The worst book I ever read was..

[Mr.Rob]

Also 95% of all sales books =

 

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[McFirewavesJr]

This is my vote.

I've got to stick up for Atlas Shrugged, though verbose and dry its quite epic in its philosophical stance.

The way I've had "bad" books described to me is that there are many flavors of self-improvement teachers that attract a different demographic of people. We're more intense results oriented hustler crowd so Eckhart Tolle telling us to listen for the space between our breathe and wait for your inner being is going to annoy us (though I did like the Power of Now lol) but for those that resonate with it they get a stepping stone into self-improvement and self-enlightenment that they never would have gotten if they read "The Millionaire Fastlane ".

So there are no "bad" books just different flavors for different tastes.

There are bad books. Some are poorly written and some propagate false information. If I wrote a book with no punctuation marks, no paragraph and no chapters about how you can become fit playing chess; it would be a bad book.

Sent from my SM-G925W8 using Tapatalk

 

[Mr.Rob]

There are bad books. Some are poorly written and some propagate false information. If I wrote a book with no punctuation marks, no paragraph and no chapters about how you can become fit playing chess; it would be a bad book.

Hmmm... Something tells me your very similar in person to the character in your avatar

 

[Evil_Jester]

The Moneymaker era was great. Easy money for many years. I was never a big tournament player, but narrowly missed a bracelet back in the 2005 WSOP...even got an hour on ESPN:

Wow that's awesome. I remember I was playing on pokerstars and won $0.06 from Chris Moneymaker at a microstakes table. He was playing with fans for fun. Best day ever!

 

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[VentureVoyager]

"The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho. And all of his creations.
Might be a great inspiration for a 12-year old kid who has never had a chance to read a real book before, but I remember being shocked by the pointlessness and overall naivity of this pseudo-intellectual gibberish, along with the highly irritating style of his narration...and I was 12 at the time, too. Have never finished reading this hogwash, I felt that it was too childhish, or written by someone who is constantly high.
And I used to read a lot in my early teenage years: Julius Verne, Bulhakov, Jostein Gaarder, Stephen King, Agatha Christie, etc.
The best way to put it would be "so banal it hurts". It's a perfect example of a "the sun rises, and then the sun sets" or "fire is hot, but water is wet" type of book.

Some amazingly deep quotes from this vastly touching piece of art, to give you a taste:

“Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure.”

“No project is completed until its objective has been achieved.”

“Not everyone can see his dreams come true in the same way.”

“And, if you improve on the present, what comes later will also be better.”

“Nobody is worth your tears, and the one who is won't make you cry”

“So, I love you because the entire universe conspired to help me find you.”

“This is what we call love. When you are loved, you can do anything in creation. When you are loved, there's no need at all to understand what's happening, because everything happens within you.”

“Sometimes there's just no way to hold back the river.”

“We are afraid of losing what we have.”

“To die tomorrow was no worse than dying on any other day. Every day was there to be lived or to mark one’s departure from this world.”

“When you possess great treasures within you and try to tell others of them, seldom are you believed.”

“One is loved because one is loved. No reason is needed for loving.”

"I have been told that beauty is the great seducer of men.”

Ready to vomit? Yes, these are real quotes from the book.
And that's just the tip of the wisdom iceberg.
Basically every single page consists of these deeply touching and eye-opening ultra powerful life-changing pieces of wisdom along the lines of "The Boy discovered that the sand was dry on the desert, and indeed, The Universe can be vast and big, and The Soul of The World and the Warriors of Light can realize their dreams on this planet. There's no need to speak when there's no one around. The boy remembered that the sky is blue and followed his dream."
Ok, these last three sentences were my take on his writing style, but basically this is how painful it is to read.

To be fair, there are also some valuable quotes in the book, for instance:
“What's the world's greatest lie?" the boy asked, completely surprised.
"It's this: that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That's the world's greatest lie.”

But those few good fragments can't change the fact that overall, it sucks.
It's better to just look for the quotes on the internet than wasting your time by trying to go through this book. Unless you are a masochist, or need somebody to tell you that happiness feels happy and that some people can be sad.

 

[Invictus]

I'm terms of writing, I'd prefer to read the original unabridged 700p. long version of The Wealth of Nations 5 times in a row than read anything form Ryan Holiday again. I just can't deal anymore with his constant name dropping and personal anecdotes.

Aww, that's the second time Holiday's been mentioned in this thread. I'm a huge fan of his.

That said, both complaints about him come from pretty valid places.

 

[GMSI7D]

"The Jungle" by Upton Sinclair. It was just a thinly veiled rant against capitalism back in the heydey of socialism.

I concur with the previous posts about "Think And Grow Rich" (couldn't finish it) & "The Catcher in the Rye".

let's get facts

quotation : "

Think and Grow Rich had sold more than 20 million copies, and by 2015 over 100 million copies had been sold worldwide.[4][5] It remains the biggest seller of Napoleon Hill's books. BusinessWeek magazine's Best-Seller List ranked it the sixth best-selling paperback business book 70 years after it was published.[6] Think and Grow Rich is listed in John C. Maxwell's A Lifetime "Must Read" Books List. [7] "

from here :

Think and Grow Rich - Wikipedia


so you guys are saying that all these people are wrong and that you guys are right


20 guys including MJ DeMarco versus 100,000,000 guys including CEO's and famous people


if you guys are right then you should lead society in one way or another :

become a politician or a hero or something

this your duty

because your superior intelligence must lead the masses

 

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[Olimac21]

"The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho. And all of his creations.
Might be a great inspiration for a 12-year old kid who has never had a chance to read a real book before, but I remember being shocked by the pointlessness and overall naivity of this pseudo-intellectual gibberish, along with the highly irritating style of his narration...and I was 12 at the time, too. Have never finished reading this hogwash, I felt that it was too childhish, or written by someone who is constantly high.
And I used to read a lot in my early teenage years: Julius Verne, Bulhakov, Jostein Gaarder, Stephen King, Agatha Christie, etc.
The best way to put it would be "so banal it hurts". It's a perfect example of a "the sun rises, and then the sun sets" or "fire is hot, but water is wet" type of book.

Some amazingly deep quotes from this vastly touching piece of art, to give you a taste:

“Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure.”

“No project is completed until its objective has been achieved.”

“Not everyone can see his dreams come true in the same way.”

“And, if you improve on the present, what comes later will also be better.”

“Nobody is worth your tears, and the one who is won't make you cry”

“So, I love you because the entire universe conspired to help me find you.”

“This is what we call love. When you are loved, you can do anything in creation. When you are loved, there's no need at all to understand what's happening, because everything happens within you.”

“Sometimes there's just no way to hold back the river.”

“We are afraid of losing what we have.”

“To die tomorrow was no worse than dying on any other day. Every day was there to be lived or to mark one’s departure from this world.”

“When you possess great treasures within you and try to tell others of them, seldom are you believed.”

“One is loved because one is loved. No reason is needed for loving.”

"I have been told that beauty is the great seducer of men.”

Ready to vomit? Yes, these are real quotes from the book.
And that's just the tip of the wisdom iceberg.
Basically every single page consists of these deeply touching and eye-opening ultra powerful life-changing pieces of wisdom along the lines of "The Boy discovered that the sand was dry on the desert, and indeed, The Universe can be vast and big, and The Soul of The World and the Warriors of Light can realize their dreams on this planet. There's no need to speak when there's no one around. The boy remembered that the sky is blue and followed his dream."
Ok, these last three sentences were my take on his writing style, but basically this is how painful it is to read.

To be fair, there are also some valuable quotes in the book, for instance:
“What's the world's greatest lie?" the boy asked, completely surprised.
"It's this: that at a certain point in our lives, we lose control of what's happening to us, and our lives become controlled by fate. That's the world's greatest lie.”

But those few good fragments can't change the fact that overall, it sucks.
It's better to just look for the quotes on the internet than wasting your time by trying to go through this book. Unless you are a masochist, or need somebody to tell you that happiness feels happy and that some people can be sad.

I agree with The Alchemist, I normally finish all the books I start but this one is one of the few I couldnt finish even though is not a long book.

 

[Hai]

"Ready, Fire, Aim" - Michael Masterson
Don´t think about the second product, unless you make 1million revenue from your first product, really? Thats the first part. The other 4 parts become worse and worse as it starts to talk about organizational hierarchies.

 

[ZF Lee]

Also 95% of all sales books =

Even SPIN selling???
I found spin selling to be more technical and empirically backed, so it's a good read for me.

The Cardone series of books were more motivational than framework or execution stuff for me.

 

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[Mr.Rob]

Even SPIN selling???
I found spin selling to be more technical and empirically backed, so it's a good read for me.

The Cardone series of books were more motivational than framework or execution stuff for me.

SPIN is the best. I got a lot out of Brian Tracey's books. I hear good things about Cardone and I like him as a personality. "How To Get Your Competition Fired" and "Smart Calling" were honorable mentions in their own right so I consider this the 5% (I'm sure there's a few more to include in this category as well).

SNAP Selling, To Sell is Human, Can I Have 5 Minutes of Your Time, and the other 95% of sales books well its a less quality version of the 5% aforementioned and not worth my time.

 

[amp0193]

"Ready, Fire, Aim" - Michael Masterson
Don´t think about the second product, unless you make 1million revenue from your first product, really?

What's wrong with that advice?

 

[GuestUser4aMPs1]

Anything written by James Altucher has been less appealing than a steaming pile of horse shit.
This Amazon review of "Choose Yourself" below perfectly captures my opinion of his writing:


(But if you have any suggestions of better work - by all means please let us know)

 

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[H. Palmer]

My choice would be 'Kiss that frog' by Brian Tracy and his daughter.

It read like it was written by a machine that had piled up some random texts from some personal development websites.

Since I read this book I question almost everything written or said by Brian Tracy.

 

[Isaac Oh]

The Power Of Now.

At the time, this book was being suggested by tons of people. "You gotta read this book", "oh, it's a fantastic book", "I just finished to read the power of now and it was amazing". I was seeing this all over the place and I thought - I have to check it. After 30 pages I couldn't continue. It was just too repetitive.

The issue was, at that time, I was basically getting started with self-development and I wasn't prepared and ready to absorb and value such information. To be honest, until now I haven't read it again, but I now understand a lot more and better what he meant. And I found ways to practice being present, more consciously.

I guess I might be confusing some of you.

The point is: Sometimes, we are not ready to certain information. And from there, one can lower the value and importance of a message because of the lack of understanding.

The book wasn't bad, it was just not the right time for me.

Couldn't agree more. I think it'll help anyone to read about what they are into at the time whether it's because it's something that interests them or because it's an issue they haven been struggling with it. Not only will you read it with more engagement, its applicability tends to be more clear and can create more value for you. Of course, sometimes you just need to read something even though your emotions may be pulling you away from it.

 

[TheRegalMachine]

"The Power of Broke" by Daniel Paisner and Daymond John was a mistake on my part.
Earlier on in my search for self improvement and new knowledge I thought this would an insightful book by someone who start a business from nothing, Daymond John. It was mostly stories about other people some in entertainment, some kid in social media, and others I can't remember and didn't really stick with me. I made the error of not reading it and listening to the audio version read by MTV's Sway. I know Daymond John has dyslexia so no chance of him doing the audio recording but F*cking hell Sway was boring to listen to and I ended up tuning out a lot of the book. I've considered giving it a far read but never felt compelled to do that yet.

Gary Vaynerchuk "Crush It" was a mistake because it's dated. A lot of the advise about social media and marketing oneself or their product can't be applies anymore. Not his fault mine for reading an almost 8 year old book on the subject. The other issue is his idea of starting a business around your passion. Something he didn't do. Telling people if they're passionate about Smurfs to start a blog or vlog and they will have the potential to build an income in hindsight after reading "The Millionaire Fastlane " I know that's a reason why I didn't enjoy it.
I didn't like the Thank You Economy much either because it was chapter after chapter of him repeating be nice to your customers and variations of the idea. Yes customer is king. Yes if you treat them well they will continue to support you. Please tell me something new by chapter 10. Also there was more than enough Zappos dick sucking in the book. Once again my fault for reading a book that's a few years old on a subject that has shifted drastically.

 

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[amp0193]

A lot of the advise about social media and marketing oneself

I think any book that dares to mention social mention is taking a risk. I read a book about pinterest marketing one time. Haha, mostly irrevlevant by the time it was published.

 

[TheRegalMachine]

I think any book that dares to mention social mention is taking a risk. I read a book about pinterest marketing one time. Haha, mostly irrevlevant by the time it was published.

Books like that are for people who are completely unknowledgeable on the subject. For anyone tech savvy it's a waste of time for the most part so it would be a good idea to thumb through the book at a book store or library than spend money on it.

 

[Isaac Oh]

I think any book that dares to mention social mention is taking a risk. I read a book about pinterest marketing one time. Haha, mostly irrevlevant by the time it was published.

There's some books that do it well with timeless advice. "Likeable Social Media" was something I found valuable. There were very nuanced points mixed in with common sense ideas I never would have considered unless I was experienced in social media marketing. I guess it's a pretty good starter book.

 

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[DustinH]

Automatic Millionaire by David Bach is the biggest steaming pile of schlock to ever end up in purgatory on my Kindle.

I thought so, too. That guy is rich off selling that junk.

It's like the premise MJ talks about. Did the guy teaching you how to be a millionaire get rich doing the same strategy? No, he wrote books and does seminars as a business to make all of his wealth.

 

[DustinH]

Can't say I hate books, I just stop reading them when they don't interest me or contain anything to improve my life.

Think and Grow Rich was one I stopped reading. So was 4HWW.

Yeah I don't get the hype around Think and Grow Rich. Four Hour Work Week was a bunch nonsense, too. Hey guys, build a big business so you don't have to work in it and you get to play and travel the world. Great formula for success!

 

[DustinH]

I'm a big football guy so I read a lot of football books in addition to business and self help books. Tony Dungy wrote several books are they're all excruciatingly boring. Friday Night Lights didn't do it for me. Joe Gibbs' book Game Plan for Life was a bunch of fluff.

 

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[DustinH]

Yeah good point - I stopped reading "You Are A Badass" about 20% of the way through. She started rambling on about vision boards and manifesting money, so I couldn't handle it anymore. .

Tell me more about this "manifesting money". How does that work? Are you saying if I just concentrate real hard then money will appear?

 

[Zarathustra]

Atlas Shrugged

Fountainhead

This. Ayn Rand novels are honestly just self-masturbation for businesspeople, no different than romance novels are for middle aged women. I get it, capitalism is good and business makes the world great, but nobody needs to read some winding 1000 page narrative about it when a 125 page non-fiction book could do.

 

[DustinH]

This. Ayn Rand novels are honestly just self-masturbation for businesspeople, no different than romance novels are for middle aged women. I get it, capitalism is good and business makes the world great, but nobody needs to read some winding 1000 page narrative about it when a 125 page non-fiction book could do.

And thus spoke Zarathrustra

I agree. How does a long-winded fictional story convince anyone of your beliefs?

 

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[BeeCatcher]

The Catcher in the Rye.

A book about a whiny teenagers, who, naturally, whines all the time. I don't know why the make kids at school read that thing. I took nothing from it.

 

[MJ DeMarco]

Gary Vaynerchuk "Crush It" was a mistake because it's dated.

Sad that a lot of books end up this way which is why recent internet content is more valuable. And forums like this.

For me, the centerpiece of my writing is asking myself "Will this be relevant 10 years from now?"

I can't imagine writing a book that has an expiration date simply because Facebook changed their algorithm.

 

[GMSI7D]

This. Ayn Rand novels are honestly just self-masturbation for businesspeople, no different than romance novels are for middle aged women. I get it, capitalism is good and business makes the world great, but nobody needs to read some winding 1000 page narrative about it when a 125 page non-fiction book could do.

the problem with Ayn Rand is that she falls in the category of people who don't walk the talk as mentionned by MJ DeMarco.

she died poor on welfare wheras she had been fighting altruism for all her life

how funny.

without help and altruism , she would have slept in the street.

yes you guys don't want to hear that but the future belongs to global communism after the failure of capitalism.

i am talking long term here. 50 years and more

so don't worry, you can still become the next millionaire and retire on the beach

 

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[E-Sharp]

yes you guys don't want to hear that but the future belongs to global communism after the failure of capitalism.

Of course. Thanks for reminding us of communism's stellar track record.

 

[Zarathustra]

yes you guys don't want to hear that but the future belongs to global communism after the failure of capitalism.

Of course. Thanks for reminding us of communism's stellar track record.

Could honestly happen in some crazy way if robots become uber and recursively intelligent and serve our every need. Think of how F*cking weird today would seem to someone in 1967. Now how about 2067, anything can happen.