Seven Simple Steps to Personal Freedom: An Owner's Manual for Life [Paperback]

Gerry Spence (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2002

Beloved author of, among many other books, the bestsellers How to Argue and Win Every Time and The Making of a Country Lawyer, Gerry Spence distills a lifetime of wisdom and observation about how we live, and how we ought to live in Seven Simple Steps to Personal Freedom. Here, in seven chapters, he delivers messages that inspire us first to recognize our servitude-to money, possessions, corporations, the status quo, and our own fears-and then shows us how to begin the self-defining process toward liberation.

Seven Simple Steps to Personal Freedom is a powerfully affirming, large-hearted, and life-changing book that asks us all to take the greatest risk for the greatest reward-our own freedom.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The advice in this short book which expands on Give Me Liberty from noted attorney Spence (How to Argue and Win Every Time) sometimes sounds more simplistic than simple. "Slavery in any form begins and ends with the self," he declares portentously, arguing that no external circumstance can free us. (His regular use of the term "slavery" seems a rather cavalier dismissal of actual slavery.) He calls an official picture identification "the precursor of tattoos on our wrists," attempting to show how people are complicit in their slavery. People must question ideas, particularly religion, he advises. After all, the church has long served power, from the Civil War to industrialization through its "endemic attraction to power" today. (What about Martin Luther King Jr.?) "Work that enables us to experience the deep pleasure of creativity is virtue," Spence says, urging readers to cultivate a sense of play. "I have never known a man who grew unless he was alone," he declares, but surely interaction can foster growth as well? "The exchange of work for security is a false bargain," he adds, damning unions along with employers. His solution: a "union of one." Spence wisely urges us to avoid greed and reminds us to not compare ourselves (our intelligence, money, beauty) with others, but to recognize inner worth. Further, he advocates a plainer life with less money but more time for family, and simpler virtues. Spence's florid rhetorical flights work better as a set of disparate exhortations than as a comprehensive handbook.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"Gerry Spence has become the Socrates of Jackson Hole."-Larry McMurtry

"Gerry Spence is one of America's last true originals-a man who thinks as brilliantly as he lives, who writes as compellingly as he talks, and who practices law as faithfully as most people practice religion."-Dan Rather

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (November 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312303114
• ISBN-13: 978-0312303112
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #316,735 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Gerry Spence has been a trial attorney for more than five decades and proudly represents "the little people." He has fought and won for the family of Karen Silkwood, defended Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge, and represented hundreds of others in some of the most notable trials of our time. He is the founder of Trial Lawyer's College, a nonprofit school where, pro bono, he teaches attorneys for the people how to present their cases and win against powerful corporate and government interests. He is the author of fifteen books, including The New York Times bestseller How to Argue and Win Every Time, From Freedom to Slavery, Give Me Liberty, and The Making of a Country Lawyer, and is a nationally known television commentator on the famous trials of our time. He lives in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book will wake you up!, October 18, 2001

By 

sandra g. (San Francisco) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Seven Simple Steps to Personal Freedom: An Owner's Manual for Life (Hardcover)

This review deals with the effect Gerry's book
had on me and I hope it will inspire you to get
the book and do deep reflection. I've only read
maybe 4 books in my lifetime(50 years old) which
caused me to look deeply at my behavior,values
and attitudes as part of the global problem of
"slavery"...

Yes we are all slaves to something; and only by
realizing what you are enslaved to can you begin
to experience "real freedom". My slavery like your
slavery is particularly related to "working for
someone else". While he does not recommend you
quit your job tomorrow, you still might want to
explore the nature of your enslavement...

Another area explored which I like is that of "hypocrisy";
most poignant in the book, and I wonder if this is
what caused Gerry to write the book:was the experience
he had when one of the "elitist" restaurants would
not let him in with blue jeans (and to make a long
story short) Gerry ask the Maitre d if he would let

Jeffrey Dahmer in with a "fine suit". I would have loved
to be there in that moment. Gerry is "real people"...

Gerry's book is not another pithy self help book with
affirmations, writing exercises, dream and fantasy techniques.
No this book is deeper; if you have a sincere desire and spirit to understand what is wrong with the world ; and truly
believe in freedom , justice and equality, then this is
the book for you....

It warms my heart Gerry took the time to present us with
the deepest and most profound self help book in the world
as far as I'm concerned. You see Gerry doesn't make his
living off of writing self help books--he doesn't need the
money. I can tell he wrote this book to wake up people
to their own level of enslavement and hypocrisy.

Thank you Gerry(hope to meet you in person one day)...

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Most Powerful Book I have ever read, May 8, 2003

By 

Helena Bianchi (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Seven Simple Steps to Personal Freedom: An Owner's Manual for Life (Hardcover)

This is, indeed,the most influencial book I have ever read! It is very powerful; and do you know why? Simply because it is the truth. Do you want to hear the truth? Well, read this book!!!
Thank you Gerry Spence for letting your heart and your soul pour out when writing this book: As a reader, I could truly see inside your heart and could see exact situations happening in my life just in another form. I especially like the chapter: " withholding permission to lose." When things are not going right for some reason in my life, I think it boils down to that chapter.
I am reading the book for the second time; and I always keep it handy. It is, indeed, "An Owner's Manual for Life." You will not regret buying this book.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How OBJECTIVE are you about yourself?, February 4, 2005

By 

Dale Franklin (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Seven Simple Steps to Personal Freedom: An Owner's Manual for Life (Paperback)

Seven Steps to Personal Freedom
By Gerry Spence

A philosopher once said "we read to know we are not alone". With me, that rings true especially in regard to my thoughts, observations, speculation, & conjecture on things about life and living. This book is a dead-ringer hit on life's issues that folks need to ponder & reconsider. As Gerry points out in other books --

"there are folks who have never considered a new idea, who worship the same God and vote the same party of their fathers, whose friends believe the same, act the same, look the same, and say the same things that they say."

This book makes you seriously examine if you fit that category. If you think you're the EXCEPTION, then likely you are in that group (because they all think they're the exception too). If you're not sure, then you are TRUTHFUL with yourself and may suspect both malicious and benevolent wrong influences.

Gerry makes you face SQUARELY the reasons you believe and think the way you do and objectively encourages you to re-examine your "so-called" beliefs to see if there is any real SUBSTANCE to them - as opposed to "I believe this because dad, grandpa, & uncle George do -- because they were good guys". Well, I'm sure there were lots of "good guys" that believed the world was flat. Besides pointing out WHO you are, Gerry also elaborates on WHAT you are also - and soberly brings things into alignment. This is my 3rd book by Gerry & I think you'll enjoy it as much as I did. This isn't just entertainment; it's a life-changer.