The Guru Review

As I have written previously, I listen to self help tapes on the way from and to my daughter's preschool (on the way to and from, she likes to listen to Jay Jay the Jet Plane or the Backyardigans and since I am doing the Surrender to the Goat thing from my beloved Mommy Mantras book, I let her). Here are my thoughts on them as well as how they rank on my Cynical Girl's Guide to Self-Help Flakeola Meter (patent pending), where, as in golf, the lower the score, the better.

The Secret*, Rhonda Byrne

This is the current self-help grande dame thanks to Oprah. It is also my inspiration for this blog. This is a really well done audio tape. It is narrated by author Rhonda Byrne, but she wisely has each of the contributors voice their own pieces. The way the tape is done makes it easy to pay attention to everyting that is said - it never devolves into that annoying drone the way some audio versions of books do.

Content wise, parts of it are very flakey. Very flakey. You can see from the jewel case that they are trying to make it seem like they have unearthed the Da Vinci Code. But The Secret is not a secret at all. Think positively and life is better. It's Philippians 4:8 ("Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are gracious and of good report, if there be any virtue and if there be anything worthy of praise, grant, oh Lord, that we may dwell on these things") rebranded. I think that the tape's salvation was the deletion of Esther Hicks (who channels voices and rocks the Flakeola Meter at an 11 out of 10) and the addition of Lisa Nichols (who is relatively down to earth and does not believe that people will bad things on themself but also thinks that sometimes we do not understand the big picture as to why bad things happen and to keep the faith).  Some of the  participants are very strange (the Feng Shui lady comes to mind), or way too slick (James Ray), or are generally offputting (Joe Vitale). If you have had a major tragedy befall your life, there is enough blame the victim stuff going on here to be annoying. And there is a lot of faulty logic used: If A=B, then B=C; um, no, not really. But I like how no one voice dominates and think that the underlying message has been helpful to me. I get great parking spaces all the time now, which counts for something.

Flakeola Rating 7/10

Think and Grow Rich*, Napoleon Hill

I was not able to get through this one. It was 8 CDs long. I got through two CDs before the droning voice and antiquated writing style did me in. This one fell under the life's too short category: luckily I got the Cliff's Notes version from Mombie. If you are interested in the history of successful US business people, however, you might like it. It also is a reality check for Secret followers as it describes the whole 'if you really want it, you can have it' thing often as coming after years of work and at the sacrifice of other things. Plus, the author has an awesome name (I kept thinking of a nerdy, gangsta group rapping "Well I'm the real one, Vote for Pedro, phuncky feel one").

Flakeola Rating 5/10 but dryer than a good martini

The Four Agreements*, Don Miguel Ruiz

The author, a descendent from the Toltecs, reveals the ancient wisdom of his people. If you like Carlos Castaneda, you'll love this, but it all read as a bit too New Agey for me.  Besides, I have trouble adopting the beliefs of a fallen people who may or may not have believed in human sacrifice; The Romans also did great things but I am not about to read Caesar's version of Chicken Soup for the Soul. Once you weed through all the mysticism, the underlying message is a good one - don't worry so much what other people think and do what you need to do. I am a little worried that people might use it to justify Bad Behaviour (the whole 'question society's rules' thing might work well for people living under the thumb of parental or religious control but might not work for your friendly neighbourhood sociopath who thinks, "that taboo against eating people, I knew it was bunk!").

I did not like the audio version at all. While Peter Coyote has a good reading voice, he will forever be A Man in Love and the guy in E.T. I found it distracting. Plus, there is a lot of playing of pan flutes which is Not Really My Thing.

Flakeola Meter: 9/10

Dwell's Pick: The Secret, taken with a grain of salt.

Next up for Review: Cheryl Richardson's Stand Up for Your Life  (or book version) and Louise Hay's You Can Heal Your Life (or book version).

*If you buy through this link, theoretically I get 4% in gift certificates.