Rating: 
Summary: Not so great on the page.
Review: I had so eagerly hoped this would be a five star book. After all, Dr. Phil is a 5 star guy, and his appearances on Oprah! are five star quality too. But somehow, this book just is not the same. I can't put my finger on why. Maybe the brash, insightful, get-to-the-heart-of-the-matter style that works so well on TV just doesn't translate to the page. Or maybe the writer had too much time to think, to edit, to revise. Perhaps what makes Dr. Phil work so well in real time, is that he jumps right in and does not look back. The book is too tame, and does not grab the reader. If you are still interested, try the library first, and save yourself some money.
Rating:
Summary: You don't need this book to find out that self matters
Review: My mother purchased this book because she is a ritualistic viewer of Dr. Phil's program. Reading through the first couple of pages, I have found that this book will in no way help someone's life. Although he hides it behind a fatherly facade, Dr. Phil is first and foremost a capitalist. I don't think reviewers understand that.
From the sections I read, this book is a second rate self-help book at best. Don't waste your money on self-help books, and certainly don't buy this rubbish.
Rating: 
Summary: A New Level of Understanding Self
Review: A coworker urged me to buy and read two books this summer. The first was "The Child Whisperer" by Matt Pasquinilli(and even though I have no kids, after reading it, I was enlightened about why I do some of the things I do and had some tools to change myself.) The second book, of course, was "Self Matters" by Dr. McGraw. Wow!Some say "the truth hurts", but as Dr. McGraw tells it in his book, the truth really can set you free. Seeing things for what they are - understanding why I act and think like I do - gives me the knowledge I need to make some positive changes. Like my coworker, I suggest getting two books this summer: "The Child Whisperer" by Matt Pasquinilli and "Self Matters" by Dr. Phil McGraw. You can have a new outlook on life and start immediately to improve how you act and how you think and feel about yourself
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book!
Review: In fact, I liked this one even better than "Life Strategies." In order to get maximum benefit from "Self Worth", use it as a instruction manual and not just as a book. If all you do is read it, you'll be dissappointed.I also recommend "Life Strategies" and "Turner, Turner, Turner: The King of Network Marketing" for Total Lifepower strategies.
Rating: 
Summary: You've got a lot to answer for, Stephen Covey!
Review: Ever since the phenomenal sales of Stephen Covey's "7 Habits of somebody or other", self-development books have been swamped with numbers. In McGraw's last book it was the 10 Life Rules. But why stop there?
This time round it's: - Your Ten Defining Moments
- Your Seven Critical Choices
- Your Five Pivotal People
- and a Five-Step Action Plan Not to mention a good smattering of the sort of psuedo-psychological self-tests that are usually reserved for magazines like Cosmopolitan, etc. To end with, then, here's another list: 1. If you seriously believe that all of life can be reduced to a set of trivial rules, and that self-denigration is a valuable learning tool, then buy this book - it will tell you exactly what you want hear.
2. If your IQ is larger than your shoe size, why on earth would you want to waste your money on this kind of no-brainer nonsense?
Rating: 
Summary: Read it slowly, and do the work!
Review: Reading SELF MATTERS is a worthwhile exercise for anyone who wants to know more about himself and/or why we see life the way we do. I recommend reading the book slowly -- maybe one chapter a week -- and definitely doing the assignments. You will discover so much about yourself! It may not change your life, but I'll bet it lets you look at yourself and those around you in a different light, if only for a short while. Example: Labeling. When Phil explained labeling and asked us to list all the labels others had put on us and we had put on ourselves, I thought, "Oh, sure -- I'll come up with maybe five." I filled the entire page and started writing up the sides of the paper! And a few days later the really deep-seated ones were still finding their way to the surface! Great passages to think about: "A distorted life feels more and more natural the longer you live it." "What kind of a friend are you to yourself, throughout the day?" "It boggles the mind to think about all the jobs people do that they're unsuited for: jobs that threaten their mental stability, their emotional well-being, and as a result their physical health -- jobs they took in order to be 'safe.' " If you just read this straight through without doing the work, I can't believe you'll think it's worthwhile. This book is only as good as the time YOU put into it! For a good deal of insight into yourself, I recommend the book. But it can't really take the place of professional help if you are deeply troubled.
Rating:
Summary: If you're committed to act, you should buy this book
Review: It is very clear, through reading his book, Self Matters, that Dr Phil believes in people. He sees people as they were meant to be, not as they are. He knows that within every person lies the ability to be happy and to experience joy in life. Through his book, Dr Phil explains very directly and with high clarity how each person becomes who he or she is and, if willing to go, takes you on a journey of self-knowledge by helping you understand why you are who you are today and how, once that is understood and taken responsibility for, you can destroy the shackles that bind you. Dr Phil has a passion for setting people free, for helping people to look in the mirror and like what they see, even love what they see. He doesn't believe in changing who you are, but in unchanging who you've become when you no longer see who you truly are. This book requires you to look honestly about major events, choices, and people in your life. If you are willing to spend some time to do this, I recommend that you do whatever you must do to drop what you are doing right now, buy this book, and start changing your life today. It will help you to do just that if you put the time and effort into it. It is priceless. For loving oneself is just that.
Rating:
Summary: I Don't Think So
Review: Another book by the mega-egotist Phil McGraw, recycling all the information that others have presented much better. Don't waste your money on this one - you'd be better off with the classic "The Power of Positive Thinking"
Rating:
Summary: I thought I knew it all...
Review: I wanted Amazon to deliver this book to my door in a plain brown wrapper. Pop psychotherapy. Easy answers. The latest in a bunch of bestsellers (which doesn't always mean best). Although I admire Dr. Phil on his Tuesday appearances on Oprah, this is after all a self-help book bought by millions. And I've been on this earth (and in psychotherapy) for years. Surely I've already discovered everything of meaning in my life. I was drawn to the promise of this book, still thinking -- what possible good could reading this book do for me? The answer -- a lot. If you faithfully read it and follow his instructions, hidden truths will be revealed. For me there was something about using the format he gives -- including journaling, writing things down and answering questions -- that brought connections between my own life stories, events I'd remembered for years as unconnected separate incidents that somehow had something to do with why I am who I am today. Life (mine anyway) has been an unfinished puzzle. This book helped me find some more missing pieces, and place a huge chunk of the ones I had into the correct places. My own puzzle may never be finished, but working with this book made me want to yell "Aha!" The only warning might be not to attempt this totally alone unless you have a good therapist, a 12 step program, good friends or whatever support system works for you. Good stuff, hard work, enlightening and most helpful.
Rating:
Summary: Getting My Phil
Review: Oprah is no D'oprah, and I got to admit, the lady knows good advice when she sees it. I just finished this book along with two other books-- "Life Strategies" by Dr. Phil and a book called "Breaking the Pattern" by Charles Platkin...and for the first time in my life, I feel like I've got great control.
"Breaking the Pattern" helped me realized what sort of patterns my life has fallen into and how I could get out of them, while "Self Matters" helped me to understand that I'm worth the fight to get out of them.
I usually dont read "self-help" books, but after the success of these books, I am seriously going to need a self-help book to help me break my self-help book addiction!
| 
