Rating: 
Summary: Uplifting
Review: I read this book over a few days and the end result was a desire to improve, to do a little better each day, and to be a more positive influence in my family and community. A clear, straight forward read.
Rating: 
Summary: The book for the naive
Review: What a overwhelming glaze of gullible thoughts from a pure idealist. So far from rational ideas of human interaction that I am not suprised by all the positive feedback from a certain religion. Gordon Hinckley has given us simply another childs book. If everyone were to act like this we would fall so far back in gullible nature that we would have to hope for our government to intervene, and I support small government. Kindness is one thing, but competition is how we became a great country. How can anyone elaborate on faith as a virtue? What kind of forward progress is human society to come to if we still rely on superstitions and beliefs. I hope this book lands in the fiction section where it belongs. I also will watch the number of reviews that weren't helpful climb, which will make my point at leadership is valid only to the blind followers.
Rating: 
Summary: very spiritaul
Review: I think this book will open many peoples heart and mind to god.
Rating:
Summary: Can't believe I didn't give Gordon Hinckley 5 stars.
Review: I'm a university faculty member that loves to read. This book was very much like President Hinckley's speeches: keyed to the common man. Hinckley is a leader who is scrupulously honest, thoroughly concerned with others' needs, and full of love for even those who falsely accuse him of all sorts of nastiness (see the previous hostile reviews).It's been an eye-opener to see these people attacking a man they've never met--displaying the very traits they accuse this good man of having. I hope that most of the readers who dislike Mormons are not as shallow as the ones who've used this space as a forum to vent. I give the book 4 stars because I can't think of a book published in the last 10 years that rates 5. 4 is as good as it gets today.
Rating:
Summary: Too simple?
Review: Many people reviewing this book have said it is "too simple". Please think of the event found in the bible, Numbers 21:4-9, when the Isreaelites were being led out of Egypt by Moses, and God sent fiery serpents among them. The only thing the people had to do if they were bitten was to look upon a serpent of brass and they would live! How simple! I'm sure there were many people who thought that "simply looking" was "too simple" and therefore perished. The principles taught in this book are simple. But I'm afraid many today will miss out on the blessings that will come from living the virtues taught in this wonderful book because they are not willing to "simply look" or to "simply live" them.
Rating: 
Summary: Timeless Principles, but...
Review: This book expounds on some very useful principles, but I found it just a bit ironic that Gordon B. Hinckley professes horror at the notion that no one is completely honest. This from one of the primary actors in the Mark Hofmann affair, in which leaders of the Mormon Church apparently sought to buy up, then hide away, antique documents that--though later found to be forged--seemed to cast doubt on the reputedly divine origins of the church. And which ultimately resulted in (a) Hofmann's killing two people with bombs to divert suspicion about his document "finds," and (b) the church's applying what must have been a massive amount of pressure on the local district attorney to plea-bargain with Hofmann to avoid the unsightly spectacle of Hinckley and others' being subpoenaed to testify about their roles in the scandal. Consequently, Hofmann was allowed to escape the death penalty when he clearly merited it otherwise. The church has never come clean about the whole matter--and Hinckley is now its presiding officer, whereas Hugh Pinnock, another general authority who figured heavily in the documents scandal (and who was a rising star in the hierarchy) now apparently occupies a cold, windowless office somewhere in the nether regions of the Church Office Building. So, yes, honesty is a good thing, but it isn't necessarily a trait I would associate with Hinckley.
Rating:
Summary: Simple but Right
Review: Having read this book it makes me wonder where we would all be if we kept life as simple and good as described in this book. It has reminded me what I truley should be focused on in life; improving myself, my family and helping my fellow man. The principles discussed in this book are what this country was founded on - I belive they will save us in the long run and it doesnt matter what church or race we belong to as this applies to all people.
Rating:
Summary: This is what America needs
Review: I finished reading this book yesterday. After 25 years in law enforcement, I have seen the "dark side" of America. Any person, Christian, Jew, Athiest, Buddist or of whatever belief or non-belief, could do well in living the principles presented in this book. I had thousands of negative contacts while working the streets of Phoenix as a police officer. Every one of those negative contacts can be attributed to a violation of one or more of these principles. The prisons are full of people who have not been taught, or, who have failed to live, the principles in this book. What would the world be like if starting here in America, we could live these virtues. I read the previous reviews and it seems many are hung up on the messenger. Why should it matter who delivers the truth. Either we would be better off being honest or not. Either we would be better off being morally clean or not. Either we would be better of being civil to each other or not. Is it possible to live these principles every day. I don't think so. Would we all be better off trying to live them every day. Yes. If we fail to live them today, we can try again tomorrow. After all, forgiveness and mercy are virtues. If we forgive ourselves for our shortcomings today, we can try again. Will Rogers once spoke about money and getting interest for money placed in a bank. He said "Them that gets it, gets it, and them that don't, don't." This book is that way.
Rating:
Summary: Inspiring
Review: As someone who is politically left of center, I must admit I felt uneasy when I started reading Hinckley's book. His expressed belief that divine inspiration led at least in part to the founding of the United States and some of his other statements made me fear that this book would sound like something from the religious right. But, fortunately, Hinckley isn't like some of this country's outspoken religious leaders. Hinckley didn't use this book to condemn those he disagrees with, nor to advocate forcing his views of morality on others, but to inspire readers to follow their consciences, to do the best they can with what they have and what they know. And that's what I ended up appreciating about this book. Most of us (at least everyone I know) are imperfect, and there are those around who try to make us to better by seeking to make us feel guilty. But not Hinckley. Instead he seeks to rekindle in us a vision to live a good life filled with virtues including love, forgiveness, commitment, and service. I've had the privilege of hearing Hinckley speak (once in person, several times on TV), and (for what it's worth) I have no doubt he wrote this book himself. He comes across in the book just like the person he is -- genuine and caring. This book isn't perfect. Like I said, I struggled with the beginning, and there are times that Hinckley seems to upbeat, so positive, that his ideas almost seem unrealistic. But overall, I found the book, even though it's a fairly light read, to be inspiring. I finished reading the book wanting to live in the best way possible.
Rating:
Summary: Praise from a former Anti-Mormon
Review: I have had my problems with the church over the years, and with my feelings about it, but the truth is the truth. I have been on both sides of the issue, and what Hinckley espouses is the only true course to happiness in this life. I have been a member for most of my life, and yes about a year ago I had considered having my name removed by what I considered to be the errors of this man made church, but looking around the world, I truly didn't see anything else that could bring me anymore peace in my life. Despite what your feelings are about the church, or how simplistic you may feel the book is, it is truth. I know because I have trampled the majority of the virtues for a good part of my life, and not finding happiness that is lasting, I have found that happiness is found by living these principles. It may be simplistic, but weren't Jesus's parables? He was not writing for a university audience, or to impress you with grand language, but was writing so that a majority of people could understand his message. A prophet of God doesn't need to write in complex language when he is trying to be understood. The truth is simple, I just wish I had known it before I almost lost my marriage and family over it.
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