9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Bold, Funny and Refreshing., June 28, 2000
By A Customer
This book is now required reading in both my home and office! Monahan's thesis is simple: Most of us spend a great deal of our time living in mediocrity and THAT is what causes the pain and dullness that many of us privately suffer. There is a very powerful exercise in the first chapter that makes it easy (and painful) to find the source of our own mediocrity -- and the rest of the book is about how to move out of it. Some may find this too tough and controversial because the focus is on personal responsibility and character, but Monahan is a gentle teacher who clearly is teaching from experience. Overall this book is tough yet charming, simple yet profound. The writing style is refreshing and smart for a self-help book -- this one is a gem and I am grateful for the message. After a few days of using the "Five Acts of Improvement" that Monahan writes about, I became addicted to improvement and everybody who knows me can see the difference.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Questionable content, September 21, 2009
This review is from: The Courage to be Brilliant: How Five Acts of Improvement a Day Will Make You Shine (Paperback)
I am compelled to take an unpopular stance on this book. The author's writing is clear and engaging, and I delved into the first few chapters, wielding a yellow highlighter with gusto. But then... The overall tone--rise higher, shine brighter--devolved into an elitist manifesto. You want to be one of "us"--the wealthy, the accomplished, the admired--because you certainly don't want to be one of "them"--the average, the mediocre, the common.
The implied caste system no doubt has a certain appeal, provided one is not among the majority of human beings. One is only brilliant if one is stellar. One telling quote from the book seems to be highly representative of the author's view of people: "Since the largest group of people live in the mediocre or inferior levels of thought, the vast majority of the impressions we are exposed to are negative. Most people come across as weak, dull, or offensive."
Most people... Those who do not rise to breathe the rarified air of superiority are not average--they are "mediocre". Monahan's superior people are (from one of her own lists)wise, inspiring, and successful. The mediocre are imitative, self-serving, and stagnant. And woe indeed to "inferior" thinkers who can only be predatory, violent and evil. Ironically, one of the author's later statements was: "We are not attractive when we speak badly of someone." No kidding.
The overall gist of the book--strive to excell, pay attention to how you interact with the world, set goals--are the bread and butter of self-improvement guides. Hoewever, any book professing to be a pull yourself up by the bootstraps guide is seriously weakened when the author seems to be sneering at the average person whose boots came from Payless or WalMart.
In my view, self-improvement is not achieved by self-satisfaction or self-congratulation; it is achieved by blooming where you are planted. Monahan's bloom is a rare orchid--beautiful and coddled by ideal conditions. It is admired and fussed over by others. Far more common--and infinitely more accessible--are the wild profusions of flowers that spring up in rocky soil along the roadways. They are varied, hardy, spirited, joyous, a celebration of life in no uncertain terms. Alas, poor daisies--they are mediocre. Monahan's overall purpose with this book has merit. But I believe many in the great field of daisies, those hoping to improve themselves in some way, will detect, as I did, a not-so-subtle undertone of snobbery. Debasing the average only serves to widen the gap between the majority and the "superior".
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8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The tools for living a powerful, dignified life, July 3, 2000
I had the honor to have access to the contents of this book before it was ever published. Its teachings, together with the infinite compassion, patience, generosity, and wisdom of the author changed my life forever. Marta Monahan's gift to you is comparable to what a perfect set of parents and guides would teach you in an ideal world; comprehensive, practical yet spiritual, tools for a life of high standards. If I had only one self-help book in my shelves it'd be this one.
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