Rating: 
Summary: Wonderful heart-warming book
Review: "The best gift you can give yourself" is the treasure found in this delightful book, seen through the eyes of a young man seeking wisdom from an elder. Another Spencer Johnson winning story. I recommend it and to explore this ultimate treasure, read Optimal Thinking-How to Be Your Best Self which shows you how to bring your best self to the present, to best deal with emotions, planning, execution and to bring out the best in others. Both of these books focus on the same thing. The Present gets you in the gut and Optimal Thinking provides the "how to".
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful heart-warming book
Review: "The best gift you can give yourself" is the treasure found in this delightful book, seen through the eyes of a young man seeking wisdom from an elder. Another Spencer Johnson winning story. I recommend it and to explore this ultimate treasure, read Optimal Thinking-How to Be Your Best Self which shows you how to bring your best self to the present, to best deal with emotions, planning, execution and to bring out the best in others. Both of these books focus on the same thing. The Present gets you in the gut and Optimal Thinking provides the "how to".
Rating:
Summary: Another wonderful book
Review: Another must read after "Who Moved My Cheese?". Wonderful lessons for all of us in this difficult time. Share it with your friends and people you love.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but there's better.
Review: I concur with other reviewers that The Precious Present by the same author is a better book that conveys the same message. If you read either of them and you like them (or even if you don't), I suggest you check out The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle. Where Johnson skims the surface, Tolle plumbs the depths.
Rating: 
Summary: Really good message, mediocre tale.
Review: I did like the book. You can read it in an hour if you stay focused in The Present. (sorry, I couldn't resist)
The purpose of the book is to let the world know that focusing on the present moment, learning from the past and preparing for the future will improve your life tremendously. That is awesome message everyone should listen to! There is just one problem. The story which is set up to convey this message is overly simple and honestly boring. Having said that, this book can work for people. It is simple and a bit dull, but the most important thing about this book is not the story but the message.
The Present reminded me of that other book, FISH, that was popular a few years ago. It has the same boring, simple story but a powerful message.
I think this book can be useful to many people. Just don't buy it thinking you are going to read a great story.
Rating:
Summary: OK, but needed more character depth
Review: I find it interesting that at this period in time, these types of books (I would lump "Fish" in with this) are so popular in the American workplace. I wonder if people who love what they do already follow the principles explained in "The Present." I hope so. I'm assuming that this book is for the rest of us.The book was actually not bad but rather simplistic. I would've preferred more depth to the character. For one thing, it is unclear as to what time period this actually took place. The man is shown to be searching the internet at an early phase of his life. Most of us weren't surfing the web until the mid-1990s. That was a little off-putting because I'm assuming that the book does not take place way in the future but in the present day. The subtle point of the story (or perhaps not so subtle) is the importance of a good mentor, like the Old Man.
Rating:
Summary: OK, but needed more character depth
Review: I find it interesting that at this period in time, these types of books (I would lump "Fish" in with this) are so popular in the American workplace. I wonder if people who love what they do already follow the principles explained in "The Present." I hope so. I'm assuming that this book is for the rest of us. The book was actually not bad but rather simplistic. I would've preferred more depth to the character. For one thing, it is unclear as to what time period this actually took place. The man is shown to be searching the internet at an early phase of his life. Most of us weren't surfing the web until the mid-1990s. That was a little off-putting because I'm assuming that the book does not take place way in the future but in the present day. The subtle point of the story (or perhaps not so subtle) is the importance of a good mentor, like the Old Man.
Rating:
Summary: A Present, if not The Present
Review: I found the book to be very provocative and useful. One can easily extract the key principles and act upon them. I'm already doing some planning for the future, that had been altogether too long delayed.
The other thing I did was to immediately order copies for my son and two daughters. This is the first book I've ordered for all three. I think (no, I know) this is significant.
Rating:
Summary: A Present, if not The Present
Review: I found the book to be very provocative and useful. One can easily extract the key principles and act upon them. I'm already doing some planning for the future, that had been altogether too long delayed.
The other thing I did was to immediately order copies for my son and two daughters. This is the first book I've ordered for all three. I think (no, I know) this is significant.
Rating: 
Summary: "The Present" Disappointing
Review: I have previously read and enjoyed "Who Moved My Cheese" by Spencer Johnson, so I was anxious to read his book entitled "The Present". Unfortunately, I was very disappointed. He seemed to take one simple thought-"Just Enjoy Today"-and stretch it into a book, albeit a very quick read. I did not feel the content was inciteful or useful beyond the one simple statement made above, which we've all heard before. Anyone can quote a concept, but few people can make the concept workable. Johnson leaves out the "how" part of living in The Present by giving example after example of how everything will just be wonderful if we would just worry about today. Maybe I'm one of those people he mentions in his book...maybe I just didn't "get it".
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