Customer Reviews

How you can find happiness during the collapse of Western civilization

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4 star:		(1)
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The author hits on the truth with this book, even though the timing is a bit early. He tells the truth about what is happening in Western Civilization, although it's not a pretty picture. He has the courage to step away from the beaten path and announce to his audience that things are not the same as they once were. Subsequent events have demonstrated that the United States is careening towards collapse. I've been following the financials in reference to this country, and everything is pointing to a great financial catastrophe that's going to make the Great Depression pale in comparison. I think that the most intelligent thing to do being faced with this situation is to expect the best, but to prepare for the worst. I'd like to believe that America is as strong as ever, but with record budgetary and trade deficits, waging expensive wars around the world while D.C. burns, the export of virtually the entire manufacturing sector, the record number of bankruptcies, the reliance of new home buyers on adjustable rate mortgages in this interest rate environment, etc., all portends for future financial ruin for the average American. Just because we haven't seen the evidence of the collapse yet doesn't mean that it isn't going to happen. The fundamental elements of the American economy are not pretty, even with the contrived, highly optimistic official statistics. I'm not a doomsayer, but someone who does his homework. The book is a great one, and I believe that it would be of immense benefit for everyone to read this book.

This book is an overly pessimistic view of America's declining moral values, and the consequences that we will all have to suffer. While I agree that moral values have declined (increased drug use and the # of teen-aged single mothers, etc.), I don't agree that the consequences will be so severe so soon. (In fact, most of what is predicted in this book should have happened by now.) In fact, Robert Ringer himself must not think much of this book now. If you look at the list of books he's authored in his other books printed since then, he does not include HOW TO FIND HAPPINESS... in that list. I think this is partly because he sees he was a bit too alarmist in the book, but also because he cannibalized large sections of HOW TO FIND... for his subsequent book MILLION DOLLAR HABITS. Many of the points and stories in that book are in this one (The Battle of Little Big Pie for one). I mainly like this book because many of the points and stories I like in MILLION DOLLAR HABITS are flushed out more fully in this one. So this book is a mixed bag that only the most loyal students of Ringer's need read.

Great Book! Published in 1983, I makes more sense in 2012 than it might have made when it was written. Robert Ringer makes the subject of Macro Economics understandable, while identifying a lot of the factors responsible for our current depression. Should be required reading for all econ students.

I read it three times.

JohnnyWhiz

Robert Ringer had a unique ability to understand the future and interpret it in the most simple way. He was a visionary and probably still is, as this seems to be an incurable affliction. He's 73 years old now and I wonder what he is doing and thinking.

This book was Ringer's defense of Western Civilization. At the same time, he was predicting it would not rise relative to the rest of the world, to say the least. He wanted to tell what was good and noble about our society and warn of a kind of collapse.

This book was at least 28 years too early. It's really hard to time things just right. My guess is this book will be rediscovered in 2012.