Will Books

The Art of Seduction

Robert Greene

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 234 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

I am a victim. This is a dangerous book. Everybody should read it. 4 out of 5 stars.
12 of 13 people found this review helpful.

I am a self-confident, self-motivated, self-directed individual who pretty much knows exactly what to do and when to do things to get the preferred results. I am a smiling, friendly and mostly a charismatic person. At least that's how I used to be before I met this girl in my Freshman composition class.

She was very attractive and I fell in love with her. She exercised the seduction techniques mentioned in this book (such as stirring interest indirectly, creting triangles, getting close to me and giving the impression of like-mindedness etc) to make that happen and it came to a point where I was fantasizing her with me in her life. She was all that I was thinking of. I was losing grip over my life. I somehow became dependent of her. She then started coquetting and withdrawing herself. I gradually started losing my self-esteem and I was no more that charismatic person with self-confidence and self-esteem. I was doing things that she thought would ultimately would lead to our mutual pleasure...but it only made both of us empty.

Finally, one day she drove me to a isolated forest...and I thought she was going to have us do something pleasurable (finally). She just asked me to step out of the car and handed some papers and got in her car and left me there stranded. I was devastated. I started reading the papers. It was titled "The Seduction of ". It started with a character map of me...everything that she had observed about me, my weaknesses, what gave me my self-confidence etc. Then there were list of steps, almost like a manual, that described how she seduced me step-by-step. Then there were extracts from personal journal entries that described how, initially when we'd first met, she admired my quality of self-confidence and how much she wanted to have control over someone like me...primarily because of her own lack of it...and how over time she got bored of playing me like an instrument and how predictable I became etc. She didn't enjoy me anymore. So, she decided to dump me in the middle of the forest with this fact sheet. I was lying on the ground there crying my lungs out to death with limbs too weak to move. I completely lost my self-esteem and was at a point where I wanted her to accept me as her slave and was honoured by that thought. I couldn't even look up at people's faces anymore. This is the worst form of exploitation there exists. It almost feels like being eaten alive by insects from the inside and not being able to do anything about it.

Few days after this devastation, I googled and found this book. I read it and it revealed to me how someone as intellectually incompetent as herself could do something as vicious as this. It made me feel a lot better to know how exactly the worst thing ever to happen in my life happened. Now I feel that everybody should read this book...just to avoid being exploited in this way, if not for anything else.

Cautionary notes:-

As for those of you who were inspired by the cinematic quality of what happened to me and are motivated to use the techniques mentioned in the book to drain admirable qualities off someone for self-gratification, I have to warn you by letting you know why she even had to dump me like that. She, after reading the book, had to condition herself against expressing any genuine emotions and had to perfect the impression of genuineness of her made up emotions. She conceded in one of her later personal journal entries that she was in a sort of psychological trap. She started having trouble doing even simple things such as expressing genuine awe or even anger. She always felt the need to go by the rules. It made her less of a real human being and more of an imitation of an admirable human being. When I recently contacted her, she said she needs professional help because she is very confused in discerning emotions that come from within and those that are just made up. Shes messed up.

As for the testimonials of these admirable people (who practice the art of seduction) thrown around in Greenes book, I have to inform you that those people are genuine human beings with natural seductive mannerisms. The most dangerous aspect of this book is Greenes portrayal of them as people who calculated their behavior and that ability to calculate behavior as being admirable. It inspires people to look at themselves and their naturally arising feelings with belittling eyes and to try to become these admirable people with admirable statistics. It also inspires them to lower the value for their genuine emotions. In my erudite opinion, focusing on your behavior and trying to adjust it using the feedback it receives from outside rather than using ones judgment from within leads to termination of personal growth. If youre so desperate to have a reputable history of conquests when youre older as to compromise on investment in your personal growth and true exploration of human relations, then go ahead and seduce people into falling in love with you for all the wrong reasonsand become an imitation. Remember that unforeseen pleasures are often the most gratifying.

Editorial Review:

This mesmerizing exploration of the most subtle, elusive, and effective form of power is a masterful analysis of civilization's greatest seducers, from Cleopatra to JFK, as well as the classic literature of seduction from Freud to Kierkegaard and Ovid to Casanova. Robert Greene once again identifies the rules of a timeless, amoral game and explores how to cast a spell, break down resistance, and, ultimately, compel a target to surrender. Presenting the timeless profiles of each type of seducer and the twenty-four maneuvers that will guide you step by step in the game of seduction, The Art of Seduction is an indispensable primer of persuasion that reveals the timeless power of this age-old art.

Irrationality

Stuart Sutherland

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Irrationality by Sutherland 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 30 people found this review helpful.

A book that needs to be read by every person who wants to approach rationality.

Editorial Review:

Why do doctors, generals, civil servants and others consistently make wrong decisions that cause enormous harm to others? Irrational beliefs and behaviours are virtually universal. In this iconoclastic book Stuart Sutherland analyses causes of irrationality and examines why we are irrational, the different kinds of irrationality, the damage it does us and the possible cures.

Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism: A Study of Brainwashing in China

Robert Jay Lifton

List Price: $29.95 By: University of N. Carolina Press Amazon Marketplace: 15 new & used starting at $12.22

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Total reviews: 9 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

An important book 4 out of 5 stars.
31 of 36 people found this review helpful.

This book has created a lot of controversies envolving new religious movements. Although it describes a research made with POWs e somes Chinese intellectuals, it has been frequently used attacks against some new religious movements.

The concept "brainwashing" first came into public use during the Korean War in the 1950s as an explanation for why a few American GIs defected to the Communists. The two most authoritative studies of the Korean War defections (and this book was one of them) concluded that "brainwashing" was an inappropriate concept to account for this renunciation of U.S. citizenship. When several new religious came into high profile during the youth counter-culture of the 1960s and 70s the concept "brainwashing" was again employed as a culturally acceptable explanation to account for the fact that some idealistic "flower children" came under the influence of "cult" leaders. A quarter-of-a-century of scholarly research on why people join new religions has come to essentially the same conclusion as the Korean War studies -- "brainwashing" is not a viable concept to describe the dynamics of affiliation with new religions. Defenders of "brainwashing" have used other concepts like "mind control" and "thought reform," but they have failed to produce a scholarly literature to support their claims. Thus, whatever euphemisms may be employed, the basic conclusion against the brainwashing thesis is not altered. Still, the mass media continues to report claims of "brainwashing" as if the alleged phenomenon were real. And, as a result, the concept "brainwashing" sustains considerable currency in popular culture. It is, to be sure, a powerful metaphor. "Brainwashing" communicates disapproval of influence by persons, or groups, the user of the term considers to be illegitimate. If you want to understand the origins of the concept, read Lifton's work. Just take care to not get caught by the "cult mind control" rhetoric.

Willing to Believe: The Controversy over Free Will

R. C. Sproul

List Price: $16.99 By: Baker Publishing Group (MI) Amazon Marketplace: 26 new & used starting at $5.20

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 27 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Unbelievable 2 out of 5 stars.
11 of 44 people found this review helpful.

Unbelievable:

This book was hard to stomach. I'm use to reading Protestant apologetic nonsense from those who don't claim to be theologians, but Willing to Believe is marketed as "a major work" by a guy who purports to be a "professional theologian," and yet the book is so filled with fiction that you really need to be ignorant of Christian theology to take it seriously. Someone gave Dr. Sproul a Ph.D; one would think he would at least attempt to be professional. Trying to align St. Augustine with Luther and Calvin, Dr. Sproul not only seriously distorts the teachings of the saint, but also the teachings of the Reformers. Anyone who has actually read St. Augustine, Luther, and Calvin knows that the Reformers were as far from St. Augustine as were Pelagius and Nestorius. Sadly, Dr. Sproul, Luther, and Calvin all seem to have missed St. Augustine's words in the Enchiridion; "Whosoever, therefore, says that to be a man is evil (the Reformed doctrine of man's total depravity), or that to be wicked is good (the Reformed doctrine that after justification man remains evil, as well as the Reformed doctrine of predestination to Hell prior to foreseen demerits), comes under that prophetic condemnation: Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil. For such a man finds fault with the works of God, that is, with man, and he praises the defect of man which is iniquity. Every being therefore, even though it be imperfect, is good so far as it is a being; so far as it is defective, it is evil" (Enchiridion 4.13). As regards St. Augustine's stance on the ability of man to cooperate with justifying grace, Dr. Sproul insists he denied it absolutely. Apparently he never read St. Augustine's sermon 11; "He who created you without your cooperation does not justify you without your cooperation. He who created you without you knowing, will not justify you without you knowing" (Sermon 11.13). As Dr. Sproul rightly points out, God creates the free act of the good within us. But our will is not passive as he insists. Such a view necessarily implies double predestination and the doctrine that God creates men for the sole purpose of evil, with Hell as their end - thus making God the author of evil. Dr. Sproul tries valiantly to wriggle out of this, but he cannot escape logic without lying. That is why he is forced into distorting the teachings of not only the Reformers, but of St. Augustine and the Catholic Church which has always insisted that God creates the free act of good within man, but in such a way that man's free will is not violated. Even man's ability and willingness to cooperate with God's grace is caused by God. Furthermore, even though God moves man to freely choose the good, he moves man to choose the good infallibly because due to his omniscience God is able to present to man the very grace God knows the man will not resist, even though the ability to do so remains within him. Dr. Sproul refuses to acknowledge that what the Council of Orange condemned in semi-Pelagianism was not man's ability to cooperate with God's grace, but man's ability to make a first movement toward God without God's special grace. When Dr. Sproul teaches that man is unable to cooperate with God in his justification, he makes God the author of evil and is teaching heresy, pure and simple. Anyone reading this book to get a better idea of the Christian doctrine of free-will and justification should beware that Dr. Sproul is not presenting anywhere near a true picture of the history.
Finally, Dr. Sproul presents the arguments of various Protestant theologians through the last four centuries attempting to show whether they conform to the doctrine of the Reformers. The depth of confusion and disagreement among Protestantism renews in me a thankful praise for the guidance of the Holy Spirit offered to the Catholic Church "until the end of the age."

Editorial Review:

In Willing to Believe, R.C. Sproul traces the free-will controversy from its beginning in the fifth century to the present, delineating the nuances separating the views of Protestants and Catholics, Calvinists and Arminians, Reformed and Dispensationalists .

The Illusion of Conscious Will (Bradford Books)

Daniel M. Wegner

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Total reviews: 27 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Selected as a Finalist in the category of Psychology/Mental Health in the 2002 Independent Publisher Book Awards (IPPYs) presented by Independent Publisher Magazine., Silver Award Winner for Philosophy in the 2002 ForeWord Magazine Book of the Year Awards. and Selected as an Outstanding Academic Book for 2002 by Choice Magazine

Do we consciously cause our actions, or do they happen to us? Philosophers, psychologists, neuroscientists, theologians, and lawyers have long debated the existence of free will versus determinism. In this book Daniel Wegner offers a novel understanding of the issue. Like actions, he argues, the feeling of conscious will is created by the mind and brain. Yet if psychological and neural mechanisms are responsible for all human behavior, how could we have conscious will? The feeling of conscious will, Wegner shows, helps us to appreciate and remember our authorship of the things our minds and bodies do. Yes, we feel that we consciously will our actions, Wegner says, but at the same time, our actions happen to us. Although conscious will is an illusion, it serves as a guide to understanding ourselves and to developing a sense of responsibility and morality.

Approaching conscious will as a topic of psychological study, Wegner examines the issue from a variety of angles. He looks at illusions of the will—-those cases where people feel that they are willing an act that they are not doing or, conversely, are not willing an act that they in fact are doing. He explores conscious will in hypnosis, Ouija board spelling, automatic writing, and facilitated communication, as well as in such phenomena as spirit possession, dissociative identity disorder, and trance channeling. The result is a book that sidesteps endless debates to focus, more fruitfully, on the impact on our lives of the illusion of conscious will.

No Place for Sovereignty: What's Wrong With Freewill Theism

R. K. McGregor Wright

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Some Pros and Cons 3 out of 5 stars.
6 of 8 people found this review helpful.

There are both some strong points and weak points to this book. The author excels in reviewing the historic origins of libertarian free. His historic and philosophical overviews are very informative and helpful. Yet, his review of biblical Calvinistic position is lacking and incomplete. He fails to mention some essential points in presenting the 5 points of Calvinism and is not written in a very understandable style. Overall, the author's writing is somewhat choppy and lacking cohesiveness. The last chapter seems out of place and rushed, not giving clear explanations of the issues raised. It appears as if the author was attempting to fit another book into one chapter. If a reader desires a good historic overview of the Armenian/Calvinism debate, this book is a good choice. If the reader is looking for a well written presentation and defense of the 5 points of Calvinism, I recommend "The Reformed Doctrine of Predestination" by Loraine Boettner.

Editorial Review:

Concerned that evangelicals may soon find no place for sovereignty in their blinking, Wright sets out to show what's wrong--biblically, theologically and philosphically--with free will theory in its ancient form. Along the way, he treats readers to a short course in historical theology, making a fresh, powerful case for the Reformed emphasis on God's sovereign grace.

Judgments Under Stress

Kenneth R. Hammond

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Editorial Review:

Judgments Under Stress presents a new and exciting approach to understanding the effects of stressful conditions on judgment and decision making -- a topic so important it was addressed in a Congressional Hearing in 1988. Consisting mainly of two parts, the book synthesizes an extensive body of cognitive psychology research into an innovative theoretical framework. Part I provides the reader with background in regards to judgment under stress while Part II discusses a new approach to studying it. Author Kenneth Hammond extends his examination from the effects of stress on professional judgments to its effects on moral and political judgments, working out a conceptual framework wholly within a psychological context. The book also includes discussions on sleep deprivation, fatigue, noise, heat, shock, and time pressure. In addition to laboratory experiments, Hammond looks at real life historical events such as Iran Flight 655, the Bay of Pigs Invasion, and the Challenger space shuttle disaster.

Judgments Under Stress provides a shrewd analysis of the effects of stress on human rationale, making it ideal for professional psychologists as well as for all those interested in political science and social policy.

Unintended Thought

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Editorial Review:

Bringing together an array of outstanding contributors, this volume offers an in-depth examination of unintended thought--its underlying mechanisms, consequences in day-to-day life, and role in mental and emotional disturbance. Chapters describe a number of important phenomena that are influenced by unintended (and sometimes automatic, uncontrolled, or unconscious) ways of perceiving and interpreting the social and physical environment. These include inferences and judgments about self and others, stereotyping and prejudicial behavior, the impact of persuasive messages, long-term goals, responses to stress, and clinical depression. Key questions explored include the extent to which research findings in controlled settings bear on cognition and behavior outside the laboratory; how such constructs as intention and control of thought have been operationalized by investigators; and when self-control of unintended thought is possible or even desirable. Researchers, practitioners, and graduate students in cognitive, social, personality, and clinical psychology will find much of value in this unique work.

Influence: Science and Practice

Robert B. Cialdini

List Price: $38.00 By: HarperCollins Publishers Amazon Marketplace: 42 new & used starting at $0.01

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 129 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

A must for anyone who wants to be heard in the world of business. 5 out of 5 stars.
0 of 0 people found this review helpful.

What lets some people be listened to while others are completely ignored -- despite saying essentially the same thing? "Influence: Science in Practice" has sold over a million and a half copies is an examination of the concept of Influence and its effect in the world of business. The new and improved fifth edition adds more supportive anecdotes, the effect of popular culture, technological advances, and cultural issues that appear. Now in a newly updated and expanded fifth edition, "Influence" is a must for anyone who wants to be heard in the world of business.

Editorial Review:

Influence: Science and Practiceis an examination of the psychology of compliance (i.e. uncovering which factors cause a person to say "yes" to another's request). Written in a narrative style combined with scholarly research, Cialdini combines evidence from experimental work with the techniques and strategies he gathered while working as a salesperson, fundraiser, advertiser, and in other positions inside organizations that commonly use compliance tactics to get us to say "yes." Widely used in classes, as well as sold to people operating successfully in the business world, the eagerly awaited revision of Influence reminds the reader of the power of persuasion. Cialdini organizes compliance techniques into six categories based on psychological principles that direct human behavior: reciprocation, consistency, social proof, liking, authority, and scarcity.

Lies! Lies!! Lies!!!: The Psychology of Deceit

Charles V. Ford

Amazon Price: $59.00 List Price: $59.00 Usually ships in 24 hours By: American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc. Amazon Marketplace: 22 new & used starting at $9.95

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Thorough and general treatment of practice of deceipt 5 out of 5 stars.
53 of 62 people found this review helpful.

A certain dry humour makes the book very readable. The description of social pressures in learning to lie, and animal world comparisons, are a useful perspective. The central theme - the danger of lying to oneself, or self deception - is of great importance in working in any large organisation. I would prescribe it as essential reading for managers and directors of most modern organisations Many readers may lack the objectivity to appreciate and believe the reports contained in the book, though they are well researched and well documented. I hope the next edition may spend more time in coping with lies. There are 13 pages in this book on therapeutic approaches toward the deceitful person. The comments on "groupthink", which involves bias of group behaviour, could also be expanded in future editions, with comments on the efficacy of countermeasures.

Editorial Review:

University of Alabama, Birmingham. Research on the psychology of lies, ranging from pathological liars to the everyday white lie to advertising and beyond.