Rating: 
Summary: MUST BUY NEW
Review: This is a great book, I recommend it to all.VERY IMPORTANT. You must buy this book new in order to take the online test. I purchased a used book through the marketplace (always and excellent experience by the way) so the code has already been used. Now I have to spend the money to buy a new one just to take the test. In this case buying used does not save you anything.
Rating: 
Summary: A Book With A New Twist
Review: This is one of the best of the hundreds of how-to books on leadership I have read over the years. It has a new twist, an on-line test to identify your inherent leadership strengths. But, keep in mind, there's more to leadership than meets the eye. You should understand the philosophical underpinnings of leadership to be a truly successful leader. To do that, there is no other book that makes understanding the philosophy of leadership easier than Norman Thomas Remick's "West Point: Character Leadership Education..". When you finish "Now", I suggest you go on to read the Remick book to become one of those rare leaders who are successful because they really understand what they are doing.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book for discovering strengths!
Review: I read most of the business and self-improvement books. This is the best book on discovering your strengths and talents. The self-assessment is better than anything I have come across. Read this book and "Optimal Thinking: How to Be Your Best Self" which shows you how to make the MOST of your greatest asset (your mind) to make the BEST choices, OPTIMIZE strengths and talents, and MAXIMIZE everything that comes your way.
Rating:
Summary: Mentoring, not hand-holding
Review: I've read quite a few of these kinds of books starting way back when with "What Color is Your Parachute," through "The Acorn Principle" and "Please Understand Me." This has been a long-term process of discovering my interests, talents, abilities, skills, knowledge, preferences, and potential - always with the intention of finding my true calling in life. But this book is not just another addition to that list; this is a superior method for focusing in on very specific talents and strengths and clarifying your own thinking about your life choices. The assessment and categories of strengths are more straightforward than taking the Meyers-Briggs or other similar tests. The book confirms some of what I already knew, but completely clarified the concept of natural talent combined with skills and knowledge creating the strengths that one can use throughout their life. People have complained in other reviews that some of the book is "fluff" or that it doesn't tell you what job to go get. This is only true for people who want one 250-page book to answer some of the greatest of life's questions. I greatly appreciate that the authors give simple, straightforward examples and their own theories quickly and pointedly. They leave it up to ME to make decisions based on that information. If you are prepared to do the work over the course of time and use this book as a mentor (not a nanny who tells you what to do) you will gain great insight into yourself and your path.
Rating:
Summary: A Strong Follow-Up
Review: Now, Discover your Strengths (NDYS) is the follow-up of First, Break all the Rules and generates answers to many of those burning questions left from FBATR. The book starts out with three chapters discussing what a strength based organization is, and provides an overview of some concepts taken from FBATR. If you recently read FBATR, you could easily skip to the assessment test, and work thru the rest of the book with your test results. The 4th chapter is an overview of all 34 strength possibilities. While it is good to know each of the strengths to understand your employees/co-workers, you could easily just breeze thru the chapter and save your disection of each of the strengths till chapter six, where they discuss how to manage an employee of each strenght. The final chapter gives an implementation plan to make your organization a strengths based organization. Overall the book is laid out very similiarly to FBATR, and at times overlaps stories and concepts, but does provide additional insight into the workings of people. Lastly, if you are like me, and wanted to take the assessment test before you read the book, see the reverse side of your book jacket. Hopefully this little tidbit will save you an email to their tech support
Rating: 
Summary: Repetitively obnoxious
Review: Self-help or not, as I read this book I felt that I was being "talked down to". The author probably would make an excellent kindergarten teacher, because only there is teaching by repetition considered an option. I feel that all the "advice" could have been said in about 10 pages or so. I understand, however, that there are some people who enjoy reading such books and perhaps my opinion is tainted by the fact that I have not read that many "self-help" books. But I am a regular "inspiration book" reader, and I have been more inspired by "Jack: Straight from the Gut", "A Passion to Win", etc. I probably would have finished reading this book had I not gotten tired of the redundancy. This may be a good read if you have recently broken your leg and need something to pass the time. For me, I have a better source of nagging: my wife.
Rating:
Summary: Great Motivational Book
Review: "Now, Discover Your Strengths", is a great motivation
book on building strength and success. A great book
for self-empowerment. Having a winning attitude,
believing in yourself, and thinking positively, are
all extremely vital to success. Diana: Author of: "You Hold The Key To Riches And
Happiness"; "Sure Fire Ways To Make More Money And
Get A Better Job"; (and) "Inspirational Wisdom For
Love, Beauty, And Richness."
Rating:
Summary: Know Thyself
Review: In our culture, there is a strong emphasis on identifying our perceived weaknesses and shortcomings and trying to fix what we believe to be wrong with us in relationships, in the workplace and in all aspects of our lives. In Now, Discover Your Strengths, authors Marcus Buckingham & Donald O. Clifton offer a refreshing and exciting approach to living with excellence and success. Rather than focusing on our weaknesses, discovering our strengths and becoming aware of our natural talents allows for growth and consistent excellence. I especially appreciated the authors' discussion of people's habitual reluctance to examine, discover or even acknowledge their strengths and our tendency to credit successes to luck or circumstances. This reveals how there is so much more available to people in the way of success and satisfaction by including and taking credit for our strengths in our identity. Noticing and identifying our natural behaviors and innate talents - our strengths - that set us apart and support us allows these strengths to expand and develop with consistency. Another excellent book that explores all that is possible when you discover that you are not your weaknesses is Working On Yourself Doesn't Work: A Book About Instantaneous Transformation by Ariel and Shya Kane. Like Now, Discover Your Strengths, this book identifies the traditional and habitual ways that people relate to their lives and environment and offers a different approach that is revolutionary. The Kanes suggest that simply with awareness, which they define as a "non-judgemental way of seeing," you can act appropriately and naturally in your life. This book is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in having it all.
Rating: 
Summary: So, what?
Review: Do not buy the book for your own use. You get to know your strengths, basically things you see anyway through how you do things, but there is no advice in the book on how actually apply this knowledge about yourself!!! An I am doubtful about the quality of the test, since I took it twice, one with a time limit, another without, since I had to use a dictionary an understand the questions without an adrenalin rush; AND THE RESULTS ARE TOTALLY DIFFERENT!!! So which test is right then? When one just pushes some buttons in a rush or thinks about how one is approaching tasks or people generally in his life? Probably this is due to English as a second language, but I even had to think about a simple questions. The problem with the test I believe is that there are strange pairings of the questions whether one eigher always inclined to push a little bit to the right or to the left in order not to be mediocre by saying neutral. Or actually wonders how do they use ones neutral answer as both answers weighted equally or as non of the above??? And to say it once more what do I do with the answers about myself? I expected more from the book.
Rating:
Summary: Looking in the right places
Review: I enjoyed the authors book "First Break All The Rules", and this sequal is great also. I always assumed companies built their teams on peoples strengths, but after being in the workforce I now know that most managers spend time trying to make workers something they are not. Find out what someone does well, place them in the proper position and let them do the job. Not rocket science, but I would love to work for a company that used these principles. Check out Rat Race Relaxer: Your Potential & The Maze of Life for workplace survival tips also.
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