
Title : Unleash the Warrior Within: Develop the Focus, Discipline, Confidence and Courage You Need to Achieve Unlimited Goals
Author : Richard Machowicz
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Well, this book is the one I needed....
10 years of reading "I have the power". Hmm. This guy cuts straight through it to laser focus on what you need. It actually makes sense - being taught acheievement strategies by a military Navy Seal. He's had to make quick, good, tough decisions. He establishs his cred by telling you about Hell Week - the place where most wanabe Seals Break. Then he mingles his talks about fear and action with examples of how he's helped others get over them (not just himself). I listen (figuratively) to this guy because he knows what fear is so if he can overcome it then it's worth taking seriously what he says.
I'm only three chapters in and have noticed a significant improvement in the way I think about getting things done. Target - keep it simple - Weapons - what is the most effective way to get there (not necc the fastest) and Movement (be flexible about how you do what you need to to get the result). I have read literally hundreds of self-help books. This one I am using to not just read but get results. I reccomend it.

Title : Think and Grow Rich
Author : Napoleon Hill
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : ingore negative reviews of this book
It's a truly amazing book - the philosophy works.
You need to read the book at least twice, open your mind,
follow wholeheartedly what it instructs you to do and you
will have success you never dreamed of.
I first thought it strange, abstract and unconnected to
reality but when I actually tried it without prejudice I
found a whole new world outside my door. Amazing. Everyone
should have a copy of this.

Title : Motivational Interviewing: Preparing People for Change
Author : William R. Miller
Rating : 5 Stars out of 5.
Summary : ...care ... communicate...
I searched the internet for months - looking for books or any kind of teaching aids - that could shine just a tiny ray of light - onto communicating effectively with people who have any kind of addiction problems.
This book is a masterpiece.
With a basis in the teaching and counselling methods of Carl Rogers, taken further into the specialist field of addiction - It describes in such careful detail the most gentle, most understanding - most effective ways to communicate....so that you will learn the most helpful ways - to inspire change, how to discover, and be supportive of the addicted person's smallest inclination to change.
It is not a book about fixing things - controlling anyone - or changing minds ... but about how best to support, encourage and inspire someone you care about - to develop their own decisions.. that may be life saving.
It is a book suitable for professional counsellors - but it is written in a lucid style which is equally comprehensible to any one with an interest in the topic.
Carefully chosen words of encouragement and support - given at the right time - to people whose own insecurity and self doubt may make them aggressive and defensive against all approaches that seem to be attempts to change or guide them.....
...may seem to you, as they did to me - to be impossible to find.
Read this book. It will help you to find them.

Title : Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time
Author : Keith Ferrazzi
Rating : 4 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Very practical
I read Never Eat Alone after attending a Keith Ferrazzi seminar. So I was already familiar with his approach to networking. The book provides a deeper and more structured perspective to relationship management in various settings - in the office, before/during/after a seminar, on the plane and many more.
My main takeaway from the book has been 'even very small details make a big difference to build your network and you should build it before you need it'. 'Do your homework, share your passions, follow up or fail, build your brand' are some great sections from the book - very useful and practical.

Title : Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
Author : Robert Cialdini
Rating : 3 Stars out of 5.
Summary : Good, but not totally convincing or that useful
I bought this book for two reasons - one to make myself more alert to sales techniques, and two to see if there are any useful insights to glean that could be applied to other areas of life.
On both counts the book delivers. Having recently been pitched to at work by a media tracking agency and nearly taken the bait (didn't in the end) I immediately recognised the use of reciprocity and scarcity to try and harry me into signing up. That alone was worth buying the book for, and I will definitely use that insight in future.
In addition, the chapter on consistency is also very useful. I've been involved in trying (and failing) to get people behind certain campaigns in the past. As such the discussion about getting people to make small commitments to establish a self image which they then feel the need to act consistently with both rang true on a personal level, and seems like something worth trying out in future.
So why only three stars? For one I did not find elements of the book convincing. The section dealing with newspaper coverage of suicides is the bit that really troubles me. Some of the data seems both to be limited and have been interpreted quite loosely. I would need a lot more convincing that the stats are being interpreted reasonably, it looks far too rough and ready. Given that this book is really about behavioural biases surely it should be extra careful about interpretaion of data as this is something we humans tend to be very bad at, always looking for patterns that aren't there and so on. That then leads me to query the hypothesis built on top of the data and to be honest I find myself not buying it. That also makes me query whether other chapters suffer from similar flaws.
Secondly, the book isn't actually that useful once you get your head around the key techniques because, as a previous reviewer says, simply having the knowledge that you have biases doesn't make them go away. To be really useful the book should have spent as much time reinforcing ways to resist the influence of biases as it does explaining what they are.
That said it is very readable, and I got what I wanted from it, but it could have been better.
Other Related Resources:
1: http://blog.templates.com/smoky-website-designs-for-your-inspiration/
2: http://blogs.ec.europa.eu/fischer-boel/inspiring_belfast/
3: http://www.familyresource.com/blog/2007/10/01/motivational-monday-helen-keller/
4: http://www.selfimprovementhelptips.com/self-improvement-help-tips/emotional-freedom-technique-training-guide-to-happiness/
5: http://www.sensationalcolor.com/liveinfullcolor/color-inspiration-a-citrus-hued-wedding-in-capri/