Rating: 
Summary: Easily one of the BEST books in any field
Review: Although such tomes generally fall into one of two categories: simple "self-help" books or overly technical treatises, SECRETS straddles the line between the two, offering extremely useful and practical advice that is obviously mined from years of experience. Having heard the praise this book has earned for years, I recently purchased the book and read it over the course of a single day of travel - a day of personal epiphany.Gerald Weinberg covers the key aspect of the consulting business: getting and giving advice. He vividly illustrates the sometimes difficult-to-understand fact that the business is about making money while problem solving, NOT about getting personal credit. His advice will aid in building confidence in yourself, and in your ability to hear and analyze the environments in which you problem-solve. This book is a simple, quick read - a MUST read for anyone interested in improving their consulting skills.
Rating:
Summary: Easily one of the BEST books in any field
Review: Although such tomes generally fall into one of two categories: simple "self-help" books or overly technical treatises, SECRETS straddles the line between the two, offering extremely useful and practical advice that is obviously mined from years of experience. Having heard the praise this book has earned for years, I recently purchased the book and read it over the course of a single day of travel - a day of personal epiphany. Gerald Weinberg covers the key aspect of the consulting business: getting and giving advice. He vividly illustrates the sometimes difficult-to-understand fact that the business is about making money while problem solving, NOT about getting personal credit. His advice will aid in building confidence in yourself, and in your ability to hear and analyze the environments in which you problem-solve. This book is a simple, quick read - a MUST read for anyone interested in improving their consulting skills.
Rating: 
Summary: A way of life
Review: I read this book in 1988 and 12 years later, I still apply some rules from this great book! Looking back, this is THE book that greatly influenced my personal life and my career as a CAD specialist. Marvin's Third Great Secrets : "Every prescription has two parts: the medicine and the method of ensuring correct use." Get a copy of this book.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: I really liked this book. I found it to be very insightful. Gerry Weinberg adds stories and metaphors that have stuck with me for a long time. While it is very good for the internal or external consultant, I find that I recommend it to many people just for way it helps people to relate to each other when giving advice.
Rating:
Summary: My favorite "get your head screwed on straight" biz book
Review: I'm having to order another copy of Secrets of Consulting because I lent the last one to a friend, and it's never come back home. There's a reason for that. This is the kind of book that people borrow, but never want to part with again. A lot of consulting books are filled with fluff, common sense advice that you already know, or only ONE good thought in 250 pages. In 17 years of consulting, however, I've never found a better guide to solving the REAL business problems that you'll encounter. (And it's useful for more than just consultants, too.) Weinberg gets his message across in simple, memorable anecdotes that I can recite perfectly, fifteen years after I first read the book: The Orange Juice Rule, Rudy's Rutabaga Rule. Here's one fer-instance. A client says that he wants something special done in a project you've already budgeted and possibly already started. Do you tell her "no way!" and lose the business? Do you do the extra work, grumbling about it (and maybe losing money on the deal)? Or do you apply the Orange Juice Rule? (You don't think I'll give away the answer, do ya?) I can't tell you how often I've applied the Orange Juice Rule and saved my business relationship as well as my own budget. Besides, this book is just plain fun to read. It's light enough to be entertaining, but his advice will help you run your business better... for several years.
Rating: 
Summary: Hard to Read for Non English
Review: this book is hard to read for Non English speakers.
Rating:
Summary: A fabulous book on consulting and so much more!
Review: This is a great book. Period! It is a valuable resource for learning how to carefully give and receive advice. Mr. Weinberg lays out numerous rules, laws, and principles that one should follow if you are a consultant or are working with one. However, aside from the great nuggets of wisdom, two additional things make this book a great investment. First, this advice is clearly applicable to more than just consulting; it is applicable to life in general. Second, just as interesting as the rules themselves, was the thinking behind the formulation of each rule. Mr. Weinberg not only gives examples of applying each rule, but also shows how he (often with his wife's help) developed the rule. Fascinating reading! Highly recommended!
Rating:
Summary: One of the most important books for any consultant
Review: This is a little book with some big messages. As the subtitle says, it's a book not only for those who give, or sell, their advice, but it's also for those who are taking or buying it. It's a book both for those who help to manage change, and for those undergoing change themselves. Many people should read it. That said, the main focus of the book is on those who produce the advice and ideas. If you are a consultant as I am, this may be one of the most important books in your collection. I have read it cover to cover twice, and parts of it many other times. The book is written with a light, humorous touch, illustrated both with many funny stories and some very apt cartoons and quotations. From each discussion he abstracts multiple "laws" and reminders, which on their own should prompt you to remember the key points he discusses. Weinberg doesn't pull any of his punches. Consulting is hard, and the secrets are guides to improving your success and survival rate, not any set of "magic wands". He addresses ways in which you can fail just as much as ways to succeed. In successive chapters, the book deals with the nature of consulting and the problems it can address, and how to develop your own mind so that your can see the problems and come up with possible solutions to them. Throughout, Weinberg teaches us to focus on the "people" problems: cultural, political and psychological, which tend to be at the heart of any issue, assuming that, as he says, "it's always a people problem". If you can solve the people problems, the practical problems should be easy by comparison. In later chapters, the book focuses specifically on how to make consultancy more effective: how to improve the impact of what you do, how to help make change happen, and the importance of things like setting the right price and marketing yourself. This is an easy book to read, with lots of good advice very humorously presented. I can thoroughly recommend it to all consultants, would-be consultants, clients and would-be clients.
Rating:
Summary: It's not really about CONSULTING....It's about life.....
Review: This title by Weinberg is *THE* book to have if you fill any type of consulting role. Don't worry if you aren't a full time, dreaded consultant - you'll find plenty of good rules on giving and receiving advice in this work. I have personally purchased 5 copies of this over the years because my copies seem to "disapear" as soon as I tell anyone about it. Every single person who picks up this book on my recommendation takes the time to let me know how much they liked it - and that says something about Jerry's work. Because Jerry gets his points across by telling stories, this book is the perfect read for a flight, a few minutes between meetings, or when you can't take another seventeen noun, passive voice sentence that most IT texts use. A must buy for anyone who works in teams, gives advice, or ....well, it's for anyone.
Rating:
Summary: "Aha!" for experienced consultants! Great intro for newbies!
Review: Weinberg manages to translate the knowledge that most experienced consultants already have into memorable edicts to prevent us from harming ourselves and our customers. If you have been a consultant for a while, like I have been for the past 10 years, you'll probably breeze through the chapters thinking "Wow, I know all this but I don't think I ever thought about it in this structured way!". If you are new to consulting, do yourself a favor - READ THIS BOOK. Read it, then read it again making notes, then read it again just to make sure! Do it until you have engraved the rules in your brain! I wish I have read this book when I started working as a consultant...
| 
