Customer Reviews

The Secret Revealed: Exposing the Truth About the Law of Attraction

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I'm not a die hard fan of The Secret. In my humble opinion, The Secret book and dvd could have been better if it did not put too much highlight on materialism.

Nevertheless, I made a mistake buying The Secret Revealed book by James L Garlow. I have had higher expectations from the authors big names.

The authors took many pages, 304 of them, and too much of my time, in saying that The Secret is anti-Christ, yet it still raises eyebrows.

Thanks God, eventually in page 260 the authors concluded their point of view with this summary : "The Secret is a tag of team lecture on how to get everything you want by focusing your mind on gratitude, good emotions and visualization. The program directly opposes belief in God while preaching some principles that God ordained". There is a failing logic here, since when gratitude, good emotion and visualization have opposed belief in God?

There are many other books in the shelf and e-shelf today that obviously oppose belief in God and preaching some principles that God ordains. I, and perhaps millions others do not think The Secret is one of them.

More over, when buying this book I expected a healthy dose of dissenting opinion and constructive criticism about the book and dvd those are liked by millions of Americans and people around the world. I was dissapointed when I found a sense of anger and ridicules towards people involved in The Secret book and dvd, including Oprah Winfrey. Look at what the authors say in the following pages:

1. Page 124 : The authors ridiculed the physical condition of Joe Vitale, one of The Secrret teachers, by saying "Interesting how attracting new, real growing hair doesn't even make it to his list of skullduggery". We all know that being bald is given or a choice, but there is no point to ridicule it.

2. Page 120 : The authors ridiculed Oprah Winfrey by saying "Grand Ol' Oprah, arbiter and avatar herself of pop culture, said she has been practicing the Law of attraction for years without knowing it". I have watched Oprah's both shows of The Secret and After The Secret, and to my knowledge she has never said or implied that she arbiter and avatar herself of pop culture, and what's wrong in saying that she has been practicing the Law of attraction for years without knowing it?

I put this book down at page 260, can't afford to read anymore resentments

I have read The Secret. I'm skeptical about that kind of thing, but I read it, so I could read The Secret Revealed. I found, in the few dozen pages I sat through, the authors making personal attacks on anyone involved in the Secret, calling the whole thing a sham without providing much proof of their own claims (their problem with The Secret was it didn't reveal sources) and generally being jerks. I'm not interested in more. Is The Secret really a great source of wisdom? I don't know. I know THIS book is just a bunch of bitter criticism and nasty comments cobbled together to make money off of someone else's success.

As someone with a functioning brain and critical thinking skills, I have long since thought of the "The Secret" as narcissistic, morally bankrupt and ridiculously inane. How even a ten-year old can believe in the Secret is beyond me. So I enjoyed SOME of the critique presented in this book, but the hypocrisy is laugh out loud hilarious!!!!! Um, let's see, The Secret is hogwash becuase it's not based on facts and scientific evidence, it involves mystical forces, and is supported by a herd mentality. So instead let's believe in a supernatural being and the numerous writings of people who lived thousands of years ago. Yup. So much more logical. Now if only we could Richard Dawkins to dissect THIS book, we'd be finally getting to the real truth. But that's obviously not of interest to these authors.

I fully expect dire criticism of this very brief review. I admit up front that it is biased. As a Native American, however, I have lived with many centuries of this sort of treachery: "Oh, what you're REALLY doing is worshiping our Christian God, so why not just forsake all of your 50,000 year history, your traditions, your language, and your soul, and come be a slave to our narrow and power-grubbing interpretation of a book that's less than a few thousand years old and wasn't even written by the people who claim to have written it?"

Yeah, knees jerk strongly in reaction.

The authors have taken a book of weakly cobbled-together gnosticism (namely, "The Secret"), turned the original book into a kind of spiritual anti-Christ and anti-Christian dogma that can't possibly work, and then explains that it really does work just as long as you're praying only to Jesus and doing what your preacher tells you is the right thing to do. Like most modern popular texts that scream Glory Hallelujah in this particular set of pews, the authors haven't a single leg to stand on, and they take several hundred pages of obfuscation to try to convince you that their apparent lameness is in truth just another miracle of Jesus' healing.

Let me be clear: I'm criticizing this book and its authors' hypocritical and childish attempt to "convert" people into their vision of what Jesus is supposed to be all about. Any further discussion of my position on the greater topic is outside of the bounds of a book review. My recommendation for this book would be that it be laughed at; it is clearly a poor satire.

Because I like to investigate both sides of an issue, I own both 'The Secret' and 'The Secret Revealed'. I find I can glean nuggets of truth from both authors without having to agree totally with either one.

That there is something akin to the law of attraction at work in the universe is undeniable. This law, as well as the law of sowing and reaping and many others, is hinted at in the Bible, and has been well known in Christian circles for decades. Remember Norman Vincent Peale's 'The Power of Positive Thinking'.

This book's author is a respected historian and Christian minister, and in this book he demonstrates the courage of his convictions. His concerns are sincere, and his points well made.

He points out, for example, that on page 184 of 'The Secret', Rhonda Byrne states, 'Whatever you choose is right'. Whatever? The author is troubled by such a sweeping statement made in this society, where mankind's selfishness and inhumanity toward each other is only too often made manifest. And, I have to admit, so am I.

Then on page 57 of 'The Secret' there was a quote of Martin Luther King that was taken and used out of context in the book. The author of this book interviewed Dr. King's neice, who said: 'Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was not self-empowered; Dr. King was Christ-empowered. God's love is not a secret, and neither was Dr. King's faith.'

If you are an independent thinker, and want to achieve a balanced view by investigating both sides, you will find the insights in this thought-provoking book well worth your time.

I think a lot of the negative reviews of "The Secret Revealed" are the result of the very difficult writing. Garlow and Marschall are deep thinkers - highly educated men, and their writing reflects it. Laypersons like me will struggle with many of the concepts in the book (I needed a dictionary!).

I watched the movie a long time ago - before the book came out. I had a lot of issues that I couldn't quite put my finger on - but I knew as I watched that there was something very wrong going on. Prior to "The Secret", I had read many works of the past 120 years and saw the familiar concepts. "The Secret Revealed" will help you identify exactly what's wrong with the "Law of Attraction".

The way I see it, Byrne's "The Secret" makes unfounded claims based on ignorance and half-truths. Byrne capitalizes on our naiveté and uses it to lead people down a dangerous road.

Garlow and Marschall expose these unfounded claims and half-truths, and in doing so, alienate a lot of readers who simply aren't prepared for such an in-depth academic study.

As I struggled to read - and re-read - the chapters of "The Secret Revealed", I was rewarded with insights, understanding and clarity about what's going on in the minds of Byrne and 'law of attraction' disciples.

The greatest reward of being diligent to the end of the book is discovering the real potential of God's creation - that what we are seeking in "The Secret" can be attained through the One true God of the Bible when we begin to view things from a scriptural and eternal perspective. You need to read the whole book to get to this reward - the premises are important for you to appreciate the concept of a God who loves you and has paid the highest price ever for you - and how embracing the 'law of attraction' is turning your back on God.

This is what I wrote to the Aurthor of this book .

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Dear : James L . Garlow

Ok I got your book & I'm trashing it due to you not really knowing if the secret works as well as to try to get readers to believe its all a scam or fake & that only god can give you what you want , yeah it maybe true that god is #1 , but to put God & the Bible in the book to prove a point of bashing & trashing someone else is just a disscrace to the human kind who are christians , as well as to try to make others believe that "THE SECRET" is some kinda fruad or cult on the human being & brainwashing ones thoughts to believe "THE SECRET" isn't real , everyone has their own brain yeah I use the "The Secret" but its not like I live my life around using it .

To me it fare more seems you're jealous that Rhonda Bryne's Book & DVD came out before you're idiotic book came out , I'm sorry but your book proves nothing but some rambling about God & The Bible & how you see the resumblance with The words in the Bible to be that of "The Secret" ......lol

It answers no direct answer to "The Secret" at all .

Another thing is that you didn't & don't even know what "Law Of Attraction" is how can you possibly write a book on something you don't know nothing about & has never used or researched ........lol yet you want people to read & believe your Book Answers readers of "The secret" questions ...lol

I think not ...... my Dollars on your book could had been well spent of some other book that's not trashing someone else's work .

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I purchased this book thinking it was some positive reading . Only to read trash .. The Author claims they don't even know if "the secret" works or knows anything about Law Of Attraction .

To me they were trying to make people think only god & its Bible are true .

But if one examines the book , even the Holy Bible we all read isn't to be truth to , its been written many times, in many languages & cultures by only Man .

So how is the bible the same if even man who reads it can't officially say any of its stories & contents have ever happend or if there's any truth to the bible at all .

To me this book trys hard to make its readers & reads of "The Secret" to believe Rhonda Brynes is a fruad who's into witch craft & is trying to create a cult ... lol

However its Author fails to explain the reason why they think this way.

The title " exsposing the truth about Law Of Attraction " is funny cause even they who wrote this trash don't have a clue to what it is .

& them mentioning Oprah Winfrey has a leader in hyping the "Secret" up & supporting it made me throw this book to the trash after reading just a few pages .

To me this book is more about jealousy & trying to make others believe what they believe in ...