practical guide to personal freedom.
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The Fifth Agreement - don Miguel Ruiz and don Jose Ruiz
The Fifth Agreement builds on the teachings of The Four Agreements – reinforcing those first four tenets of Toltec wisdom and offering us the gift of the fifth agreement, ‘Be Skeptical, but Learn to Listen’.
This fifth agreement teaches us to use doubt as a tool to identify truth. By questioning the things we hear, see and think rather than just accepting them at face value we accept responsibility for every message we deliver and receive. It’s about recognising that we all distort things, whether intentionally or not, so that often the stories we are telling ourselves and others are not the truth. It’s not about judging a lack of truthfulness; it’s about increased understanding and respect as a result of improved communication.
The book also offers insight into the stages of human consciousness, in Toltec terms the dreams of the first, second and third attentions, or ‘Victims’, ‘Warriors’ and ‘Masters’. It describes each of the stages and how the teachings of The Four Agreements and The Fifth Agreement can help us to evolve through them.
It was over a year after first reading The Four Agreements that I finally got to read The Fifth Agreement. That wasn’t intentional on my part, I had been trying to track down a copy of the book for quite some time but I do believe the Universe was conspiring for my benefit in causing the delay, giving me time to have sufficiently absorbed and adopted the four agreements into my everyday life before allowing me the next insight. I would definitely recommend to others that you similarly take time to absorb the wisdom of The Four Agreements, reading it several times over a period of time, before moving onto The Fifth Agreement.
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The Fifth Agreement builds on the teachings of The Four Agreements – reinforcing those first four tenets of Toltec wisdom and offering us the gift of the fifth agreement, ‘Be Skeptical, but Learn to Listen’.
This fifth agreement teaches us to use doubt as a tool to identify truth. By questioning the things we hear, see and think rather than just accepting them at face value we accept responsibility for every message we deliver and receive. It’s about recognising that we all distort things, whether intentionally or not, so that often the stories we are telling ourselves and others are not the truth. It’s not about judging a lack of truthfulness; it’s about increased understanding and respect as a result of improved communication.
The book also offers insight into the stages of human consciousness, in Toltec terms the dreams of the first, second and third attentions, or ‘Victims’, ‘Warriors’ and ‘Masters’. It describes each of the stages and how the teachings of The Four Agreements and The Fifth Agreement can help us to evolve through them.
It was over a year after first reading The Four Agreements that I finally got to read The Fifth Agreement. That wasn’t intentional on my part, I had been trying to track down a copy of the book for quite some time but I do believe the Universe was conspiring for my benefit in causing the delay, giving me time to have sufficiently absorbed and adopted the four agreements into my everyday life before allowing me the next insight. I would definitely recommend to others that you similarly take time to absorb the wisdom of The Four Agreements, reading it several times over a period of time, before moving onto The Fifth Agreement.
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Present Moment Awareness - Shannon Duncan
Duncan sums up quite nicely the benefits that are to be gained from increasing our present moment awareness in the book’s introduction “Being present in the moment, you have the opportunity to see beyond what your fears and insecurities tell you and open yourself to a nearly limitless array of new choices. In learning to live in the present, you discover how to set aside emotional baggage from the past, and worries about the future, in order to appreciate the opportunities you have available to you, right here and right now.”
Present Moment Awareness offers a number of techniques to assist you in developing increased awareness and includes exercises to practise these. Whether or not you complete those exercises the book offers interesting insights and uses stories to help illustrate its messages.
Duncan takes us back to childhood and helps us understand how many of our current self-image issues were created, challenging us to take responsibility for moving on from those now rather than seeking to blame those who contributed to them, and also challenging us to think about how our current behaviours are impacting our children and grandchildren.
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Duncan sums up quite nicely the benefits that are to be gained from increasing our present moment awareness in the book’s introduction “Being present in the moment, you have the opportunity to see beyond what your fears and insecurities tell you and open yourself to a nearly limitless array of new choices. In learning to live in the present, you discover how to set aside emotional baggage from the past, and worries about the future, in order to appreciate the opportunities you have available to you, right here and right now.”
Present Moment Awareness offers a number of techniques to assist you in developing increased awareness and includes exercises to practise these. Whether or not you complete those exercises the book offers interesting insights and uses stories to help illustrate its messages.
Duncan takes us back to childhood and helps us understand how many of our current self-image issues were created, challenging us to take responsibility for moving on from those now rather than seeking to blame those who contributed to them, and also challenging us to think about how our current behaviours are impacting our children and grandchildren.
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You Can Heal Your Life - Louise L Hay
First published over 30 years ago, the core messages of Louise Hay’s bestselling and iconic book still ring just as true today. If you struggle with self-esteem, find yourself plagued with negative and limiting beliefs or feel like you are failing to reach your potential then this book is definitely worth a read. It reminds us of the power we have over our lives; to choose our thought patterns and free ourselves from the wounds of our past.
Louise shares the story of her own life which helps to illustrate the kind of healing and transformation that is possible when we make a choice to change and find the right tools to support us. The book gently and kindly leads us through a journey of self-contemplation and provides a set of tools (largely based around the use of affirmations) to help us identify and release our own demons.
The book also contemplates the link between mental and emotional patterns and physical symptoms in our bodies including excerpts from another of Louise’s books, Heal Your Body.
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First published over 30 years ago, the core messages of Louise Hay’s bestselling and iconic book still ring just as true today. If you struggle with self-esteem, find yourself plagued with negative and limiting beliefs or feel like you are failing to reach your potential then this book is definitely worth a read. It reminds us of the power we have over our lives; to choose our thought patterns and free ourselves from the wounds of our past.
Louise shares the story of her own life which helps to illustrate the kind of healing and transformation that is possible when we make a choice to change and find the right tools to support us. The book gently and kindly leads us through a journey of self-contemplation and provides a set of tools (largely based around the use of affirmations) to help us identify and release our own demons.
The book also contemplates the link between mental and emotional patterns and physical symptoms in our bodies including excerpts from another of Louise’s books, Heal Your Body.
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The Monk Who Sold his Ferrari – Robin Sharma
Sharma tells the tale of Julian Mantle, an aggressive and wealthy lawyer who following a near fatal heart attack finds himself questioning everything and setting out on a journey in search of meaning. Julian returns a new man, having found purpose and radiating health and happiness, and shares the tale of his transformation with an old friend, from whose perspective the book is written.
The book is an easy but thought-provoking read based around a core ‘7 Timeless Virtues of Enlightened Living’. Each virtue is illustrated in story in a chapter of the book and summarised at the end of the chapter. The messages of the book are simple, but profound.
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Sharma tells the tale of Julian Mantle, an aggressive and wealthy lawyer who following a near fatal heart attack finds himself questioning everything and setting out on a journey in search of meaning. Julian returns a new man, having found purpose and radiating health and happiness, and shares the tale of his transformation with an old friend, from whose perspective the book is written.
The book is an easy but thought-provoking read based around a core ‘7 Timeless Virtues of Enlightened Living’. Each virtue is illustrated in story in a chapter of the book and summarised at the end of the chapter. The messages of the book are simple, but profound.
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The Seat of the Soul – Gary Zukav
The Seat of the Soul examines evolution as more than just a question of physical adaptation and development. Zukav discusses the limitations of the traditional human level of consciousness or the “five-sensory human being” and contrasts it with the next step in our evolution – the multisensory human. He offers us compelling insights into the possibilities that are opened up for us when we move beyond a five-sense view of the world and get in touch with our souls.
For those who have started a journey of increasing self-awareness and sense the untapped potential inside themselves the book helps put into words some of the concepts you have begun to experience but not been able to express. The shortcomings of traditional values based on the pursuit of external power are highlighted and we are urged to instead seek authentic power through taking responsibility for our choices.
The Seat of the Soul introduces the concept of Spiritual Partnership, a model for truly empowered and empowering relationships, which Zukav examines in more detail in his subsequent book by that name.
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The Seat of the Soul examines evolution as more than just a question of physical adaptation and development. Zukav discusses the limitations of the traditional human level of consciousness or the “five-sensory human being” and contrasts it with the next step in our evolution – the multisensory human. He offers us compelling insights into the possibilities that are opened up for us when we move beyond a five-sense view of the world and get in touch with our souls.
For those who have started a journey of increasing self-awareness and sense the untapped potential inside themselves the book helps put into words some of the concepts you have begun to experience but not been able to express. The shortcomings of traditional values based on the pursuit of external power are highlighted and we are urged to instead seek authentic power through taking responsibility for our choices.
The Seat of the Soul introduces the concept of Spiritual Partnership, a model for truly empowered and empowering relationships, which Zukav examines in more detail in his subsequent book by that name.
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Spiritual Partnership – Gary Zukav
In Spiritual Partnership, Zukav expands on the concept of humans evolving into multi-sensory beings that he introduced us to in Seat of the Soul and examines what this evolution in human consciousness can mean for our relationships.
Zukav sees an evolution into multi-sensory beings as inevitable for all of human kind over the next few decades but how much impact that has on our lives he reminds us is our own responsibility. We need to make the choice to face our fears and thus strip them of their power and to choose awareness and considered response over reaction.
Spiritual Partners aid us in this by encouraging us to go within and identify the true source of our problems: the frightened parts of our personalities. Spiritual Partners do not offer platitudes and sympathies, they offer us support and love as we face and slay our dragons.
The book challenges us to rise to our potential by having the courage to face our fears and overcome them. It is filled with examples from Zukav’s own life which warn the reader that they should not expect the transformation to be easy, or for it to happen overnight, yet reassure them that the potential rewards of making a commitment to transformation are immeasurable.
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In Spiritual Partnership, Zukav expands on the concept of humans evolving into multi-sensory beings that he introduced us to in Seat of the Soul and examines what this evolution in human consciousness can mean for our relationships.
Zukav sees an evolution into multi-sensory beings as inevitable for all of human kind over the next few decades but how much impact that has on our lives he reminds us is our own responsibility. We need to make the choice to face our fears and thus strip them of their power and to choose awareness and considered response over reaction.
Spiritual Partners aid us in this by encouraging us to go within and identify the true source of our problems: the frightened parts of our personalities. Spiritual Partners do not offer platitudes and sympathies, they offer us support and love as we face and slay our dragons.
The book challenges us to rise to our potential by having the courage to face our fears and overcome them. It is filled with examples from Zukav’s own life which warn the reader that they should not expect the transformation to be easy, or for it to happen overnight, yet reassure them that the potential rewards of making a commitment to transformation are immeasurable.
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The Tipping Point – Malcolm Gladwell
Thought-provoking and insightful, I found The Tipping Point easy to read and hard to put down. The book explains the seemingly mysterious process of what makes one product or idea catch on over another by likening the process to the spread of a virus in an epidemic. Gladwell creates a compelling case for his fascinating hypothesis through extensive research and analysis, clearly and cleverly illustrated with a series of case studies.
An interesting social commentary and certainly a useful read if you have any role to play in marketing or promotion of products or services.
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Thought-provoking and insightful, I found The Tipping Point easy to read and hard to put down. The book explains the seemingly mysterious process of what makes one product or idea catch on over another by likening the process to the spread of a virus in an epidemic. Gladwell creates a compelling case for his fascinating hypothesis through extensive research and analysis, clearly and cleverly illustrated with a series of case studies.
An interesting social commentary and certainly a useful read if you have any role to play in marketing or promotion of products or services.
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