Review: Small little book that is kind of like a more advanced version of "The Secret"
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 11 23, 2012
With a title like "Manual for Living: Reality-Time, a book can either can exceed your expectations or let them down horribly. The general gist of the book is that our perception and our attempts of controlling time are what actually cause us to have more problems including less time, more stress, and less enjoyment of life. If you have read "The Secret", this book kind of uses language similar to that, although with a deeper, more insightful focus and from a more advanced level. Also, if you have read Martin Gover's books like "Time Control - Taking Control and Achieving Goals (Creating Lifestyle)", the philosophy from that book is pretty much similar to this one.This book actually skimmed the surface. Some things about this book (language, insight, and of it match or even exceed what I thought it would be and other sections we (title, lack of concreteness, font changes) For a such a small book, it does pack a deep psychological punch and has a lot of what I call "quotable material", those little nuggets of information that you write down to post on your wall. On the other hand, like The Secret, the book doesn't really add anything strong solutions to implementing its philosophy into real life. For example, the book keeps pointing back to the point of balance and slowing down. I agree with this point, but there are no concrete steps or examples that show you how to start this. As a reader of time management books, I don't expect a detailed list, but I would like to see some action steps or take-aways I can use to get started. In that regard, I would say Martin Gover's book would be a little better in helping you with that. Still, this book does give a lot of "food for thought" for the price that it is (free) and the concise number of pages, it is a book you will want to consider for your spiritual and meditation study.I recommend this book for people who have read "The Secret", and those interested in spirituality (especially Buddhism). It is not a time management book per se, it is more of a philosophical and meditative reflection on time that you can use to realign and refresh your spirit and soul.Pros* Language: The book is written in the flowing style of "wisdom literature" with quotes throughout which readers of this type of literature should love.* Deeply Insightful Content: The book has a lot of poignant content delivered in a way that will make it immediate, accessible, and (hopefully) easy to remember.* "Highly Quotable Material" In all of the books I read (fiction or non-fiction), I look for what I call "tiny little nuggets of wisdom" or quotes that I can write down and remember for use in my daily life. This book is full of them.Cons* Title: On a personal level, the title was both a pro and con to me. On one hand, the title is epic and all-encompassing. On the other, the title is so all-encompassing, readers may not know what to expect. For example, I was a little confused about whether I would be reading a "time management" book or a personal anecdote about a personal understanding of time. It kind of turned out to be a little of both.* Lack of Concrete Steps: As mentioned before, the book is good on providing inspiration, but no so good in showing you how to apply that inspiration to your life.* Font Change: There are some sections in the text where the font is really tiny. It may be a publishing error, but it distracted me from reading a little.