Customer Reviews

Looking Out for Number One

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Robert Ringer's book is excellent. His philosophy, which dictates that all people should look out for themselves is one of the interesting ideas ever to permeate the self-help movement. While other concepts exist such as altruism and theocratic belief systems, his is a very vital idea. It is true that we are all responsible for the outcome of our lives. Looking out for number one will help you-the-reader focus on one of the most important belief systems this time-period has ever known - self-centered-ness.

His book also helps people to resist being influenced into other people's guilt-trips.

What is the purpose of life? It's for the individual to get what he/she wants from life. This book underscores the basic, underlying principle of all success - self preservation is the first law of nature. Looking out for number one is such a philosophy. I rate this book excellent because of it's humor. Although this book wasn't intended to be a work of humor, it inadvertantly accomplishes this task.

Drawn upon the author's own experiences in the world of advertising, this is an essential work to see how people think and react. (NOTE: This book was reprinted as "Looking Out For No. 1" and may be available under that new spelling.)

This book clearly ignores the synergistic nature of human beings. The ability to accomplish more through team work than individuals. It is a backlash against the idealistic 60's and is unfit for the 21st century where team work is a highly prized trait in the business world. It has good points on how individuals must be self reliant, but the author is too extreme in his views.

After finishing this book and buying it based on the average review I can't honestly say it was worth reading. Yes, Ringer's style of writing is very informal and down to earth, but to me that felt like a lot of rambling and nonsense. Not that I don't agree with what he was writing, it just is filled with wasted words. There are a couple of pearls of wisdom but not enough to keep my attention and endorse this book. In summary, his other books were more interesting and useful.

This is a really great book to get a different realistic viewpoint on my different everyday events. I have read this book 3 times. First when I was 23 years old, and my husband recommended it to me. It was hard to comprehend, but I read it again when I was 30 years old and totally understood it. Loved it and refer to it many times. When my husband passed away in 2005, I felt my life was off kilter and needed to find center, so I picked up this book again. This was the best thing I could have done. I love his writings, and laugh though out this book. Looking out for #1 is a vantastic book to read, but if you do not understand the point he is trying to make, read it again, and ponder on it. Open your eyes and your mind, then decide for your self what YOU want to believe. His point of view or the one that society tell us what we should believe. I have recommended this book to soo many friends.

Ringer has a curious outlook for a self help/"sales" book - he's an unabashed rational egoist. In everyday terms, the fellow has read Atlas Shrugged a few times too many. He proceeds to apply this libertarian viewpoint to the realm of sales in-between mildly funny rants about a predatory government. And that's all well and good, even if I don't agree with his politics. The problem is that the book is ultimately disappointing because it's thin on content and won't help you sell much of anything. It's mildly amusing, nonetheless, because of rather humorous cartoons and the author's style, but not amusing enough to justify a purchase. The few insights regarding "transaction costs" are largely borrowed from better Transactional Psychology books.

Instead, I'd recommend reading Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion (Collins Business Essentials) for a great and empirically proven selection of sales persuasion techniques.

Other similar books that may be of interest: The Ego and His Own: The Case of the Individual Against Authority (Dover Books on Western Philosophy) if you want a libertarian philosophy book, read The Dilbert Principle: A Cubicle's-Eye View of Bosses, Meetings, Management Fads & Other Workplace Afflictions if you want an amusing (and example-filled) book on business, Ogilvy on Advertising for ad sales and marketing, or Putt's Law and the Successful Technocrat: How to Win in the Information Age if you want an amusing book on the tech sector or go with Games People Play: The Basic Handbook of Transactional Analysis. for a transactional psych book.

Robert Ringer is a masterful student of human nature. Most people who criticize this book have never taken the time to read it. You may not agree with the author's view on various subject matters but it's hard to ignore his theories which happen to prove themselves over and over again. In my opinion, Mr Ringer is a negative thinker but is not a pessimist. If you surround yourself with nothing but positive thinkers, you are setting yourself up for subtle long term failure.

Through the use of personal experience and a considerable number of laughs the author explains his rules of life that will enable you and those you care about to enjoy life to the fullest. This book was a big, big, bestseller in 1977 and is still relevent today (1997)

If you want to know what really motivates people to do the things that they do, read this book.