Rating: 
Summary: Saint Surfer & CEO much better - but this is okay
Review: I enjoyed this book, but enjoyed Saint Surfer & CEO by Mr Sharma much more.
Rating: 
Summary: Useful primer on growing into yourself
Review: I found the book to be a useful step-by-step guide to personal growth. The fable format helps to add interest to what could otherwise become a tiresome listing of all the good things we should be doing for ourselves but aren't. Although most of the principles dealt with can be found in countless other volumes on self-help, personal growth and spirituality, Sharma's way of putting it all together helps to keep one on track. And sticking to the straight and narrow is for me the most difficult aspect of becoming the person I want to be. I have a minor quibble with Sharma's treatment of fear. He ignores the fact that fear breaks down into two main types. The first is the healthy kind that keeps us out of the path of speeding trucks and the other is the kind of fear that, due to abuse or difficult upbringings or whatever, exists in our psyche as a chronic undertone of tension and anxiety that undermines our self-image and our relationships. Minor complaints aside, I feel that a careful reading of the book and an equally judicious application of it's principles will help anyone to find greater joy and freedom in their lives.
Rating: 
Summary: Contrived, fake, utter drivel - can't even finish it.
Review: I imagine the author thinking to himself "mmmm, I want to write a spiritual, new-age, self-help book full of lessons for leading a life of harmony. I could just list all the things required for a better life - from goal making to meditation to listening to emotionally charged music - especially since they've all already been covered in one book or another. But that would be way too dull, to just list them. No, I need to write a story, even a novel perhaps, to teach these lessons indirectly. Wait, I have a great idea, how about the story of a lawyer who learns all these lessons from a monk and then recounts them to one of his friends."In the end, he should have stuck with the list. Because the "story" (if it can be called such) is so contrived, unimaginative and shallow. Correction: there isn't even a story -it's just plain boooooring. Which explains why I'm still 3/4 the way through the book and can't finish it, even after 8 weeks (and having picked it up and restarted it half a dozen times). And I'm somebody who usually loves this genre of book, finishing the Alchemist in a day. Wait, I've just realized WHY he didn't just write down the list - he's saved that for his second book. I wondered when people would jump on the bandwagon to cash in on the spiritual, new-age group. When people ask me about this book, only 2 words come to mind. "Fake" and "Contrived". Worst of all, it puts you off reading other books in this genre. There is no depth, and there is no story.
Rating: 
Summary: Many others have made it much easier..
Review: I thought that the anonymous review dated March 18 was most accurate. This book is a trite recitation of recycled wisdom. Sharma's verve and syntax is not compelling, and serves only to string together these old ideas. His attempt to mix a modern context to timeless truths went amiss. In the end we learn that most of us have denied ourselves our true calling, and long for a way to get paid to do what we cherish the most. We are spiritually lazy and are responsible for our destiny. I ask when will someone tell the story of a frustrated middleclass artist that always dreamed of becoming an accountant. Notwithstanding my tentative reading, something happened half way through the book, as I was diligently trying to push back the reviewer's goading perspicacious comments. I realized that that is all there is. That there will not be any book that proffers the ultimate panacea, the answer to life's riddles and the chart to bliss. We will have to write our own. And that the unintended consequence of my frustration with Sharma's prose was to force me to find value in his words. And I did. And in the end that is all what this good prophet set out to do. It was a good exercise. Many others have made it much easier..
Rating:
Summary: Many others have made it much easier..
Review: I thought that the anonymous review dated March 18 was most accurate. This book is a trite recitation of recycled wisdom. Sharma's verve and syntax is not compelling, and serves only to string together these old ideas. His attempt to mix a modern context to timeless truths went amiss. In the end we learn that most of us have denied ourselves our true calling, and long for a way to get paid to do what we cherish the most. We are spiritually lazy and are responsible for our destiny. I ask when will someone tell the story of a frustrated middleclass artist that always dreamed of becoming an accountant. Notwithstanding my tentative reading, something happened half way through the book, as I was diligently trying to push back the reviewer's goading perspicacious comments. I realized that that is all there is. That there will not be any book that proffers the ultimate panacea, the answer to life's riddles and the chart to bliss. We will have to write our own. And that the unintended consequence of my frustration with Sharma's prose was to force me to find value in his words. And I did. And in the end that is all what this good prophet set out to do. It was a good exercise. Many others have made it much easier..
Rating:
Summary: Complete Garbage - The worst of the worst of the worst
Review: I was recommended this book because I work too much. Every page that I managed to get through was painful. This book is the saddest and most excruciating way to introduce Buddhist philosophy. It is a "Fable" with a capital "F". Nothing in the book is true. If something in the book has been based on a true concept it has been so badly distorted by this text that it is no longer even close. To summarize for those that don't need the rest of the review to know that this is a book to skip here is a banal platitude from the book that forced me to emit an audible groan while I was reading it: "Your 'I can' is greater than your IQ"
It starts out with this absolute fat jackass womanizing alcoholic unscrupulous lawyer, that would essentially be better of dead, and that I personally hated to read about, and would hate to know, and wouldn't talk to except to make rude noises at if I did know him because I was related to him or something. You are then told that he is basically a good person but unless your "I can" is greater than your "IQ" you aren't fooled even for a second. Then he has a heart attack and goes to India and meets a guru, and turn into this soft and supple bi-curious sounding freak that wears long red robes and pours tea all over a former colleagues wife's Persian rug to illustrate concepts that aren't really true. In essence he's an even bigger jerk that is now ultra self-important because he's this transformed guru come back to bring enlightenment to all the normal people that weren't alcoholic womanizing hoodlums to begin with.
I understand that the author is merely creating a construct in order to peddle his psuedo-Buddhist philosophy, but he couldn't have chosen less likable characters, or more stupid illustrations for his concepts. While reading the book you get the feeling he spent a million years trying to come up with analogies for his concepts and then finally gave up and put something that didn't make sense, leaving you to shake your head and go... "Couldn't he have gotten a classroom of second graders to brainstorm something that was at least stupid in an interesting way?" Sharma (the author) has to be the least creative man ever to exist. I would be shocked if the book was even his idea. While reading it, I seriously got the feeling that he had watched an infommercial on how to write a book for fun and profit, and that the idea for this book came in his information packet.
Other than being evisceratingly boring and stupid this book makes a few good points. Actually the book does not specifically make any good points. It makes wild, ridiculous, impractical, idiotic points that may touch upon elements that the reader could formulate a good idea from. However these good points are not particularly profound. It is the same wisdom that has been available to you since grade-school. Maybe if you are such a louse that everyone including yourself hates you, and your family wishes you were dead, it would be good for you to hear them again.
The jerk in this book merely traded one Ferrari for another, he is still an egoist, only now he is some sort of religious padre, begging you to worship his smooth supple skin (referenced on every page of the book). His identity is still his work. Only before he was despicable in a suit, and now he should be selling juicers on late night wearing hooded robes, as he pours smoothie all over the before-people to illustrate that their bodies can't accept anymore nutrients until they give up the nutrients that they already have.
Rating:
Summary: Nelis
Review: If you are angry at the world, this book is not meant for you. Don't read it. If you believe that your life is well organised and running smoothly, you don't need this book.
If you are at a point in your life where you are looking for alternative views, Monk provides a good read. The approach could well be based on buddist philosophy, but the practical tips are not really buddist, but rather good common sense. Considering the breadth of life-organising tips presented in the book, the story line actually brings it all together in a fun read. Sure, some of the lines are rather trite, but the energy of the book carries one through the weak spots. If all these practical tips and techniques were presented in a factual format, the book would be much harder, and boring to read.
If you want a text book, go buy a text book. If you have a few hours and are willing to play along with the story, expect to be surprised how the blatantly trite story line can actually lead to a strange sense of well being and satisfaction. Don't discard the contents for its presentation, you might miss the essential message!
If you are arrogantly ignorant, don't bother.
If you have a gentle and exploring nature, try Monk, and enjoy it for what it is: an inspiring fun read!
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent first book on a spiritual quest
Review: Practical advice for daily living that should not scare away those who would compare it to their religious beliefs. The book provides a gentle approach to beginning the opening of a closed mind.
Rating:
Summary: Very good advice on living a simple and meaningful life .
Review: Robin S. Sharma covered a subject matter on which many books are written. All major religion of the world have a way to explain how to lead ones life, Psychologist have their answers & advice. "The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari" gives you the insight in plain simple ways. must read to believe.Veena Vasishth
Rating:
Summary: Excelent sumary for an outstanding life
Review: Sharma does an excellent job at putting in one book most of what so many have said before.
I found almost everything in this book in some other books from several masters of self help, but I never found so many advices in just one place and writen in a way that motivates the reader to follow them.
I will keep this book near me at all times.
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