The Greatest Secret of All – Book Review

Should I apologize for posting so many book reviews lately? Perhaps, but seeing as I am trying to make some serious changes in my life, I find myself searching for answers in a number of books.

I recall seeing Marc Allen’s latest book in the bookstore about a year ago, in the wake of all of 'The Secret' phenomenon. I liked The Secret for the most part, though there are some things that bothered me about it. For example, Dr. Joe Vitale’s comments about the victim of a car accident having “asked for” that tragedy to happen to them…not buying it, no matter how you choose to interpret “Universal laws.”

It was in the aftermath of 'The Secret', no fault to Rhonda Byrne, where things got a bit hard to stomach. My inbox was inundated with emails from would-be gurus saying, “Better than the Secret,” or “Why the Secret doesn’t work,” or “The real way to Manifest.” Hype at the expense of slamming someone else’s product has always been a sure way to turn me off to your product.

When I began 2009 in earnest to change my life around, I gravitated toward books on this subject of manifesting again. Marc Allen’s slim volume kept inching out of my subconscious from underneath layers of forgotten lessons and broken dreams. The $18 price tag for 120 pages of text also made me balk at it but thanks to a few gift certificates from the Holidays, I picked this book up recently and read it in one sitting.

In retrospect, I would ABSOLUTELY, POSITIVELY, pay FULL price for this book, knowing what I know now. Amazon is currently having a sale on this book . It looks like you can pick up the hardcover, new, from Amazon (not a reseller) for $11.63. So, by all means, jump on it, you have nothing to lose.

There are three parts (four including the summary) to this book, so it is not divided up into the normal chapter layout that most books are, therefore the format of this review is a bit different than the ones I have done on other books. With that being said, let’s take a look under the covers of this book and see what we find.

The Introduction is approximately one quarter of the book. In this section, the author gives a fairly in depth account of how he put into practices the principals of this book, rising from a broke drifter at the age of thirty to a millionaire businessman at age thirty-six. What impresses me the most with this section is, first, how simple and enjoyable the steps are and, second, how the author points out that most master manifestors (nice alliteration) are really miserable people. The manifestation is not the end in and of itself, as it is in doing it in an “easy and relaxed manner, in a healthy and positive way.”

Part One is where the meat of the book lies. This is where Allen outlines the four simple steps he believes are the key to manifestation.

Step 1, “Dream” – Take out a piece of paper and write at the top “Ideal Scene.” Picture how you want your life to be five years from now, and describe the entire scene on paper.

Step 2, “Imagine” – Within that Ideal Scene you will begin to notice that certain goals will stand out. Take out another sheet of paper and write those goals down.

Step 3, “Believe” – Next, create affirmations for each of those goals, tagged with important phrases at the beginning or end of the affirmation such as, “In an easy and relaxing manner, in a healthy and positive way.” This, I think is the key to programming your subconscious so that you do not end up like those miserable manifestors who have all the material trappings of success but none of the happiness. The author gives some other key phrases to creating effective affirmations. I won’t divulge them; it really is worth reading the book to understand.

To close out Step 3, it’s important to write a one to two page plan of how you intend to accomplish each of the goals on your sheet. The author provides some simple exercises to help define your plan.

Step 4,”Create” – Begin with the end in mind. This is where you put your plans into action. Have a multi-pronged approach, where you will try Plan A to meet a goal, and if it fails, you already know the Plan B, and Plan C that you can implement. The author suggests to be persistent and to focus on implementing, and to always have something in your weekly planner that will take you closer to your goals.

There are other excellent tidbits in this book. Just as Rhonda Byrne suggests in The Secret, Allen recommends starting your day expressing gratitude; then asking the Creator for guidance in what seems like a modern exercise in meditation.

Is The Greatest Secret of All worth reading? Despite the sensationalist title, I would say without a doubt, YES. This book makes my top twenty list of most inspiring and life-changing books I have ever read…in fact, it makes the Top 5. This book is short and simple, no hyperbole, no filler and it details an easy to follow plan. I barely slept last night as I contemplated my Ideal Scene and what I would do the following weeks to put these four steps into practice. I will be blogging my progress through the four steps in the coming weeks.