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Rating: 
Summary: compassionate conspiracy of awakening for somnambulists
Review: "If you are uninterested in what I say, there's an end to it.
If you like what I say, please try to understand which previous influences have made you like it.
If you like some of the things I say, and dislike others, you could try to understand why.
If you dislike all I say, why not try to find out what formed your attitude?" - The Late Idries Shah.IMO, genuine seekers after Truth needn't be swayed by these (negative/positive) appeals to colorization of the Shah Corpus. Sometimes the glowing reviews of Shah's work are as completely off the mark as the dimming ones. According to an old saying "Those who taste know." I'd really suggest you read this title to find out for yourself, and should you find the need, please reserve your judgements until you've managed to discuss your assesments with a living, authentic Sufi teacher. As for my own assesment: This title kindly exemplifies how unexamined assumptions, and unbalanced interpretations, lead toward unhealthy attitudes and cognitive disabilities that so many people are actually "self-inflicting". And, as with many of Sufi writings, I discovered many topics making better sense at later times, when the notions "get unpacked" under different circumstances.
Rating: 
Summary: Charlatanism at it's best
Review: Anyone who is serious about facing the riddles of life very soon faces the realization that little if any of our preconceived certainties have any truly convincing basis at all. This is an inescapable and totally valid experience, but it is also prime fodder for a host of "teachers" such as Idries Shah who prey on that experience of utter doubt. You see, they KNOW, whereas we, as can only be too easily demonstrated, do not. But for the price of our adherence to their cause, they promise that when the time is right, the secret WILL BE REVEALED to us. But of course, since we are mere uncertain cretins, it is not for us to question when that time should be. It may be tomorrow, or it may be half a lifetime from now.
It's the perfect con game. Idries Shah ratchets this all up even one more notch. He doesn't even promise that he will offer us the way to find what we're looking for. He offers us the way to find what we NEED. Of course, once again, because we are such pitiful, uncertain specimens, it is not ours to know or judge what we need. We have to trust the great sage. Don't try to get a money-back guarantee on this one. You're not even entitled to know what it is you're being offered. If it happens to be an old sock, then it is only a sign of your own immaturity if you are not appreciative. THE TEACHER KNOWS BEST.
Shah's skill is in wrapping up his message in an apparently reasonable, and often good humored veneer.
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Summary: What Looks After You
Review: Humor, history, beauty, mental teasers: here are challenges to habitual and defensive thought. We must turn the stone over and examine its several sides. Shah can be compared to Socrates in his benevolent probing into our cherished but unexamined patterns of thought and action.
Here Shah has translated and assembled a most considerate introduction to Sufi literature and practice. The way of the Sufi includes chapters on Sufism in the West, classical authors, Sufi masters, teaching stories and other topics. But this book is not just about the Sufi way, it forms a part of the Sufi Way in our time. Read with energy and an open (but not glib) mind, it can be an avenue for experiential learning.
Enlightening, entertaining, engrossing, The Way of the Sufi just might affect the way you look at things and what you do. Exerpts:
The Seed of Sufi Knowledge
The true seed was made in Adam's time. The miracle of life, existence.
It germinated in the period of Noah. The miracle of growth, rescue.
By the time of Abraham it had sent forth brsanches. The miracle of fruit.
The time of Jesus was that of the ripening of the yield. The lmiracle of tasting, joy.
Mohammed's time saw the pressing of clear wine. The miracle of attainment, transformation. Bayazid Bistami What Looks After You
Knowledge is better than wealth. You have to look after wealth; knowledge looks after you. Ali The Thief and the Blanket
A thief entered the house of a Sufi, and found nothing there. As he was leaving, the dervish perceived his disapppointment and threw him the blanket in which he was sleeping, so that he should not go away impty-handed.
Rating:
Summary: Astonishing
Review: Learning How to Learn is one of Shah's most astonishing books. Reading it is both an education and an experience in Sufic thought and practical application. Shah doesn't just "tell", he "shows" subjecting the reader to a variety of stories, anecdotes, and hard facts that engage both "sides" of the brain. It's a tribute to Shah's own Sufic understanding and skill as a writer that he makes what could be difficult and complex concepts lucid, intelligible, and even inevitable. Repays repeated readings. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: compassionate conspiracy of awakening for somnambulists
Review: no need to repeat other reviewers...and no need to listen to the nay-sayers who cry charlatan...(?)(how odd)...(what would they think of bob dobbs?)...anyways, i suggest someone read and or take further the thesis whispered in the Octagon Press release (early 1980's) of The People of the Secret. one last note: sufism, like wicca, does no missionary work exactly: it works by deed, action. watch. then watch yourself. sufism transcends and weaves. it is wonderful within Islam. and it is just as bright if not brighter outside of the hadith-fundamentalist limitations of Islam...i dare suggest one can read Shah along with Hakim Bey/Peter L. Wilson as well as Starhawk...various, creative "Directorate" bubblings on the surface of current poly-culture.
Rating:
Summary: Sharp, Provocative, Challenging
Review: Over the past few years I have read and reread this book several times. My interest in further delving into it and the benfits I derive keep growing with each consecutive reading. This book is an educational "tool" (as opposed to just a descriptive type of a book)which can help the reader, actually, hone the mental faculties: clearer thinking capability, increased flexibility and sharpened perceptions are some. Consequently one may acquire an unmeasurably increased understanding of oneself, people, encounters and events, to a degree unparalleled by any other, known, methodology. A must read/study for reality researchers and anyone who desires liberation from the shackles of indoctrination, negative emotions and popular delusions. Disclaimer: The above review is an attempt to put a quart into a pint pot.
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Summary: Trickery
Review: This book introduces over 50 new psychological concepts that are not found in the usual body of psychological study. After rereading may time, the impact of the new concepts lead to a new view of the multiple self's we all have.
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Summary: Essential Information
Review: We in the West tend to have a sort of "Minifest Destiny" attitude toward spirituality. "All that's required is to spend the time, make the effort, and all my goals will be achieved". In Learning How to Learn Idries Shah shows how unproductive such an attitude can be. On the Sufi path, as well as many aspects of ordinary life, certain prerequisites are required before learning can take place. The book, also subtitled Beginning to Begin, provides essential information that allows the reader to arrive at a place where higher learning can begin. An essential book and key to the Shah corpus.
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Summary: A New Way of Learning
Review: With this book Shah stressed the concept that for meaningful learning to take place certain preconditions must exist. Just having the desire to learn alone does not lead to real understanding. He makes the reader examine their own learning processes to see what you are actually capable of learning. The desire for attention, self gratification and reinforcement are some of the barriers to understanding which are explored in the book. The fact that we sometimes are seeking confirmation of our views instead of answers to questions is also brought to light. It is a challenging book, but for the person who rises to the challenge the rewards are great. Although many of the concepts may be unfamiliar, the language used in the book makes them extremely accessible.
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