Positive Words, Powerful Results: Simple Ways to Honor, Affirm, and Celebrate Life

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Follow-Up
Review: 'Positive Words, Powerful Results' is from Hal Urban, the teacher who brought us 'Life's Greatest Lessons' which is a classic in the self-help field. After having read the review of the gentleman from Kenosha, WI, I felt I should take the time to offer a more mainstream opinion on this book.

The criticism that Dr. Urban's latest title does not lay out a history of linguistics is horribly elitist. The book is not intended to be a linguistics primer or anything other than what it is - a reminder that words are powerful things and a few new thoughts on using words to celebrate life. I found the book very uplifting, and quite thought-provoking, especially concerning the choices we face each day to use language as a positive force in our daily lives, or use it to bring ourselves - and others - down with us. It goes beyond 'positive thinking' to help us consider the power of 'positive language'. I enjoyed Dr. Urban's new book and appreciated the emphasis on how we choose our words each day - for better or worse.

Rating:
Summary: Use Nice Words
Review: Having some time beween flights as well as more than a little interest in the subject of language, I purchased this paperback from the select few that were on prominent display at the airport newsstand. Popular self-help books can be judged by two criteria: 1. Do they reduce a complex subject to accessibility without distorting it? (Writers like Chopra, Bradshaw, Dyer often succeed admirably.) 2. Distorted or not, do they work?

Concerning the first question, the author gives no evidence that he's had as much as a basic introductory course in linguistics or, for that matter, thought long and deeply about language. Although he refers to "vast amounts of research," his secondary sources consist of cover stories from Time, U.S. News Report, and USA Today as well as "authorities" such as Tony Robbins, Marlo Thomas, and Bill Bennett. The extent of his primary research appears to be asking people to choose between two lists of words. The first list contains "love-vacation-puppy" or "civil-respectful-kind," while the second has "destroy-kill-hurt" or "rude-crude-raw." When asked which list provides better feelings, the subjects of the experiment invariably prefer the first list, thus presumably making the author's case that positive words evoke positive feelings.

Even though the words selected for these lists are mostly abstract, the author claims that words themselves are "pictures," capable of having strong and lasting effects, either for the positive or negative. Once we have recognized this potential in words, the next step is to use them "wisely"--that is, select only those words that present positive, affirming, celebratory pictures.

It appears that the author has never thought excessively about the relationship between such things as thought and language, the word and its referent, or the word and its context in a sentence. He acknowledges that words can become part of our consciousness yet separates consciousness from language. It does not seem to occur to him that "positive" words would not even have meaning were it not for their binary opposites or that the "decline" of civilization to which he alludes may have more to do with language impoverishment than with failure to adhere to a prescriptive list of positive words. One wonders how his list might assist the reader of "Hamlet" or "Macbeth," should such reading even be permitted. In sum, a close reading of this book (which is probably a mistake) will expose not merely reductive but circular and contradictory logic not to mention sophomoric pronouncements ("my theory is that words have a great impact").

To be fair, the author is apparently an exceptional individual, one we might all do well to emulate. For each of his 30 years as a high school teacher, he met each of 170 students at the classroom door with a personal greeting, then began each class period with the question: "What are we celebrating today?" Moreover, there can be little argument about the effectiveness of his method. Despairing over the possibility of getting back his investment in a second printing of an earlier book, his fortunes were turned around by his wife's words: "You will sell them." My purchase of the book must be added proof of the power the author attributes to words.

Motivational books and various forms of popular "pep talk" literature are like candy bars to many consumers. They're a constant necessity, even if of questionable lasting value. The author himself claims that he starts his day with them and suggests we do the same. All the same, the words I'm taking with me after this experience are "Simon and Schuster," a new synonym for "caveat emptor."

Rating:
Summary: Should Be Mandatory Reading for home, school, business..
Review: In today's vast realm of self-help, self-improvement, communications, human relations, business, prosperity-creating publications, Hal Urban's book stands out as an effective, concise, refreshingly readable reminder of the title's profoundly important message, which is actually the bedrock of any and all of the above subjects. It is like a gentle but much needed slap in the face to bring us all back into line and the higher standard of being consciously civilized, intelligent, and yes, loving human beings. Our culture more than ever needs to remember, acknowledge, cultivate and practice the wisom and commom sense conveyed here so simply and succinctly. Keep a copy; give another (at least one) away. Thank you, Mr. Urban, for writing this book!