The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari

A MUST READ!

This book literally changed my life. I have already recommended it to all of my friends and family. The best quote was "Truly enlightened people do not seek to be like others, but rather a better version of their former self". Something that I know that I was very guilt of.

13 of 16 people found this review helpful

Much hype for rehashed ideas...

Even though I agree with Robin Sharma's intentions, I was bitterly disappointed with this book. After seeing the book in stores for ages, I finally decided to try it out. As a fellow reviewer noted, this book certainly does not live up to the hype it generated and is basically a poor summary of Anthony Robbins' personal development programs. Not only does Sharma blatantly plagiarise other authors' work, he follows an illogical 'cut & paste' formula that doesn't really work for me. Needless to say, it contains really good elements, but instead of explaining them (and the rationale behind them) fully, he over-embellishes the importance of them by using adjectives. Sadly, this book seems to similar to the style used in 'The Secret'. If you liked that, you'll like this. Not my taste- I'd much prefer listening to Robbins, Covey, Blanchard or even Dale Carnegie...

15 of 19 people found this review helpful

Not all it cracked up to be

I have heard about this book on many occasions over the years. Many writers I like have told that it is a book they have read. Now I have listened to it and I didn't enjoy at all.

Very short, if you haven't read any other self management book or anything similar to it, i might work for you. But for me, it was very shallow and there was nothing new at all. It is a nice idea to make it into a story or fable and not just an instruction manual but I don't think it works.

The narrator does a good job but I would recommend anyone to listen to another book. There are plenty.

2 of 2 people found this review helpful

Thought it was too cliche

What would have made The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari better?

Though the story makes you realize that the daily mundane things aren't what your life should be about, and that you need to always remind yourself of the important things in life, to me the story was presented in a conventional and maybe not so interesting way.

Would you ever listen to anything by Robin Sharma again?

Probably not.

What reaction did this book spark in you? Anger, sadness, disappointment?

It voided me of patience. The events and the discussions were very predictable, nothing new and engaging.

8 of 10 people found this review helpful

An utter disappointment

I expected to be uplifted like I was after listening to his ebook on leadership. This one came across as a poorly written outlandish lie which was trying too damn hard. This might be a stretch, but even Dan Brown writes better than this guy. I was mislead to believe this book would be serving a hefty helping of inspiration and perspective. The only thing Audible should be serving in this case is a refund. What a bore... Save yourself the trouble and avoid this steaming hunk of literary excrement.

7 of 9 people found this review helpful

Order matters

Just a quick recommendation based on my experience. Don’t read the 5AM club (by the same author) before this one. Start with this book and then go to the other, otherwise it will feel this is a summary.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Not worth the time and money

This book wasn’t for you, but who do you think might enjoy it more?

Try some of the free stuff of Robin Sharma which is quite good, but this really was not worth the time.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Robin Sharma?

Yes, some of his stuff is good. There is a free audio book on audible which I highly recommend.

If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari?

The part about the monk who sold his Ferrari.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

An early work that doesn't show Robin's full value

I purchased this audio book after listening to Robin's free book on leadership (a book that I highly recommend you do listen to). Although The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari is packed full of interesting and useful ideas, I found the story to be simple and the dialogue to be almost anoyingly so at times. Still well worth the time to listen too and draw upon; however, the book failed to demonstrate the maturity of Robin as the presenter he is now.

1 of 1 people found this review helpful

Guide to better life

Great book. Will open your eyes to life. Also if you are from India, it brings back the old memories what our parents have taught us and things what we forgot about life. Love this book. and I am pretty sure any one listening will also.

3 of 4 people found this review helpful

Reworked ideas wrapped in a poor story

I found this book profoundly disappointing. Take any self help book focused on "ancient wisdom of the east" and you will have the meat of this book. Next place it in the context of a story that is so completely hackneyed that it distracts from the message. Finally, add a narrator that uses a voice of "breathless wonder". The result is painful.

Nothing in the book is actually wrong. It is just that Sharma could have actually written an enjoyable simple story with real characters and then illustrated his points by having the characters try (and perhaps sometimes fail) to pursue the goals using the techniques he touts. The patent unbelievability of the story; a man who is grossly overweight running at 17,000 feet to catch up to a mystic monk who no one can find but somehow he finds in a week, the friend who has a family that is only mentioned in passing and is conveniently gone during the all night training session, the mixing of meditation techniques with modern neural theories and social shaming and presentation of this as ancient wisdom. I found myself gritting my teeth. Perhaps the worst part is the idea that this miraculous change is somehow easy to accomplish.

7 of 11 people found this review helpful