5 comments about The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness.

1. Good summary of the book. Return to the road after years of read the first Covey book.



2. I am only rating this book 1 because there is no zero rating.
   
   I have read and enjoyed the 7 habits and First Things First; however this book one ways or another is repeat of same concepts and materials in the 7 Habits book.
   
   Way too long, badly written and too many irrelevant details. In brief I think it's a new many making attempt by S. Covey.



3. The 8th Habit: From Effectiveness to Greatness: Miniature Edition
   
   Covey generally writes well, and his 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (which is a much better and more useful read) remains one of the better personal development books on the market today.
   
   In short, this 8th Habit book...any strong synonym for "bad" will do. Only read it if you can buy it for less than $3, and will not spend more than 20 minutes on it.
   
   With the 8th Habit he capitalized on the success of his previous books to generate more cash. He does try to make this book as useful to a reader as possible, albeit with little success. The book is more tedious than his previous ones. Covey reiterates the same points (I almost feel like he copy and pastes paragraphs) and fills space with many inspirational stories and quotes which, and one can disagree, should be really limited to specific examples and supporting points in order to be effective.
   
   In this text, yet again, he goes over different types of intelligence. If you never did particularly well academically, you can think that you are "intelligent in other ways." He spends a good chunk of the book persuading you that great leaders develop their physical, emotional and spiritual intelligence into higher sense of right and wrong (among other things). Creative genius perhaps? Just one look at the creative accounting by senior executives at Lehman and AIG suggests they really found a creative outlet for their physical and emotional intelligence :) Sorry, Covey explained away all modern-day corrupt leadership with Hitler and "mad ego" example.
   
   The voice and the speed of trust was a good section, and probably a useful one for most people. Is it worth reading the entire book though..? I think there are far better texts(including his own 7 Habits), that are less theoretical/philosophical, and are packed with real-life concrete ideas that can be put into action today. Brian Tracy tends to be good with that and his books/programs on Maximum Achievement and How to Master Your Time are worth a look as a substitute to the 8th Habit.



4. This book was gifted to me at Christmas by an employer years ago when it was "The Seven Habits". Covey is a classic. This book will change your life. I promise you. Is you follow it - the positive changes will begin immediately. You will begin to get way more done douring the course of your day and still have more time for family...etc...
   
   There is a reason this book has been selling so well for so long. Don't be the only person at work that has not read it.



5. The book is a good companion to the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. The 7 Habits looks into becoming an effective person, while the 8th Habit explores becoming an effective leader. What the 7 Habits is to personal organization and excellence, the 8th Habit is to leadership and organizational excellence. It is the same principles applied to your company or organization.
   
   Like the 7 Habit, the 8th Habit builds from the inside out. Covey looks at how you must first master your own leadership or "find your voice" and build outward to your organization ("help others find their voice"). The book itself is build around the concept of "the whole person" and I think he makes a convincing case for why this is a good way to approach people and lead your organization. His focus on conscience and the need to serve a higher cause is inspiring and, I think, well stated.
   
   My only complaint about this book is that you will recognize many of the examples from the 7 Habits and this can feel a bit repetitive at times. The book includes a companion DVD, but I did not watch it due to the fact that this was a friend's book.

5 comments about Economic Facts and Fallacies.

1. I decided that as a responsible citizen I should try to learn a few things about economics. I found that this book is a great aid in that endeavor. Dr. Sowell is a master in making the complex principles of economics easy for the layman. Although my favorite is his book, "Basic Economics," this book is an excellent further examination into some of the principles he brought up in that one. My favorites here were the chapters on college education, income disparity, and the third world. For those that wonder about some of the economic statistics that are so easily thrown around by the media--Dr. Sowell takes some of them on and clearly shows where they are wrong. Every informed citizen should read this book!



2. Thomas Sowell is a remarkable writer. He explains economics and politics in such a common sense way. Thomas Sowell's books and articles in [...] are always refreshing to read.



3. My fantasy of having great wealth is to start a foundation that would give a book a week to every member of Congress, every state legislator, every government policymaker, every opinion columnist and every candidate. This would be the second book we'd give out. First would be Sowell's "Basic Economics." Yes, it might not do any good. I recently cited to a newspaper columnist Sowell's history of what happens to government revenues when you increase the Capital Gains tax (hint: the opposite of what's expected). The columnist told me those were "right wing facts" and he wasn't interested in any facts that supported business. Really. Too many people want to discard any facts that don't support their cherished illusions, preferring comfortable lies, which is why politicians of both parties get elected promising to do things that sound good, but hurt the majority of people they claim to be helping.
   
   Reading Thomas Sowell would at least make it harder for them to do with a straight face. And if every voter read Sowell, it would be much harder for politicians to pander to their uninformed prejudice.



4. Thomas Sowell is direct and to the point. He writes in a way that is easy to understand and very informative. This book should be required reading for everyone before they get a credit card or vote!



5. Easy to understand, EVERYONE needs to read this book. Once again, Sowell exposes the fallacies (as he calls them) of many social and economic perceptions pushed by the Left. His points are simple and extremely relevant, backed up by several dozen factual references for each chapter. Perfect gift for your friends who refuse to concede the failures of Big Government social policies! This book should be a staple in your library.

No comments about UPDATED Building Your Network Marketing Business 10 CD Pack.

2 comments about Public Speaking Success - Increase Your Speaking Power with these Effective Techniques (Audio Success Suite).

1. I was so interested in the title of a CD program, PUBLIC
   SPEAKING SUCCESS, that I made it a point to both get and
   listen to it as quickly as I could.
   
   The fact that it featured four top speakers was an added
   attraction . . . Nido Qubein, Ron White, Brian Tracy, and
   Chris Widener, each had much to say about their
   respective topics, and their comments would be of value
   to virtually any speaker:
   
   Qubein in "How to Communicate Like a Pro" noted:
   * Communication doesn't take place until you have the complete
   attention of your audience.
   
   * The first thing I do is get an audience into the act.
   
   * Always find out what turns on your audience and let your dialogue
   focus on that interest.
   
   * Ask questions to involve the listener.
   
   White in "Speeches from Memory" commented:
   * I use the entire stage as my podium. This adds energy to my
   presentation.
   
   * When you can give a speech without notes, your credibility is
   going to go up.
   
   Tracy (rapidly becoming one of my favorites) in "Communication--The
   Master Skill to Powerful Relationships" said:
   * When you have small children, you speak to them at their level.
   
   * The more the person is talking about themselves, the more
   they'll like you.
   
   * Treat the members of your family like you treat your best customers.
   
   * Men are 95% more likely to interrupt a woman than a woman is
   to interrupt a man.
   
   * If you can paraphrase what the person said, that's real listening.
   
   Lastly, Widener in "Communication Skills to Influence and Persuade"
   observed:
   
   * When you master your skills, you're going to have better relationships.
   
   * The problem with being a good speaker is that you still need
   to get better.



2. I listen to a lot of CDs for motivation and to enhance my learning. This CD was definitely below standard. I listened to the first half an hour which was a very boring promotional for the set--I kept thinking, I already BOUGHT it, you don't have to convince me this is a great product, you already have my money! I stuck it out for another 15 minutes after that and gave up. I don't know if I am even going to bother finish listening to it.

5 comments about The Smartest Investment Book You'll Ever Read CD: The Simple, Stress-Free Way to Reach Your Investment Goals.

1. Sometimes the simple approach turns out to be the tactic offering the most beneficial results, and as Solin describes in this book, that is certainly the case with long term investing. Unfortunately, Solin's book, also simple in its approach, does not have the luxury of this principle.
   
   This book does not present any profound strategies or anything that will offer you advice regarding short terms gains. Solin spends the full length of this book explaining in detail why hyperactive brokering does not work and why indexing is the proper advice for long-term growth and returns. Although the advice in this book could be easily condensed, this is not to say Solin is long winded; he merely spends a lot of time on the details of why managed funds are generally inferior.
   
   The advice is sound and well described; however, the material in the book merely regurgitates a common and well known theme in investing; the vast majority of managed funds statistically do far worse than indexed funds over the long term. I would imagine the book would be worthwhile to anyone brand new to investing, but considering the title, this book is far too thin to come remotely close to being the smartest investment book available.



2. This book can be summed up rather easily: beware of anyone trying to sell you investment advice (including this book) and whatever you do, never buy anything other than an index fund. There, I just saved you the hassle of buying the book. I wish I could find my receipt and had the conscience to return a book that I read and wasted my money on. I exaggerate a tad, but not much. If you are looking for any real insight into uncovering the emotional process (a key to success), how to recognize real danger and opportunity etc. - pursue another book or you are doomed to make the same mistake I did.
   
   I won't even challenge any of his premises (though index funds have had a rough go recently), or ideas per se, but if you don't know the information conveyed in this book, in my opinion you have no business putting money in the market just yet. Instead you need to make an effort to educate yourself - particularly you should study and recognize the emotional traits most of us have to battle that can hinder performance.
   
   Maybe, only maybe, will a novice investor find this book revealing or useful (which should include warning bells alerting yourself that you aren't ready to invest). If you truly are lazy and need reassurance that index funds aren't a bad choice, spend your money, but be advised that much of this info is available for free if you spend the time looking for it. The mere size of the book indicates that more valuable information could have been easily added. As you can tell, I feel ripped off and wish I had spent a few minutes at the store pre-reading this thing. I admit I fell for the accolades on the back of the book. D'oh!!



3. I love this book. It is informative, not too technical, tells you when you can skip a section of reading, and gives advice that makes sense. It's also an easy read - I read it in a few hours.



4. OK. I have no idea why this author uses such an overhyped title for this book. Solin basically talks about two kinds of investors:
   
   Hyperactive Traders who trade too much and hurt their earning by incurring too many costs and who unavoidably end up selling too low and buying too high.
   
   And
   
   Smart Traders who buy and hold indexes that give them exposure to the global markets in equities and bonds. Using funds like Vanguard, Fidelity, T. Rowe Price or similar low cost institutions, you can achieve this goal with three or four index funds.
   
   I think the best part of the book is Solin's debunking of the products that brokers will try to sell you and the arguments they will make about "hot" funds or stocks. He also goes after the financial shows on TV and in print and why they have to hype bad deals for you in order to keep their businesses going. You simply can't go on the air everyday telling people about buying and holding low cost index funds anymore than news shows can go on and say that 99.999% of the population is just fine.
   
   This is a good and concise book with good advice. I just think the title is too much.
   
   Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI



5. I enjoyed this little book.
   
   Most Americans never had the opportunity to learn the basics of investing in the U.S. educational system. Money magazine used to annually give a basic investing test to Americans and they consistently received grades of "F".
   
   Americans also seem to have a short attention span (witness 8 second sound bites on TV).....so the design of this book might help educate people about the basics of investing. Most people also find the subject of investing very boring...and most Americans spend more time planning their vacations than reviewing their finances.
   
   This book design is relatively short, and each chapter is relatively short at about 4 pages. The author uses the majority of the chapters to drive home the point that low cost index fund investing is the proven way to invest for almost most Americans.
   
   Solin hit the basics of investing, but left out a few key steps in the entire process:
   
   1. Living below your means so you have money to save and invest.
   2. Use automatic savings method where you pay yourself first like 401K's.
   3. Determine your asset allocation plan.
   4. Adjust your asset allocation slightly to a less risky portfolio as you go through life.
   5. Use low cost index funds to minimize expenses and maximize returns.
   6. Determine your actual living expenses right before you retire so you can more accurately your retirement expenses.......and therefore the income you need to retire......versus using the 70% to 80% income replacement ratio rule-of-thumb when you get close to retirement
   7. Don't withdraw more than a 4% inflation adjusted amount during retirement from your portfolio.
   8. Rebalance your portfolio annually
   
   All-in-all, a very easy to read book which does an excellent job of educating and justifying the advantages of index fund investing. Actually a pretty good job considering the author is an attorney!
   
   If you are interesting in learning more about index funds and asset allocation, I would suggest reading some of the books noted below.
   
   Index Mutual Funds: How to Simplify Your Financial Life and Beat the Pro's
   The Richest Man in Babylon
   Bogle on Mutual Funds: New Perspectives for the Intelligent Investor
   The Millionaire Next Door
   The Four Pillars of Investing: Lessons for Building a Winning Portfolio
   A Random Walk Down Wall Street: The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing, Ninth Edition
   The Coffeehouse Investor: How to Build Wealth, Ignore Wall Street, and Get On With Your Life
   The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing
   Wealth: Grow It, Protect It, Spend It, and Share It
   Retirement Income Redesigned: Master Plans for Distribution: An Adviser's Guide for Funding Boomers' Best Years

5 comments about Rich Dad's Advisors®: The ABC's of Real Estate Investing: The Secrets of Finding Hidden Profits Most Investors Miss (Rich Dad's Advisors).

1. Very simple to read and understand. Practical sound writen plans for real estate investing. Do recomend this book for any one interested in learning the real life basic's in begining real estate investing as a business small to large. Realistic reading of expearance. Made very good since. A straigt forward book of good information.



2. This was a thorough book. The author has real-life experience doing exactly what he writes about. He gives excellent advice on how to find the diamonds in the rough, and how to do 99% of your research BEFORE you spend a dime. I recommend this book to anyone in the industry. Fabulous!



3. This is the first book in the Rich Dad series that actually tells you how to find, buy and manage apartment complexes. The author writes the entire step by step process of locating a good market and a good deal.
   
   The disadvantage is that the step by step process is written in paragraph form, not outline form, so that makes it a little harder to go back and find the step you are looking for after reading the book.



4. This is more of a book on how to run a real estate investment business than what you traditionally find in real estate investment books. I would not recommend this book for beginners or even amateurs because there's no way you'll be able to raise the millions needed for investing in huge complexes from investors without a lot of experience. I certainly wouldn't give a million dollars to someone that's never purchased and managed a large complex so they could learn with my money.
   
   I believe this, and his Advanced Guide to Real Estate Investing, are great books for investors that are moving from single and multi-family residences to large complexes. But I just don't bite off on any Joe Blow being able to raise the capital to do what he's teaching.



5. After all its the 'ABC', for beginners. Would take a couple more books to get to 'XYZ'. Its great for those who are interested in the real estate investing and want to know what its about (this book only talks about rental apartments, not houses or condos). For people who are already in the business this book will only point out the obvious. It doesn't cover all of the aspects of real estate investing. Well, no book does. It serves more as a guide, touches on the surface of 1) finding deals, 2) how to investigate a property, 3) how to come up with the price of the property, 4) a little bit on how to manage rental apartments. It doesn't cover on other important topics such as 1) funding, bank loans, financing and morgaging your property 2) taxes and 3) market researching.

No comments about How to Make a Fortune With Foreclosures in a Slow Real Estate Market (Foreclosure Investing and Short Sales Real Estate Investing, Foreclosure Investing for the Subprime Mortgage Crisis).

5 comments about Rule #1: The Simple Strategy for Successful Investing--in Only 15 Minutes a Week!.

1. I just finished reading this book.
   Everybody who does not have time to read and understand Warren Buffet's methodly for investing should read this once.
   I would call this as 101 in investing.
   I have several years of experience in trading.
   When I started reading this I marked the interesting lines/para.
   Finally I found out I had marked almost the whole book.
   He could have been a very good teacher.
   I am thinking of buying several books to give as gift to some of my friends and relatives.
   
   One little criticism in general:
   Either this book or random walk on wall street finally conclude saying trade. That is what most of us are doing. The biggest differnce is that; This book says that pick a fundamentaly great stock then trade it until .... you find out.
   
   How to pick a great stock? Buy and read it you will be happy you did it.
   
   Very good value per dollar.
   
   Thanks Phil Town.
   Rasappa Palaniappan.



2. I don't recommend this book at all. I have read many books on investing recently, and they all agreed on one point - don't invest in a company just because you like the product. Town's advice is the opposite - make a list of things you like, and choose companies that are involved in those things. He also is against Dollar-Cost-Averaging, which every other book I have read tells you of the value of that.
   
   He tells you that he took $1000 and turned that into $1,000,000 in only 5 years. But he doesn't explain how. That raises a red flag for me. He also promises you that you will do better than the best fund managers out there, and promises that you will beat the market. Statistically, only a very small amount of professionals beat the market. It is a absurd to presume that you would be able to out perform all the people who do this for a living (and most of the other books I've read specifically warn against such promises).
   
   He offers calculators on his website to figure out the value of a company. Personally I found them difficult to use (poor design).
   
   There seems to be a lot of overlap between this book and Pat Dorsey's The Five Rules for Successful Stock Investing. I would recommend that you read that book instead. Dorsey explains the concepts so much better than Town does, and you can easily import the calculations into excel for ease of use later.
   
   All in all, there's some good advice in the book, but he's put in a lot of lofty assumptions and exaggerations to advertise his book. Even the title is misleading. The title comes from one page in the book where he tells you that once you've done your initial research (hours and hours), then you might be able to get by on spending a quick 15 minutes a week keeping up on your stocks. But the title comes off as in the book is going to teach you how to invest by spending only 15 minutes a week.



3. The best book I have read on investing. I was able to develop a stock screener in MSN Money. If you have an online brokerage account and have access to Reuter's you quickly access 10 year growth rates (as prescribed in his book) without doing any calculation. A formual for picking the soundest investments.



4. I watched Phil Town speak at a motivational seminar several years ago. His rags to riches story is what compelled me to start investing. Though I didn't follow his advice at first... I rolled my old 401k over to a self directed IRA.. I made and lost money doing my own thing.
   
   I just recently bought his book and it's changed my view, and my account balance for the better. This book has a "investing for dummies" sense about it. It holds your hand thru the process. It's very straight forward and easy to understand and so far effective.
   
   I honestly believe if you follow these tried and true methods for valuing companies, and if you are disciplined enough to play within the rules, you can and will beat the market. This is not a get rich quick scheme and requires patience, but if you can keep a disciplined approach and do your homework you will eventually be rich. It may not be fast or edgy like day trading, but remember the story of the tortoise and the hare? How many "Hare"(Day Traders) are on the forbes richest people list? Warren Buffet and Phil Town share this same kind of tortoise approach.
   
   So in the words of Phil "Now go play".



5. In today's chaotic times, the only person you can rely on is yourself to create the life and the future you desire. Phil Town follows the fundamental and value analysis that have made Warren Buffet, Peter Lynch, and Benjamin Graham legendary investors. He breaks down technical details into simple methods anyone can learn and apply.
   The basics of Rule #1 investing are:
   
   1. Find a wonderful business
   2. Know what it's worth as a business
   3. Buy it at 50 percent off
   4. Repeat until very rich
   
   Albert Einstein said the power of compound interest was one of the greatest miracle known to man. Through it, anyone can become wealthy. If you begin with a $50,000 account that returns 15% a year, and you constantly save an additional $300 a month to add to that investment fund, you would have over $1,450,000 in just 20 years. This means you can live off the 15% interest of $215,000 a year, without ever touching the principal of $1,450,000 that sits in the bank and continues to grow for you (27).

5 comments about Reminiscences of a Stock Operator - Abridged Audio.

1. Never before had I so much fun reading and learning about the psychology of buying and shorting stocks. This is an extraordinarily written piece of work that eases into explanations of the power of the subconscious as well as the power of emotions on the conscious decisions made during those uncertain moments of trading. Great book!



2. 
   
   over 85 years old and still going strong, read it and find out why



3. Many reviews have been written about this book. All that I have seen are accurate. It is a superb book and a riveting read. The author gives you a good look at the thinking of a momentum operator as well as a view of financial history.
   
   The view of the bucket shops of old provides and insight that could be loosely applied to todays currency brokers and the pools to those of the hedge funds.



4. Great philosophical read on trading in the market. Very interesting stories on mistakes made and corrections applied. Not a stock trading tutorial.



5. This book has a lot to offer a trader. It is about the greatest trader that ever lived. While not written that well there are yet gems of data that make it worth the time and effort. It can apply to any market - not just stocks.

5 comments about Russell Simmons' Do You! 12 Laws to Access the Power in You to Achieve Happiness and Success.

1. c the world as a place of love, happiness, and peace. use positive energy to break down negative energy surround yourself only w/ people who r going to lift you higher. THere is something good in all seeming failures. You are not to see now. time will reveal it. be patient. when we do good in the world, we come to happiness. we r here to awaken from the illusion of separateness. Nobody can give you equality or justice or anything. You have to take it. Support what supports you back. "after feeling and seeing what is good accept it and live it.



2. This would have been absolutely great, something I would have shared with many many young people EXCEPT for the use of the F word and even the N word. Totally unnecessary, takes away from the positivity of the message. Young people should be the target of this message but the language makes it not suitable. It is a shame because other than that it is inspiring.



3. i enjoyed listening to his book. it did help me to realize some things, to become spiritually and emotionally stronger. and to believe that there is hope, as long as you put your mind body and sould and your believes into what you are doing. just hoping and playing is not enough, but fighting and trying and hoping and believing is what it takes. i mean people may say he is cheesy, but i just think he is real, spiritual. for those that ever think that its cheesy, learn to listen between the lines. at leas i didnt fall asleep listening to him, unlike other books lol. ok



4. ...and then got preachy, irrelevant and boring. Going on about how bad African immigrants are treated in France. Yes, we know how much better they were treated in the old country. Going on about "reparations." So write a check.



5. There are hundreds of books trying to sell a success formula out there, what makes this one stand out?
   
   Intrigued by the background of the author, I picked up the book expecting, if anything, a different perspective on what it takes to climb the ladder of success. But going through the chapters, I was pleasantly surprised to find all the familiar concepts we've heard of in the past, albeit with different and very hands on examples from Russell Simmons' life and upbringing.
   
   The book is written in a conversational and easy to read tone, there are a few repeating and prolonged passages on religion, yoga, and vegetarianism that may not agree with everyone, but an enjoyable read nonetheless. A small warning: watch out for the language in a few places.