Book Review - Say It Like Obama (Shel Leanne)

Say It Like Obama (Shel Leanne) is one of the best book I have read on Public Speaking. We all know that President Obama is one of the best orators we have seen in this modern age. He was able to move the US people, convincing them to give him the 'hot seat' so that he can make the change that they can believe in. Although how Obama performed, we will have to wait for the end of his term before we can evaluate, but I am sure most of us agree that he is a great public speaker.

So how does he do it? Well, this book shed some light into it, or I should say throw a tremendous amount of light into this topic, but I must warn readers that is book is quite technical. I never study languages so I was thrown with a lot of jargons towards the end of the book, but all in all, I enjoyed reading it.

If you are a leader in your organization, it is best that you grab this book and hone your public speaking skills. You will need it if you want your employees to buy your vision and believe that you are the leader they should follow.

I give it 3 out of 5 stars. If this book comes with a CD that has videos of all the speeches transcripted inside the book, I am sure readers can learn a great deal about moving people from Obama and the author. But then again there is YouTube.

Grab this book if you are a leader in your organization or you want to move people with your words.

Book Review - The Definitive Book of Body Language (Barbara & Allan Pease)

The Definitive Book of Body Language (Barbara & Allan Pease) is the first book I come across on Body Language. With the greater emphasis on people's skill, recognizing what your converstation partner is sending out would help you greatly in getting into someone's good books.

This is especially true for sales people. Would it not be great to know the current state of your clients and change your tactics accordingly so that you achieve your objective of clinching sales? Would it not be great to see if your boss is receptive to your idea by observing the signals that his body is sending out? Would it not be great if you know what mood your spouse is and act accordingly so as to avoid any tripwire.

Well this is a great book to start of with. It teaches us a lot of the body signals that are sent out but do note that you need to keep on practise and I would suggest from time to time, you browse through it and apply to your life as much as possible. Only then would you reap full benefit from the book.

I give it a 4 out of 5 stars for its great illustrations, explanations and also insights that it offers for beginners try to figure out the world of body language.

Book Review - The Saint, the Surfer and the CEO (Robin Sharma)

The Saint, the Surfer and the CEO (Robin Sharma) is another wonderful book by Robin Sharma. Continuing from his bestseller book, The Monk who sold his Ferrari, it is written in the form of a story, telling us to live true to our lives, to find out purpose in this world and live for this purpose.

My mind was blown away when I read it as it provides me more insights into how this world works and how limiting belief are inculcate into us, preventing us from achieving what our hearts desire from this life. Some of the lessons taught are how we should treat all happenings in our life, be it good or bad, how we see things through our eyes and mind, and what mindset should we have in order to create abundance in our lives. Interested to know the answers to these questions? Well grab the book now. You will find traces of materials that are found in other self-help material, for instance a deposit account for each relationship you create, projecting a vision with clarity (Law of Attraction) and many more. Grab the book because it will give you more insights into these materials.

I give it a 4.5 stars out of five. A great gift to anyone who love self-help books. Definitely worth much more than its price. What are you waiting for, go and grab it now, digest what is taught and take concrete steps to achieve your heart's desired dream and lifestyle!

Book Review - Buyology (Martin Lindstrom)

Buyology (Martin Lindstrom) is a book title that, together with the bright yellow cover, attracted my attention when I visited the bookstore.

Basically the book is about neural-marketing. No no don't worry, it does not mean once I read this book I am going to be a marketing guru. It does not bestow me the power to control what you buy. But it is a very insightful book to read.

Do you know that those ads that are meant to discourage smoking or anorexia is actually encouraging it? That because although cigarettes makers are banned from marketing but they have infiltrated into your life to encourage you to smoke without you noticing it? What has religion got to do with the best brand? Which sense should the ads appeal to to make a lasting impression?

You probably might have answer to one of these questions but would it not be great to know the answers to all of them? I know you would love to know the answer to all these questions. So go and grab the book.

This book open up my eyes a bit wider about neural marketing, although I have some pre-knowledge about neural marketing, especially the coke and popcorn experiment mentioned in the book. Sinister it may seem but I feel it is good to know about it.

It is the book for you, if you like psychology or marketing or both. Since I like both, I have benefited from and enjoyed the book immensely. I strongly recommend this book to those who want to be on the forefront of marketing or generally interested to know how humans behave.

I give it 3.5 stars out of 5. The only grip about the book is if only there are more diagrams to explain the concepts inside like symbol and which part of the brain it is refering to. A must-have book for any marketing personnel's library.

Robert Kiyosaki New Book and other New Book Releases-March 2009

These are some new books or soon to release books that I thought readers might be interested.

For fans of Robert Kiyosaki, he is about to release a new book on Real Estate Investment. From Amazon, this book is claimed as "the bible, of real estate advice and techniques every investor needs to navigate through the ups, the downs, and the in-betweens of the real estate market and come out on top." After further reading the Product Description, it seems to be a comprehensive book for Real Estate investors. Hope I can get a copy of it, read it and recommend to you readers, in this blog. For those who cannot wait, maybe you can reserve it in Amazon and have it shipped to you the second it is available.

Book Review - Outliers (Malcolm Gladwell)

Outliers (Malcolm Gladwell) is a must read for people who are hungry for success. Are you one of them? The book tells us the following interesting stories.

1) Air Crashes are usually not a product of machine malfunction but the culture of the pilots.
2) Asians are better at maths than Westerners but there is a way for Westerners to overcome that.
3) How many QUALITY hours you need to put in to be successful
4) The fields that you choose to pursue your dreams is very important.

The book shows us the pattern to achieving success. It discuss how did Bill Gates, Steve Jobs become successful while others fall off from the track to success. How does the above story tells us about success? Well, grab the book and find out. Want to be on the Track to success? Well, do I need to say more?

I found the book an enjoyable and insightful book, similar to other books by Malcolm Gladwell, Tipping Point and Blink. I grab the book when it was on the shelf but only manage to squeeze the book into my schedule recently. What the book tells us about the track to success can be misinterpreted by many as phooey, but I personally feel that hidden inside, there really lies the secret to success, it will depend very much on the angle you look at discussion.

I give this a 4 out of 5 stars as it teaches the track to success. If you have loved his previous books, I strongly encouraged you to grab it.

Book Review - How Starbucks Saved My Life (Michael Gates Gill)

How Starbucks Saved My Life (Michael Gates Gill) tells a real life story of the author. A high flier who has everything planned for him and all he has to do is go with the flow until the dreaded 'R' word came, retrenchment. He has everything he wants materially but life takes a dive when he made several bad decisions and neglected his family. The retrenchment was the final nail in the coffin for him.

By some weird fate, he ended up working in Starbucks and realize how empty his life had been. He could not thoroughly enjoy his live although what he has is what other people have to work their butts off and still might not get it.

If you feel very 'empty' at your job, you cannot enjoy what life have to offer or you picture that your life should not be the way it is right now, then I strongly recommend this book to you. It should provide you with some inspiration and motivation to steer your life in the correct direction.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book so much so I could not stop reading it. The best thing is this book was given to me as a Christmas present. The title did caught my attention several times but I did not intend to buy it at all.

I give it 4 out of 5 stars because it is simple to read, plus the good contents inside. If you have thoroughly enjoyed reading Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom, then you should pounced on this book and enjoy the fiction and lessons behind How Starbucks Saved My Life (Michael Gates Gill).