It seems Rhonda Byrne is ready to attract more $$$ into her life. She's got a new book out called The Power.

Here's the summary:

"The Secret revealed the law of attraction. Now, Rhonda Byrne reveals the greatest force in the universe. This is the handbook to the greatest power in the Universe The Power to have anything you want. In "The Power," Rhonda takes the law of attraction in another direction and teaches the power of using your emotions to FEEL what you want to have so that what you desire will come quicker. It is a way of engaging the mind and heart and getting them to work together."

Her publisher obviously doesn't want to keep her latest book a secret because there's a full page ad in one of the dailies and her other four books are listed, as well. I knew about the book version of The Secret, but not the other three: The Secret Gratitude Book, The Secret Daily Teachings and The Secret To Teen Power.

Clearly, she's been busy.

I'm thinking I should start my own series because it seems to be paying the bills for Byrne and also for Elizabeth Gilbert.

How about... The Secret -- How to Write a Self-Help Book and Never Have to Work at MacDonald's Again; The Secret -- How to Sucker Publishers Into Paying for an All Expenses Paid Holiday; The Secret -- There Are Readers Out There Waiting With Baited Breath and finally The Secret -- Your Mother Was Wrong About Liars Growing Long Noses.

I haven't read The Power, but just from the little bit I've read from the amazon reviews it's reminding me of Lynn Grabhorn's book Excuse Me Your Life is Waiting.

Here's a review of The Power on amazon.com by Steve Salerno author of SHAM: How the Self-Help Movement Made America Helpless

Some years ago a little-known Australian TV writer/producer burst on the scene with a book (originally a virally promoted DVD) titled "The Secret." The publicity for that project promised as follows (and here I quote from an interview given by Byrne herself):

"With the knowledge from The Secret there is not anything any human cannot be, do or have...not a single thing. No limits whatsoever. It doesn't matter where anybody is now--it doesn't matter if they're sleeping in a park, if they're totally broke, it doesn't matter if they're not well, it doesn't matter if their relationships are a mess. It doesn't matter where they are, when they gain this knowledge and when they apply and use The Secret in their life, their lives will totally change."

Of course, we all know what happened next. Lots of people's lives did indeed totally change...in the sense that they went to hell in a hand basket. The U.S. economy tanked. Millions of us "attracted" unemployment and foreclosures. And some of the alumni of Byrne's DVD project--notably including James "Sweat Lodge" Ray--saw an opportunity: Clearly there must have been something missing from "The Secret"! A secret ingredient, if you will. They began selling spinoff products and programs of their own devising, products and programs that guaranteed to help Byrne's befuddled fans--who must have wondered where it all went wrong--get back on the path to Universal prosperity. Byrne, no doubt, noticed all this and decided it was time for a sequel of her own. Hence, "The Power." And what does this book promise?

"In this book you will come to understand that all it takes is just one thing to change your relationships, money, health, happiness, career, and your entire life. Every discovery, invention, and human creation comes from The Power. Perfect health, incredible relationships, a career you love, a life filled with happiness, and the money you need to be, do, and have everything you want, all come from The Power. The life of your dreams has always been closer to you than you realized, because The Power--to have everything good in your life--is inside you. To create anything, to change anything, all it takes is just one thing...THE POWER."

Am I missing something, or is that awfully close to what Byrne promised the world a few years ago in "The Secret"? More to the point, if "The Secret" was really the be-all-and-end-all of universal harmony--then why is a sequel necessary in the first place? Maybe it's just me, but if you're framing "The Power" as the ultimate key to success, isn't that a repudiation of The Secret? So why should we believe Byrne now?

Don't get me wrong, it's not that "The Power" isn't chock-full of brilliant and inspiring advice. Such as, if you want new clothes, just place empty hangers in your closet. (How could that possibly fail!) Or there's this passage, about the relationship between love and money:

"Love is the attracting force that brings money, and love is also the power that makes money stick. You have to give love and feel good about money to bring it to you and make it stick. If...your credit card debt is increasing, you have no sticking power and you are repelling money."

So let me get this straight. My love-meter determines the balance on my credit cards? Or could it have more to do with all those new clothes the Universe brought to me (by way of Saks Fifth Avenue, perhaps?).

Taking Byrne's advice as a whole, one is reminded of the classic line from one of the Johnson characters in response to Gabby's gibberish in the famous church scene from "Blazing Saddles": "Now who could argue with that...!"

Finally, Byrne says the power of love will fill your bank account. Of this we can be sure: The power of "The Power" will fill her bank account.

Rhonda Byrne divulges new 'Secret' in 'The Power'

by Deirdre Donahue - Aug. 17, 2010 11:52 AM
USA TODAY

Mark your calendars. Today the economic downturn ends.

Why? Self-help priestess Rhonda Byrne returns with "The Power" and a novel solution to our money woes.

It's not a faltering economy or Wall Street that are at fault, it's our feelings. "It's the attractive force of love that moves all the money in the world, and whoever is giving love by feeling good is a magnet for money," Byrne writes.

So stop worrying about that foreclosure notice or the 29(PERCENT) interest rate on your credit card and perk up, people! "You can tell how you feel about money, because if you don't have all you need, then you don't feel good about money," she writes.

But before you snicker and Google that P.T. Barnum quote about suckers, remember that Byrne's previous opus, 2006's "The Secret," sold more than 19 million copies in 46 languages. Oprah Winfrey, among others, embraced the Australian TV producer's revelations about the "law of attraction." Boiled down, the idea is to open yourself up to life's goodies - big house, wonderful relationships, fabulous health, all-round happiness - and you'll get them.

The weirdest thing is that maybe Byrne believes this stuff. After all, her own narrative is pretty astonishing: Struggling mother of two reads Wallace Wattles' 1910 book "The Science of Getting Rich" and ends up as an enormously wealthy media superstar, thanks to her "Secret" DVD and books.

"The Power" advises people to be positive and upbeat, believe in themselves, remain open to life's possibilities, be grateful. The secret inside this sequel to "The Secret?" Love - the most important thing in the world. Who could argue?

The problem isn't the genre, because Americans have benefited from self-help since Ben Franklin cranked up his printing press.

The problem is applying the law of attraction to your checkbook. Byrne is no Suze Orman.

Another creepy element is the way Byrne digs into the world's religions to pluck out quotes bolstering her crackpot theories about finance. Mother Teresa and St. Augustine are quoted in the money chapter. Quotes from "Jesus, founder of Christianity" pop up amid gems like "dollar bills want you."

With "The Secret," Byrne made a fortune off the delusional bliss of magical thinking. Let's not give her any more power.

--

The power of positive inking

"The Secret," Rhonda Byrne's self-help book about using the "law of attraction" to get what you want, had no trouble attracting readers, as USA TODAY's Best-Selling Books list shows:

-- Entered the Top 150: At No. 73 on Dec. 7, 2006.

-- Was No. 1 for 13 consecutive weeks: From Feb. 15, 2007 to May 10, 2007(1).

-- Returned to No. 1: For one more week on May 24, 2007.

-- Total weeks in the Top 150: 133.

-- Current ranking: No. 250.

(1) - The only book with more consecutive weeks at No. 1: "In the Kitchen With Rosie," with 16.

Quote

Another creepy element is the way Byrne digs into the world's religions to pluck out quotes bolstering her crackpot theories about finance. Mother Teresa and St. Augustine are quoted in the money chapter. Quotes from "Jesus, founder of Christianity" pop up amid gems like "dollar bills want you."

Here is a quoted comment from the Saltydroid blog in a story about James Ray

Quote

X said: # 15 February 2010 at 10:17 am

I am very interested in this topic because my wife and I, pretty experienced Catholics who are hard to fool, were indeed fooled by the New Thought movement.

I would like to start by saying this:

Whether you are Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, or Aetheist…

Run…run hard far and and fast from any one, any book, or any “siritual center” that preaches this rhetoric.

They are all scam artists who like to pick and choose from accepted religious philosophies in order to string together a mosh of BS designed to mess with your mind and fish through your wallet.

For thoses who actually believe in sincere spirituality this is a particularly dangerous menace because they will take familiar philosophies that your faith most likley invented, and twist them to suit their purposes of mind control and wealth attainment, thus forever tainting your original beliefs with their twisted version of the same.

This James Arther Ray is nothing more than par for the course. These churches, Unity, Sciences of Mind, The Spiritual Center of yadda yadda…and so forth abound with “James Arthur Rays”.

They all have their little books to sell, they are all self proclaimed teachers healers and ministers…the “Law of Attraction” is used as an excuse to blame any dishonest or abusive treament coming from their actions upon you…the vulnerable student.

Please don’t fall for this crap. My wife was almost killed by one of these so called energy healers…it cost us more than a hundred thousand dollars of money we didn’t really have just to turn back to conventional medicine in order to save her life.

By God’s grace she is now fine…but it was a matter of life and death.

Of course the attitude from the so call leaders who had swindled us was…”well she created this for herself”

Satan worshippers are more honest and spiritual than these idiots.

Run far and fast.

Feel free to email me in private about details.

Thanks for reading.

+4
[saltydroid.info]

Rhonda Byrne and her publishers are clever, cynical exploiters of human weakness, wishful thinking, and credulity.

There was a long thread on The Secret from before.

The Secret (a movie) [forum.culteducation.com]

And due to the clever marketing and exploitation of readers, this book will probably be another bestseller.
She was smart enough to know another movie would probably crash.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/28/2010 11:50PM by The Anticult.

Here's an interesting article I came across in The Globe and Mail about our obsession with happiness. Books like The Power cash in on this trend.

[www.theglobeandmail.com]

I just checked the city's library system online and they have 264 copies of this book and only 8 holds. Clearly the library was expecting The Power to be a lot more popular.

Meanwhile there are 38 holds and 105 copies of The Secret (book edition) and 11 holds / 36 copies of the DVD. If the LOA was working for Rhonda Byrne, you would think there would be a lot more holds.

That is rotten. All the money the library spent on those extra copies of that book could have been used to purchase high quality items, with lasting value.