The Secret - Rhonda Byrne

I have a secret for you. Do not buy The Secret, by Rhonda Byrne. ''You hold in your hands a great secret" it says on the back. ''It has been passed down through the ages, highly coveted, hidden, lost, stolen and bought for vast sums of money. This centuries-old Secret has been understood by some of the most prominent people in history: Plato, Galileo, Beethoven, Edison, Carnegie, Einstein - along with other inventors, theologians, scientists and great thinkers. Now the Secret is being revealed to the world.'' A new friend loaned me this book and as I am not a new-age sort of person I wasn't too interested but she emailed the next day to see if I ...

A Review of The Secret by Rhonda Byrne
Rhonda Byrne, The Secret (New York: Atria Books, 2006) 198 pages.A video by the same title was released earlier in 2006.

I had never watched an entire episode of Oprah until her program on The Secret. In the promo for the show, Oprah announced that the program would present "the secret" to making more money, losing weight, finding the love of your life, and achieving job success. Who could resist hearing more about such a claim, especially when it is made by the most influential woman in America and touted as the key to all her success? Apparently I wasn't alone. After the show, Oprah's website was overwhelmed, emails poured in, and within hours The Secret had become the best-selling book in the nation.A week later, while unpacking in a hotel room. I powered up the TV.

The Secret has been on Amazon's list of top bestsellers for quite a while now. (It's no 12 at the time of writing). The description suggested a motivational self-help book of some kind and the synopsis referred to physicists, old oral traditions, religions, poetry and philosophy. Intrigued by the consistently high ranking, I included the book in my last order even though I am not normally in a market for this kinds of work. I won't keep you in suspense. The secret of "The Secret" is to think positive thoughts: think that you have what you want to have all the time, visualise it, be grateful for it in advance and feel positive feelings as the thinking ...