The Secret was recommended to me by a friend on Facebook because of something very difficult I am going through. He just kept going on how the book changed his life and that how what you are thinking and feeling is what will happen. I went into reading the book with skepticism. The basis of the book is the Secret to living a wonderful life and being able to receive everything you want and deserve.

As I was reading the book I noticed how my emotions were influencing the things around me. I started to tune into my feelings and try to think positive thoughts. I noticed myself starting to feel better and getting happier as I read the book. I know that I will use this book as a reference when ever I feel negative feelings or thoughts. I am not going to try and persuade anyone that this book is the meaning to life. I will tell you that The Secret is a great book to help you find the real you and to discover the positive energy from with in you. So I would recommend reading The Secret for some great soul searching and healing. ( )

Very uplifting and inspirational in it's presentation and packaging, but this information is nothing new. The idea of using visualization, affirmations, good attitude, etc. to transform your life is a very old idea and a most popular strategy in many self-help books. None the less, I still enjoy revisiting these ideas and they have already impacted on my current life and outlook.

I see the idea (or secret) as it was presented very useful on two levels. If you change your outlook to one of optimism and certainty, you will begin to see and act on opportunities (connected to your goals) that are all around you. People will also begin to respond to you in a more favorable mode as well. Some of the latest mind/brain research shows that much (or most) of the actions we take are below our conscious level (within our unconscious brain.) So through visualization and believing something we want already exists we set the direction of our unconscious mind. That mind then begins to take action (effortlessly) to bring reality into existence.

What is not provable (or is a conjecture) in the book is the idea that the universe is personal and your thoughts are the key ingredient that affects (or attracts the changes in your life.) There is a bit of talk about quantum physics in the book and if you subscribe to the mulit-verse model of the quantum universe (our realities are forever splitting into alternate universes) then perhaps our consciousness flows to universes that favor the outcomes we believe are real.

I took this book in via audio as I took my morning walks you might consider this mode. ( )

I liked it, even though it is a little repetitive at times. ( )

I like the message in the book, but it's repeated until it's utterly boring and ridiculous. ( )

Supporters will hail this New Age self-help book on the law of attraction as a groundbreaking and life-changing work, finding validation in its thesis that one's positive thoughts are powerful magnets that attract wealth, health, happiness... and did we mention wealth? Detractors will be appalled by this as well as when the book argues that fleeting negative thoughts are powerful enough to create terminal illness, poverty and even widespread disasters. The audio version of this controversial book, read by Byrne and contributing authors such as John Gray and Neale Donald Walsch, is uneven at best. The cheesy, obvious sound effects will not do much to add intellectual respectability to a work that has been widely denounced as pseudoscience. Mostly, this audio is hampered by its confusing and disjointed organization—techniques that worked reasonably well in the print version and the movie, such as cutting every few seconds from one enthusiastic expert to another, make for a choppy and somewhat bewildering listening experience. The gentle cadences of Rhonda Byrne's breathy, Aussie-infused voice are certainly the best part of the audio, but her material is scarce and provides mostly connective tissue between the testimonials. ( )