Rating: 
Summary: No More Stinkin' Thinkin'!!
Review: A great place to start on a journey of self-improvement, personal growth, and healing. This book really helped me to confront the negative within so that I could move on and open up to all the positives life has to offer. I initially noticed Branden's essays in an Ayn Rand book and they blew my hair back. An Excellent Work!!
Rating: 
Summary: Insightful, Thought Provoking
Review: A lot of authors of self-help books have an absolute conviction of the gospel they are preaching and thus have a tendency to disregard their readers' personal experiences. This book is different. I was led to buy this book by the author's open admission right from the beginning that what it contained were ideas and theories that he had developed over the years. Theories, please take note, which may change as new data or experience come up.Read this book with an open mind. You do not have to agree with everything. Think over what it says. I read this book several years ago. It gave me a fuller understanding of myself. Since then, that has slowly translated into subtle, positive changes in my life.
Rating:
Summary: Concerned with some of the criticism of this book
Review: After reading through many of the negative reviews on The Six Pillars, I found myself wondering how many of those naysayers have actually read (or understand) the book. Take, for instance, the review of the supposed "psychologist" who trashes the entire book based on Branden's comment that people in intimate relationships feel most at home, most comfortable with, people who share similar levels of self-esteem. (This comment on page 6, by the way, which is as far as "the psychologist" got, I fear). Our worthy psychologist says that this can't be true because, get this, in his experience as a psychologist, unpopular kids at school want to be like and hang around the popular kids. Therefore it can't be true that people in long term, close relationships feel comfortable with partners of similar self-esteem levels. Maybe its just me, but DOES THAT MAKE ANY SENSE?? What does unpopular kids wanting to be like or be around popular kids have to do with self-esteem and intimate human relationships? And since when do the popular kids at school automatically have high levels of self-esteem???? The logical errors in his review really startle me, coming from a supposed mental health professional. And then to use this convoluted argument to discredit the whole book? I just wanted to point this one example out because I think a majority of bad reviews for this wonderful book have to do with emotional, kneee jerk reactions, or simple misreading of the text. And of all the things Nathaniel Branden would cringe at, irrational, and emotional logic would be at the top of the list. I posted an earlier review of the book, so I won't go into how special a thinker and writer I think Branden is. Or how carefully argued the Six Pillars is. I just wanted to point out that to Branden, logic and reason are sacred things, and to discredit him without using logic or reason is a bit of an insult to his work.
Rating:
Summary: Concerned with some of the criticism of this book
Review: After reading through many of the negative reviews on The Six Pillars, I found myself wondering how many of those naysayers have actually read (or understand) the book. Take, for instance, the review of the supposed "psychologist" who trashes the entire book based on Branden's comment that people in intimate relationships feel most at home, most comfortable with, people who share similar levels of self-esteem. (This comment on page 6, by the way, which is as far as "the psychologist" got, I fear). Our worthy psychologist says that this can't be true because, get this, in his experience as a psychologist, unpopular kids at school want to be like and hang around the popular kids. Therefore it can't be true that people in long term, close relationships feel comfortable with partners of similar self-esteem levels. Maybe its just me, but DOES THAT MAKE ANY SENSE?? What does unpopular kids wanting to be like or be around popular kids have to do with self-esteem and intimate human relationships? And since when do the popular kids at school automatically have high levels of self-esteem???? The logical errors in his review really startle me, coming from a supposed mental health professional. And then to use this convoluted argument to discredit the whole book? I just wanted to point this one example out because I think a majority of bad reviews for this wonderful book have to do with emotional, kneee jerk reactions, or simple misreading of the text. And of all the things Nathaniel Branden would cringe at, irrational, and emotional logic would be at the top of the list. I posted an earlier review of the book, so I won't go into how special a thinker and writer I think Branden is. Or how carefully argued the Six Pillars is. I just wanted to point out that to Branden, logic and reason are sacred things, and to discredit him without using logic or reason is a bit of an insult to his work.
Rating:
Summary: What Are Your Agreements With Yourself?
Review: An interesting passage from this book reads, "Some of the most important things I learned came from thinking about my own mistakes and from noticing what I did that lowered or raised my own self-esteem." This interests me to reread this, because having first read this book in 1994, I wrote so many detailed introspective notes that I too can say, I've learned a lot from thinking and writing about the "learning lessons" of my life. And this is a life-time process. So, what are the 6 Pillars of Self-esteem? First, I'd like to say that a healthy dose of self-esteem is thinking for yourself, no matter what is going on around you; while you maintain the belief that you deserve to be happy. And happiness is when you can say that you have more joy than pain in your life. The 6 pillars are:
1. Live Consciously
This requires us to be fully in the present moment. And for
most, this takes a bit of practice, because many of us are
conditioned to disown the here and now, to survive what we
have thought that we cannot handle.
2. Accept Yourself
Yes. You have flaws and attributes. You also have the
opportunity to enhance who you are, by accepting everything
about yourself. In fact, the only way to enhance who you
are is to accept yourself. 3. Take Responsibility for Your Experiences
Through my journey, I have learned to be in conversations
where I say to myself, "It comes down to 'this is where you
end, and I begin,'"
Saying such an affirmation has helped me to congruently say
what I will and will not experience. And this is quite
liberating not only to myself, but also to my interlocutor
(most of the time) 4. Assert Who You Are
Honor what you think, feel, believe, need and want. Yes,
for many readers this may be a challenge. But the results
of accepting this challenge are wonderfully fulfilling. 5. Live Purposefully
Make an agreement with yourself to reach your highest
potential, while you maintain balance in your life. 6. Maintain Your Integrity
Know exactly what your principles are. And stick to them,
no matter what others think or do. This is an easy to follow book that is also between the caliber of a "self-help" book and a "psychology" book. Enjoy!
Rating: 
Summary: A mixed bag
Review: An interesting work, especially when compared to newer, lesser books on similar topics, such as Philip McGraw's _Life Strategies_. Certainly professional psychologists might find the work limited since it is aimed at a broad audience, and the intellectually challenged might be offended by the tone. Branden is nothing if not an interesting personality and his Objectivist influenced take on self-esteem is refreshing and worthwhile when compared to popular for tactics for raising self-esteem: empty praise and meaningless feel-good platitudes. Those familiar with Ayn Rand and Branden's relationship with her might enjoy his ongoing commentary on the relationship. Not being trained in psychology, I cannot knowledgeably comment on Branden's suggested sentence completion exercises to enhance self-esteem. I haven't tried them to a great extent, but at the very least they should stimulate some internal dialogue that might be useful. Finally, this book is worthwhile for the discussion Branden generates on whether individualism is a cultural bias or a universal good. He's certainly not in the politically correct camp, but his ideas are worthy of contemplation by the serious thinker.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting and thought-provoking
Review: An interesting work, especially when compared to newer, lesser books on similar topics, such as Philip McGraw's _Life Strategies_. Certainly professional psychologists might find the work limited since it is aimed at a broad audience, and the intellectually challenged might be offended by the tone. Branden is nothing if not an interesting personality and his Objectivist influenced take on self-esteem is refreshing and worthwhile when compared to popular for tactics for raising self-esteem: empty praise and meaningless feel-good platitudes. Those familiar with Ayn Rand and Branden's relationship with her might enjoy his ongoing commentary on the relationship. Not being trained in psychology, I cannot knowledgeably comment on Branden's suggested sentence completion exercises to enhance self-esteem. I haven't tried them to a great extent, but at the very least they should stimulate some internal dialogue that might be useful. Finally, this book is worthwhile for the discussion Branden generates on whether individualism is a cultural bias or a universal good. He's certainly not in the politically correct camp, but his ideas are worthy of contemplation by the serious thinker.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful theoretically, but it needs much wisdom to use it
Review: As a self-esteem coach, virtually every day I thank God (if there is such a Being) for Nathaniel Branden. Up to this point in his evolution as a writer, self-esteem was considered a semi-mystical attribute of character, that was known to be an *effect* of good parenting or good therapy. It was maintained that there were only certain "turning points" in our lives which, if negotiated skillfully, could yield enhanced self-esteem. After the publication of this book, it became clear that we have many many such turning points every day. These insights, allied with the directed sentence completion techniques he developed earlier in his career--a kind of quick burrowing into the subconscious for information and feelings not ordinarily accessible to the conscious mind--can yield enhanced self-esteem in a fraction of the time possible to the earlier forms of psychotherapy at the time. For me the big problem, as a self-esteem coach, is that clients who read "Six Pillars..." often only get help when I put out 100% effort dredging up all I learned over the past 5 decades. If a client does not already have a base of knowledge that needs to be integrated, in my experience using the techniques of "Six Pillars..." leads to confusion. This is not to denigrate Branden's achievement--he is perhaps the most underrated psychologist in the history of psychology, being one of the great generalists whose discoveries are rarely mentioned in counseling texts--but rather to gently chide him (should he read this little epistle) to *please* write a book about what he must contribute, as therapist and as man, in addition to the theory and exercises written about here to achieve the wonderful results he has achieved with his clients.
Rating: 
Summary: Is it possible to have too much self-esteem?
Review: As Oscar Wilde famously said, "To love oneself is the beginning of a lifelong romance."
Rating:
Summary: james
Review: Asa person suffering from manic depression, and withouta lot of self esteem, I found book fascinating , but not very resourseful,it was educational and informative. However for me it hasn't helped me any so far
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