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Book Review: by Lang Reid
The Secret
 Is
this the self-help book to end all self-help books, jumping up and down
saying “Buy me, buy me” on the Bookazine shelves? “The Secret” (ISBN
9-7818-4737-0, Simon and Schuster, 2006) compiled by Rhonda Byrne is
supposed to have it all. “You hold in your hands a Great Secret,” proclaims
the back cover. A secret passed through the ages and “understood by some of
the most prominent people in history: Plato, Galileo, Beethoven, Edison,
Carnegie, Einstein – now The Secret is being revealed to the world.”
Not only is it revealed, but according to the compiler Rhonda Byrne “You
will come to know how you can have, be, or do anything you want.” Since the
dreams of bedding Julie Christie in my youth, to the hopes of a fling with
Angelina Jolie in my dotage, have been a couple of items I have wanted (or
lusted after if truth be known) this book should have to be the book for me.
The list of those who have produced gems of enlightenment for the reader is
very long, with 29 visionaries giving the reader every opportunity to
improve themselves. Some of the hallowed 29 are dead, so their words have
outlived them. Nice. They are a motley bunch, including such luminaries as
Neale Donald Walsch who is described as an author, international speaker and
spiritual messenger, whose Wikipedia notes include the following: “This
article may contain improper references to self-published sources. Please
help improve this article by removing unreliable sources.” Let us hope
nobody is shooting the (spiritual) messenger!
The Secret, writes Rhonda Byrne, came to her in a 100 year old book which
her daughter gave her. After research, which she believes shows that The
Secret has been known to a select few for over 3,000 years, she decided that
her goal in life was to make The Secret available to everyone (and make a
few bucks on the side).
Subsequent to that, she gathered her teachers around her who could put The
Secret into words that would be understood by the masses who had never had
their ears whispered into. The Secret is the law of attraction and
apparently when you are thinking about what you want, you put out vibrations
which will bring that thought into reality and into your grasp. (Obviously
Angelina Jolie has had the ring tone on her phone turned down too low!
Damn!)
‘Wealth specialist’ David Schirmer uses The Secret to get himself a parking
space exactly where he wants it. He does admit that this only works 95
percent of the time. I must try that tomorrow at Tesco’s.
I thought the mention of famous names in history who all knew The Secret was
interesting. Galileo ended up being imprisoned, Einstein died of a ruptured
aortic aneurysm, Beethoven had bi-polar disorder and went deaf and Edison
also went deaf so perhaps The Secret did not work for everyone. However,
having read the book, I am now waiting for a call from Angelina Jolie. I
hope I do not have to wait too long, as at B. 595 that was quite an
investment in my future.
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