“Self-control is strength; Right Thought is mastery; Calmness is power.”

Not my typical choice of books, but I thought it would be intriguing to read. It was insightful.

While the physical copy of this book is very special to me for sentimental reasons---the content within its pages is disappointing to say the least. This book is a major "no" for me. It's The Secret before The Secret. It's a bunch of mumbly jumbly garbage. A collection of fancy words that when combined together don't really mean all that much. Cliche? Yes. Shallow? Yes. Inaccurate? Yes.

This book is only 57 pages long and even THAT is too long because this book has only one true message: Your thoughts determine your reality. I don't care how many fancy words you use to say it--that's just simply untrue. I can see why this book is important to many people. I can even see its occasional necessity as a source of a good attitude adjustment. Yes--optimism and positive psychology are great tools to have in the toolbox, but they are NOT the end all-be all.

So frustrating. I'll be talking more about this in my monthly wrap up. Please be ready for a slightly heated rant.

This was a nice read and reminder, but nothing particularly struck a chord with me. I'd recommend it if this is the first book of its kind you're trying out. Otherwise, it's probably not worth reading

A beautiful series of essays on the profound nature of human thought. Highly recommended.

I agree with every vaild point made, and those valid points are beautiful stated. I have notes throughout the entire book, and it is a very short quick read so I do recommend it, however it is repetitive and sometimes that can be annoying but positively not enough to distract or ruin what does make this good.

There were other moments where I had wished he'd gone further in depth, because once he has grabbed your attention, as a reader, I just want him to run with it til he can't run anymore, but he does not do it.

In the end it wasn't as amazing as I had hoped for it to be, but what was good was absolutely wonderful and beautiful. I just wish it was more precise and in depth, it would've made for a better essay.

A short treatise on right thinking and how it affects all of life. "A man is literally what he thinks, his character being the complete sum of all his thoughts. ... The vision that you glorify in your mind, the ideal that you enthrone in your heart - this you will build your life by, this you will become."

This book was written over 100 years ago. I found it fascinating to see how they thought back then, while not much has changed. Instead of working on the way people thought back then, many times now, we can go into the chemical balances of the brains to help figure out what is going on. To think how the ill thoughts harvest disease contributes to how we look at different types of mental illness still today.
This is an amazing short read that can help change your thought process to be more positive and beneficial to how you think and feel.

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.