Blog Tour & Review: The Secrets of As A Man Thinketh

Today I am excited to be part of the blog tour for The Secrets of As A Man Thinketh by Adam Mortimer & James Allen.

Book: The Secrets of As A Man Thinketh by Adam Mortimer and James Allen, 2012 by Cedar Fort, 64 pages.

Purchase: Amazon

Synopsis:

Achieve the ultimate in health, wealth, and happiness. This modern update on a timeless classic will teach you how to direct your mind to get exactly what you want in life. By applying the life-changing principles in this book, you'll discover how your everyday thoughts can open up a new and exciting world and ensure you a life of true abundance! 

About Adam Mortimer:

Adam is an executive personal development coach at Prosper, Inc. He bases his coaching philosophy on James Allen’s statement, “They themselves are makers of themselves.” He has coached many people all over the world. He loves to travel and considers himself fortunate to be able to do what he loves and at the same time help people achieve their dreams.  Adam is the CEO of Blufish LLC, a successful technology-based business. He has dedicated his life to understanding the power of the human mind. He is an author, speaker, and entrepreneur.  Adam and his wife, Moana, live in Utah and are the parents of twin boys.

My Thoughts:

I've always been curious about As A Man Thinketh by James Allen, but have never read it, so thought this was a great opportunity. In this book, Mortimer takes the original text by Allen and annotates it, putting notes throughout that explain Allen's concepts in modern terms.

First off, even though I only had the pdf version of this book, I could tell that it was beautiful, from the colour and size of the pages, to the subtle illustrations and variations in colour for the text, to how certain key points and quotes were blocked off. This makes it an easy book to read, thumb through, and savour.

When I started the book, I did get confused. I thought is was Mortimer's insights supported by Allen, but it is actually the opposite. The main text is actually Allen's, with Mortimer putting his comments in periodically in blue. I am also unsure if the entire work of As A Man Thinketh was included, or just select parts, so it would be nice to have a bit of explanation at the beginning about the history of As A Man Thinketh and how the book is structured.

That being said, once I figured it out, I enjoyed the book. It is a funny one to review because most of the book is Allen's iconic work. I did find, however, that Mortimer's annotations did help to clarify several points and make them relevant. He gave specific examples which made it easier to take in what was being said.

The underlining message that our thoughts become our reality is, I think, an important one, and one that I have believed for many years now. I love the ideas around taking responsibility for myself, that I have the power to make changes, that I can create what I want for myself and am not limited by circumstance.

Reading Allen's work left me torn, however, because sometimes he talked about joy and dreams and at other times he talked about right thoughts, sacrifice and rigid discipline. I feel like there is a piece missing, maybe about being gentle with ourselves when our thoughts are not perfect, or how to get started... It is intimidating (and I would argue, impossible) to control our every thought and emotion. Sometimes we need our emotion to guide us to what it is we truly want - we need that negative emotion to create the contrast of what we do and do not want. I was also curious to know what he would recommend a person do who is struggling with their thoughts, what baby steps could be made to go in the right direction or what to do when you fail. Allen acknowledges that you will fail, but doesn't say what to do when that happens.

Having said all of that, this book does do, I think, what it set out to do, which is to be a short (it is only 64 pages long) introduction to Allen's work and Mortimer's modern updates of it. I only mention all of the questions that stirred up in me because I think it may be part of the book's purpose - to make the reader curious for more. However, the book may have benefited from more annotation or one more chapter by Mortimer gently coaching people on how to get started. Overall, though, this is a great introduction to how our thoughts create.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the author for review.