Customer Reviews (3)

Great Self Help
Second copy of a lost book.Great for uncomplicated advise and learning to help yourself.

A Good Basic Primer for Self-Hypnosis
I found the first half of this book an excellent overview of hypnosis and the subconscious mind.The second half, however, was mainly theory about how to use self-hypnosis to increase faith, self-confidence, prosperity, enhance marriage and control emotions. I guess that for the time it was originally written (1967), much of that would have been ground-breaking information. Today, however, it has been done better by many of the newer self-help books that, while they do not specifically describe self-hypnosis techniques, they are essentially doing just that.

The first half of the book is valuable because it dispels many of the common myths and misconceptions about hypnosis.It gives a general background on the nature of the hypnotic state and demonstrates how many of the things we do every day are done on a subconscious level, the level that is accessed through hypnosis.

The importance of using imagination is stressed, as imagination emanates from a domain outside conscious awareness. Of particular interest though, to me, was the author's presentation about P.D.E.M., or what he calls the "positive dominant emotional motivator". Anything that has emotional importance is stored in the subconscious mind. Understanding what that motivator consists of is key to creating any desired change.

I think this book is very helpful for anyone wanting to learn self-hypnosis to create change in their life. The author does mention that self-hypnosis can usually be more easily learned in a setting under the guidance of 8-10 sessions with a hypnotist. However, muchcan be done on one's own, and certainly at less expense.

Good and informative...
I found this book to be informing and enlightening... A hard to put down book.You will find a lot of usefule information here, that will help you in your personal life as well as in other aspects of your life.I have been using the methods described in this boo, for over 6 months and have seen a deffinate improvement on my anxiety and restlessness at night. I think others can easily obtain the same results from this book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Take a Pass on this one...
I purchased a used copy of this book and sadly I can only recommend that serious musicians take a pass.It hasn't been updated in years and the info in it is old and outdated.Amazon is full of far more serious and up-to-the date references.

It's hard to believe that the author was ever a lawyer from looking at the advice given and from what I understand the author got arrested, changed sex and stopped practicing law many years ago.

Pass. ... Read more

Product Description
This provocative book explores the dark side of the soul inherent in every human being and explains how to channel it to prevent the pervasive violence in our society.

Bill DeFoore shows us why the only way to address the violence, cruelty and perpetration of harm in the world around us is to first traverse the dark dimension of our own soul. He explores anger from a spiritual perspective and shows us that, in order to be whole and healthy, we must confront and accept the shadow personality inherent in us all.

Drawing on historical events, popular culture and the true experiences of his clients, DeFoore weaves a compelling and sometimes unnerving look at the dark side. By exploring this meeting place between good and evil, he explains the natural roots of anger and why it emerges as rage in people, but is channeled in healthy ways in others. He reveals the precursors to toxic anger as well as the symptoms that show when someone is being overcome by it, which can serve as warning signals for anyone concerned.

With the alarming incidents of rage and violence on our highways and in the workplace and schools, this is a much-needed resource for parents, educators, mental health professionals and anyone concerned with the welfare of society. ... Read more

Product Description

"James Lamiell is a creative, sophisticated, and careful thinker, one whose ideas are deserving of broad attention….The book should be of interest to scholars and practitioners, along with advanced graduate students."

Customer Reviews (1)

The agonies of idiography
Written in Edinburgh, 2004.


This book is the latest sorry effort from the `idiographic' personologists who tried sporadically through the twentieth century to challenge the elementarism, positivism and scientific success of the London School.

In 1912, a sweet and intelligent German-Jewish psychologist, William Stern (1871-1938), noticed the constancy through childhood development of the ratio between mental age and chronological age, the importance of which was immediately appreciated in London by Cyril Burt. But Stern himself actually felt unhappy with the Binet-based, Burt-fortified and, eventually, Terman-realized programme that would ensure the world-wide recognition of IQ (at least until `anti-racist' hysteria began in the 1990s); and Stern would likewise have been impatient with modern trait psychology's dimensions of psychological difference.

Stern's problem? He was not content with "neo-Galtonian" methods which, he thought, missed much about individual human nature. Stern called even the work of the normally venerated Binet "a house of cards"; and he wrote that "....the relegation of an individual to a type, or to several types, can never do justice to the ineffable particularity of his individuality." But Stern's own concrete academic achievements were few, not least because he and his Communist daughters clashed with Hitler and Stern died (of a heart attack) in 1938. Like his friend, the mighty race-realist William McDougall, who died in the same year, Stern shook off his earthly coil amidst many impressive accolades - with his one-time flat-mate, Gordon Allport, notably saying Stern's "personalistic way of thought will yet have its day, and its day will be long and bright." Mainstream psychologists of the 1930s could not anticipate that America and Russia with their new egalitarian-friendly discoveries of `conditioning' would win the Second World War and change the debate utterly.

In one sense, Allport was right. Clearly the public -- or at least the American media of today, eventually rejecting behaviourism and much of the rest of biological science in favour of ideologically comforting pseudo-socialist postmodernism -- spurned the inconvenient objectivist, essentialist and nomothetic approaches to people that naturally yielded a focus on latterly unmentionable features like IQ and race differences. But Stern, like other prophets of subjectivist, relativist and idiographic approaches to people, failed to leave any monumental achievement. So why is Stern treated to resuscitation by Lamiell?

Essentially, James Lamiell has been running a one-man crusade for idiography for his past twenty-two years at Georgetown University. What Lamiell wants to say is that nomothetic (measurement-stressing, `psychotechnical') approaches to people "devalue" their explananda by treating people as `things'. He wants to see more sensitivity to people's ongoing purposes and consciousness and efforts of will. He thinks what was offered by the neo-Galtonians as a psychology of persons "is scarcely anything of the sort."

So how does Lamiell himself propose to inspire his peculiar band of academic followers (including the evidently far-out social psychologist Kenneth J. Gergen who says in the blurb that this book `deserves broad attention')?
(1) Lamiell thinks (pp. 199-201) that individuals do not have `tendencies' in the sense that populations have tendencies. What an insight! Of course, the tendency for neurotic extraverts to be accident-prone does not allow much prediction in any individual case; but it allows plenty of useful prediction and prevention when selecting 50 bus drivers from 100 applicants.
(2) Likewise, Lamiell is haughty about the fact that "simply and utterly irrelevant" heritability coefficients apply only to populations and not to individuals, quite failing to consider the vast benefits that would flow to countless individuals from countries acknowledging high heritabilities and substituting simple birth control programmes for social work.
(3) Not wishing to rule out numbers altogether from psychology, Lamiell advances (near-incomprehensibly) his own scheme for considering multiple trait levels in some kind of interaction - but the final result of this exercise is that the `interactive' measures which Lamiell recommends correlate about 0.90 with normal Big 5 measures (p. 257) and were in any case derived from the work of arch-nomothete Raymond Cattell (p. 254).
(4) Lamiell pursues the idea that personality consists primarily in a person's complex interactions with the environment. Sadly, this long-standing favourite of obscurantist idealists is invalidated by the great discovery of the 1990's that separated monozygotic twins actually become more similar to each other over time - as their genes select and shape their environments.
(5) Like all idiographers, Lamiell wants to claim that the measurements of psychometry are a long way from providing a direct psychology and even `devalue' the person into a measurable `thing.' But, adapting Plato's `cave' analogy a little, the measures of trait psychology can be likened to what we see partially of a room through a mirror placed outside it at its entrance. The notion that there can be no true measurement in psychology is considered and rejected in Brand et al., 2003, in H. Nyborg, 'The Scientific Study of General Intelligence.'
(6) In his insistence on a radical study of individuality (which he himself signally fails to provide), Lamiell presents himself as having a noble and humanistic objective. Yet snowflakes, too, are all different from each other. Would Lamiell wish to say that physics is remiss in failing to capture such particularity?
(7) The final test of any idiographic approach to differential psychology must be whether it does any conspicuous good. Sadly, all Lamiell has to offer practically is a scheme whereby a single Alzheimer's victim is simply deluded by his helpers into maintenance of his `self-esteem.'

Funnily enough, Hans Eysenck (1990, 'Rebel with a Cause'), toward the end of his life, acknowledged the necessity of an idiographic approach to people - saying that "in writing one's autobiography one inevitably has to take the idiographic path." It is likely that idiographer Stern and nomothete Eysenck were both more reasonable about the complementarity of their approaches than is the uninterestingly embittered Lamiell who prefers to deny altogether the heroic achievements of the London School -- which have lately shown IQ to be a more important determinant of national prosperity than all the favourite variables of Western economists put together.
... Read more

Product Description
Whether simple procrastination or the bondage of an addiction, the problems of self-control can be conquered! asserts the bestselling author of Finding the Freedom of Self-Control

Dr. William Backus explains how the revolutionary principles of Misbelief Therapy can change bad habits, false thinking, wrong attitudes and personal problems. A truly happy, free person is one who has learned self-control, the author writes, and he clearly shows the reader how to:

Understand self-control.

Apply truth to misbeliefs about self-control.

Control bodily urges to overindulge.

Break the pattern of old habits.

Build new habits of self-control.

A Guide to Changing Your Life for the Better!

Customer Reviews (1)

A Realistic Approach to Making Positive Changes
Dr. Backus successfully achieves the promise implied in this book's title by telling you how to successfully implement behaviors that will enhance the quality of life. He couples the academic discipline of psychology with the teachings of the Bible into a package called "Christian cognitive therapy" which can help you to be liberated from unhealthy bahavioral patterns.

In the beginning of the book he describes how people are programmed with inaccurate information about self-control. In talking about one of his clients, he reminds us that "success and excellence require doing things one finds difficult." Changing one's behavior leads to improved self-perception, which is a bonus from self-control he tells us.

Society depends on people controling their actions. He notes, "without some control over our wishes, drives, and appetites, we couldn't live in society." Dr. Backus identifies self-control as an acquired set of skills that can be learned. This book helps you to learn those skills. ... Read more

Product Description
If you feel trapped in the same old issues in your personal life or your business and need to find a way out, this book will show you "how you do dat." There is a common thread that runs through all creative techniques that can be used to master any situation. This book will show you how to find and use that common thread. The book also gives examples that demonstrate how to use creative techniques to master your business and personal life:·How to use the blog in a collaborative group to solve problems and increase productivity·How to use your intuition and imagination to get you where you want to go·How to find the right job·How to use cycles to time business expansions and contractions· How to use cycles to time the stock and commodity markets·How to use simplicity to guide you to the best path·How to select and function in a collaborative groupIt doesn't make any difference if you are a business executive, an entrepreneur, a stock and commodity trader, or an individual; the creative techniques will all work the same way. These creative techniques have been used by Albert Einstein and others throughout the ages to find answers to their questions and to create what they want. This book makes these creative techniques available to you. All you have to do is experience them and they will become part of your reality. You will then step into a world of unlimited possibilities. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Valid points
Reviewed by Kathleen Dowdell for Reader Views (9/09)

Paul William Johnson's ingenious thoughts are apparent in his work "Creative Blogging for Personal or Business Improvement `How You do Dat?'"Taking the act of blogging to the next level, Johnson tries to build a case that blogging, which he describes as a growth tool, releases the power to solve problems or improve your business. When used collaboratively it can effectively provide enthusiasm, imagination, diversity, and accountability.

Collective consciousness comes in to play when participants identify the problem then brainstorm (or blog) their thoughts and ideas to come up with a solution. This team must focus on why something can work, not why it won't work. This collective consciousness can create change. In simple terms the creative technique process consists of five parts:

Focusing on the question with intensity and passion
Demanding and expecting to find the answer to the question
Letting go of your thoughts to let the answer emerge
Engaging your mind in some other activity
At a later time, in a relaxed state, the answer will appear
We must think or break out of the box as the author implies when he quotes Albert Einstein's words "insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Einstein thought that the logical, rational mind was the servant and the intuitive mind was the sacred gift. Each of us has an intuitive mind just waiting to be unleashed and set free. This book attempts to show that creative techniques, or creative intuition, in which first thoughts create the simplest solution, are the means to solving the problem. It stresses how to think ("How you do dat?") rather than what to think.

At times this book was confusing. The author includes background information about his interests and past careers to illustrate his points (such as a section on the stock market and financial cycles) while trying to explain how to use creative techniques as a means of gaining inner peace. He jumps around a lot and it was hard to follow his train of thought. I often had to reread the pages to keep on track. But the point he is trying to make is valid and the book offers the opportunity for the reader to try new approaches in everyday business practices.

Many quotes from famous people and personal information about philosophers are included in "Creative Blogging for Personal or Business Improvement `How You do Dat?'" by Paul William Johnson. This was a nice addition. A section on how the use the book was also helpful in looking for specific information.

Excellent for Business or Personal Use!
This book reminds you how to think.It seems simple, but we all need to be reminded that we can do anything we set our minds to once in awhile. The author relays information in an easy to read format throughout the book.I read the entire book on a NY to Phoenix flight.One thing I liked is that each chapter can be read alone or in the context the author has presented.The blogging sections can be used on a stand alone basis to help companies and clients solve complex problems quickly and efficiently using their own in-house knowledge.I have used the book to help set up effective blog groups within my company, and I am currently offering this to our clients.I recommend the book to any business owner, or person who wants to reach within themselves to make whatever they touch better. ... Read more

Product Description
Catherine Carrigan overcame her own depression and, in the process, devoted several years to researching every possible avenue for healing. In Healing Depression, she presents 38 questions and answers that encourage depression sufferers to take control of their lives by addressing the issues most critical for them.

Separate sections each focus on a major treatment avenue: finding a healthcare professional who is capable of treating mind, body, and spirit; identifying medical factors that may be causing a biochemical imbalance; making the connection between stress and depression; adopting an antidepression diet; assessing the need for extra vitamins and minerals; developing positive habits; and learning new exercises. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

healing depression
this book is so comprehansive and in the same time explaining every aspect of depression whether it is nutritionaly,clinicaly, psychologicaly, and or mentaly, that is collected and edited from the top leading specialistsaround the world.it is giving you the choice to chose what kind of therapymakes you feel better,even that the author is recommended on a wholenatural, and comprehansive way of treatments on all the subjects that ismentioned.it is written by a very inteligent woman that expirienced thedepression on herself, and she know what is working,furthermore, she made aresearch on that topic at emory university,and a lot of the top experts inthe world are agree with that remarcable book.i am also as a therapistlearn a lot from that book, and i do believe that all the mental-healers inall of the branches, as well as every depressed person (clinicaly,ornot),could,and should read that extraordinary book. you have myrecommendation.

Reviewing Healing Depression
This excellent book introduces the depressedreader to the concept that depressed people canlearn to restore and maintain normal mood withoutadverse effects. Without getting overly 'medical' the author accurately explains how people can get a proper diagnosis and restorative treatment. There are many causes of depression and / orcontributing factors -therefore, accuratediagnosis is crucial step for determining a restorative treatment for depression. The author's work was reviewed andsupplementedby Dr. A. Hoffer, a leading orthomolecularpsychiatrist. Hisexcellent work has taught manyhealthcare professionals how biochemistrycancomplement psychiatry. Since Dr. Hoffer is botha psychiatrist and aPHD biochemist, he offersunique insights into the benefits of integrating these two fields to help mental patients recover. If you are depressed,this book is worth reading.

One of the worst books I ever read.
Carrigan attempts to solve the worlds problems through a series of overgeneralizations and shoddy research.I don't think any ill intent was present, but this book will make you more depressed. ... Read more

Product Description
William Walker Atkinson was an influential member of the New Thought movement. He was one of the first people to write about the Law of Attraction. Collected here in one volume are three of his most important works The Law of Attraction, or Thought Vibrations in the Thought World; Practical Mental Influence; and The Power of Concentration. Long before Rhonda Byrne discovered the secret that one's positive thoughts are powerful magnets that attract wealth, health, and happiness, Atkinson already knew it. ... Read more

Product Description
Written specifically for small and growing businesses, Getting Your Business Wired makes it easy for any type of enterprise to set up an effective computer network. Readers who follow its detailed, user-friendly guidance may expect significant increases in savings, productivity, and profits--and reap the benefits of a new level of competitiveness.

Everything the small business manager needs to know about networking is here:* descriptions of available technologies and applications * sources of equipment and services* advice on taming the Internet* step-by-step guidance to planning, budgeting, and managing a computer network. ... Read more

Product Description
If you're not happy with the person you are you can do something about it. In Creating the Person You're Becoming, you'll discover the options available to you and learn how to change your life for the better. This book is a hands-on approach to discovering the great potential contributions you can make.

Learn what your unique gift is. Find out how to use it to bring success to you and other people.

Although success principles have been around a long time, not everyone knows how to apply them. This book is filled with exercises that show you how to apply these known principles of success in your own life.

Overcome obstacles that stand between you and your goals. Sustain motivation.

Improve your effectiveness at work.

Enhance your ability to communicate with others. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

A great book
An uncommon look at common sense ways to improve your life. Get this book and let it encourage you as you become the person you were born to be.

Creating the Person You're Becoming: A Triumph in Clarity
A must-read for individuals who, at times, feel stuck in neutral, but heartily long to benefit the world around them. Covington is concise, lucid, and his novel teems with goodwill. In short, a very useful read, as"becoming" is a life-long endeavor. ... Read more

Product Description
"Gardner's is not a 'how-to-do-it' book for the conduct of modern society. It is something rarer these days and more basic: a 'why-to-do-it' book. Its impact on many readers is bound to be challenging and stimulating and even inspirational."—Clark Kerr, Science ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Best book I've read in at least 10 years
This is NOT a self-help, pop psychology book.
This IS a profoundly eloquent, deeply perceptive, compelling set of antidotes to soundbites.
It is timeless. It puts forth pragmatic and resonant ways of navigating the complexities of dynamic change within the necessary stability of society.
Gardner's observations on innovation, creativity, motivation are quietly inspiring.
Please look at the Table of Contents to get a glimpse.

Self-Renewal
This book has many important points that I am using in my graduate work. It was first written many years ago and the information and theories still apply today.

Self-Renewal
I purchased this book as a course requirement but will continue to use this as a renewal product to recharge the batteries. When you are feeling stagnant, this is a great book to read before you go out and try to change your world.

Mild disappointment
I am a great admirer of John W. Gardner. I especially liked On Excellence and On Leadership. I did not find much to help me in Self-Renewal. I think his observations and opinions are valid and interesting. I found little to give me hope that democracy can renew itself sufficiently to address the civilization threatening issues of catastrophic climate change, declining oil production, and religious/resource wars.

Helpful Reflection Material
Two recurring themes of achievers are mentioned in the first few pages of this book, the importance of toughminded optimism and the power of persistence.It is in that spirit that Gardner develops his topic. With the inevitability of change, openness to new experience is vital to self-renewal he claims. Being active in intentional change leads to growth rather than change by default he explains. Knowing how to creatively interact with changes in the environment is a learned ability that can lead to the development of new potentialities Gardner writes.
This interactive process is experienced at the individual level also. Gardner describes healthy self-renewing people as those who both give and accept love. They depend on other people and are capable of having other people depend on them.
Passion is part of the self-renewed life. He says people of that bent know they must have conviction about what they are doing and if they don't, they need to find something they can have conviction about.
The principles he describes at the individual level have implications collectively as well. He goes on to state that "it is important that a society create an atmostphere that encourages effort, striving and vigorous performance" (p. 20). It is within social systems that individuals make their contributions. A lot of wise insight is provided in this book. He leaves the readers better off than when they picked up the book to read. ... Read more

Product Description
For any individual who has wondered how a perfectly sane person in today's crazy world is supposed to figure out what is expected of them when navigating a loving relationship (and who hasn't?), this book is a must-read. The primary focus is on those issues most pertinent to the individual - 'I', 'me', and 'you' issues - relevant to the quest for satisfying, loving relationships. Using case vignettes from the authors' clinical experiences as psychologists, the book's first 15 chapters address the topics of Self Analysis, Relationship Analysis, My Past, Behaviour Analysis, Dichotomous Thinking, Patterns and Trends, Divorce and Separation, Guilt and Shame, Fears and Phobias, Depression, Grieving, Time and Timing, Happiness and Joy, and The Internet (the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly). The last three address where to look for more help when serious situations arise: seeing a professional counsellor, therapist or family mediator, how a professional counsellor or therapist can be helpful to you, and some suggestions about getting help from a professional.The book is very reader-friendly, solution-focused and down to earth, and also includes 43 figures from the author's case files that graphically display the issues and helpful recommendations. The book's authors, with many years of experience as psychologists, professors and scholars, conceptualise loving relationships and improving them as representing developmental processes that are best seen as a kind of ongoing and ever-evolving 'dance' between two individuals - relationships are not events! Reading this book will contribute to enrich and enhance any individual's developmental process - and especially themselves and their loving relationships. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (51)

Really great book!!
This book has inspired me to change and develop my life to be more in line with what i believe...so many thoughts and examples of what is important, what gives life meaning..what is real.Very honest and openly written, you feel like the author is exposing his innermost feelings, judging himself, questioning how he really feels about his experiences.

I loved this book!
I loved this book! This is a great book for anyone interested in simplifying their lives or going extreme and living off the grid. I was very intrigued by the concept of living off the grid and liked reading about more than one kind of simplification. This is definitely in my top ten non-fiction picks of 2010. I also liked that it explored the whole world of advertising and what is really being sold. Highly recommended.

Compelling examination of modern consumer values
I had expected this to be a nuts-and-bolts examination of living a "light" life, and was happily surprised to find that it's more of a philosophical rumination on the values or the lack of true value in what most people think of in the average US consumer's life.

Temporarily inhabiting a 12x12 shack, an ultra-small home, the author finds his point of view and expectations changing. The home belongs to an absent doctor, off doing peace-nurturing work. He finds constant inspiration in her chosen path of minimal living and introduces us to a series of people who are similarly trying to find a lighter, less ravenous path living in the US. I hesitate to use the words "America" or "American" since the Americas include everyone and everything from the Inuit territory down to Tierra del Fuego.

While the books bogs down a bit in the author's near-constant reflection on everything he encounters (God bless him), the story overall is quite compelling and his observations are clearly drawn. Can someone manage to find a way to slip between the cracks in US consumer culture and carve out a niche for themselves outside of the "McWorld"? Without electricity? Running water? Indoor plumbing?

The book is inspirational and gives you a lot of food for thought. There is obviously something wrong with the insanely consumer-oriented US lifestyle. It takes time and energy and repays us not so much. But how to create a new way of living that will not destroy the earth or enslave others to allow us to waste resources and consume junk?

Definitely worth reading. I haven't read a book like this one since Ernest Callenbach's "Living Poor with Style" decades ago. More and more and more is not necessarily better.

If Just A Millon People Read This Book...
Putting political points of view aside, the author has done something quite remarkable.He has taken an internal, spiritual journey and has made it read as if it were a compelling drama.Somehow, it had that quick-read feel of a page-turning suspense novel.All that with scenes explaining how to store warm shower water and compost your waste.That's great writing.The book is most effective when it makes you remember and question yourself.In a small way, you start taking Power's journey as the book pulls you back to ideals you let fall to the wayside.And, even though most of us aren't going to fully drop off the grid anytime soon, it may make us all commit to vote more carefully with our dollars.Just like having millions get rid of antiquated light bulbs or forcing auto makers to increase their MPG's, if a just a few million people read this book...

Chris Bowen
Author of Our Kids: Building Relationships in the Classroom

Applied Zen
My wish for everyone about to read this book is that they might keep their expectations and preconceptions to a minimum.Some reviewers here seem to have come to this book in anticipation of a detailed instruction manual on how to live off the grid.I would argue that this book is much more valuable and accessible precisely because it does not deal with details but rather with the spirit of honest reflection that is at the true heart of personal development.I can appreciate that the book is perhaps easily mistaken for one of many recent ecological/sustainability offerings, since much of the book concerns living with a smaller carbon footprint sans electricity, heating, etc.However, that is all the price of admission into deeper contemplations.This book is a conservationist work in the sense that Gandhi's work is inherently conservationist, or why intelligent business practice is inherently conservationist--it looks to the roots of why we even need conservationists in the first place; what is it that leads people to think in such short-sighted terms as to knowingly guarantee their own extinction by plundering their resources in exchange for a way of life that doesn't lead to happiness anyway?The answer to that is fundamentally connected to the reasons why we pursue other futile solutions to problems, and is even connected to the fact that we as humans believe that there are such things as problems in the first place.

The author initially has many questions about how to go about saving the world, how to be more green, how to take a hot shower without heat.Dr. Jackie Benton, the author's mentor and owner of the 12x12, is for the most part quiet when it comes to answering him.Questions are universal, but answers are limiting and inhibiting.The intriguing thing about this book is that it won't make a lot of sense to many Americans because it is speaking precisely to that American condition of consumerist apathy.It may very well be like lucidly talking about mania to a manic individual, or about quitting drugs to someone who is already strung out.What helps is the author's own honesty.I disagree with other reviewers who say the author is preachy.He asks his own questions, and I must say he shows a high degree of integrity and clarity in doing so.He clearly wishes his readers to reflect for themselves; otherwise he might have just written simple instructions on how to live life the way he sees fit without all the probing discussion.

This is now my favorite book.I think it's a work to be celebrated and commended.Its subtlety is utterly satisfying and the writing is excellent but accessible and understated.This book moves beyond the anxiety we all have been feeling with regards to how our western lifestyles directly impact the lives of the rest of the planet's people, because anxiety and guilt are not going to help anybody.Anxiety and guilt are egocentric in the sense that you are focused on your own faults and mistakes; habitually thinking about oneself is vanity in its broadest sense; if you're thinking of yourself, you can't be thinking about helping others.Guilt is a trick the mind plays on the self in order to prolong inaction.Twelve By Twelve is a fine compass to hold in one's hand as we each attempt to cross the border into a more authenticate and fulfilled existence. ... Read more

Product Description
When Tom Callum, a troubled executive struggling with his new job, is asked to spend two days meeting with the executive vice president at the Zagrum Company, he unexpectedly learns about self-deception. Self-deception results when someone acts contrary to what they know is right. By ignoring that altruistic, internal voice, one triggers a chain of events that ultimately result in destructive behavior.

The "disease" of self-deception underlies all leadership problems in today’s organizations. However well intentioned they may be, leaders who deceive themselves always end up undermining their own performance. This straightforward audio uses Tom Callum's story to demonstrate that while knowing how to avoid this problem is central to business relationships and success, awareness is equally important in one's personal relationships.Amazon.com Review
Using the story/parable format so popular these days,Leadership and Self-Deception takes a novel psychologicalapproach to leadership. It's not what you do that matters, say theauthors (presumably plural--the book is credited to the esteemedArbinger Institute), but why you do it. Latching onto the latestleadership trend won't make people follow you if your motives areselfish--people can smell a rat, even one that says it's trying toempower them. The tricky thing is, we don't know that our motivationis flawed. We deceive ourselves in subtle ways into thinking thatwe're doing the right thing for the right reason. We really do knowwhat the right thing to do is, but this constant self-justificationbecomes such an ingrained habit that it's hard to break free ofit--it's as though we're trapped in a box, the authors say.

Learning how the process of self-deception works--and how to avoid itand stay in touch with our innate sense of what's right--is at theheart of the book. We follow Tom, an old-school, by-the-book kind ofguy who is a newly hired executive at Zagrum Corporation, as twosenior executives show him the many ways he's "in the box," how thatlimits him as a leader in ways he's not aware of, and of course how toget out. This is as much a book about personal transformation as it isabout leadership per se. The authors use examples from the characters'private as well as professional lives to show how self-deception skewsour view of ourselves and the world and ruins our interactions withpeople, despite what we sincerely believe are our best intentions.

While the writing won't make John Updike lose any sleep, the storyentertainingly does the job of pulling the reader in and making apotentially abstruse argument quite enjoyable. The authors have a muchbetter ear for dialogue than is typical of the genre (the book islargely dialogue), although a certain didactic tone creeps in now andthen. But ultimately it's a hopeful, even inspiring read that flowsalong nicely and conveys a message that more than a few managers needto hear. --Pat McGill ... Read more

Customer Reviews (264)

Book: Leadership & Self-Deception
The first 'leadership' training book that was a page-turner.I stayed up late to finish it because it was so interesting.I recommended it to my boss and she bought the book for the whole office.

Interesting Concept
It is a very interesting idea! I've noticed myself thinking about "the box" during my daily interactions. Very easy to read, if sometimes repetitive.

One great eye-opener
"Leadership and Self-Deception, Getting Out of the Box," is a must read for leaders and want-to-be leaders. The book is chock full of daily doses of self-deception that block one's everyday ability to lead and manage. The book will make you take a look at your personal and business relationships in ways you've never experienced. Leadership and Self-Deception is required reading by my management team. It's powerful, moving, and in my opinion is a grand slam among books for leaders. HIGHLY recommended from this corner.

Insightful and informative
Definitely helps shed some light on perspectives and behaviors that could prove detrimental to personal and professional relationships. It establishes the foundation for understanding how we contribute to and even perpetuate some of the problems we face in all relationships.

An AWESOME book
Leadership and Self-Deception is in a story format ( = easy read) and is about how to be a successful leader as an individual and/or organization but it can also be applied to family life. I don't know how else to describe it but it is a great book and definitely worth reading. ... Read more

Product Description
The Old Testament readings in the lectionary are often neglected during the Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany seasons in favor of the more direct and easier-to-preach New Testament passages. William Self brings his creative imagination to these scriptural passages and gives them new life for the preacher.

The sermons of this veteran preacher are written with the pew in mind. They are for people who hurt, for people who wait, for people who face defining moments, and for churches that struggle to proclaim the Gospel. Amply illustrated from life and literature, these sermons can be read for inspiration by lay persons and clergy alike.
William L. Self has a national reputation as a gifted preacher, pastor, author, lecturer, motivational speaker for corporate America, and innovator in church growth. He achieved considerable acclaim during his 26-year pastorate at the Wieuca Road Baptist Church in Atlanta, and his leadership and substantial influence have brought Johns Creek Baptist Church in Alpharetta, Georgia, a burgeoning suburb north of Atlanta, to the vanguard of fast-growing congregations. Dr. Self is a graduate of Stetson University, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (B.D.), and Candler School of Theology (S.T.D.). He has received honorary degrees from Stetson University, Mercer University, and Han Yang University in Seoul, Korea. The McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University has established the William L. Self Preaching Lectureship in his honor.
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