
Title : Unleash the Warrior Within: Develop the Focus, Discipline, Confidence and Courage You Need to Achieve Unlimited Goals
Author : Richard Machowicz
Rating : 4 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Some good ideas here, worth a read
It's not that easy to evaluate and review `self-help' books, as what I find useful is probably not at all useful to someone else. I guess it depends on what your perceived `problem' is, or more positively, what is `your area of desired improvement'.
I liked this book, I found it very helpful. This book deals with fears that are preventing you from becoming the person you wish or be or attaining a target that you are aiming for in your life.
The approach is very aggressive as you would expect from the title and front cover. Machowicz encourages you to `live life aggressively'. Machowicz draws on his experience as a Navy SEAL, and tells us about how he went through some very extreme situations that inevitably lead to fear and how he developed mechanisms to cope with and conquer that fear. It is a macho approach and in some places reads very much like the true to life novel by Andy McNab, `Bravo Two Zero'. However, I don't think that should put readers off, there is some very useful insights here. Take the CARVER matrix for example. This is a target evaluation method of military origin. Machowicz applies it to everyday life. If you enter `Waging Project Management Warfare' into a search engine you will find an article where an attendee of one of Machowicz classes applies the principle to software development!
There is definitely as much value in reading this as in relying solely on the works of desk bound psychologists.
I also liked the fact that it was written relatively recently, 2002. The context is relevant. I have read seminal works that were written nearer the turn of the last century, and although the content of these is beyond reproach they are very dated and increasingly hard to relate to the present and the type of problems encountered in today's world.
Some of the author's quotes come from such diverse works as Dune, by Frank Herbert. He refers to the training of Paul Atreides where he is taught that `fear is the mindkiller'. As a part-time Sci-Fi fan, I am encouraged to read a self-help book that values some of my favourite literature.
Throughout the book Machowicz refers to his self-defence style called Bukido. This comes across as a bit of a blatant sales pitch, but does nonetheless encourage the curious to enter `Bukido' into a search engine to see what it is all about. You might want to do that before you buy the book! Machowicz seems to be aggressively following his own advice, and is also now a TV star I believe hosting `Future Weapons' on the Discovery channel. Maybe that in itself should suggest that there is something of value in this book. However, reading the output of famous people telling us `how to become successful' does not always work. I'm thinking of the book by Noel Edmunds, `Positively Happy'. It is also very hard to determine if you should take the cynical, and possibly accurate viewpoint, that the author is more interested in selling his product, in this case his book and his training courses, than he is in the altruistic intent of making you a better person.
The author's intentions and motivations aside, I picked some ideas from this book that I liked and am actively making use of them. Although I have completed the book I still want to review some of the sections at a later date. So for me there was some useful ideas here and so I give it a four star rating.

Title : Now Habit: A Strategic Program for Overcoming Procrastination and Enjoying Guilt-free Play
Author : Neil A. Fiore
Rating : 4 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Good book but didn't help me.
Although there's nothing really wrong with this book, it didn't help me at all. I read through it, found some interesting stuff, but my procrastination habits remained the same. Although I didn't seriously follow any of the suggestions, because my procrastination problem is rather serious, that's why I still gave it 4 stars, because in my situation I think it's hard for a book to really help me. So, if you have a slight to moderate procrastination problem this book may help you. Otherwise, the best is to see a therapist.

Title : Zero Limits: The Secret Hawaiian System for Wealth, Health, Peace, and More
Author : Joe Vitale
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Highly Purifying Stuff in a Toxic World
I had first come across Dr. Hew Len's work in healing a ward full of criminally insane patients on the Disappearance of the Universe discussion group. The amazing thing about his healing technique was that he never actually met these people, he would instead look within himself to whatever it was that was causing this outward manifestation of illness and negativity, knowing that everyone and everything is ultimately One and connected (as any spiritual guru will tell you). He knew he was, at some level, ultimately responsible for the issue.
He used an ancient Hawaiin technique called Ho'oponopono to cleanse the negative feelings that came up in him as he thought about these people by using the same 4 phrases over and over ("I love you, I'm sorry, please forgive me, thank you"). As he did so, he was evoking his higher Self, or Divinity, to remove the negative feelings, and replace them with its Self (namely Pure Love). This had the effect of removing the negative programs that were running in these 'criminally insane' people so that gradually they were able to live normal lives again.
This book then is a great coverage of this remarkably simple technique, and the fact that all it boils down to in life is to cleanse, cleanse, cleanse our negative memories, feelings and data so that we can become one with the Divine and inspired by It/Him (as opposed to dictated by decisions formed by our fretful conscious minds). We are a sum total of our memories, and bound by interhuman programs handed down to us over millenia, so to clear and cleanse these means unbounded joy and freedom, and Oneness with the Divine, our ultimate goal in life!
This is a MUST READ by even the most hardened and skeptical of souls!!!! Do yourself a favour: go release yourself!!

Title : The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change
Author : Stephen R. Covey
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : filled with important information
Not that I'm an expert in the subject, but I'm guessing that this isn't your typical success book. In many ways it's a general purpose psychology book, dealing with such things as motivation, organizational skills, and how to deal with stress. It's chock full of seemingly unique information, and interesting quotes and tidbits. For example, it states "Management is efficiency in climbing the ladder of success; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall." The book isn't boring or repetitive, and is written in a pleasing, conversational manner. Everyone should give this a read, not just those interested in business success. Author of Adjust Your Brain: A Practical Theory for Maximizing Mental Health.
Other Related Resources:
1: http://anamchara.com/2008/05/03/notes-from-a-motivational-seminar/
2: http://www.carbonfund.org/blog/about-us/amtrak-inspiring-riders-travel-greener/
3: http://www.darklump.co.uk/blog/?p=4
4: http://www.podtech.net/scobleshow/technology/1589/inspirational-teenager
5: http://www.vaporsmagazine.com/2008/08/bombscare-in-nyc/