Customer Reviews

The Little Guide to Happiness: How to Smile Again

5 star:		(32)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

The message of this diminutive tome, if there is one, is to always look for the positive. Therefore, I shall attempt to do so in this review.

In "The Little Guide to Happiness" Michael Naselli takes the essence of Anthony Robbins, Leo Buscaglia, Norman Vincent Peale and Barney the Dinosaur, and distills it into 68 generously spaced pages. The lessons brought forth in this book are those which have been promoted by self-help doyens for decades. Here, they are presented in a style which can be understood by even the least literate among us. The large typeface and double-spacing are particularly helpful to those of us with fading eyesight.

The author states on Page 2, "I didn't graduate with a degree in literature from some fancy smancy Ivy League college." This fact becomes readily apparent on Page 1. Among the minor annoyances in the writing style is the consistent misuse of "your" in place of "you're," as in "Cut out telling yourself your miserable." The text is liberally sprinkled with such duck-billed platitudes as "Be good to yourself," "Don't blame others," "Don't be crappy-be happy," and the ever popular "Hey, what do you want? Shakespeare?"

The copy I received was missing two pages, but this is the fault of the printer, not the author. What is the fault of the author is that the absence of these pages was barely noticeable, and I feel the book would have been much improved if a few more leaves had left.

Now I must say that this book is not totally without merit. But I found that the primary value in this treatise, aside from gerbil bedding, lies not in the 68 pages written by Michael Naselli, but in the 91 pages written by other people. Well over half the book consists entirely of inspirational quotations from such luminaries as George Orwell, George Burns, the notably prolific Anonymous, and someone credited as "Alfred Lord..." (I presume Tennyson, but it could just as well have been Newman.)

So, is this indeed a "Little Guide to Happiness?" Little, certainly, and one might find some happiness in the knowledge that the author's cat is well cared for. After reading this book, however, all I felt was a slight regret that I would never get those 20 minutes back again.

I feel like such a sucker. Let me offer a word of advise for anyone considering buying this book. Go to a bookstore and glance through it there first (If you can find it - Apparently it is sold exclusively online. What is the reason for this? Well, it really stinks). The prose reads as if it were written by a fourth-grader hopped up on sugar and children's TV and the entire book is filled with spelling, grammar and punctuation errors. The cloying, syrupy thoughts are rambling and convoluted. I closed this book thinking the author was huckster, and I, a complete idiot for having bought it.

I really wanted to like this book. I bought it with the hope and expectation that it would be inspirational, fun, kismet...etal. Instead, I found myself feeling annoyed at and sorry for this author. How could anyone let something with their name on it, that is as convoluted and poorly written as this, be printed without someone (anyone) saying, "Um, you might want to revise here". There are the seeds of some sort of message between the lines. And they can quite possibly be deciphered (with some effort on the part of the reader) from the 30 or so pages of text that comprise this entire essay, but they are muddled and buried in unpleasantness and veiled criticisms.

I didn't believe that this man is at all happy. The passive-aggressive tenor of the writer's voice is camouflaged as "folksy wisdom" and can be quite jarring. At first, that very voice convinced me to ignore the many spelling, grammatical and punctuation errors as they were perhaps, part of the writer's chosen persona. Yet, the pronounced resentment of people with education, expertise in real psychology or actual knowledge is off-putting and takes away from any potentially positive message.

I found this to be a meaningful eye-opener on how to get hold of what I believe is perhaps the most priceless commodity on earth-happiness. This book, though not the end-all to unhappiness is a very valuable guide that points out the misconceptions to happiness as well as the paths to it. The author believes being happy requires 'brain surgery,' an operation that will drive away all negative outlook stored in the minds of even the most miserable people. 'Being happy is brain surgery. If you have a tumor in your brain, what does the surgeon do? He removes it. He takes it out. Negativity is a cancer. And if we want to get ride of the cancer, before it spreads further, what do we need to do? We need to cut it out,' says the Author. A self-confessed non-expert, the author muses that he is a graduate of the UHK-the University of Hard Knocks-where he got several D's for Depression and an F for failure. And some of that non-proffesionalism shows in this book's syntax. It is a mix of formatting errors overseen by the publisher before releasing. Nonetheless, the author claims his experiences at overcoming life's gloom and misery makes him an authority in telling people about the journey toward happiness. And if you look beyond the syntax and at the deeper meaning, then you will see he is right. This book is a delightful little thing filled with a ton of wisdom and insight. I give it 5 stars easy.

One of the many things I like most about this book is when it compares the mind to a camcorder. It gives the example of focusing the lens on the road kill that is on the side of the road. What you see is a dead animal and nothing else. But if you zoom out you see that it is a beautiful sunny day on a street that runs beside a crystal clear lake with a sail boat in the distance. The book reminds the reader that we didn't see that part when we were focusing in on the road kill. Then the book further gives the example of zooming in on the sailboat (thus the reason for a sailboat on the cover I imagine). As a reslut of focusing on the sailboat the road kill is no longer in the picture. In essence, what your mind focuses on is what you see. You can focus on the good or the bad. It's your choice. The quotes in the back of the book were pretty interesting as well. Hearing Mother Theresa, Ghandi, Martin Luther King's thoughts on happiness were encouraging. They have all kinds of quotes from all kinds of people ranging from Johnny Carson to Julia Roberts to Ann Frank and Hellen Keller. I didn't like the quotes from some people, but most of them were really really thought provoking. I would recommend this book to anyone.

The author's message is straightforward and simple; the book learns a couple of very valuable techniques for happiness in daily life; written in a no-nonsense style.
Buy this book if you are seeking more authentic happiness in your daily life... you won't be disappointed.

This book is funny, sweet, pure, clean, moral, and most of all, it helps us attain the ultimate prize, Happiness. What's not to like? I highly recommend it. Nothing but good can come from such a thing. It's truly a breath of fresh air and a beautifully written way to finding peace of mind in a world of negativity, terror, and war.

This was really poorly done. The prose is stark, trailer-park vernacular with an extremely forced look-at-me-I-have-a-playful-sense-of-humor quality. I wish I could say something (anything) good about this book but, given that it was written by a full grown man and NOT some junior high school girl who dots her i's with smiley faces, I'm really not willing to let it slide....

GOOD POINTS OF THIS BOOK:

1. It shows you how to to be happy.

2. It shows you how to stay happy.

3. It makes you laugh.

4. It gives you sound, practicle, techniques to apply that work.

5. It has longevity. Most books you read then put on your bookshelf when your done. This one you can keep coming back to because of the quotes on happiness in the back of the book. I find myself going back to read one or two every other day if I feel I'm getting into a mood. I especially like the ones by George Burns.

6. It is great for teenagers as it's written in such a way that they could relate.

BAD POINTS OF THE BOOK:

1. I didn't like the looks of the cover. Maybe because I don't like sailing. I got hit on the head with a boom once and I almost drowned (kind of a personal thing).

2. It's so darned good I wanted it to be longer. I hope he comes out with another book.

Overall: I loved this book. I'm 17 years old and my parents think an alien took over my body. They say they have seen a change in me. This book taught me that happiness is a matter of perception and that the self dialogue you tell yourself in your head can either make you see the world as lousy or great. I have changed my negative dialogue. When I wake up each day I make a list of ten reasons why I should be happy and repeat them in my head (this is one of the techniques in the book). I'm happy to say this book is awesome. And thanks Dad, for letting me use your computer to write this review.

A few months ago I gave the book, THE LITTLE GUIDE TO HAPPINESS, to my 86-year old Grandmother. After she read it she posted notes all over her house that had things from the book like "Perception is the Key to Happiness", "A grateful heart is a happy heart", etc. She went from being despondent, depressed, and negative, to being High on Life. In fact, she wrote a poem about it. When she read the poem to our family over the holiday get together we all had to laugh. Ever since I read this book I've been pushing it on all the members of my family to the point of being obnoxious. Thank goodness she took over my role. Perhaps she can get my siblings to read it. They don't listen to me. Now I have an partner in my cause to get others to read this book. It changed my way of thinking and how I view the world. I highly recommend it. There isn't much to it really. It's a simple little thing. But it's packed with tiny Jems.