Personal Development for Smart People Book Reviews

Here’s the first batch of book reviews that bloggers have posted for Personal Development for Smart People.

I’m delighted to see that the feedback on the book has been so overwhelmingly positive. On Amazon.com the book currently has an average rating of 4.74 out of 5 stars (with 23 reviews posted), and overall the blogosphere reviews have been similarly enthusiastic.

Some reviewers were pleasantly surprised that the book isn’t merely a rehashing of the blog’s content. That’s very true. While there is some overlap, most of my blog articles are about what you might call the branches of personal development. The book, however, is about the roots — the core principles that tie everything together. Reading the book is not at all like reading a bunch of blog posts. I was able to give the book a cohesive structure that I couldn’t do with the medium of blogging.

This is a book that can take a while to sink in. Lots of people told me they had to slow down while reading it because they had to stop and process the ideas that came to them.

So here are the early reviews from the blogosphere. These are posted roughly in the order they were received.

Note: Links that have gone dead since this original post was made have been removed.

  1. http://geoffjones.com/2008/09/17/truth-love-power/
  2. http://michaeldbrown.wordpress.com/2008/09/24/a-personal-development-book-like-no-other%e2%80%a6/
  3. http://www.skillstoolbox.com/PersonalDevelopmentForSmartPeople.php
  4. http://simplisticthoughts.com/2008/09/25/personal-development-for-smart-people/
  5. The Abundance Site review
  6. http://www.positive-attitude-tips.com/personal-development-for-smart-people.html
  7. http://www.takebackyourbrain.com/2008/personal-marketing-for-smart-people/
  8. http://seedsforsanctuary.blogspot.com/2008/09/steve-pavlina-personal-development-for.html
  9. http://coachsteer.typepad.com/coachsteer/2008/09/smart-steps-to-better-health-fitness.html
  10. http://www.simpleproductivityblog.com/book-review-personal-development-for-smart-people/
  11. http://woowoowisdom.blogspot.com/2008/09/steve-pavlina-personal-development-for.html
  12. http://www.blatternet.ch/index.php/2008/09/30/personal-development-for-smart-people/ (German)
  13. http://www.lightalongthejourney.com/?p=779
  14. http://www.basilv.com/psd/blog/2008/personal-development-for-software-developers
  15. http://www.denacrain.com/blog/?p=894
  16. http://selfmod.net/?p=72
  17. http://www.familyuni.com/review-personal-development-for-smart-people-by-steve-pavlina/289
  18. http://b2btechcopy.com/2008/10/07/steve-why-did-you-do-this-to-me-october-7-2008/
  19. The Sunny Way review
  20. http://mikestrawbridge.com/Personal-development-for-smart-people.shtml
  21. http://www.balancedexistence.com/personal-development-smart-people-steve-pavlina/
  22. http://druidjournal.net/2008/10/11/steve-pavlinas-seven-principles-for-smart-people-astrology-and-personal-development/
  23. http://www.glowingfaceman.com/2008/10/book-review-steve-pavlinas-personal.html
  24. http://www.practical-discipleship.com/oddsandendspavlinareview.html
  25. http://www.erica.biz/2008/why-i-became-a-blogger/
  26. http://www.unlimitedchoice.org/blog/daily/personal-development-for-smart-people-book-review/
  27. http://www.ask-gratitude.com/personal-development-for-smart-people.html

I’ll post another batch as the reviews continue to come in. I’ve noticed that new ones are appearing every day now.

This weekend I actually saw the book on the retail shelves for the very first time. A local Barnes & Noble had six copies. It actually seemed a bit anticlimactic though, perhaps because I feel more connected to the virtual shelves than the physical ones. 🙂