Rating: 
Summary: This is a good, helpful book
Review: If you are going to live in a box of life, his box is MUCh better than what most people live. I would have given it 5 stars but he doesn't show you how to live outside the box. He does help you to live in a much better box and that is a vast improvement and perhaps is the first step to completely living outside the box.
Rating: 
Summary: Four must reads
Review: Just over 130 pages in length this is a lovely gem of a book that has seven Chapters on topics that cover:Domestication and the Dream of the Planet; The First Agreement: Be Impeccable with Your Word; The Second Agreement: Don't Take Anything Personally; The Third Agreement: Don't Make Assumptions; The Fourth Agreement: Always Do Your Best; The Toltec Path to Freedom-Breaking Old Agreements; The New Dream-Heaven On Earth. Followed by a small chapter on Prayers. I am happy that the author begins his book by sharing what Toltec is and where the people originated from. It is always a joy, for me to read of non-Anglo beliefs by non-Anglos. For me the First Agreement: Be Impeccable with Your Word is a must read for ANYONE. Especially Americans who in my opinion, have become more speakers of the word than listeners. As the author wisely notes "The first agreement is the most important one and also the most difficult one to honor". I would change that a bit, since I know people in and from other areas of the world whose lives are examples of words honoured and promises kept.
Rating:
Summary: A Review from HCC, Maryland
Review: I enjoyed this book. I could relate all of the agreements to my daily life. This book is something everyone should read especially young people.
1) Be impeccable with your word
-If you are not impeccable with your word people will never believe you.
2) Don't take anything personally
-Don't take things so personally. If someone says you are ugly, don't let it hurt you.
3) Don't make assumptions
-Now if you always make assumptions 9 times out of 10 we are wrong. Someone may look at us funny and we may think that they are talking about us but maybe are just pointing in our general direction.
4) Always do your best
-If you try your best you have a chance at achieving your goal, but if you don't try, then you will just fail.
Even though this book was an assignment to read for my English class, I enjoyed it a lot and tried to read it at every free moment I had. This was the best book that I have read in a while and I think that I might read another book by Don Miguel Ruiz.
Rating:
Summary: The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom
Review: The book and tapes (to listen to on the way to work) are changing my life! I'm happier; my journey is smoother and well-defined. I went back to church and to the gym. I'm easier to work with. I value all my relationships much more deeply. I attend to my physical, spiritual and mental health. I've shared this with my husband, family and friends. I'm buying more to give as gifts to the people I love. And I continue on this blessed journey! I wish this for everyone!
Rating:
Summary: One of the best self-help books I have ever read !!
Review: Page 29: "During our domestication, our parents and siblings gave their opinions about us without even thinking. We believed these opinions and we lived in fear over these opinions, like not being good at swimming, or sports, or writing. Someone gives an opinion and says, 'Look, this girl is ugly!' The girl listens, believes she is ugly, and grows up with the idea that she is ugly. It doesn't matter how beautiful she is; as long as she has that agreement, she will believe that she is ugly. That is the spell she is under." There are two perfect examples: one of my friend's nieces is absolutely beautiful. When her niece was thirteen, one of THE most vulnerable ages, her stepmother told her that she was ugly.
To this day, this girl still thinks that she's only average. Personally, when I was a kid, I was made to fell lousy because I was not the next Babe Ruth. These circumstances have haunted me for a very long time. Miguel is right-on with the first agreement! Page 38's analogy of the human mind as a computer and comparing gossip as a computer virus was EXCELLENT !! Pages 56-57: "By taking things personally, you set yourself up to suffer for nothing." What a profound statement that Miguel has written. Page 57: "Do not expect people to tell you the truth because they also lie to themselves." Many folks live an allusion and as my brother Terry said, "...their fingertips are holding onto the ledge of allusion and any little movement will devastate them and they will fall..." Page 69: "We make the assumption that everyone sees life the way WE do." This is another profound statement from Ruiz. Page 82: "You can have many great ideas in your head, but what makes the difference is the action." A perfect example is Forrest Gump. Although Gump was a fictional character, he only had an I.Q. of 75, which is WELL below average. He made the MOST out of what he had. He probably utilized close to 80 to 100% of his brainpower. Many humans are lucky to utilize 10 to 20% of their brainpower.
Rating:
Summary: Start the Presses!!
Review: During the past year I have spent at least ... on reading materials, most of which I ordered through Amazon.com. This wonderful gift to myself..."The Four Agreements" by Don Miguel Ruiz was so enlightening to me I immediately ordered ten more copies from Amazon.com for my friends!! So, there you have it...never in my life have I ordered more than three of the same book, even for family and friends.
This is your inner personal moral compass. More than that it teaches you the lessons our parents and clergy SHOULD have. It is the wisest book outside the Bible.
Wonderfully writen and easily comprehended. Thank you Don Miguel Ruiz!
Rating: 
Summary: Isn't writing this book an assumption?
Review: Voters take your mark (mouse), set, object. Warning, I'm afraid I sense uncontrollable episodes of spasmodic mixed metaphors to follow. Without lapsing into a discussion of the morality of conquest and colonialism, if the Aztecs truly adhered to this philosophy its a wonder Hernan Cortes met with any resistance whatsoever in Mexico. Now I remember why I avoid the self-help section like leprae bacillus was imbedded in the cover of each volume. In order to spare others exposure to the contagion, here are the four agreements: 1) Be impeccable with your word;
2) Don't take anything personally;
3) Don't make assumptions;
4) Always do your best. How might any rational being question with the validity of these rather benign objectives? I would surmise most have heard them in some form or fashion from wiser elder mentors since the beginnings of time. Yet, as elucidated by Don Miguel Ruiz, the simplistic text has more un-detonated land mines than an eastern European war zone. In essence, Toltec wisdom, which is fundamentally identical to Yaqui wisdom as expounded by Don Juan Matus in the Castaneda series, has threads of commonality with most spiritually based belief systems known to man, dating back to homo.Erectus. In this easy-to-read little volume, Don Miguel offers clear analogies to Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, and at one point appears to veer off into a flight of pantheistic fancy. New Age might be inclusive, but this is way over the top. The internal contradictions I noticed here reside with the Castaneda books as well. It took years to recognize them in those books when I was too consumed with becoming a sorcerer or warrior of the Yaqui tradition to notice. I may have been young or naïve; young and naïve; or young, naïve and unwilling to acknowledge the complexities of human interaction. In this case the inconsistencies are easier to recognize without the metaphor, allegory and mysticism (or peyote) that permeates Castaneda's works. Don Miguel's calm and controlled pedagogy is solipsism. He explains how each of us has undergone a process of domestication, where the inculcated lessons result in value and belief systems that preclude independent thought and autonomy. We construct a set of negative agreements we employ to arrive at negative self-assessments, self-abnegation and self-victimization. If man sprang as a physically mature being from the head of some entity like Athena from Zeus, Ruiz's objections might make sense, as it is we do have to learn how to become productive members of a culture or society. Toltec wisdom infers aversion to acceptance of responsibility and accountability for one's actions; a narcissistic outlook where any proscribed behavior may be excused as the attempt to do one's best, as is clearly evident in the following excerpt from the book: "The first three agreements will only work if you do your best. Don't expect that you will always be able to be impeccable with your word. Your routine habits are too strong and firmly rooted in your mind. But you can do your best. Don't expect that you will never take anything personally; just do your best. Don't expect that you will never make another assumption, but you can certainly do your best." Two-thirds of the book is devoted to clarification and expansion of each of the four agreements, with contradiction and repetitious passages leading the way. The final third is devoted to explanation of the techniques to elimination of our existing personal agreements, implementation of the three phases to mastery of Toltec philosophy (awareness, transformation, intent), and how to arrive at a new dream of the world. He concludes with a couple of prayers for freedom and love.
The wisdom here is sacrosanct. Write down the agreements and attempt to incorporate them into your daily routine if you wish. But, you don't need this book as a guideline.
Rating: 
Summary: Melange of Platitudes
Review: The title grabs one's attention since it promises to address all of life's challenges and problems with a neat "four agreements." As might be expected it proves to be over-simplistic. What I did not expect is that it is contradictory at several points as it tries to wed several ancient, well worn philosophies, all of which have been tried and rejected as serious contenders for a wholistic worldview. Ruiz dichotomizes and fragments the human being, suggesting that we and our minds are not part of a whole personality. He contridicts himself, first telling us to reject those things our minds suggest but then telling us we should passively accept whatever comes to mind. He totally overlooks the question of authority, apparently expecting us to think he has some inner light not available to the rest of humanity. His "agreement" that we should not take anything personally is nothing more than a rehash of stoicism which has been rejected as emotionally stunted by all world religions. If put into practice by Ghandi or Martin Luther King it would have singlehandedly killed the 20th century civil rights movement. Ruiz fills in with a melange of platitudes such as "Do Your Best" where substance is lacking. This is a vague new age quest for non-specific spirituality at its best, or theology and philosophy at its worst!
Rating:
Summary: A few pages a day
Review: Small servings of this book kept me going through some difficult times. Some of the concepts are too new agey for me--but the underlying four rules of life are priceless.
This book and two others --one being my daily journal--lifted my spirits and kept my focus in the right place through one of the most difficult periods in my life. I emerge a stronger person.
Rating:
Summary: Simple, Beautiful...and Powerful
Review: When you recall some of your most peaceful, fulfilling experiences, how many of them occurred while your mind was clear and uncluttered? Most of them, if you're like me. This author understands and effectively communicates some of the keys that bring peace and joy to life. In contrast with some books that offer scores of tips and suggestions that will likely have little impact on our lives, Miguel Ruiz presents his message with clarity and sensitivity. I was skeptical when I opened this book. I really wasn't interested in "Toltec wisdom." I wasn't interested in "New Age"-sounding theories. What I found in "The Four Agreements" transcends religions and philosophies. I wish I had been open to, received, understood, and acted on this message decades ago. The four agreements encompass a way to live. They are not primarily a subject for intellectual debate. We all know, for example, that it is not possible to literally "make no assumptions" in life. On the other hand, learning to (i) take far fewer things personally and (ii) minimize the assumptions about what I want from relationships with others has helped me tremendously. While my reviews often point out the types of people who probably won't like certain books, I think almost anyone can enjoy, be touched by, and gain greater peace and joy through the help of this book.
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