Mohd Zalhariz Zalhariz itibaren Kallithea 715 00, Greece
I've always been curious about this book, but I didn't buy it until I saw it for 25 cents at a yard sale. I'm not sure I see what all the fuss was about when it was really popular. There were some insightful, interesting parts; for me, these came in the first and last few chapters. Early on, Covey describes the stimulus-response process and essentially encourages readers to step beyond their "animal" nature and put "choice" in between the stimulus and the response. As a high school science teacher, my first thoughts were about turning this into some kind of classroom poster encouraging kids to think before they react. I also liked one of the final points in the book about a seeking "win-win" approach to interpersonal conflicts. Nothing new on either of these ideas, but Covey conveyed it in a clear, insightful way. On the downside, the book is far too business oriented for me and contains much too much overly hyped self-motivational muck-a-muck. Seriously, folks, I don't have the slightest desire to plan out every hour of my day in 15 minute increments and ensure that I spend 1 hour on this and 2 hours on that, etc, etc. And I just don't desire--actually get a little sick in the stomach just thinking about it--to do some of the things Covey makes sound great. One example that sticks out is his description of some kind of "meeting" with his daughter. I don't remember the details, but it sounded like a businessman who was way too excited about how things are done in business and forcing it down the throats of his children. (If you think I'm reading too much into it, he also relates how his teenage son had his days planned out in 5 minute intervals--at whose behest I think we know--including 10 minutes to dump his girlfriend. A little weird. No, a lot weird.) Was it worth reading? Three stars says it all...
I'm kind of excited, the opening promises some situation humor, kinda the slapstick thing I'm into for some laughs, and the writing seems to be on point... I got excited a little too early. The authors "talk" is babyish and a little off putting. I mean she can't just curse like a normal person, she says "shitty"...like upon her character first waking up..."oh, shitty, what have I done" or just taking a walk and realizing some forgotten thing, "shitty"...whats with the inability to curse like a normal adult. Its like by adding ty at grammatically incorrect moments (not that there are any hard fast rules to grammatically swearing, its just a given, duh.)she's trying too hard to reach out, or something. I don't know, I only know its annoying. Still there are aspects about the book that I'm enjoying, so all is not lost. All was lost. I can't get past the babytalking swear word thing the author has going on...and the writing just seemed forced. I'm very bitter, because, as you can see, I was excited about the book in the beginning and it truly sucked.