Growth and Development Books

This is great starter pregnancy book. It is informative and graphic. My 14 year old brother flipped through it page by page. It was a great learning tool for even him.

The pictures in this book are beautiful and detailed. Well worth the money. If I could change just one thing it would be to add even more pictures as the book tends to skip over a few weeks here and there. Would prefer to have at least one picture for every week of the process.

The pictures are wonderful in this book. I remember my mom having an earlier edition when I was little and now I have an updated edition of my own!

I haven't read this book. I purchased the book for my son and his wife, who will be having their first child in January 2009. It will also make me and my wife grandparents for the first time! They love the book! Thank you for the rapid delivery! Susan and Billy Thompson

Wonderful book amazing to see detailed pictures of the baby. Great for showing your children what is going on in your body. Other pictures are dated and need to be updated to this decade.

This book was more on target about my issues than any other book i could have read and it told me how i need to improve my weaknesses. It has helped me really see my self and the destructive patterns that i never realized that i am caught up in.. I recommend it highly if you are ready to change and have inner peace of mind

I have read several books on this subject and this is definitely the best so far. Well written and easy to understand.

This is "The Source" of information on the Enneagram.It is also used by Fr. Wm. Meninger in his exploration of the subject. The ancient adage "Know Thyself" is exemplified in this Masterpiece.
While contemplation is extremely important for interior developement,getting to know yourself and the reason for your actions is its external complement. You'll discover through "The Wisdom of the Enneagram" the path to self-knowledge.Self-awareness will lead the true seeker to self-correction and less suffering.
Greater humility,the antidote for pridefulness, is cultivated through self-knowledge.

I had the good fortune to study the Enneagram, as a graduate student in psychology, with Luc Brebion, one of Claudio Naranjo's original "disciples," who brought the teaching of the Enneagram to North America. It was my understanding at the time (1980) that the teaching of it was limited to those who'd studied with Claudio, or his original students, as it was so easy to get it wrong.

I now understand why: the only frame of reference, before the Enneagram, for the study of personality, was a psychiatric one--personality DISORDER (in other words, personality features so extreme or destructive that they were truly pathological, and created major obstacles to fulfillment in both love and work). The great virtue of the Enneagram is that it helps us understand our personalities WITHOUT PATHOLOGIZING. Being able to understand our personality traits and styles can be very useful...but when we feel pathologized in the attempt, it's a turn off (besides not being merited).

Given those considerations, THE WISDOM OF THE Enneagram is the ONLY book I've recommended to clients in therapy over the years, and it has been very well-recieved. It is the ONLY book I've yet read on the Enneagram that really gets it right; I highly recommend it to anyone who wishes to know and understand themselves better. I both helps to locate personality blindspots, and to FORGIVE ourselves for them...while, over time, the greater awareness opens up a broader frame of reference for other possible responses to life. (This is why the hardest people to "type" in this way are those who have done the most inner work; as a result, their behavior, thinking and speech is less predictable, less discernable as having a particular flavor...with the result that who we REALLY are--the True Self or Soul--can shine through the increasingly translucent cover of personality).

This is the best book that I have ever read on personality types.
It even eclipses Myers-briggs in that it outlines WHY we are the people that we have become. Though there is a lot of information, the author leads the reader in small enough steps to not only grasp the material, but to comprehend the potential of our own growth and the way foward in our lives. Un missible for those that work in larger groups or want to understand their families and loved ones better.

Even though he died in 1998, everything in this book is still valid.
From little simple tips like allowing a little extra time to get somewhere to making sure you have gas in your car so you won't forget to put some in when you are rushed to controlling phone call interuptions this book is chock full of little tips.
Even things like putting your keys in the same spot to having your doors keyed to use the same key, he just keeps on offering ways to save time and hassle that you can avoid if you listen to him.
One of the pioneers of real estate infomercials, he speaks to you on how to enjoy your life.
Shortly before he died he was sued with frivolous lawsuits, so ignore the ignorant reviewers that talk about that. He set up his estate so they couldn't touch his wealth. Good for him. Glad to know Givens kept his money shielded from buzzard lawyers.
Learning how he overcame a hard childhood to go on to live a life most would only dream of should inspire you to do the same.
All in all, a good combination of both inspirational reflecting on his growing up to practical advice once he had made it as an adult.

This is one of the best "self-help" books I have ever read. I am
re-reading it in case I missed something.

Like his financial books, Charles Givens offers a no nonsense system for becoming your best. You will learn how to flatten your fears, generate goals and add several hours of productivity to your day with more free time for fun to boot.

The tape is an overview. The book is very thorough.

Highly recommended along with Stephen Coveys 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

Interesting that some people are surprised that Charles Givens produced this audio tape program and the book of the same name--SuperSelf; interesting because this is how Givens started way back in 1975 with his first company The Success Motivation Institute which was incredibly successful. SuperSelf is a program designed to take back control. To destroy the control others or events have over our emotions and the direction of our lives. To stop waiting for our ship to come in and go out and swim to it. Not to wait for things to happen but to make thing happen. Not to find ourselves, but to design ourselves. To take the action in our lives to make our dreams into reality.SuperSelf will show you how to design the rest of your life to become the best of your life and to live your dreams.

I read a classic self-development book on my recent flight called, Super Self Doubling Your Personal Effectiveness by Charles J. Givens. Charles is one of the long-time motivational speakers and rags to riches type person that people like to read about. Often I find these people to be somewhat shallow but the basic message is right.

In the book he shares a number of success strategies. The first one is to learn from the experience of others rather than your own. In my opinion, this is true wisdom and this is something that I still seek.

Charles Givens' outline is very basic and is what you would see in almost any self-help book:

1. Have dreams and goals. (I always thought the difference between dreams and goals is that goals were dreams with action)

2. Develop strategies to achieve these.

3. Practise â" consciously and continuously apply the strategies at every opportunity.

4. Habits - as I have often said before, we become what we repeatedly do.
Results, with these new skills and abilities, you will achieve results.

I would not make it as linear as that, I would make it into a circle. As results start to happen, then new dreams and goals need to be set. I feel a need to constantly revisit goals.

Overall this is a great book and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in improving themselves and achieving goals in life.

His program takes it right from the goal setting through the time management area. It is a great refresher on what we need to do to be successful. I always seem to need this. I know what I should do but I frequently fall back into not doing it. books like this challenge me to once again play at the top of my game all the time.

This book is one of the best books about the fire service I have ever read. I hung onto each and every word. It was though I was there sometimes.

During the tumultuous period of the 60s when author Dennis Smith wrote Report From Engine Company 82, the book was a cry for help from exhausted, frustrated men. Men who cleaned up in the aftermath of other exhausted and frustrated inhabitants of a society stretched to the breaking point.

As I type this, a younger firefighter in a comfortable, air-conditioned fire station among a population that by-and-large respects my profession, it's easy to forget the sacrifice of our past brothers who unceasingly fought fires, city hall and the population they served, until they had forged the modern fire service.

It's an important book for new firefighters to learn how the iron men of old did the job. And for the general reader it's a testament to both a volatile period in our nation's history, and to the timeless strength and courage by which good men have always worked to keep back the chaos of barbarism and destruction.

I spent 10 years in the fire service in both engine and truck companys. While I have many memories and stories to tell, the author, Dennis Smith, sums up the life of a fire fighter in an urban environment about as well as can be possibly told. Trying to balance the unpleasantries and sadness against the satisfaction of saving a life or helping a family overcome one of life's most agonizing moments is very well portrayed in this book. This is what a fire fighter's life is about folks. There is no other book that I can remember that tells it any better than this. If you're thinking of a career in a big city fire department or for that matter, if you're even thinking of becoming a volunteer fire fighter this book is a must!

I first read this book 20+ years ago, when I was under 20 years of age myself but streetwise from being the "wheels" (with a driver's license and a car) for various escapades all over Chicago in my raucous, hard-partying and utterly politically incorrect youth. Many aspects of "Report From Engine Co. 82" stuck with me through the years, and I've re-read it several times. Now I'm 40 and an ER RN in a Chicago hospital where we see more than our share of the extraordinarily dysfunctional lives of the people who live in poverty in the neighborhoods that surround our hospital -- the type of job and environment Smith portrays so well in "Report From Engine Co. 82."

"Report From Engine Co. 82." tells truths about the nearly inescapable poverty and illiteracy of people scraping by in lives that are marginalized in every possible way because they don't -- can't -- really care for themselves appropriately because they don't even know how. Poverty isn't what it used to be -- but it's still as screwed up as it was in Smith's first book. Most of our ER visits aren't really emergencies, just as most of the calls Company 82 responded to weren't emergencies, either. Nowadays, people call 911; when "Report" was written, that 911 system didn't exist yet. But not much has changed since then, in terms of what the firefighters/paramedics respond to and bring to the ER.

Most of the "emergencies" he sees are not emergencies. The non-emergencies, combined with the real emergencies, portray the dangerous and unthinking way poor people live through a combination of lack of resources, lack of experience with the "straight" world, lack of common sense, and minute-by-minute survival thinking. Most of these emergencies and non-emergencies are easily prevented -- if people had common sense, proper parenting, and a normal instinct for self-preservation.

These qualities, however, are surprisingly hard to come by in poverty, and this is what Smith dramatizes. The heroin overdoses. The stupid kids doing stupid things because they are constantly left unattended and to their own devices. Kids who shoot themselves in the thigh or foot -- or worse -- "playing" with guns. Fires that kill children because space heaters provide the heat slumlords refuse to provide in their code-violating buildings. The incipient hatred and distrust poor minority neighborhoods have of the white emergency personnel and firefighters who respond to their calls. The huge cultural gaps that make true communication and understanding so difficult -- even when you're both the same race and both speaking English.

What Smith accurately portrays is the way poverty-stricken people "live in the now" -- people whose entire lives are spent with no real financial or material stability or security. These are people for whom the concept of saving money for the future is impossible, either as a concept or a reality. People for whom making an appointment days or weeks in the future, and actually remembering to get to the appointment, is nearly impossible. Their main mode of thought is: what do I need to do now, what do I want to do now, what do I need or want to do in the next five minutes. This inability to think about and plan for the future is endemic, as is the inability to prioritize that which really matters -- one suspects because most of these people realize on some level they have no future that truly matters to the rest of society, and they're incapable of living as the rest of the "straight" world lives because they never have, didn't grow up with it, and don't know the language of living that life, let alone the mindset.

These are the people and children who have no insurance, no health care, no glasses when their vision is bad, no braces or dental care when their teeth are bad; who never use birth control (to prevent pregnancy OR to prevent disease transmission). People who don't understand why it's inappropriate to come to the ER with an upper respiratory infection and get pissed off when they wait hours for care while higher priority, higher-acuity patients (in respiratory distress, cardiac arrest, heart attacks, asthma attacks, and overdose, etc.) are taken before they are.

Conversely, these are also the people who shun health care until they are so sick they can no longer avoid it, and discover they have cancer... Cancer that could have been prevented or at least treated, often saving their lives, had they ever had regular health care -- but who are now consigned to an inevitable death they will blame on the healthcare providers who couldn't save them because they were at a stage beyond saving or treating in any way other than palliative.

Smith's New York is NOT the New York of Sex And The City. This is the New York of the infants whose welfare mothers don't immunize them, but have the latest, most expensive coats and boots because conspicuous consumption is how they live: you show how much money you have by wearing all that your money has bought you (rather than doing the far less glamorous but sensible things more responsible people, whose children were WANTED rather than accidental, do). The New York of the kids having kids who have kids, all of whom have never known proper parenting, nutrition, or health care. The overdoses. The children who come in with accidental poisonings or burns from household chemicals because no one was watching them. The attempted suicides with anything and everything -- cold medicine, knives, guns, illegal drugs. The kids raised by siblings because the parent is completely incapable, if they're even around, with or without the additional problems of substance use/abuse, addiction, or domestic abuse. The families which are largely single-parent families -- and where the parental figure may be an elder sibling, aunt or cousin who cares more for the children than their biological parent(s) does or is capable of doing.

This is also the world of the terrified illegal immigrants who wait so long to call for help because they're afraid of INS (now ICE) and deportation; by the time they do, they're often too sick to save. The penniless old people whose pensions don't cover their living expenses and who don't call for help because they're terrified of being discharged from the hospital to a nursing home and losing what little autonomy and material security they have left. The fractured families (with utterly dysfunctional dynamics) who interfere with the paramedics' jobs -- as well as the tight-knit families who are rich only in love for one another. The people who refuse help they desperately need because they fear and distrust the paramedics and firemen trying to help them, and because their healthcare illiteracy is such that they have no idea what is necessary to save their lives, and so refuse or avoid medical treatment that could stop problems in stages when they're still treatable. The mothers who speak no English, who superstitiously fear that emergency treatment will kill their children, yet who are so desperate to save their babies, they don't know what else to do, because all home remedies have now failed. The endless numbers of people who let their prescriptions run out or try to save money by taking less than the prescribed doses and then have severe health problems that wouldn't happen if they bought and took their meds as prescribed -- but who, for multiple reasons, can't and/or don't. The people who beg not to be brought to the hospital because "people DIE in the hospital" -- people who don't understand that their neighbors and family members who died in the hospital, died because they waited far too long to call for help, and were therefore were beyond saving when they finally got to a hospital.

Anyone who works in public service as a fireman, cop, nurse, social worker, or psych intake worker in a big city -- and in poverty-stricken, crime- and drug-infested suburbs and rural communities -- can relate to Smith's book. For everyone who majored in something else, this book opens a door and exposes the lives of people you don't even know exist, people you don't acknowledge when you're forced to share a bus or train with them during rush hour (or who you intentionally avoid by driving in your own car, despite the expense of gas, insurance, and time spent on the commute): the people who don't work, or the people who work wage-slave jobs like janitor, maid, fast-food worker, security guard, who can barely pay their bills or care for their children with what little they make -- or who blow it all on liquor and/or drugs and/or gambling (or all three) to escape the miserable hopelessness of their lives. The kids who have the latest "stuff" -- whether it's the shiny ten speed bicycles Smith writes about, or today's video games and cell phone/mp3 player/cameras -- but whose parents can't or won't give them what they really need: breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a stable environment from which to emerge every day to deal with the life-endangering risks of walking to and attending public schools that do little more than babysit and warehouse kids whose futures include teen pregnancy (and the late-term, life-threatening miscarriages that go with total lack of prenatal care, with or without drug use), repeated incarceration, and shorter-than-average lifespans due to the daily likelihood of violence in their communities and their lives.

Smith's portrayal of this kind of poverty is not pretty but it is not unsympathetic -- there are glimpses of beauty and hope, mostly in the young women and children who haven't yet been ruined by their surroundings. Smith tempers it all with a matter-of-fact acceptance that although it is his job to care for these people, he may never really understand them because he's now too removed from that life, and he takes on faith that they possess human qualities they often fail to demonstrate. But some do show their humanity, and those are the people he does it for.

Smith does an excellent job of portraying the paradox that the job of these firefighters and paramedics is to help and save these people, which by its nature includes finding them WORTH helping and saving, at the same time as they move and live as far away from these neighborhoods and the associated poverty, crime and drug problems as they possibly can. This is not merely a racial difference. There are plenty of black and Latino paramedics, cops, firefighters, nurses and doctors who straddle the gulf (some might say 'minefield') between their class and the class of the people they help, in circumstances that are at best trying and at worst nearly impossible to help them transcend for any sustained length of time.

Smith portrays the sympathetic detachment required to know that this is what you do, all day, every day you work, with only the hope that one or two out of ten people will actually genuinely and sincerely thank you for what you do or have done for them -- which is that elusive reward you get, one that can make it all seem worth it when it happens -- and to hope that when you show up and give this of yourself on every shift, there might be one kid or teen who sees what you're doing, who still has enough time ahead of them to see this glimpse into another world... A world it is just *barely* possible for them to enter given enough determination, education, mentoring and drive, and sadly also given enough instinct to discard much of what they learn in their families about how they THINK the world works, versus how the world REALLY works for the more educated and better-off people who run it.

The fact that Smith can show all this without denigrating an entire class of people -- does, in fact, portray them with humanity and the grace one occasionally sees in these circumstances -- is because he also recognizes that he is not that far removed from the kind of poverty he sees on the job (he grew up poor, too). He recognizes and accepts that he is that kid who admired firemen as a boy and saw a different world -- he is that kid who made the leap to the next class up, to the working class and blue collar as opposed to poverty-stricken. He understands the dysfunction -- the drinking, the drugs, the abuse -- that occurs in the neighborhoods Co. 82 responds to because it occurred in his neighborhood, his family, his poverty, while he was growing up.

This understanding that few "get out" -- and that he was one of the lucky few -- underscores with sympathy his otherwise stark portrayal of the job of a NYC fireman in the 70s when NYC was not a desirable place to live and people did their best to escape "the city" as soon as their financial circumstances permitted it.

The uncensored version of this book (which is the one I've read multiple times) also shows the bizarre split someone who works as a fireman/paramedic, nurse, or doctor must negotiate within themselves -- the intimate knowledge you have of the bodies of the people you must save, which is merely part of your job but which you can't really talk about to any family member or lover who isn't in one of these fields. I don't mean merely intimacy with people's genitals -- though there is that, such as the way the Smith describes heroin overdoses getting icebags put under their testicles (negative stimulus, designed to bring unresponsive, unconscious people back to responsiveness and consciousness). I mean the intimacy of seeing people stripped of their modesty and dignity, voluntarily (prostitutes) or involuntarily (the terribly sick), whose personal space and body integrity you must necessarily invade, often in less-than-respectful or diplomatic ways because there is no time for those niceties when someone is dying and you're trying to save them. People who don't work in these fields can never really understand how you can be unaffected by the nudity, exposure and/or intimate knowledge you have of these total strangers, and the disinterest or casual attitude with which you greet what would shock most everyone else.

And, of course, you're not unaffected by this knowledge. Sometimes you're disturbed, or someone or something sticks in your mind -- the things you've seen or had to do -- and is recalled in inappropriate moments with your loved ones. You're not unaffected, you're just emotionally calloused or you compartmentalize it, in order to repeatedly perpetrate and endure this violation of the boundaries between strangers and its inherent power imbalance: you, as the emergency personnel, never have to reveal any of these intimacies to your patients... but they must necessarily, willingly or not, reveal them to you. This includes the mentally ill and the hopelessly drug-addled or dopesick (or both, combined) -- sometimes the most disturbing intimacy of all: the insides of their heads and their distorted, sometimes frighteningly unhinged, perceptions of the world around them.

Before anyone decides to dedicate their lives to becoming a firefighter, they would be wise to start their research here. Some 30+ years after it was first published, this book still shows remarkable insight into the lives, struggles, and emotions of a professional firefighter. When I started on the road to becoming a firefighter, being a volunteer and reading Dennis Smith books asserted in my mind that my life would be wasted doing anything else. For others, this may convince you that the job is not for you. It isn't for everyone. Either way, this is a very enjoyable read and worth the time and money for anyone, not just firemen and wannabe's.

I first read "The Lesson of the Chopsticks" and must say that I was not disappointed reading "How to Keep Life's Small Problems from Becoming Big Ones"! Ms.Greenlee's unique view of life's everyday challenges is one we all can identify with on some level.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is in need of a boost to handle procrastination and prioritizing. Ms. Greenlee's uncovers a profound truth using vivid illustrations and metaphors to convey her point and shift us out of our "comfort zone". And, it's a LOT CHEAPER THAN THERAPY!

Finally, a most enjoyable and interesting book filled with practical and useful guidance that can be helpful for every age and every level. Each lesson is deeply meaningful, yet stated so simply. A true Gem!!!

Who knew that paying attention to inanimate objects could be so powerful? In "Paperclips", Ms. Greenlee has humorously and quite consciously given us a roadmap to sorting through the habits we all develop when faced with discomfort. Reading it again and again gives the reader a fresh way of envisioning life's way of offering opportunities to grow.

The idea of the book is good, if you don't take care of the little things when they first appear, they end up snowballing and becoming big things. However, I thought the book would include more to read and digest rather than just drawings of paperclips. OK I get the message now offer some insight on motivation. The message didn't need 109 pages of paperclips to get the message across. One cartoon would have done. It took me all of 5 minutes to "read". Sorry, wanted more for the money.

This charmingly simple book spoke volumes to me about the dangers of a disorganized life, and brought to mind several practical applications. If I don't hang up my clothes every night, my bedroom is soon an unworkable mess. If I don't take care of my mail (and other paperwork) diligently and often, it soon becomes overwhelming, and I can't find that piece of paper I really need. If I don't spot-clean the kitchen and baths (almost) every day, things get disgusting quite quickly, and germs can grow. And the list could go on. It's so refreshing to see a simple, highly useful truth presented in such an engaging way, and I look forward to the next "lesson." Way to go, Gina!

After reading this book, I feel ready to go out and create my own destiny. This is a wonderful account on how everyday actions and decisions can create the life you want.

Peter Morgan Mash seems to be one of those people upon whom good fortune shines. Just when he's about to lose a big deal, chance rears its beautiful head to help him on his way; just when he's about to give up on meeting a key potential investor, he ends up stuck in the elevator with him. To what does Mash attribute his good fortune? Simple kindness, integrity and personal values. By stressing these personal attributes, he says that anyone can benefit from the kindness of life. We from getAbstract recommend this book to anyone convinced that the universe is a basically friendly place.

Peter Kash was my father's intern at EF Hutton when I was a little girl. His warmth and zest for life come through in this book, as well as his sharp business acumen. His principles are sound; his writing style, delightful. I'd recommend this book to anyone searching for the courage to follow their passion and find success.

I have to say that I pick up a lot of books (from personal success to mathematical tomes) and read them over a period of a week to a month, but not this book. This book is so engrossing that I finished it in two days! Peter Kash really hit a note inside me when he talked about the coincidences and serendipity in eveyone's life. When you look at the world the way Peter Kash does everything begins to become clear and you can't help but to look forward to everyday, to meet new people and to appreciate your family and the people you know well. I have recommended this book as a Must read to all of my friends and I recommend it to anyone who is trying to get a "lucky break" on their way to the top! I can assure you that this is not "fluff" or New Age "Gobbledygook". This is a book written from the "gut" from a solid, successful, entrepeneur, who comes across - not as a know it all - but of someone who has learned a lot of secrets on how to make your own luck. Truly a life altering book for this reader.

Make Your Own Luck is a practical guide for getting the most from what you have. Make Your Own Luck is really a feel good kind of book not based on heavily researched scientific fact.

The author reminds the reader of old platitudes and gives antidotal evidence support these platitudes. Yet in the hustle and bustle of everyday life these reminders are welcome and help realign the compass guiding our lives.

The author reminds us the life is full of unexplained coincidences. If we notice and engage (rather then ignore) these coincidences we can usually find opportunity knocking. Make your own luck covers topics such as failure (required to succeed), rejection (required to succeed), finding a purpose in work and specialization (which can be a path to success).

The underlying tone is the golden rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. The author adds the concept of the "web of life", which could be described as "what goes around comes around".

I would recommend Make Your Own Luck. Although the concepts are tried and true they are still important to consider and pursue. In a busy world we need to be reminded and make sure we are following our compass.

The book is simply amazing. Very detailed, open, and honest in every chapter.

As a web marketer and having an online business myself, I can assure that his sales and marketing strategies work. It does indeed show how you can really go from zero to one million. It's hard to imagine someone with so much wisdom and passion at such a young age. Thanks for sharing Ryan.

Ryan's book would make a wonderful addition to any entrepreneur's library. It discusses how he founded iContact and how he grew sales to more than $1,000,000 within 3 years. It also highlights the challenges Ryan and his team encountered with raising venture capital, hiring key staff members, crafting online marketing initiatives, developing products and putting systems in place to ensure success. I highly recommend this book.

Matthew A. Martinez
Author of Investing in Apartment Buildings: Create a Reliable Stream of Income and Build Long-Term Wealth and 2 Years to a Million in Real Estate
www.matthewamartinez.com

The title (or anything containing the word 'million' for that matter) makes one wonder if it is more hype than substance, but the content proves otherwise. Good reference/guide to have when starting a new business.

At Age Twenty One, there seems to be two common destinies for Americans - suffering in poverty through college or suffering in poverty through the work force. Not for Ryan Allis - by age 21, he his company had reached, $1,000,000 in sales, money most people may not see even at twice or thrice that age. Since then, that one million has become pathetic in comparison, as Allis's company, iContact Corporation, has reached, $10 million in yearly sales. Allis now reveals his secrets in "Zero to One Million: How I Built A Company to, $1 Million In Sales...And How You Can, Too." Focusing on something he refers to as the "Market-Advantages-Return" evaluation system, he will advise readers to if their businesses are viable and to write a business plan to capture the attention of investors, how to start on nearly nothing, online selling, and so much more. "Zero to One Million: How I Built a Company to, $1 Million In Sales: And How You Can, Too" is highly recommended to budding entrepreneurs everywhere and for for community library business collections.

Ryan graciously shares his knowledge, which is immense. He details his process, and does so with a clear language without "dumbing down" the content. His story is amazing, but approachable. The reader is able to follow his lead and gain inspiration. Additionally, the humanitarian elements of this phenom are sure to bring him even greater success.

As someone who has been a writer and teacher in the personal development and spirituality realm for many years, I love this book. It is so direct and straightforward, and quite profound in its simplicity. Srikumar Rao offers a step-by-step exploration into who you are, what you believe, and how what you believe is impacting your success. He offers this deep personal work in a language that is accessible to anyone. And his writing style gives the reader complete confidence that they can do the work! Thank you, Srikumar, for this accessible and powerful book!

Excellent exercises to re-think one's current life and work situation. Carried through, these lessons can have a profound impact on those struggling with serenity and purpose.

For all of those people who bought Eat Pray and Love with the notion that it would change their lives, buy this book! Srikumar Rao's gentle introductions and guided exercises allow you to contemplate what you want to change in your life and actually work at doing it. I was amazed at the changes I noticed in my thinking and my life in the space of a few months. Do not rush through this book. Let it guide you to finding the real you.

"Life is short. And uncertain. It is like a drop of water skittering around on a lotus leaf. You never know when it will drop off and disappear. So each day is too precious to waste. And each day that you are not radiantly alive and brimming with cheer is a day wasted"

Who wouldn't be interested in what this man has to say, right? You'd have to lack a pulse not to want - better, profoundly yearn for - the life affirming perspective and deep joy in being alive he describes.

But have you or I got the vision, guts and discipline to commit to what it's going to take? That's the central question this book poses on every glorious and uplifting page.

Like Stephen Covey's "Seven Habits", Rao proposes that meaningful change happens from the inside out: You'll recall Covey's first 3 habits are about "Personal Victory".

This book is more powerful because it doesn't deal with practices - "habits" - for cognitive behavioural change, like Covey. No, Rao challenges the fundamental fabric of our life experience: our very consciousness.

In one sound bite, the rallying cry of this book is: "live a conscious life".

I'm excited by this. As someone who has lived in a coma - mindlessly propelled by the "conveyor belt of life" - and has jumped off, this resonates very deeply with me.

But this isn't a quick fix. Rao invites you on a very tough spiritual journey that will last a life time.

Brutally simplified, he invites you to become conscious of your self-limiting, self-defeating models of the world, your judgmental critical dialogue, and to develop insight to shift these, partly using the meditative practice of mindfulness.

The outcome: "Gradually, you get to the point where you can control what you are consciously comfortable with letting into your mind. And that is how you start straightening out of your life"

But that's not the tough part. What comes next is far more challenging. What if you believed the Universe wasn't "a dumb, insentient mass" but "a conscious entity that is intimately intertwined with you and not separate from you. It wants to give you what you desire and you can influence it"

Wow! If that was your operating principle, just imagine how different would life be? How much more time and energy would you spend focusing on and manifesting what you want in life instead of worrying and complaining about what you don't want?

Most of the rest of book is dedicated to building the "Benevolent Universe" model. Rao coaches us on how to let go of guilt, blame, destructive habits and anxiety about what we can't control. This all uses up valuable energy and makes us feel powerless: far better to channel energy into constructive and resourceful practices that serve us.

Specifically he shows us how to use the "Law of Increase", the reality that "Whatever you are truly grateful for and appreciate will increase in your life" and how to manifest our deepest desires simply by being resolutely and single-mindedly focused on them with a deep conviction that they are already ours.

Freedom and happiness? We already have them: they're inside, not outside us.

Thinking we have to "acquire" something to be free or happy is misguided, according to Rao: "The talons of our addiction shred our minds and wreck repose... There is nothing you have to get in order to be happy"

Why go on this journey at all?

Because fundamental to our purpose is contribution: the unique gifts we're on the road to discovering and manifesting in the world will contribute to the greater good: literally make the world a better place.

"When you stop explicitly focusing on yourself, on what you want and don't have, and start focusing on how you can be of service to a larger community, then you set loose some very powerful forces"

The reward of accepting the challenge in this book is enlightenment: a deep understanding of your purpose in life and the insight to manifest it.

It will make a leader of you, if you let it.

Before enlightenment, chop wood carry water.
After enlightenment, chop wood carry water.*

I read the book's title as meaning "You're successful, are you ready for that?" rather than "Do you want to succeed?" emphasizing the word "ready". And just as reaching enlightenment does not obviate the need to perform the more mundane chores of life, being ready to succeed does not obviate earning a living or making friends. You can do both but if you're not ready to see your success, you won't realize that you are successful and you won't be as happy as you could be.

Rao only indirectly writes about increasing the material and social markers of success, i.e. how wealthy you are or how many friends you have. He stresses that we need to give less importance to these markers and to appreciate what we already have. (And when adversity strikes, we should appreciate that it wasn't worse.) Success breeds success but only if you nurture it properly and that's what he writes about.

Rao's techniques are simple and effective. He first gives examples of what he calls mental models, or predetermined thinking patterns. For example when you are preparing for meetings you always assume that people will argue with you, this predetermined pattern in which you think is a negative mental model. Rao wants us to become conscious of our mental models, especially the negative ones. Next he wants us to detach ourselves from them. He has us create an imaginary friend, who's actually not a friend but an unbiased observer. We're to imagine this friend to describe what we're saying or thinking.

Rao offers many more exercises, with the later exercises building on the earlier ones. The best thing about "Are you Ready to Succeed?" is that the exercises are practical and not too New Age-ish.

Vincent Poirier, Dublin
*Thanks to Eric for the "Buddhist saying". VP

Good read and a lot of wonderful stories and helpful hints to boot. Worth the purchase. I highly recommend this book for anyone looking to find their way to see all their dreams and desires come true.

Far too many people wander through life unfulfilled because they lack the skill set needed to experience life to its most bountiful. That's in part due to a fear of asking for that which brings us what we need, want or desire.

People are afraid. Afraid of rejection, afraid of looking foolish, and a whole host of other things. Be afraid no longer. The Aladdin Factor will teach you how to ask without fear.

Canfield's book taught me how to ask in a powerful, confident way that would guarantee my success. Simple phrasing combined with subtle reflection made for a life transforming read.

At Pug Headquarters, it's a must read.

Diana Taylor
Top Dog
Pug At The Beach

Sometimes all you need in life is the wisdom of a good dog.TM

Pug at the Beach: An Island Dog's Reflections on Life

The authors are very specific in their advice on getting what you want in life, and their wisdom truly works. I have found that out by experience in using it to advance in my career. This is one of those books you can have complete confidence in: Not a bit of it is commercial psycho babble---this stuff is practical "take it to the bank" mentoring. One of the other customer reviewers called this a must-have book, and he is right. Don't miss out on this piece of gold.

The Aladdin Factor is a must have for anyone who has been unable to attain everything in which they desire. The book is analogous with the journey of Aladdin, his encounter with the genie and how Aladdin discovers what he really wants out of life. Jack Canfield does a great job of using real life cases to exemplify the Aladdin Factor. If you don't already know what is, you are missing out.

Many years ago I read a book that changed my life. The beauty about books is they are truly timeless. Recently I revisited this book because the continued buzz about "The Secret" made me think of it.

The Aladdin Factor is a simple fast-track to getting what you want. Originally released in 1995 (around the time Chicken Soup for The Soul series was really taking off), this book changed the way I approached business and personal interactions.

I believe that one of the greatest lessons you will ever learn is included in this book. The art of asking for what you really want.

Canfield and Hansen explore five barriers to asking for what we want:

(1) The first is ignorance. Often, we simply don't know what to ask for. This occurs for many reasons including lack of exposure, not knowing the resources available and not fully understanding our personal desires and yearnings.

2) Second, limiting and inaccurate beliefs keep us stuck in what we know to be true from past experiences. This includes programming from parents, teachers, churches, peers and the media.

3) Fear is the third barrier (and one I believe we can all relate to). It is fear, usually based on past disappointments and experiences, that hold many of us back from asking for what we truly desire. The fear of rejection is particularly debilitating. Fear of looking silly, being humiliated, feeling powerless, punishment, obligation and abandonment are all key players in keeping us stuck.

4) Fourth is low self-esteem. Often we can feel unworthy of love, happiness and our true desires. This is because of inferiority complexes and false beliefs that our needs and wants are worthy of pursuit.

5) Pride is the final barrier and, according to the authors, is especially difficult for men. Although I see this trait in many of my women friends. We tend to remain guarded and not admit that we need help and support. Asking for this sometimes makes us feel inadequate.

The key to getting what you want is simple. Recognize and correct the barriers that apply to you. Become comfortable with who you are and what you really want and need (this may take some time).

Finally, ask for what you want in a way that is mutually beneficial for all involved. The key point I took away from this book (and continue to hold near and dear) is having the courage to simply ask.

Look at it this way. If you really, truly want something, the only way to get it is to take actionable steps, including asking. If you ask for something you want the worse thing that can happen is someone saying "no". Although this may seem devastating, in reality, you are left with nothing less than before you asked. And, if the answer happens to be yes, you have moved so much closer to your end goal.

So, go ahead, ask for what you want. The results may surprise you.

I thought this was a really great book. It was very encouraging. I usually thought of myself as scattered and thought each unfinished project was just another failure. I always have too many interests and too many projects, and reading this book gave me great ideas about how to organize my priorities and interests effectively. If nothing else, it helped me feel better about my varied interests. I no longer think of myself as just a flake with too many unfinished projects.

It was the subtitle that drew me in...urged me to pick up the book... begged me to take more than a glance at it. Life Design for People with Too Many Passions to Pick Just One. Hmmmm, someone must be writing about ME! I discovered this book while browsing at the local library on a day that had me grappling with a way to explain to my husband that which is almost inexplainable to me: I have so many creative interests, and I am so passionate about them, that I allow them to absorb me (his words, not mine). I don't know why that is. I don't know how that is. I don't know when that started. And I don't know how to change that, or if I even want to change that. Why should I have to? To a person who isn't so inclined, I guess it seems more than a little odd that I can't "pick one thing and be the best at it."

And so it was that Lobenstine happened into my life with important information and answers to unspoken questions at just the right time. As she so wisely points out, our society tends to foster the idea of becoming an expert in one area and sticking to it. Society tends to look negatively on the concept of the "Jack of all trades and master of none" life. But Lobenstine contends that line of thinking is exactly the reason it is hard to undertand some creative souls and their passions for so many different avenues.

In an easily readable, most enjoyable format, Lobenstine offers hope to the creative souls who hope to be able to "have it all." She contends that it is possible to incorporate those passions and a paying job and be happy. Simple quizzes allow readers to identify what their individual values are and where those values can lead. Case studies of actual creatives offer guideposts and encouragement to those of us who struggle with the expectations of others vs the expectations we hold for ourselves.

The Renaissance Soul is divided into four very interesting, practical and engaging sections. Part I, Claiming Your Renaissance Soul, provides readers with characteristics of the renaissance soul personality: defining success by mastered challenges rather than how far up the ladder a person has climbed, casting aside single-minded focus in favor of variety. Lobenstine also includes a section that dispells myths about what a creative soul is and is not... Renaissance souls are not superior to others, nor do they fall into that diagnosis of Attention Deficit Disorder personalities. While some may be, not all renaissance souls are geniuses. They do not use their many and varied interests to avoid the realities of life, and they are NOT job-hoppers!

To substantiate her theories, Lobenstine offers examples of well-known individuals who fit her definitions for a renaissance soul--Ben Franklin, Leonardo da Vinci, Sir Thomas More and Maya Angelou, to name a few.

Part II, Thriving on Many Interests Without Feeling Scattered, was perhaps one of the most valuable sections for me personally. Digging into the heart of what drives creatives, Lobenstine challenges us to take a good hard look at ourselves and to clearly identify our personal value systems. She offers several revealing quizzes for her readers, including choosing five out of a list of fifty values and identifying the five values that are most important at the particular moment, or writing not the well-known self obituary but writing toasts to one's self by four individuals who know the creative person best. Scrutinizing personal values even more closely, Lobenstine asks her readers to consider how their own life meshes (or not) with the lives of those other individuals who are part of the creative's inner circle. She stresses the importance of identifying whether an individual's activities are reflecting personal values or the values of others. She offers practical ways to not only evaluate this but to move closer to a place where personal values take precedence over the values of others.

Part III, Practical Realities: Career Design for Pursuing You Passions, is the nitty-gritty for those creatives who want to give up their day jobs but just can't. The author points out that, while it is not always possible to give up the day job, it sometimes is easier than one may think to secure a day job that will help the creative soul move closer to realizing their passions and dreams. How would you like to get "paid for your passion?" How would you like to be able to focus on your passions, sell yourself, find non-traditional ways to indulge your creative side without compromising self? All of these areas are presented in a revealing way that caused this reader to experience several ah-ha moments along the way.

Part IV, Successful Life Design for Renaissance Souls, takes the creative spirit one step closer to realizing goals and dreams by helping readers make a commitment. Lobenstine offers a unique and comfortable way to put desires into action--the PRISM test. As she explains, "The PRISM test puts your current set of Focal Points through a rigorous evaluation. Just as light bursts into color as it passes through a prism, this test allows you to examine your Focal Points from new angles, therby clarifying and confirming your eventual selections." PRISM is an anacronym for Price (How much will it cost you to get to your Focal Point?), Reality (What will the day-to-day, nitty-gritty of engaging in this Focal Point really involve?), Integrity (Why does this particular Focal Point seem particularly worthwhile to you?), Specificity (When you are specific about constitutes success, you can articulate your desires to yourself and others), and Measurability (Setting specific dates for attainment of your goals allows you to map out a plan and take specific steps toward passionate productivity).

Margaret Lobenstine is the perfect person to walk creative Renaissance Souls through the process because she, too, is a Renaissance Soul. Not only is she a motivational speaker, writer and life-coach, she has been a successful bed-and-breakfast owner, a family business consultant, and a literary specialist. She encourages renaissance souls to be role models to others. To learn more about the author and her work, visit her website.

by Lee Ambrose
for Story Circle Book Reviews
reviewing books by, for, and about women

This is a nice piece of work. The book does spend far more time than I wanted justifying the multitude-of-interests person. But it was quick reading at the beginning so not much of a burden.

There are some exceptional insights here, and some wonderful tactics for dealing with your range of interests.

The introductory exercises (Five from Fifty = prioritizing, Many Circles = weighting, Birthday Party = accomplishments) can help clarify things for those caught in the mire of doing. Clarifying your interest, no matter how many there are, is an important aspect of this work.

I particularly like the idea of Focal Points - temporary assignments you give yourself in order to have the freedom to learn or accomplish.

Reverse flowcharts are great in that they force you to see what you are doing that gets in your way. Basically think of how you can ensure something will not happen - there you go, many times that's what you're doing.

I think the concept of Four Frames - which is applied to volunteering - can be used in a far greater sense as well. Not simply limited to convincing a potential volunteering opportunity, but if you look at your larger goals, and your place in your journey - this approach can be used to convince your spiritual self what it is you want to contribute, and why that would be a good thing for all.

The crux of the entire message of the book is "I'd love to help you feel fulfilled rather than overwhelmed."

The author states "Renaissance Souls work best when we can match our activities to our energy flow." I think this is true for everyone, but it isn't something we value in the US all that much (instead we're told to bang our heads for 14 hours and meet that deadline, many times producing a lower quality result). So, without having a specific prescription for each moment of your day, the approach here allows you flexiblity in choice based on your motivations at that time. Yes, balanced planning - I've been waiting for someone else to say it.

My favorite story in the entire book is the one on Mozart, and his pursuing his purpose, becoming what he could be in the midst of all else going on. The author weaves an intricate connection about how this benefited so many others than if he were to try and be something he were not. Very nice... "One of the best things you can do for other Renaissance Souls is to keep growing." And I would add, the best thing we can do for all beings.

Toward the end of the book I felt the work there was less inspired. It focused on examples, whereas I think a book works much better if at the end it brings us back up to that higher-purpose and leaves us with lofty placement. We end on a real high then.

I could not be happier that I ordered this book! I'm 26 years old, and so far the only thing I've partially identified with is the "Twenty-Something" feeling, kind of lost, but full of potential. When I got this book, I read the first hundred or so pages right away, I was just hooked immediately. I really loved the tests and used them and now I do feel much more clear about my (current) focus. I'm definitely a Renaissance Soul (18 out of 20 on the Quiz in the book). I have done everything from Retail to Real Estate to Banking to Social Work to starting businesses, etc. I just got married, so that took up a lot of time and energy for a while, but now I have new goals and clarity. I really loved her example of the ice cream shop, likening the choice of ice cream, etc. to the choices of things we're interested in. She says it would be just as hard and paralyzing to try and choose one for the rest of your life as it would be to try and choose them all, that's why you need a "sampler", which is free to change, but that will give you focus. So, my current sampler is: Studying for and taking the GRE and applying to Grad School, writing a business plan for the business I want to start, spending time with my new husband, learning how to make soup (I just want to learn how to make soup!), and making healthier choices regarding food and activity. So, Thank You, Margaret! I think you are right on with your idea of a Renaissance Soul, and I'm so happy you wrote this book. It was my pleasure to read it! =)

I consider myself the very model of a Renaissance Soul: I love to read about lots of subjects; I used to garden quite fanatically; I'm in a knitting/crocheting phase right now; music is a big part of my life; and I've been doing agility and other training with our dog. Oh, and I have a day job, too! My answer to "what do you want to be when you grow up" changed so often when I was younger that it made my head spin! So I was hoping this book would help me sort out how to feel fulfilled and yet not too diluted pursuing my many interests.

And indeed it did. Here are just a few helpful tidbits I took from the book: You do have to choose a few interests at any given time, based on the things you value most, but those choices don't have to be forever. You should quit doing things that don't fit with the values you hold most dear. You can combine interests (for example, I like to write and cook -- maybe I should write about food?). You need to block time for your interests, but not be inflexible about which interest you pursue at a given time. There are lots of creative ways to get where you want to go, even if you pursue many different careers over time, without starting at Square One each time.

And so much of what the author said validated the way I approach life, even toward the end helping me understand why I sometimes feel unmotivated to do anything at all.

My only complaint is that the book starts to sound branded or jargony, with its Renaissance Soul Way and Focus Points Notebook -- kind of like the Chicken Soup series or the Finish Rich series. This Renaissance Soul finds that stuff kind of annoying. But the content was so rich and sensible that the annoyance was minor. This book has really gotten me thinking about what I need to do to more fully enjoy my many interests.