You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
A review by xzahn
Magic of Thinking Big by David J. Schwartz
2.0
1.75 / 5
Initially, I thought this was a load of bullshit. And even now I think it's mostly bullshit.
The keyword here is mostly. It didn't start very well but I was listening to the audio version and it is quite short I decided to go with it. And indeed... there are some useful insights but what I found the most useful were a few common sense rules that we tend to forget. I needed the reminder myself and that's the reason why I gave it 2 stars instead of 1.
This is the type of book that gave 'self-help' books a bad name. I mean... being positive, confident and ambitious certainly is beneficial for success and overall happiness. But the reason is a lot more practical and logical. And simply wanting something really really bad won't cut it unless you persistently work towards achieving it. And I don't see how believing in a cosmic energy that helps you and pushes you towards success will help you with that. Especially considering success almost always follows a long array of failures.
And the examples were comical. Especially the acted ones in the audio version. It's like they purposely made them so ridiculous. Far fetched, scripted and unconvincing. And I also felt a certain 'enjoy being capitalistic slave' vibe. I should enjoy the rat race as an office clerk... Uhm yeah, no thanks!
After all that criticism, I was still able to find something useful from this book. However, I believe it takes some familiarity with the genre to be able to separate the useful bits from the piles of bullshit. Hence I wouldn't recommend it for beginners who are just entering the 'self-help/psychology' genre. I would say that one has to read a few scientifically sound psychology books before digging into this one.
Initially, I thought this was a load of bullshit. And even now I think it's mostly bullshit.
The keyword here is mostly. It didn't start very well but I was listening to the audio version and it is quite short I decided to go with it. And indeed... there are some useful insights but what I found the most useful were a few common sense rules that we tend to forget. I needed the reminder myself and that's the reason why I gave it 2 stars instead of 1.
This is the type of book that gave 'self-help' books a bad name. I mean... being positive, confident and ambitious certainly is beneficial for success and overall happiness. But the reason is a lot more practical and logical. And simply wanting something really really bad won't cut it unless you persistently work towards achieving it. And I don't see how believing in a cosmic energy that helps you and pushes you towards success will help you with that. Especially considering success almost always follows a long array of failures.
And the examples were comical. Especially the acted ones in the audio version. It's like they purposely made them so ridiculous. Far fetched, scripted and unconvincing. And I also felt a certain 'enjoy being capitalistic slave' vibe. I should enjoy the rat race as an office clerk... Uhm yeah, no thanks!
After all that criticism, I was still able to find something useful from this book. However, I believe it takes some familiarity with the genre to be able to separate the useful bits from the piles of bullshit. Hence I wouldn't recommend it for beginners who are just entering the 'self-help/psychology' genre. I would say that one has to read a few scientifically sound psychology books before digging into this one.