Talk:The Secret (Byrne book)/Archive 1

Content
While this book is clearly a cynical pack of nonsense designed to separate screwed up dunces from their money, this article should deal more with its contents and less with criticism. In particular, this is not a page for Barbara Ehrenrich's theories of media. While it is obivous to anyone with a modicum of intelligence that 'the secret' is the sort of exploitative, brainless pablum that the desperate and semi-literate will keep on the best seller list for years, the exact flavor is relevant hear. The article should include some of the (doubtless ludicrous and contradictory) claims made by the book as well as feature a section for the books defenders (including the whimsically gullible Oprah) to reveal their gross ignorance and poor judgment. In short, the editors should give more space to the actual contents and philosophy of 'the secret' and less to criticism, since the half-baked contents will do the job themselves. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.239.145.229 (talk) 17:21, 6 June 2010 (UTC)

Although you make some very accurate points about the article (that it should deal more with the contents and less with the criticism, for example), they are lost in your angry rant. Please refrain from your criticisms of the book and nasty comments about readers. Your personal criticisms, no matter how valid, are unwelcome. Please note that I'm not disagreeing with what you say. I'm saying that this is not the place for it. Instead of venting here, why don't you pick up the book, read it, and write a decent summary of it. Then you can spend some time researching the criticisms of the book, and write a nice summary of them. And please remember the words that appear on the bottom of the edit page: please maintain a neutral, unbiased point of view. 170.145.0.100 (talk) 21:42, 25 July 2010 (UTC)

Agreed, this isn't the place to rant. It's odd how 'rational' people get upset when their own belief systems are challenged. 'New Thought' and it's predecessors have been around for a while now, it would at least have been useful to set this book in it's historical context. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 194.75.238.4 (talk) 16:10, 21 April 2011 (UTC)

Perhaps a rant, and yet, so accurate. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.106.214.233 (talk) 00:44, 9 July 2011 (UTC)

Additional comment: I'm surprised that nowhere in the article reviewing this book has anyone discussed a connection between the idea of "the law of attraction" and "self-fulfilling prophecy" or "the power of positive thinking." Don't any of you have anything to say about that? - Mary Slepowicz, 9 East Genesee Street, Auburn, NY, 13021. orionarm@basicISP.net — Preceding unsigned comment added by 64.24.150.201 (talk) 06:50, 30 October 2011 (UTC)

Image copyright problem with File:TheSecretLogo.jpg
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this page
is unlike any other page for a book on wikipedia. there is hardly any discussion of the content of the book. the lengthiest part of this article is the "criticism" section and all the references discuss Barbara Ehrenreich and her completely different books. such a shoddy article for such a popular book.74.97.7.12 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 03:49, 22 March 2010 (UTC).

It says something very bad about a Wikipedia article about a book if I can read it from beginning to end and walk away with precisely zero information about the substance of the book. It appears as though this article was written by someone who has not read the book and is skeptical - on the basis of second-hand criticism - of its value. Ironically, the article's ambiguity probably suits the book's author and publishers just as well. The less people know of its contents, the more likely they are to buy the book to find out. And that's what all this hokum is about, right? Making money. On the one hand, I wish I had read the book, so I could contribute meaningfully to the editing process. On the other hand, you couldn't pay me to read this book.--72.73.16.235 (talk) 23:57, 28 March 2010 (UTC)


 * If a how-to book on building stairs included poor instruction that led to hundreds of injuries, there'd be no question of a lengthy "criticism" section, would there? Some categories of non-fiction, particularly self-help, should be held to a different (not higher, mind you) set of standards, which allow their premises and general content to be outlined as with any other genre, followed by a structured area for controversy (and any book worth one's money will have garnered some). Pac if ic Bo y  22:15, 15 April 2010 (UTC)

Marking as NPOV
At an absolute minimum this page is in dire need of more objective content rather than focusing on criticisms - as justified as those may be. As it is, there little meaningful information about the book itself, the structure, main themes, writing technique, etc... —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.52.20.2 (talk) 22:54, 13 April 2011 (UTC)

Correction of book basis
''The Secret is a best-selling 2006 self-help book written by Rhonda Byrne and based upon William Walker Atkinson's prior works and school of thought. A film based on The Secret was released before the book in DVD format.''

Whilst I also believe that William Walker Atkinson was a great contributor to the field of new thought there is no indication that the book was based on his works but instead a collection of many writers in personal growth throughout history. Spanning millennia of quotes and in the foreward, The Secret states it takes from ancient writings well before the writings of Atkinson. Furthermore there is no reference in the book or anywhere of the book being based on these writings, if anything it would be based on other new thought pioneers such as Wattles or Haanel. However the book states the film was the original vision for The Secret as stated on Pg x, of the foreword in The Secret. Therefore the book came out after the film as that is what it was based on. I would like to clarify that i am not implying that this is original thought but simply the only reference made for what the book is based on is the film itself. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Findjoshg (talk • contribs) 00:16, 16 July 2011 (UTC)

Work in Progress
--12:00, 1 January 2009 (UTC)
 * adding references
 * going to expand more on the criticism of the book, especially from those who are former believers
 * the book was highly popular in Australia before it was a hit in the USA, and it was highly controversial there - being widely covered in mainstream media
 * the book needs a separate page because the film wasn't made until the book became a hit in the USA.
 * any help filling this out would be greatly appreciated