Customer Reviews

The Secret of Their Success: Interviews with Legends & Luminaries

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I've had the pleasure of being the first to read (and review) this book and I still find it fascinating to go back and re-read many of these interviews for inspiration.

It's a large collection of interviews - some 78 - written in a magazine-style format and comprises some of the last interviews of some legends of our times like Gene Kelly, Ginger Rogers, Dinah Shore, and Billy Wilder. The author also interviews a whole host of today's successful like Dominik Dunne, Pat Sajak, David E. Kelly, Ed Asner, Harland Braun and a whole host of others too lengthy to name.

The interviews move along at a fast past and the entire book is a quick read. These aren't long drawn-out in-depth interviews, but what they may lack in length they make up in substance. They showcase these legends as real people, complete with mistakes and missteps they've had along the way.

What's interesting is that you get a sense of all the various reasons why people become successful. There's no one 'formula', but rather a combination of things. For me, it was fascinating to read about how many picked themselves up after financial and personal disasters only to continue on.

This book is great bedside reading and for some may bring back a sense of nostalgia as you read interviews with legends long gone and learn about many behind-the-scenes composers, musicians, writers and directors who've made some of the great masterpieces of our time.

Burt Prelutsky is the rare interviewer who listens to his subjects. You can see this in his follow-up questions. He's actually interested in his subjects, and his interest is infectious. Some of the names are classic movie stars, and their answers add to their canon.

You can dip into this book at any point, and skip around as you please. The answers won't appeal to the "get-rich-quick" crowd, but those of us who are interested in common-sense real-life advice from achievers will feast on this book.

I have been a Burt Prelutsky fan from the very first moment I discovered his erstwhile column in the Los Angeles Times. How I miss it.
His humor and clarity resound. He is a political writer to be reckoned with. There is no one like him. He will always impart wisdom, but never at the expense of his delicious humor.

I am deeply impressed with Burt Prelutsky's collection of interviews. Roger L. Simon and David Horowitz are among my favorite bloggers fighting against Islamic nihilism. I visit their blogs on a daily basis. Michael Medved's radio talk show is fantastic. Alas, it is impossible to cite all of the interviewees in a short review. The Gene Kelly one, however, particularly caught my attention. He explains how "The studios always took credit for making stars, but they never did." I never before realized that the great dancer was also highly intelligent.

One cannot go wrong if they purchase a copy of this book. Many of the most interesting and accomplished people of the last fifty years will reveal their innermost thoughts. If nothing else, these interviews with Mr. Prelutsky occurred during their mature years. They are therefore perhaps less reluctant to go into details best left untouched a few decades earlier. Yes, The Secret of Success is a sure winner. I whole-heartedly recommend it.

Captivating! A unique incite into the lives of real celebrities, whose gifts to society are immeasurable. Thanks for the memories!

The secret to Burt's success is in his ability to crisply edit his interviews and never drop a grain of his subject's wit & wisdom.

The "secret" that Burt has revealed with his interviews, is that there is no secret to success. Rather, it is always hard work and persistence to stay prepared for the many "lucky" opportunities that will present themselves in our lifetime.

If I were still teaching, I would surely assign this book to my students.