Rating: 
Summary: Good Book which also leads.
Review: I have read Senge, Goleman, Covey, Gelb, Drucker who are great. McGraw is as good as them. His difference is that he not only points out the problems and solutions, but also gives a rough road map. Only Gelb in DaVinci tried this successfully. One must understand though that any one person is unique and has his own road map. Maybe it is foolish to expect a magic book with a "works for all" road map.
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Summary: WORDS OF WISDOM FROM A VERY WISE MAN!
Review: Are you capable of more than you are actually accomplishing in life? Are you emotionally unfulfilled in your career and finding yourself just "going through the motions?" Are you living a lonely life and feel there is no hope things will get better? Well, there is hope....there is always hope.As a counsellor, I can tell you that this excellent book contains sound, realistic advice, and I will highly recommend it to anyone looking for self-help material. First of all, you really have to be prepared to take an honest look at yourself and identify your personality type. Based on the Ten Laws of Life, the author makes some powerful points aimed at improving your quality of life, both spiritually and physically. Above all, the author has a writing style all his own that truly calls "a spade, a spade." If you are living in denial about what is going on in your life, the book is probably not for you. McGraw is a realist, so do not expect to find a lot of flowery words and gushy sympathy written on the pages. At times you may feel the author is being arrogant, but once you understand his approach, you will realize that is not the case. The simple fact of truth is that while sympathy may feel comforting, sympathy, in itself, is not going to solve life's problems, and the objective of this wonderful book is aimed at helping the reader deal with some of the challenges of everyday life in a REALISTIC way. "Life Strategies" is deserving of far more than a five-star rating!
Rating: 
Summary: Setting Mental Health back to the stone ages
Review: In this book this man makes statements that sells books. He says people just need to take control of their life. I'm sorry, but the mind is a little more complicated then Mr. McGraw would like you to believe. There are a broad spectrum of illinesses and problems with the brain that we haven't even begun to find, so when Mr. McGraw suggests that children are being diagnoised as HDD instead of being called a spoiled brat and swatted on the bottom, then apparently he has never met my son who suffers from frustration, anger, and low self-esteem. This man is about money, don't be fooled, some people need help and this man is forcing them back into a closet of guilt.
Rating:
Summary: Simply stated, easily followed
Review: A first: a self-help book that demands results. After perusing many titles, this is the first book that gave me the no-bones-about-it truth. It's strong approach to self-responsibility appealed to me. Perhaps this book is not for those who can look themselves squarely in the eyes. Certainly, I was ready for this book, and recommend it to everyone.
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Summary: A Great Coach
Review: Dr Phil is a unique man and his method is more like a football coach or in my case Sister Agnus, a Nun who was both Mother Superior and well could have been a football coach had they hired women. We could hear her coming down the wood floor halls, like a linebacker and knew she didn't believe in the Martha Stewart mode of addressing the negatives in life. Dr Phil is a lot like that. He minces NO words. Yes, I think he goofs up sometimes, but overall he is good at telling the spoiled, over materialized, selfish under age fifty age group, that life isn't a bowl of cherries, but is often the pits, and that sometimes what someone needs to do is simply GORW UP! He is a regular on OPRAH and I sometimes wish that he would simple remind viewers that he cannot SOLVE a life time of bad choices in onw hour. But that is why his books are helpful, because the reader can read and digest, and then come back and read some more and simply like Ms Richardson and Mr Zukav, who also are OPRAH regulars, he tells us that life is a day to day journey and that positive change is possible.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Review: Phil is the man. I love this book, but you have to be ready to change and not expect him to feel sorry for you. It's not for the meek or "martyr" types but for the people out there that have been trapped in bad relationships, jobs, etc., or have had other problems but want to take charge and change. It's up to us to change, no one else...and sometimes people don't like to hear that. Phil gets to the point and will tell you to get with the program and realize YOU are in charge of your own destiny.
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Summary: If you PREFER RESULTS WITH YOUR GOOD INTENTIONS....
Review: If you want to do what works AND what matters, get and use The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey and Awaken The Giant Within by Anthony Robbins. These two, combined, cover every thing you actually need to create...really create what you want for your life. I used these volumes to help myself and help others help themselves to create worthwhile directions and results where it counts the most, in our lives.
Rating:
Summary: Join the conversation!!!
Review: I have a Ph D. in literary tales, and after reading this book the diagnosis is superb!! I have developed a strategic and unique formula for rating tales. The reading ratio of this book is 3-2. 3 parts action to every 2 pages of hillarious comedy, which boils down to a interesting and insightful read for the open minded soul. Pillip, as a fellow medical student, I would just like to comend you on this brilliant work and only hope that you continue to produce these outstanding works. The bottom line is, the turmoil that surcumbs and surfaces throughout this vast mjority of plentiful ideas is a must, and I mean a must for for anyone who considers themselves a fan of books!!!
Rating: 
Summary: Bottom of the line of what you want to hear about your life
Review: Dr. Phil tells it as it is, all about what you want to know to make your life works. Do you have the commitment to change? If yes, then this book is for you. He tells it all plain and simple, even includes exercises. This book is an eye-opener for me. Yes, it might be a harsh truth or something that I don't want to hear, but he doesn't tell it any sweeter. I recommend this book for those who really wants to do something with their life and, especially, ready for a change.
Rating: 
Summary: Shallow and without resonance
Review: It is astonishing to read the remarkably high reviews given to this book. I am now on my second attempt at reading it, but have decided that my time is much too valuable to continue to force myself to try and derive merit from this relatively unremarkable book. After not getting anything practical or meaningful from my first reading, I picked the book up again only because someone I know had read it and had gotten benefit from it. I figured that it was worth a second try; perhaps I had missed something the first time I read it. I had not. (In fairness I should mention that I have never gotten pass Chapter 5.) I would have to say that the book is primarily for those who have never before done any serious self-examination or soul searching. Without the wisdom and self-knowledge gained from a prior meaningful engagement with the deeper self, it will in fact seem that Dr. McGraw is onto something new or profound. He is not. He co-opts common sense into something he calls Life Laws; confuses his credentials as a trial strategist and doctor of psychology (not to mention his association with Oprah Winfrey) with true wisdom; and uses the book as a platform from which to berate and bully others into accepting his premises as credible simply because he says they are. I understand that he has appeared on Ms Winfrey's show and that she is a fan and supporter of this book. Perhaps, he has shown more compassion and wisdom on his appearances there. Little has shown up in this book. At the risk of sounding arrogant, I would encourage anyone considering basing their approach to the challenges they face within themselves and in their lives to remember that far greater Truths are available elsewhere that can be applied to everyday life. I am not a religious person, but the Spiritual Laws taught by the Spiritual Masters (Jesus Christ, Gautama Buddha, Mohammed), particularly in the mystical interpretations of their teachings, have far more to offer than can possibly be learned through the "Life Laws" presented in Life Strategies. Even the present day spiritual writers (Deepak Chopra, Marianne Williamson, Joan Borysenko) have far more depth in their philosophies and writing. I don't mean to plug these authors. I merely want to illustrate that there is absolutely nothing new or freshly interpreted in Life Strategies. For those who are looking for both the practical and the profound (something beyond sports metaphors and winning and competition as a paradigm for living), I would encourage you to investigate the writings of authors such as Emmet Fox (try the books Sermon on the Mount and Find and Use Your Inner Power); Ervin Seale (Ten Words That Will Change Your Life, and Take Off From Within); John Randolph Price (The Superbeings, terrible title, but useful principles) and Frederick Bailes (Hidden Power for Human Problems, and Your Mind Can Heal You). For an interesting modern-day parable try the book An Encounter With a Prophet. These books are all available from Amazon.com. They all teach principles that can meaningful change your life, not just help you to manage it or strategize it. Each one demonstrates that there is Power and Truth available to us, and from within us, that are far greater than the "Life Laws" as taught by Dr. McGraw could ever hope to deliver. They demonstrate that strategy without purpose, or principles, leads us only to that empty place from which we began. In any event, the book Life Strategies is perhaps a place to start for the uninitiated, but absolutely not the place to end up when looking for meaningful expressions of our beings in life.
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