Customer Reviews

101 Survival Secrets: How to Make $1,000,000, Lose 100 Pounds, and Just Plain Live Happily

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Despite its 120-plus pages, this book takes about 15 minutes to read. While it offers a handful of ideas worth considering, it isn't worth the cover price. If Richard Hatch were not the winner of the first Survivor, this work would have been published on a personal Web site somewhere and that would be all. If you want it, buy it used.

While some may find the ideas in this book fresh or helpful, I found the book to be full of self promotion. It's title should be changed to "Me, ME & Me." Don't waste your money.

This book appears to be step one in Rich's plan to become a millionaire twice over. Don't fall for it; this book is a real waste of money.

Some of the 101 "secrets" are good to know, if you don't know them already, such as getting an accountant to help you with your taxes. But many of them are contradictory - for example, Hatch can't seem to decide whether or not we should care what other people think. And some of them are simply not true for most people. Hatch's failure to take any good from his years of university training, for instance, is a poor argument against formal education.

Likewise, Hatch's recollections of his experiences on Survivor are only modestly interesting ("modest" not being a word used much in connection with Hatch) and not candid at all. They certainly lack detail: this is not a "tell-all" book. His observations are mostly self-aggrandizing and reveal none of the self-examination that he seems to recommend to his readers. Worse, Hatch's observations about life both on and off the island often don't ring true. It is difficult to believe, for instance, that Hatch really knows even one very unhappy person who has a wall somewhere that is filled with university diplomas. And it is even harder to believe Hatch's claim that public response to him since the show aired has been overwhelmingly positive.

Maybe the book's greatest virtue is that it revals a good deal of Hatch's personality quickly. Also, it is extremely short. Overall, this is a disappointingly empty, vapid work.

DON'T QUIT YOUR DAY JOB! Rich Hatch ought to be grateful he won the million dollars on the hit TV show, Survivor, because given this piece of drivel he calls a book, his future as a writer is bleak at best. He's lucky they never had an immunity challenge that involved writing or editing because he surely would have been the first one voted off the island. I'd rather read a book by Sonja (the first Survivor castaway voted off the island), whose inspiring story of surviving cancer would offer more valuable lessons than this delusional, muddled, mess of a pamphlet by a self important "know it all".

I picked this up in the bookstore because I was amazed at what people will spend their hard-earned money on. Not to mention the unappealing cover. Really, if you are getting life advice from gameshow winners, you need all the advice you can get! I figure 2 to 3 stars for the advice, and the biography makes it a solid three stars.

But, I was very interested in his short bio. I grew up in the same town, went to the same high school, and had some of the same teachers. It was very interesting to read another person's viewpoint on the area. Especially knowing more about him. I cannot tell you about the years afterward, but his description of the area and his treatment throughout school is very accurate. He is not exaggerating or making up anything there.

To tell you the truth, I never watched Survivor so reading this book was just a curiousity since I had seen and heard so much about Hatch and the show. I was really pleasantly surprised to find out that this guy has a lot to say that was valuable to me. He wants to get the most out of life and wants us to embrace challenges in everything we do. It may sound silly at first, but like I say the book moved me and inspired me. I recommend this book to everyone who wants to accept the challenges of being human and wants more out of life.

This book is exactly what it should be! It's quick, and fun, and made me laugh out loud many times(and even mist up once). I sat down and read 101 Survial Secrets in one sitting (and I never even watched Survivor).

The 101 secrets themselves are sometimes edgy (in a good way), and full of insightful advice. You really can use them!

I can't imagine that there's a Rich Hatch fan out there, or anyone for that matter, who wouldn't enjoy (and learn from) his empowering message: know thyself and the rest will follow.

It's got a very good beat; you can dance to it.

Whether you rooted for Richard, or wished he'd get voted off the island, we all found this SURVIVOR contestant one of the most fascinating personalities on the show. This slim book manages to convey just what made him so compelling. Sure, he is cocky, but why not? He is, after all, a winner. And his advice is good, common-sense wisdom. After I put the book down, I felt ready to take a risk or two myself.

This is an easy read with some straightforward ideas about how to make one's life happier and more fulfilled. Fans of the CBS Survivor series are likely to appreciate the book the most, but sensible advice is just that, even if you don't know Rich Hatch. It is not especially deep if you are an avid reader of self-improvement books, but it has some interesting ideas. The beauty of it is that Mr.Hatch does not try to force a philosophy on anybody. He is just speaking from his heart about his own formula for success in regard to his own life. I would recommend it for Survivor fans or for anyone who needs a lift and some candid advice about life.

The press release for this book started off with a classic non-sequitur: You can't be rich or physically fit unless you're happy, and you can't be happy unless you know yourself. There was not much thought that went into this book. In fairness it was probably written in about 3 weeks as evidenced by the flimsy size. The writing is decent, but content-wise the ghost writer didn't have much to work with.

It contains probably more spin than truth. Hatch is probably a much more complex character than the one we see in this book. There is also no real Survivor material. If you can relate to the issues in this man's life you might find it interesting. Even then, it's probably not the unvarnished truth. The rest of us, including most Survivor fans, will be sorely disappointed.