Book Review - The Present (Spencer Johnson)

The Present (Spencer Johnson) writes about valuable lessons that I feel is greatly important for us modern people.

Are you very busy with your work and commitments? After finishing your work do you feel a sense of emptiness inside? This is the book for you if you answer 'Yes' to these questions. I am sure many of us have heard of this book since it has been published for a few years but the lessons taught inside is timeless.

Enjoying the moment, living each moment fully is something we wanted but a principle that we do not understand well, because just thinking of it, there seems to be quite a fair bit of 'technical' problem. This book will tell us how we can do that with easy-to-understand guiding principles to help us. This book is strongly recommended for all of us who are so overwhelmed by this world we are in. The lessons inside is definitely priceless.

Strongly recommended book to read. On a side note, Spencer Johnson new book is out and it is titled "Peaks and Valleys".

Book Review - The Answer (John Assaraf, Smith Murray)

The Answer (John Assaraf, Smith Murray) was a book that had an interesting story behind why I bought.

I was fascinated by Law of Attraction again, so I pick up the book and read. I even watch the video to get myself immerse again into understanding the Law. Now I know about this book "The Answer" a long time back and I do know that John Assaraf is one of the mentor featured in the Secret. But this time it was very different. John stood out from the video, not literally of course. His name keeps on ringing in my mind.

At that time, Harris at Suntec City was having a clearance sale (and it still is now) so being an avid bookworm, I went to the sale. And "The Answer" stood out a couple of time because it was one of those books that was found in most shelves (I wonder is it because that this book is difficult to classify). Anyway, since it stood out so many times, I guess it is not harm reading it since the title sounds attractive, "Grow Any Business, Achieve Financial Freedom and Live an Extraordinary Life" which I am sure this is what everyone wants to do.

When I was reading this book, I was blown away because there are two parts to the book. The first part of the book does talk about The Secret and gives you the scientific background of it. (Yes, there is scientific background to The Secret.) So it gives me a better understanding how it works. The second part is the one I strongly recommend to entrepreneurs. This second part is a MUST-READ. I can never stress enough. If you really want to grow your business, you MUST-READ the second half. I am very sure you will benefit TREMENDOUSLY from it.

Basically the second half tells you how to find the customers you need, designing your marketing materials to get the customer you want and also design the business model to get the customer you want. Now of course most of this things are cliche in any entrepreneurship books but I can tell you this book is very different.

For this book I give it a 4.5 stars out of five if you are an entrepreneur reading it, but if you are reading to find out more about The Secret, I will only say that the scientific background it good to read but not a must-read to know more.

Book Review - The Success Principles (Jack Canfield)

The Success Principles (Jack Canfield) is a must read self-help book for those that wants to achieve their dreams or wants to get out of their current situation in terms of relationship, financial, career and any other area which you are tired of.

It contains a lot of bite-size actions that you can take to move yourself from "where you are to where you want to be". Since Jack Canfield is also featured in "The Secret", there are some principles that are related to it. Now there are many non-believers out there. For me, well it does not really matter to me, I take whatever that makes my life better. The secret requires us to be positive in our thoughts and emotions, and I feel comfortable having is so why not?

Some of the principles helps us to be focused on what we want in our lives. How many times have we seen other people leading the lives that we want, it hurts us so much to feel how come we are not and we RESOLVED to do it, only to go back to our routines again? If you have such a feeling, and you are sick of such a feeling and truly want to get out of your current situation then this book is for you.

I would give it a 4.5 stars out of 5 for its bite-sized chapters and easy to follow principles. So if you are sick of your current situation, read the book and apply the principles inside......NOW!!!

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.