Customer Reviews

The New Psycho-Cybernetics: The Original Science of Self-Improvement and Success That Has Changed the Lives of 30 Million People

5 star:		(58)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

The original Psycho-Cybernetics had a massive impact on my life. From it, I learned that I could control my thoughts and substitute encouraging, strengthening, creativity-enhancing thinking habits ("programming") for the less than optimal habits I'd picked up from family, friends, school, work, society etc. HOW you think makes ALL the difference and there has never been a book that clarifies the mechanisms of productive thinking better than Psycho-Cybernetics. This new edition is, amazingly enough, even better than the original. It's clearer, easier to follow, and even more compelling. I'll always be grateful to the person who recommended this to me when I was 20 years old. Twenty two years later, I'm living a life most people only dream of. I owe it all to my outlook and this book was where I began to make the connection between outlook and happiness and results in life. Essential reading.

After having read the original psycho-cybernetics years ago, i purchased this and was very disappointed. Dan Kennedy has done an injustice to this great classic. The additional stories he has added in all thru out the book are painful to read, and also the exercises at the end of the chapters that were so great in the original, well kennedy writes them in such small fonts you`ll need a magnifying glass to read them. All these additional stories kennedy adds in this book are TOTALLY unnessesary with the original ones being so much better. I found myself constantly skimming through all of kennedy`s stories to get to the real meat. His material is weaved into the book and written as though maltz were writing it from 40 years ago. This is a prime example of someone trying to capitalise on a great classic by rewriting it with their own inferior added material and at the same time using it to recommend other books by authors he likes. Trust me buy the original which i rate a 5 star and avoid this garbled mess! SHAME ON KENNEDY!!

In the past 16 years, I've "used up" two paperbound copies of Maxwell Maltz's PSYCHO-CYBERNETICS. Both my wife and I have found this classic invaluable in overcoming business challenges, self-image challenges, and challenges in our marriage.

Now, Dan Kennedy has done us all the great service of revitalizing Maltz's book for a new generation. It's still the classic work, but it's got LOTS of new material, new case studies, and new spirit. Even if you have read the original over and over again, this new version deserves a spot right next to it on your bookshelf.

Srikumar S. Rao is Louis and Johanna Vorzimer Professor of Marketing at Long Island University.

Some forty years ago I read the original Psycho Cybernetics, by Maxwell Maltz, and instantly recognized its value. It was, by far, the best self improvement book ever written. It is with deep pleasure that I came across this timeless classic spruced up for today with more up to date examples, a breezier style and helpful features like end of chapter exercises.

The premise is simple. The human organism, like a computer, is capable of miraculous feats. You just have to program it correctly. This is done on a mental level by regulating thoughts and the stimuli we expose ourselves to. Couple this with powerful visualization and our mind, like an unstoppable servo-mechanism, propels us to success. Many other persons have also written about this such as James Allen in "As a Man Thinketh".

It is simple, but not easy. Maxwell Maltz, a plastic surgeon, observed how his patients blossomed in many ways when his scalpel removed disfiguring afflictions. Further study convinced him of the effect of self image on happiness and accomplishment. Over the years he came up with a step by step method of working on oneself to eradicate the boll weevils of negative thinking.

Dan Kennedy has retained the flavor and the essence of Maltz, but has introduced a breezy style and more modern examples. Today's world has many more stress inducing factors like PCs, cell phones, email and the Internet. He acknowledges these and shows how they, too, can be tamed using the same principles. He has introduced helpful exercises at the end of each chapter and added useful follow-up resources at the end of the book.

Kennedy, by the way, is an astute observer of the business scene, and has an extensive array of Marketing books, manuals. audio tapes and video tapes...The tapes of his high-priced seminars are not particularly good but the packages on copywriting, information publishing and magnetic marketing are excellent.

One book he has written, The Ultimate Success Secret, parallels Psycho Cybernetics and extends it in some ways. It is self published, has many typos and is very poorly produced, but has superb content. If you like Psycho cybernetics, get that as well.

I simply loved the original psycho-cybernetics, but this version and also the one by bobbe sommer are cheap imitations. Although this version contains most of the material as the original it is laced with useless fluff and story after story by kennedy that makes this a much longer boring read. The original was shorter and to the point, easier to understand, a pleasure to read. I wish they would print a hardcover anniversary edition of the original, it is MUCH better. Why tamper with perfection as they say!

The first rewrite by Bobbe Summers in Psycho-Cybernetics 2000 tried to make the book seem more cute and fair to women in terms of using more female examples. It also contained a lot of boring everyday examples in the authors own life as material as well. Needless to say, it was a flop.

Now it's Dan Kennedy's turn and frankly, I don't think it gives the original any justice. Here's why.

1) First of all this new versions seems to drag on and on, whereas the original was short and to the point. Whatever Maltz says in one page takes three pages by author Dan Kennedy.

2) This version seems more confusing because Dan Kennedy adds all his material in first person point of view. At one point he's talking about something from the 1920's and then all of a sudden it jumps to the new millenium, making it seem as though Maltz is still alive and has been around for a long time. While I do admit that it helps Maltz's spirit live on, it also makes him seem less credible as an author for being over 120 years old.

3) Yes, it's true that Dan Kennedy does add in a lot of modern day examples but these examples essentially have no new impact of meaning to what Maltz has already said. Absolutely Nothing.

4) Dan Kennedy has the worst reading voice I have ever heard out of anybody else alive. His audio book based on this new version is horrible. I'm sorry but that's just thew ay it is. It's boring.

5) Why would you pay an extra $20 for an inferior product. Just get the original. It's a far superior product AND it costs less too. It's smaller too and fits in your pocket!

So that's my verdict. Just get the original and don't waste time with this. May all future authors not tamper with this book again. It is a classic and rewriting it serves the same injustice as making as doing a repainting of Mona Lisa's Simle. By the way, the audio cd makes a great companion to the original too, and is solely based on Maltz's stuff as are the abridged tapes.

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To date, I have bought three hardcover editions of the New Psycho-Cybernetics (NPC): one I gave to a friend, one I take with me to read during the day, and one I keep in my home office to work with on those days when I work at home. I have found it a significant improvement upon the original. (I have used up three paperback versions of the original over the last 10 years.)

I remember when I first read the original version of PC, in around 1990. I thought it was somewhat hokey. I used to be an engineer, and I thought it somewhat strange to try to apply feedback control systems theory to people. We are not machines, after all.

The strange thing, though, was that the system worked for me. Still, I was somewhat embarrassed about the whole thing, so I sort of kept my dabbling to myself.

Then, in the mid-late nineties, I read Fritjof Capra's book, The Web of Life. In that book, Capra talks a lot about systems theory, and he also goes into the history of the original cybernetics group (not Psycho cybernetics, but rather a group of mathematicians, psychologists, biologists, and physicists who collaborated in WWII to create anti-aircraft guns that could effectively track and destroy enemy aircraft). In his discussion, Capra explains that the original cybernetics group's goal was to try to make machines that could do what people and animals do naturally and easily, without conscious thought. They tried to do this, in part, by observing the actions of animals and people. Based on such observation, the group devised the early foundation of what became our modern science of systems control as used in almost every modern electrical/mechanical system.

What Maltz tried to do was take a bit of the science and art of systems control and apply it back to people, in an attempt to improve their functioning. I think one of the original cyberneticists, Norbert Weiner, also tried to do this in his book, The Human Use of Human Beings, but I could be wrong.

Anyway, because Psycho-Cybernetics is based on systems theory, in contrast to other types of "self help" or positive thinking books, it recognizes that a person trying to achieve her goals is going to fail, and miss what she is pursuing, probably many times on her way to her destination. Rather than candy coating this fact and suggesting "positive thinking," PC suggests feedback control system oriented techniques to use, deal with, and not be completely stymied by such failures.

It also provides techniques to help one deal with "drama queen" co-workers and supervisors who seem to go out of their way to provide damaging negative feedback (e.g., ignoring negative feedback in ch. 11, "How to Unlock Your Real Personality"), or retarding how fast responds to negative feed back (e.g., delaying the response, as in ch. 12 "Do It Yourself Tranquilizers that Bring Peace of Mind.").

Now, on to the new version of PC: my own opinion is that it is better than the original. Dan follows the original structure of the PC book, and much of the text is in common. However, Dan has buttressed that text with additional examples taken from the many hours of recordings and reams of Maltz' notes that Dan owns. In addition, Dan also provides many practical examples of the successful application of PC techniques that have arisen since the original version of the book was published in 1960.

Try NPC. If, like me, you have areas in your life where you would like to do better, I think you will find it useful.

I was introduced to the PMA books via a company that I worked for that was a INC. 500 Company. The founder and CEO of that company was a big believer in PMA books, especially Napolean Hill's 'Think and Grow Rich' which was my first PMA book.

Seeing some great progress, I decided to pursue other books and the same CEO also recommended this legendary book by the late Maxwell Maltz. He said that the self image is where it all starts and quoting Maltz went on to say that "The Self Image is the area of the possible. It will make or break you."

My old, original copy was all dog eared so I went out recently and bought this new and improved edition. It has all of the contents of the original plus more. Dan Kennedy did a great job on this.

To SuperCharge your results, read and apply the contents of Psycho-Cybernetics along with Think and Grow Rich. Do the exercises daily and watch what happens!

Dan Kennedy has done a brilliant job of giving Dr. Maltz's classic text a contemporary feel while remaining true to the original version.

I still have my 1974 Pocket Book edition of Psycho-Cybernetics and its ideas and insights helped me a lot in understanding life and success and how I could control my own destiny.

This updated version is even better! I especially liked the PRESCRIPTION and MENTAL TRAINING EXERCISE boxes that Mr. Kennedy has strategically placed throughout the book. They contain very clear suggestions and practical exercises for living an abundant and fulfilling life. For example, he prescribes keeping a "success diary" as a tool for building a stronger self-image. And on page 201, there is an powerful exercise for developing the all important habit of forgiveness.

One of the insights Dr. Maltz gave me that helped clarify my own life journey was his understanding that our unconscious minds cannot distinguish between a real experience and the same experience vividly imagined. Years later I found confirmation for this idea in Quantum Physics.

Nobel Prize winning Physicist Niels Bohr's Complementarity Principle shows us that the mental aspect of an imagined experience is complementary to its physical aspect. Both are equally 'real'. No wonder imagination and visualization are such valuable skills to master for anyone who wants to transform their dreams into physcial reality.

I wonder if Dr. Maltz and Dr. Bohr ever had a conversation!

Dan Kennedy has done a tremendous favor for anyone who wants knowledge and practical applications for being more successful. I applaud his efforts.

Any good counselor will tell you that the healing you need is already within you, and this is exactly what "The New Psycho-Cybernetics" proves, from cover to cover. In fact, this book is truly more therapeutic than a lot of overpriced counseling would be, and it has begun to change my life in extraordinary ways.

Dan Kennedy has created a masterful work, updating Dr. Maxwell Maltz' original 1960 book with obvious great regard for the Doctor's work. I am intrigued and impressed with the seamless presentation that Dan Kennedy has crafted, and I found the references to events in the 1920s and events in the 1990s gave the book a timeless applicability, and even an air of wisdom, like talking with someone who has great breadth of experience. The material is presented with intelligence and compassion, and with an informal style that makes the authors seem like old friends. They show numerous examples of Psycho-Cybernetics at work in the lives of everyday people, which keeps the reading always engaging and helps the reader apply the material to a broad range of one's own life experiences. The authors use examples from the lives of people in sports, education and a wide range of businesses, from boxers to comedians, from generals to students, and it's startling how often their experiences parallel my own. Also meaningful are the stories of how Psycho-Cybernetics impacted the lives of people with facial injuries and defects, which Dr. Maltz was called upon to treat surgically. The authors very aptly correlate inner emotional disfigurement with outer physical disfigurement. By the end of the book, it is clear that "self-image" seldom has to do with that which is visible.

Other self-help books I've read have seemed too ethereal, impractical, dry, pointless and even condescending. Perhaps the greatest difference between this book and other self-help books is that the authors cite a fair amount of scientific evidence, test findings and personal experiences that demonstrate the dramatic results of self-image alteration. This sufficiently answers any skepticism the reader might have about the proven effectiveness of Psycho-Cybernetics. Even so, as I listened to the book on tape for the first time, I found myself mentally protesting and finding differences between my experiences and those in the book (as if the amount of pain in my life wasn't reason enough to have lowered my defenses right away). But it amuses me to remember that each time I silently protested, the speaker on the tape would immediately seem to answer my protests. This is an indication of the insightful, astute writing you can expect from these authors.

I have recommended this book to everyone I know, because there is simply no one who would not benefit from it. This is an angry, frightened world where poor self-image is arguably the cause of all our social ills. In epidemic numbers, people feel frustrated, threatened, intolerant, reactive, terrified, combative and hopeless. Anyone who feels this way is responding to "the critic within", according to the book, and after just one reading you will have an array of proven methods to help you calmly disregard negative messages, refocus on fact and realize your worth. Even if self-image is not a pressing issue for you, there is a wealth of material here for use in all interpersonal relationships, whether in business, friendships or marriage. But I sincerely urge anyone who suffers with the pain of low self-esteem to look to Psycho-Cybernetics for help. It is good, solid, reliable psychology that will resound in all areas of your life.

I must add that as of this date, production of the unabridged book on tape has been suspended by the new publisher. This is really unfortunate because there are times in one's life when it's difficult to focus on reading, when the information would be much more "digestible" in cassette form. Various levels of stress, anxiety or depression can reduce one's desire to read, so listening to this material on tape becomes just the right therapy. Also, the speaker on the tapes is excellent; his voice is very pleasant and expressive, and his style of speaking is entirely likeable. Availability information on the unabridged cassette version of "The New Psycho-Cybernetics" is available from the new publisher at 888-330-8477.

Unfortunately, in this age of anxiety and instant gratification, most people seek quick fixes for low self-esteem, so invaluable resources like this are sometimes overlooked. It seems many people think that actually solving an emotional problem is just too much work. How sad, really. This is the reason use of anti-anxiety and anti-depressent medication has become frighteningly common, and these drugs are now easily obtainable on the internet, even though they have potentially serious side effects including suicide. There is no denying that these drugs are necessary in some cases, but there is also no denying that most users can be helped by other means. Statistically, most people taking these drugs still suffer with the pain of low self-esteem, but our culture has developed the reflex of throwing pills at all our emotional pains, and this is disempowering. There are great numbers of us to attest that Psycho-Cybernetics empowers the reader to silence a painful past, dispel persistent fears and-- without straining-- emerge into a much better life. Our culture is finding that pills CANNOT cure our injured beliefs or heal our aching spirits, but the "medicine" in this book CAN.