The A-Z Blog Challenge, Letter U

Letter U of My Favourite Books by title

Two authors - two genres

Self-Help & Sci-fi/Horror

The first is, Unlimited Power, by Tony Robbins. Here's the blurb:

If you have ever dreamed of a better life, Unlimited Power will show you how to achieve the extraordinary quality of life you desire and deserve. Anthony Robbins has proven to millions through his books, tapes and seminars that by harnessing the power of your mind you can do, have, achieve and create anything you want for your life. Unlimited Power is a revolutionary fitness book for the mind. It will show you, step by step, how to perform at your peak while gaining emotional and financial freedom, attaining leadership and self-confidence and winning the co-operation of others. Unlimited Power is a guidebook to superior performance in an age of success. 

Now this book is the first to represent one of my guilty pleasures: self-help books. I love them and read a lot of them. Having had an abusive and traumatic childhood they've helped me a great deal, and really been the backbone of my healing.

Writers and readers alike scoff at them, thus they are something to be consumed in secret and not spoken about as many think it is all 'guff' and sneer at it, or argue its benefits. Personally that's for each individual to decide, but for me they have made the world of difference - especially this author, Tony Robbins.

For me, he is the top of all of them, mainly because he is all about helping people find the tools to help themselves, explaining how it's possible to change thinking and become successful in the ways they wish to become successful in life (not strictly material, but it can help). And this book is a great starting point and one of my top recommends for anyone asking where to start in this area.

It covers mostly NLP - Neuro Linguistic Programming, and is great for the layman, which was Tony's intention when he wrote it. It helps the reader understand how the mind works, how people communicate, and how to understand and communicate better yourself. It's a toolbox. And although Tony does huge workshops and events globally, which are off the scale in terms of cost for someone like myself, he wanted people to be able to access the same information at an affordable price. He succeeds with this one.

This is not a fast read, it is one to read and process over time or keep returning to - as I feel most self-help books are. Unlike fiction they are not stories to be read from cover to cover, they are toolboxes, to dip into. I usually read them over several months, and then return to them for refreshers on areas that I want to understand better.

No matter your personal take on these sorts of books or on self-help in general, there is plenty to learn in this book, which contains proven, science based information. You won't find any Law of Attraction stuff here.

***

The second is UR, by Stephen King. Here's the blurb:

Reeling from a painful break-up, English instructor and avid book lover Wesley Smith is haunted by his ex-girlfriend's parting shot: "Why can't you just read off the computer like everyone else?" He buys an e-book reader out of spite, but soon finds he can use the device to glimpse realities he had never before imagined, discovering literary riches beyond his wildest dreams...and all-too-human tragedies that surpass his most terrible nightmares. 

This is another short of Stephen King's, and another one of his forages into producing just ebooks - he wrote this one exclusively for kindle. And the amusing thing about that is the twist in the story itself, which is about an ebook and one that offers more than your average book.

I have a love and fascination for the surreal and the concepts of other dimensions and parallel universes, which my writing attests to, so this one was an immediate hit for me. 

Another Stephen King anecdote: I met him at a book signing in London in 2006, it was for the release of Lisey's Story. I started queuing at 9am - he was due to arrive at 1pm - I was No.100 in the queue (yes we were all given numbers). I had no idea what to say to him I was so nervous, so I ended up with the cheesy line of 'Thank you for all your writing' and he seemed surprised by me saying that and thanked me. I was totally star struck and delighted that one of my lifetime dreams had come true.