Julian, a high powered… Julian, a high powered attorney who spends most of his time pushing his stress levels, has a heart attack out of the blue. He immediately quits his job and goes off to seek a better life for himself. As part of his promise to help others, he returns to his old law firm to share his story of learning inner peace and spiritual happiness from some monks who live high atop a mountain. Written very much in the style of an inspirational business book like The One Minute Manager by Ken Blanchard. Characters: Julian, the ex power attorney, seems to have taken things seriously when having his heart attack, but it seems rather unrealistic to go from being a power hungry attorney to living in India to seek your spiritual trueness overnight. Frame: setting is strictly conversations in a non-descript setting; pacing is very layered and drawn out Style: The tone of the book is very business inspirational – much like the Ken Blanchard books who tell inspirational stories to motivate other towards becoming better managers.

Short on story and long on instruction, but an easy, rewarding readIn “The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari,” Robin S. Sharma clothes sound advice for spiritual and personal growth in a thin mantle of fiction that delivers much instruction but minimal entertainment. However, Sharma’s fictional approach makes for an easy read and good retention of his key principles.Spiritual/metaphysical content: The narrator spends one revelation-filled night with Julian Mantle learning the fundamentals of spiritual growth. Julian imparts everything he has learned from his time with the Sivana monks, cramming a lifetime of wisdom into their short time together. Sharma structures the lessons into seven chapters based on a short fable full of symbols. Each symbol represents a key idea from the Seven Basic Principles for Enlightened Living. Each chapter ends with an action page that summarizes the symbol, what you need to remember, and techniques to try, such as the Ten Rituals for Radiant Living.My take: Sharma calls his book a “fable” in the subtitle, but it is both more and less than that. The fable part takes place in the opening chapters of the book, in which we discover that the hard-driven attorney has moved to India, become a monk, and after three years has returned to pass on his wisdom to his protégé. That’s the extent of the story, and character development fares little better. As a work of fiction, the book leaves much to be desired.However, as a collection of easy-to-digest life strategies and pearls of wisdom, the book is quite satisfying. Sharma has organized the book around a short fable about a garden full of symbols (a fable within a fable), which makes it easy to understand and follow his 30-day plan to enlightened living. The give-and-take of dialog between Julian Mantle and his student rescues the story from the tedium of an instructional guide. If your primary goal as a reader is to quickly absorb the core of Sharma’s life improvement teaching, then this book is a great place to start.For more reviews of new age novels, see Fiction For A New Age.

I read two books for m… I read two books for my Black Belt Test: Mindfulness in Plain English, by Bhante Gunaratana and The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari, a Fable About Fulfilling Your Dreams and Reaching Your Destiny by Robin S. Sharma. I will be reviewing the latter book. This book tells the tale of Julian Mantle, a lawyer whose life was unfulfilled and out of balance. He suffers a heart attack, a wake-up call, and abandons his life in search of meaning. He travels far and ultimately winds up studying with the Great Sages of Sivana. After learning many lessons, he returns to the United States to share his newfound wisdom with his former legal associate, John. The practical lessons within this jewel of a book teach us to: • “Develop Joyful Thoughts • Follow Our Life’s Mission and Calling • Cultivate Self-Discipline and Act Courageously • Value Time As Our Most Important Commodity • Nourish Our Relationships, and • Live Fully, One Day At A Time.” Although the writing can be somewhat forced at times, the pearls of wisdom far outweigh any stylistic flaws. The structure of the book is an all-night conversation between Julian and John. Julian relates a story, which goes something like this: You are sitting in a magnificent, lush, green garden. It is tranquil and silent. In the midst of this beauty you notice a tall towering lighthouse. From a door at the base, out stumbles a nine-foot-tall nine-hundred-pound Japanese sumo wrestler. He is clothed in pink wire cable. He finds a shiny gold stopwatch, but slips on it and falls, knocked unconscious. When he awakens, he is greeted by the fragrance of roses. He goes to the bushes and then sees a long winding path covered by millions of diamonds. Something tells him to take this path. Each of these elements in the story represents a lesson to be learned. For example, the lush garden represents the mind. Just as we would yank out any weeds growing in our garden, so we must guard against them in our mind. The weeds of the mind are negative thoughts. They stand in the way of our true potential and happiness. The lighthouse represents your purpose in life. It must be tall and bright for you to see it, for you cannot hit a target you cannot see. The sumo wrestler represents self-mastery or Kaizen and the wire he wears stands for self-discipline. The clock he trips upon reminds us not to waste time, for it is precious. The roses remind us to selflessly serve others and the diamonds on the path symbolize the jewel of living in the present. At the end of each lesson, Sharma has included a summary page sharing the symbol, the virtue learned, the wisdom behind it, the techniques to use and a quotable quote. For me, the first lesson about the garden was particularly significant and provided immediate confirmation that the lessons within this book are important and true. I had been having difficulty remembering the sequence of some of the Taeguk forms and I realized while reading this book that I had a negative voice in my head telling me that I couldn’t learn them. Within a day of silencing this nasty voice and replacing it with the positive twin “could,” I was able to master my forms. There were immediate benefits and lessons from each of the symbols, but obviously they are lessons that must be learned and practiced continually in order to see changes in my life. In fact, the book states that any desired change must be practiced for 21 consecutive days before the new thought/attitude/behavior will stick. While reading this book, I dog-eared many pages and highlighted lots of passages. I am quite sure I will be reread this book many times. Below I have shared just a few of my favorite words of wisdom from The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari. (I could go on for pages!) • Never regret your past. Rather, embrace it as the teacher that it is. * • There are no mistakes in life, only lessons. • Begin to live out the glory of your imagination, not your memory. • The price of greatness is responsibility over each of your thoughts. -Churchill • Stillness is the stepping stone to connecting with the universal source of intelligence that throbs through every living thing. • Everything is created twice, first in the mind and then in reality. • Imagination is more important than knowledge. -Einstein • The only limits on your life are those you set yourself. -Yogi Raman • Failure is not having the courage to try. And most interestingly: • The Chinese character for “crisis” is comprised of two sub-characters: one that spells “danger” and another that spells “opportunity”…the ancient Chinese knew that there is a bright side to the darkest circumstances-if you have the courage to look for it. Obviously, I highly recommend this book! It will bless your life. * If no author is listed, the quote is attributed to Julian.

I didnt like it. It … I didn’t like it. It is typical of a westerner who got “surprised” by the eastern values. Too much of a drama, IMHO.

I found this book quit… I found this book quite ordinary. It may appeal to some people who are quite optimistic or may not have faced hard realities of life. The title of the book is quite attractive but the theme is quite ordinary.