Getting What You Want: The 7 Principles of Rational Living

Rating:
Summary: Great Principles For Achieving A Successful Life
Review: I have read every book Robert J. Ringer has written, and found great value in them all. His latest book, "Getting What You Want," is no exception. Ringer, who was influenced by the writings and philosophy of Ayn Rand, expounds again on Rand/Ringer principles for living: being grounded in reality, giving value for value in business and personal relationships, adhering to a code of honesty, ethics, and self-discipline. To this he adds his own Ringer philosophy of avoiding people, encumbrances and causes that drain your time and energy without contributing to your major goals. These are themes he has explored before, in "Looking Out For Number One" and "Million Dollar Habits"; but they are worth reading again, especially when reinforced by some new examples and perspectives, e.g., Ringer's experiences with his new employees in New Zealand. Some new issues that Ringer brings to "Getting What You Want" are getting rid of major encumbrances, in the form of a bad job, too much debt or an unhappy marriage, and how to move on with life following a bad break, such as the loss of a job or suffering an injustice.

Ringer's writing is full of good advice on how to succeed in life, but it is not only the advice that keeps me buying his books. As a writer, he is just plain interesting. His expositions are invariably illustrated by his own personal foibles, missteps and screw-ups, which are sometimes funny, sometimes touching, and always effective. In this book, he tells how he allowed himself to be pushed into acting "intimidating" on the "Tonight" television show, even though it misrepresented the real message of his first book, and how he wasted time in a trivial lawsuit until he realized that it was more about his injured pride than about money. Ringer also discusses three personal friends who suffered terrible personal setbacks (one was confined to a wheelchair following a traffic accident), but who were determined to succeed in spite of it, and did. Ringer's point: life is full of injustice, and the best thing to do is to learn from it what you can, and move on.

In "Getting What You Want," Ringer brings back his alter-ego, the tortoise, a comically drawn character who often illustrates his books. I have always liked the tortoise metaphor and the message it brings, that the race is not always to the swift, that persistence and perseverance can often win the contest even though one is not the fastest runner afoot. Ringer himself personifies this, as he has no special higher degrees or training; he is the self-made man, the legendary "little guy" who succeeds against all odds and obstacles, including government bureaucrats, hostile attorneys and deals that go bad. Perhaps that is why so many of his readers, including this one, find him so compelling.

Ringer ends this book with a delicious slice of philosophizing that I always enjoy from him. He has a fine mind, one that is open and willing to explore the cosmic "what-ifs." In the final chapter, "Afterword: the Endgame" Ringer discusses what happiness is, and some ways of achieving it. He touches on the concept of God, the existence of good and evil, and puts forth some interesting insights. Finally, he describes some examples of what mystics call "the mystical experience," including his own, a sudden burst of cosmic insight that can inspire joy and a sense of heightened awareness. The titles of Ringer's books always sound as if they were focused on amassing material wealth. Take it from me, there is a lot more to Robert Ringer than that.

Rating:
Summary: Great
Review: I must say I found this to be a wonderful book, but I may have found it more wonderful than you will, because I was literally pondering some of the questions in life that Ringer addresses in this book. I was frankly appalled at so many people shrugging off O.J. Simpson getting away with murder, and shrugging off the rape allegations of Juanita Broaddrick against Bill Clinton. And Ringer addresses this problem (using, incidentally, Clinton and Simpson as illustrations) with going through life seeing immoral people get away with murder. There is much much more in this book, also things I'd been thinking about. If you take what he says to heart, you'll make your life, and those around you, better.

Rating:
Summary: Generally good
Review: When Ringer approaches general conduct, he gives good advice. But when he approaches certain scientific areas, he goes off the rails! He compares the old probablity example of "could a million chimps at typewriters randomly type the great works of literature over a billion years? No," as an argument for why evolution could not randomly occur. Well, evolution did NOT randomly occur. Molecular structures can result from basic rules of inanimate matter that set the foundations for organic matter to evolve (such as carbon molecules). Ringer also makes the claim that "there are no intermediary stages between species in the fossil record" as further evidence that evolution may not have occurred. But there ARE intermediary stages in the fossil record. I'd point you to intelligent websites that shows this, but Amazon.com doesn't allow--understandably--other webite addresses in these reviews. Okay, the other bit of silliness of Ringer's is when he tells of a doctor who could find a cure for a disease with a special "alternative medicine" diet, and the American Medical Association barred him from promoting his discoveries because he was a "threat" to doctors. Well, this guy was obviously a quack, and the doctors were just ignoring his research because it had a flimsly scientific basis. The doctors weren't some conspiracy to bury this guy's useful findings, because he was a threat to them. How could he be a threat? They could have just adopted his discoveries and cured their patients with it, charging fees. He wasn't a "threat" to them. So, anyway, when Ringer steps into the realm of science, he is hardly "rational", even though the whole point of this book is to promote rational thought. But the rest of the book, as I said, is a decent tome of common sense advice. When he gives advice on how to run a business, etc., he knows what he's talking about.