by Michael Samules ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 16, 2011
A sincere effort and just possibly a dim reflection of profound truths.
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Drawing on the professed wisdom of wealth and happiness-now motivators, Samuels tells in this slim volume how to put the universe to work fulfilling clearly expressed personal wants.
Samuels, inspired initially by a Tony Robbins infomercial to quit living with his parents and strike out on the high toad to success, witnesses convincingly about the universe’s largesse once he went from nay-saying pessimist to true believer. Having reaped asked-for rewards for himself, he seeks here in serviceable if sometimes simplistic prose to share the good news about the universe’s unfailing willingness to give us everything we desire if we can just follow a few simple steps. Step one is writing down a list of specific wants; ask not merely for a new car but for a particular make and model, and don’t forget to say what color interior. Next, command the conscious mind to pass along this want list to the subconscious mind. Then wait patiently while the universe, which Samuels defines as everything and everywhere, handles the rest. Throughout, just make sure to maintain a positive attitude; the universe doesn’t like a whiner. No need to wonder how and why it works; without apology, the author doesn’t. After all, Samuels argues, do we need to think about why a light goes on every time we throw the switch? Neither is chanting, meditating or New Age babble required. Samuels dislikes these sorts of things. He does toss around the term karma, but shows limited understanding of this esoteric law. The book, readable in under an hour, is, at bottom, Samuel’s personal distillation of the sagacity of seers who say wealth and happiness is the mind’s to create. Napoleon Hill, Wallace D. Wattles and The Secret author Rhonda Byrne join Robbins and many likeminded others as his teachers. Samuels is to be commended for giving credence to his thesis in at least one regard—writing the book fulfills an item on his want list. The universe has apparently delivered, in a credible if barebones fashion.
A sincere effort and just possibly a dim reflection of profound truths.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2011
ISBN: 978-0615501291
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Michael Okon
Review Posted Online: Oct. 24, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Oprah Winfrey ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 2, 2014
Honest messages from one of America's best known women.
A compilation of advice from the Queen of All Media.
After writing a column for 14 years titled “What I Know For Sure” for O, The Oprah Winfrey Magazine, Winfrey brings together the highlights into one gift-ready collection. Grouped into themes like Joy, Resilience, Connection, Gratitude, Possibility, Awe, Clarity and Power, each short essay is the distilled thought of a woman who has taken the time to contemplate her life’s journey thus far. Whether she is discussing traveling across the country with her good friend, Gayle, the life she shares with her dogs or building a fire in the fireplace, Winfrey takes each moment and finds the good in it, takes pride in having lived it and embraces the message she’s received from that particular time. Through her actions and her words, she shows readers how she's turned potentially negative moments into life-enhancing experiences, how she's found bliss in simple pleasures like a perfectly ripe peach, and how she's overcome social anxiety to become part of a bigger community. She discusses the yo-yo dieting, exercise and calorie counting she endured for almost two decades as she tried to modify her physical body into something it was not meant to be, and how one day she decided she needed to be grateful for each and every body part: "This is the body you've been given—love what you've got." Since all of the sections are brief and many of the essays are only a couple paragraphs long—and many members of the target audience will have already read them in the magazine—they are best digested in short segments in order to absorb Winfrey's positive and joyful but repetitive message. The book also features a new introduction by the author.
Honest messages from one of America's best known women.Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2014
ISBN: 978-1250054050
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Flatiron View Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 22, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2014
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by Jessica Simpson ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 4, 2020
An eye-opening glimpse into the attempted self-unmaking of one of Hollywood’s most recognizable talents.
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New York Times Bestseller
IndieBound Bestseller
Rolling Stone & Kirkus' Best Music Books of 2020
The debut memoir from the pop and fashion star.
Early on, Simpson describes the book she didn’t write: “a motivational manual telling you how to live your best life.” Though having committed to the lucrative deal years before, she “walked away,” fearing any sort of self-help advice she might give would be hypocritical. Outwardly, Simpson was at the peak of her success, with her fashion line generating “one billion dollars in annual sales.” However, anxiety was getting the better of her, and she admits she’d become a “feelings addict,” just needing “enough noise to distract me from the pain I’d been avoiding since childhood. The demons of traumatic abuse that refused to let me sleep at night—Tylenol PM at age twelve, red wine and Ambien as a grown, scared woman. Those same demons who perched on my shoulder, and when they saw a man as dark as them, leaned in to my ear to whisper, ‘Just give him your light. See if it saves him…’ ” On Halloween 2017, Simpson hit rock bottom, and, with the intervention of her devoted friends and husband, began to address her addictions and underlying fears. In this readable but overlong narrative, the author traces her childhood as a Baptist preacher’s daughter moving 18 times before she “hit fifth grade,” and follows her remarkable rise to fame as a singer. She reveals the psychological trauma resulting from years of sexual abuse by a family friend, experiences that drew her repeatedly into bad relationships with men, most publicly with ex-husband Nick Lachey. Admitting that she was attracted to the validating power of an audience, Simpson analyzes how her failings and triumphs have enabled her to take control of her life, even as she was hounded by the press and various music and movie executives about her weight. Simpson’s memoir contains plenty of personal and professional moments for fans to savor. One of Kirkus and Rolling Stone’s Best Music Books of 2020.
An eye-opening glimpse into the attempted self-unmaking of one of Hollywood’s most recognizable talents.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-06-289996-5
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2020
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