I’ve been struggling with inspiration on article topics so I thought this would be a good time to recommend some books.  I’ve read a number of really good books lately and here are my favorites.

Tabloid Medicine: How the Internet is Being Used to Hijack Medical Science for Fear and Profit -  As I said in my Amazon review I’m certainly not a fan of Big Pharma or the medical establishment.  They both have a lot of problems, but I am a fan of science and progress.  This is an extremely well argued book and whatever your perspective you should take Golberg’s arguments seriously.

Manhunt: The 12-Day Chase to Catch Lincoln’s Killer -  This was a superb and compelling read about the hunt for John Wilkes Booth.  If you are at all interested in history and biography, this is a really good read.

We Have Met the Enemy: Self-Control in an Age of Excess -  A wide-ranging look at the topic of self-control in the modern world of excess.  This book is a very enjoyable read and is densely packed with information and analysis.  I really liked it.

Succeed: How We Can Reach Our Goals -  I read a lot of books like this and Heidi Halvorson has produced a truly superior product with this book. Every chapter is clearly composed, filled with stories and examples, describes the research behind the conclusions, and ends with a bulleted summary of the key concepts. 

The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves -  A very persuasively argued book on why we should be optimistic about the future.  A counter to the overwhelmingly negative doomsday predictions that are so popular right now.

Supercoach: 10 Secrets to Transform Anyone’s Life -  Michael Neill’s self-improvement books are really outstanding and this one is my favorite.  I can highly recommend this book without reservation.

Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It (Borzoi Books) – If you want a clearly written explanation of why we get fat (it’s not calories) and what is wrong with our modern agricultural diet, look no further.  For a fantastic and really enjoyable book that is more broadly focused try The Paleo Solution: The Original Human Diet.

The Immortality Edge: Realize the Secrets of Your Telomeres for a Longer, Healthier Life -  If you are interested in healthy aging I highly recommend this book.  It was one of the best I’ve read on the topic.

Don’t Miss Your Life: Find More Joy and Fulfillment Now -  This is an incredibly inspiring book about engaging and participating in life.  A lot of practical tips.

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How To Be Rich and Happy is the title of a new book by John P. Strelecky and Tim Brownson.  That is rather a bold claim to be made by any book and I have to admit I started reading it with more than a little skepticism.

The authors define Rich and Happy as the ability to do whatever you want, whenever you want.  Once again, I see that as a rather bold claim and it sets up a lot of expectations for the book.  Did the book meet those expectations?  In a word, no.  My credibility means a lot to me so I’m not going to say something I don’t believe.  If you assume that means this is a negative review, you would be very mistaken.

I thought this was an excellent book and I recommend it to my readers.  However, I don’t think this book reveals the secret formula to having whatever you want whenever you want it.  That’s just too high of a hurdle for anybody to clear.  But having said that, there is no reason why you should hesitate to buy it.  In my opinion, no book is ever going to do that.  I’m not going to give an obviously false gushing review in order to get a couple of affiliate clicks.  My credibility means something to me and I don’t recommend anything lightly.

I do think the book provides an excellent toolset to give you a lot more of what you want a lot more often than you are getting now.  I read the book all the way through in one sitting even doing the exercises.  I don’t recommend you do that and I’m sure the authors don’t either.  I originally read about 40 pages and then put it down for a few weeks.  Then I came back to it and started over and read it all the way through.  How To Be Rich and Happy started slow for me.  It got interesting in the middle and then finished with a wonderful flourish.  Not often will I read something this long (218 pages) all the way through.  This one kept my interest.  I will be putting it’s ideas to use.

I’ve read a lot of personal development books.  A select few were life-changing and a couple of those I read when I was a teenager decades ago.  Over the years some of these books were WOW type books because they opened my eyes up to something entirely new and amazing.  Many of them were interesting and taught me something I didn’t know before, or gave me a new perspective on something I had previously encountered.  Some of them were just mind-numbing repetition of the same old stuff.

This book was not life-changing for me nor was it a WOW book.  I say that because very little in it was entirely new.  I might have said something different 10 years ago, but that was then and this is now.  There were a couple of exercises or concepts that were new and interesting, but most of them were things I had encountered in various contexts before.  The authors readily admit this about their book right up front.  I loved the Rich and Happy Matrix concept though.  I’m going to hang that one up at my desk.  The Rich and Happy Return was clever.

The fact that I found it interesting enough to read all the way through in one sitting says a great deal about it to me.  The authors should agree since they spend a fair number of pages talking about the importance of the feeling you get from your unconscious mind.  I got a good feeling.

In analyzing the book more objectively I would say that it organizes a number of highly effective concepts and techniques into a common thread that builds throughout. Many books talk conceptually about various ideas without a coherent way to put them into practice.  How To Be Rich and Happy is a very practical book and it’s ideas are amazingly simple and straightforward.  The concepts are explained in an very clear and focused manner.  This book was very well done, make no mistake about that.  The authors show you how to easily put it into practice.  I say “easily” in a conceptual context.  There is nothing complicated about this stuff.  But like everything else you actually have to act.  This is not The Secret.  You can’t attract your wonderful life by sitting around wishing it to be so.

You can’t lose with this book.  You get a unbelievable one-year money back guarantee.  If you buy this and don’t value it simply ask for your money back.  I know Tim and I’m sure he will give you your money back.  If he doesn’t I will.

I’m sure Tim was hoping I would say his book was life-changing.  It may be for you but I can’t know that it will be.  Even if it didn’t have that incredible guarantee, I would not hesitate to highly recommend it.  As it does, the worst thing that can happen is that you spend a few hours on something you think is worthless, you start thinking I suck, and you ask for a refund.  You can always watch some mind-numbing TV for a few hours for the same $0 cost.  I can guarantee that won’t be life changing.  Maybe, just maybe for you, How To Be Rich and Happy will be that life-changing or WOW book.  Or maybe it will just be a nice no-risk investment in a little better life.

What do you think?  Leave a comment and join the conversation.

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