It makes me feel so good to know that someone else sees what I do. If I read any more tomes (and they are also prevalent in the Christian book niche) about "visualizing mansions", I am going to throw myself out the window. Good thing I live on the first floor, because this seems to be a trend.

Positive, focused and confident is good, materialistic and deluded is not.

The reason so many people have jumped on the secret bandwagon is because they've never heard the message in the movie before.

If you have oreviously been exposed to the ideas in the movie it is lacking and not filled with actual ideas on how to put the theories it proposes to use.

For many this is the first time they've been exposed to the concepts in the movie and it is naturally appealing so they are overly enthusiastic about an idea many have spoken more eloquently and practically about.

Wow, Dr. John Gray, huh? You mean the one who paid for his fake doctorate from a fake university?

Yeah, I'm going to run out and shun this book right away.

Your article sort of makes it sound like the new agers have been taken up with this stuff, well I can tell you that a lot of Christians that ought to know better have fallen into this trap also. It's derisively referred to as the "name it and claim it" philosophy, that sort of makes God out to be a giant vending machine, where you put in your wishes and prayers, and God gives you whatever you want.

I personally don't have a problem with the idea that prayer or "focused intent" works - even some scientific studies have given evidence to that (for those that don't realize it, prayer to a Christian is the same thing as "focused intent" to a new ager, it just different terms for what is essentially the same thing, and it's the reason why people of all faiths/beliefs sometimes get their prayers/wishes answered). What I do have a problem with is that so often these teachings are in a "service to self" vein, rather than "service to others" - or, to put it another way, they promote selfishness, rather than love for others.

Another comment mentioned the boy who THOUGHT SO HARD about getting on the rides without waiting. Of course what he didn't consider was that because he was able to skip the line, someone else (probably several other people) had to wait longer in line. And I think this is exactly why most of us cannot master these techniques - most people, if they could really manipulate the universe through their thoughts, would work it to their own advantage (or possibly that of a small group, such as their own family) without regard to the effect on others. In our reality, things are rarely a win-win proposition. I heard a late-might radio talk show host say that he'd considered asking his listeners to focus on keeping a hurricane from coming ashore. But then he wondered, what if they succeeded, but then the hurricane looped back out into the ocean, gathered additional strength while over the warm waters, and came ashore someplace else, now as a category 4 or 5 instead of of a 1 or 2?

In other words, the problem is not so much that teachings like "the secret" are a bunch of nonsense, as that it ISN'T nonsense but is usually taught in a destructive manner (also you may note that usually someone is making money hand over fist by selling related books, tapes, videos, etc.). The highest calling of humanity is to be of service to one's fellow humans, not to sit around and wish for more money, possessions, etc. (which don't bring lasting happiness anyway). Those who learn the secret of focused intent (a.k.a. "earnest prayer") but misuse it for their own selfish desires may in the end wish they'd never heard of it at all - if not in this life, then perhaps in the next.

Perhaps you could get your facts straight before you trash someone in your review? Yes, John Gray was divorced after 2 years of marriage, but he then remarried and has remained so for well over 20 years.

I'm not someone who's drank the kool-aid or thinks the Secret is the key to anything, but it does benefit your readers if you complete the truth in your review instead of trashing someone's credibility in the area he's done so much good in. I don't think it matters a hill of beans if he's been divorced given the good that his books have done for people in conflicted marriages.

-One reader's opinion

Dear Ed,

If you will send me your mailing address, I would like to send you a complimentary copy of a new edition of Napoleon Hill's classic "Think and Grow Rich." It is "Think and GRow Rich!" (subtitled) "The Original Version, Restored and Revised."

I am the editor/annotator of this new edition, the first ever to have endnotes (more than 50 pages of them), an index, and an appendix with a wealth of attention about Napoleon Hill and his work.

In doing my reseach on the book I was surprised to learn just how altruistic Napoleon Hill and his book really are. There is a deep "spiritual" dimension to the book that people who have never read it would never suspect. It is a book about how, yes, to be successful in life, but Hill always stresses how real success comes only through rendering useful service to others. The Golden Rule was very important to Hill, and it permeates all of his thinking and writing.

If you will read some of the testimonials in the book (visit http://tgr-restored-revised.com/testimonials.htm) and will study the endnotes after you receive it, I believe you will come to the same conclusion I did: This is a rich, multidimensional work that does indeed teach the practical steps to attaining success -- in every aspect of life that means anything. It's a book that can change people's lives -- and help change the world. TGR is the wellspring from which "The Secret" and all other positive attitude movements flow.

Thanks for your time and attention. I hope to hear from you.

With all best wishes,

Ross Cornwell