Rating: 
Summary: Great Book
Review: Once again Dr Phil brings us practical advise. How long will it take us to work out that our happiness is from the inside out. This book is direct and to the point and is a great guide to improving quality of one's life. I think that this book should be read in conjunction with 'Creating Extraordinary Joy' by Chris Alexander. I read two or three books at one time and I happened to be reading 'Creating Extraordinary Joy' when I picked up 'Self Matters'. The combination is synergistic because you have the best of both worlds. The spiritual in 'Creating Extraordinary Joy' and the practical in 'Self Matters'.
Rating: 
Summary: Nelson
Review: The Book is great but the Ebook is bad, You can not read the tables or figures, they are too small (I have a 19inch moniter). I had a hard time keeping the reader working long enough to read the whole book.
Next time, I will buy a paper copy not a half done ebook.
Rating:
Summary: Dr Phil Be Tellin It Like It Is - Yeah Boyeeee.
Review: Yeah boy, Doctor Phil is tellin' it like it is! You TELL IT LIKE IT IS, Dr Phil. We're all livin' these phony lives, pretending to respect our parents and puttin' up with all the garbage at home from our kids and our wives, and workin' at our stupid jobs and pretending that we really give a () about it. But Doctor Phil, oh that Dr Phil knows what we're doing. He sees through us. He sees right though us. Like on that Oprah show when he told that woman that she's just dressing up all nice in her business suits to give off an image of professionalism so she can get promoted, but that the clothes don't really tell the whole story. man, I was blown away! This man has such incredible insight, it brings tears to my eyes. That's it! I'm chuckin' it all today, and startin' over. Goodbye my thankless mom and dad, naggin' wife and bratty kids, goodbye to the whole lot of you. I'm going to live my life for me now!
Rating:
Summary: Get The Whole Story
Review: I read this book and found it absolutely fascinating. Mr. McGraw's insight into character is priceless. You will have a life changing experience if you read this book seriously and practice what it preaches. It has stimulated my interest so much, I am now reading a book on the philosophical basics of everything that "Self Matters" talks about called "West Point" by Norman Thomas Remick.
Rating:
Summary: New Hope for the Depressed!
Review: I THOROUGHLY ENJOYED THIS BOOK! Dr. Phil is so right when he suggests that we find our "authentic selves" as opposed to the person that you may have become due to poor circumstamces in your life-- what he calls the "fictional self". I have been dealing with a loved one with Alzheimer's disease and this is the first book that helped me to feel better!
Also highly recommended is a book I read lately describing what Alzheimer's disease really is caused by, called "DECODING DARKNESS" by Rudolph Tanzi and Ann Parson. Read and feel better soon!
Rating:
Summary: Get Real People!
Review: While the excercises in this book might make you look closer at the influential people in your life. I do not like the overall self help stand point. You can not change your entire life with a book! This book could be interpreted the wrong way by the already self centered person (that doesn't realize it). My overall review of this book is, it is not for me & be careful not to take what you read to literally.
Rating:
Summary: Telling it like it is!
Review: Once again Phil Mcgraw tells it like it is and some of you out there can't stomach it. Reading Mcgraw's books is like putting Habernaro sauce on a Taco, you need to be a strong person seeking the honest approach before you will like his works. He not only tells you how to find your Authentic Self but he also points out five pivotal people in your life. How difficult is that? O.K. He uses a language that gets a bit rough at times and prehaps it reminds too many of us of our own fathers when they yelled at us. And remember as a child how many times you swore you would never treat your children like your parents did, especially when they were being realistic and truthful. Well guess what? That is what Mcgraw does in all his books. I especially find his tone a wake up call to reality and for some reason I get angry sometimes at his approach but later I found myself pondering over his words only to realize that like my father, he is right. Mcgraw points out the matter of "YOU" as the focus for this book. And we all know in order to be true to anyone else we have to be true to ourself. I know alot of people who protray as Mcgraw phrases a "fictional self" who are miserable and have no true friends and they don't understand why. They need to read this book. And if your one of those kind of people who go around pretending for the sake of others, in hopes that it will make you more popular, or more in the spot light than you need to read this book. Or are you the type of person who feels the need to please everyone to the point of exhaustion and than you feel let down when no one even notices the efforts you have made? Read the book. Yes, his prose is a bit harsh at times but would you be as moved if he wrote it with a soft approach? Probaly not! I welcome Mcgraw's honesty and his approach does create an emotion in me and that is a good thing. So if you are not sure if you should read this book because he uses a few harsh words and demands you wake up than you are missing out. And if that is the case than you need to read all of Mcgraw's books and realize that you are nothing but a mild taco sauce that needs to become a little more aggressive in their life. Try the Habernaro some day, you might find that its not so bad. If you are living in lies and misconceptions than you need to read "Self-Matters" today. Get off the pity wagon and be true to your authentic self and you will be surprised at the results, as well as the gratification that comes in having control of your real self.
Rating:
Summary: Insightful, Helpful & Practical
Review: I usually don't read these types of books, and I found it very interesting, insightful, and useful. This book can help us reflect on what we often miss in today's society. We need to be aware of who we are in order to make life's most important decisions. This book provides a guide, or vehicle for those who want to more accurately know who they are. (This book is not for everyone but is for most folks.) The physical mirrors we look into can actually become walls that obstruct us. Our true self is not what we see but our thoughts, motivations, and fears we have in our heads as we go through life in relationships, career, family, making decisions etc. Our past experiences do make a major portion of who we are today, and how we perceive life and relate to the people in our lives. This is not a psycho-babble, new-age, inner-self "soup" book in any way. It is an aid to help us be more introspective in our lives. Today, most of us are so busy that we don't have the time, or the awareness to look at the many experiences and people that have shaped our lives and outlooks, both past and present. It is simply too easy today to get distracted by our daily routines. For the many of us that are living unauthentic lives, our time is inadvertently consumed by commutes, long hours at work, television, booze, Prozac, and the one week vacation at the resort a couple of months down the road. If we are more aware of ourselves, then we can focus on how it makes us who we are, and how we can deal with it, grow with it, and turn our knowledge of our true self into wisdom, and make better decisions in our life. It is a very helpful book.
Rating:
Summary: excellent! LIFE CHANGING
Review: Coming from a very abusive home being raped, and given away. I thought nothing in this world could help me overcome my problems.
This book will change your life and the way you think about it forever. You must be open minded and ready to commit. If you feel you are at the end of your rope I urge you to buy this book. You will never think or feel the same again. Watch a better you blossom like a rose.
Rating: 
Summary: New bottles, old wine
Review: While the method that Dr. McGraw suggests for re-creating your life is a good one, and anyone who follows it will learn a great deal about him/herself, I found this book VERY off-putting for two reasons. (1) Although it's less abrasive than some of his other books, I found his tone offensive. As he well knows, people create a "false self" for the worthiest of motives (pleasing a parent or other mentor whom they honor, holding a job that's valuable to society, supporting their family), so I felt that his usual "Quit whining and straighten up" approach was inappropriate. Most people who find themselves deeply discontented with their lives are NOT whining, they're gritting their teeth and sticking with it for the sake of their spouse and kids, their community, etc. (2) He constantly berates other self-help experts, but in fact he's stolen most of his ideas from them; he just restates them in his own (blunt) words. While that can be valuable for readers who are put off by terms like "self-actualization," I felt it was deeply dishonest of him not to give credit where it's due. He's a good popularizer, and his "I'm going to tell it like it is" rhetoric is very appealing, but, really, that's ALL there is to him.
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