# The book "The Secret" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 30, 2020, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-book-the-secret/913823 "2020-06-30T17:57:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mystrygst2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@mystrygst2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mystrygst2)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-book-the-secret/913823/1 "2020-06-30T17:57:35Z")
How many of you have read the book “The Secret” or currently have it with you? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Crap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.crap/32/3131_2.png) [@Dr.Crap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Crap)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-book-the-secret/913823/2 "2020-06-30T19:45:21Z")
I was made to watch the movie in college (which is ridiculous); does that count? ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-book-the-secret/913823/3 "2020-06-30T19:51:39Z")
Tremendous username/thread topic combo there, Doctor. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Crap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.crap/32/3131_2.png) [@Dr.Crap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Crap)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-book-the-secret/913823/4 "2020-06-30T20:13:32Z")
I may not be a real doctor but here’s some free advice: never put an illness on your vision board. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-book-the-secret/913823/5 "2020-06-30T20:39:02Z")
I have reading it on my “to do” list, in between eating a live porcupine and plucking my cat. ---
**Author:** ![snoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/43a26b/32.png) [@snoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snoe)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2020, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-book-the-secret/913823/6 "2020-06-30T22:57:57Z")
Oh, _The Secret._ That cursed object, that wretched thing. I’m making the sign of the cross in my mind. I worked in bookstores for 12 years. There are some books I’m just never going to read because I have a visceral response to seeing them. My subconscious remembers some combination of the following: unboxing hundreds of copies of these books; slapping sale stickers and/or price tags on them; schlepping them to display on their release date and struggling to find a place to store the rest if we bought too many; struggling to track down the last copy after the author went on “Oprah“ (hello, _Secret_!); telling disappointed people that we’re sold out, and listening to them use “but your website says you have it!” as an argument; and getting massively oversized shipments when the publisher finally does a reprinting. If enough of those things happened way back then, something snapped inside me. I just _can’t_ with these books. Some of them are probably great works of literature or nonfiction or whatever. Others might be a lot of fun to read, but I’ll never know. (Try explaining to your peers why no, you’ve never read any of the _Harry Potter_ books, _and the very titles make you wince_.) Others are, well, _The Secret_. I will say that it is one of the least impressive-looking books I’ve idly glanced at during a bookstore shift, and I hesitate to call it a “book” at all — if I recall correctly, it’s more of a pamphlet padded out to (still very small) book size with big fonts, margins, and illustrations. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 12:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-book-the-secret/913823/7 "2020-07-01T00:50:13Z")
sounds like one of those crackpot books like years ago there was “the rules” which was supposed to expose “the unwritten rules” of how the neblous world elite were supposed to be able to get away with everything… It was just another delusional conspaircy rant that was supremely badly written laughed at and dismissed … ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-book-the-secret/913823/8 "2020-07-01T00:58:10Z")
Am I allowed to ask what The Secret in the book actually is? Or are we not doing spoilers in this thread? ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-book-the-secret/913823/9 "2020-07-01T00:58:32Z")
heh its not even that entertaining its justs new age woo about"the power of positive thinking" heres some reviews fron the books wiki page : Valerie Frankel of _[Good Housekeeping](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Housekeeping)_ wrote an article about her trying the principles of _The Secret_ for four weeks. While she reached some of her goals, others had improved. Frankel’s final assessment is: "Counting my blessings has been uplifting, reminding me of what’s already great about my life. Visualization has forced me to pay attention to what I really desire. And laughing is never a bad idea. If you ignore _The Secret_ 's far-too-simplistic maxims (no, you will not be doomed to a miserable life for thinking negative thoughts) and the hocus-pocus (the cosmos isn’t going to deliver a new car; it’s busy), there’s actually some helpful advice in the book. But it’s nothing you don’t already know. [Mark Manson](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Manson), author of _[The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F\*ck](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Subtle_Art_of_Not_Giving_a_F*ck)_ , is one of the harshest critics, writing that the book is “full of misplaced clichés, silly quotes, and superstitious drivel,” and calls it a “playbook for entitlement and self-absorption,” which “anybody who reads it and implements its advice … will likely make themselves worse off in the long run.”[[14]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_%28book%29#cite_note-mark_TheS-14) [John G. Stackhouse Jr.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_G._Stackhouse_Jr.) has provided historical context, locating Byrne’s book in the tradition of [New Thought](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Thought) and popular religion, and concluding that “it isn’t new, and it isn’t a secret”.[[15]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_%28book%29#cite_note-johnstackhouse-15) Byrne’s scientific claims, in particular concerning [quantum physics](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_physics), have been rejected by a range of authors including Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons at _[The New York Times](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times)_ [[16]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_%28book%29#cite_note-Chabris-16) and [Harvard](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvard_University) physicist [Lisa Randall](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lisa_Randall).[[17]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_%28book%29#cite_note-Randall-17) Mary Carmichael and Ben Radford, writing for the [Center for Inquiry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_for_Inquiry), have also pointed out that _The Secret_ has no scientific foundation, stating that Byrne’s book represents: “a time-worn trick of mixing banal [truisms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Truism) with [magical thinking](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magical_thinking) and presenting it as some sort of hidden knowledge: basically, it’s the new [New Thought](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Thought).”[[18]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Secret_%28book%29#cite_note-secrets_and_lies-18) ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-book-the-secret/913823/10 "2020-07-01T01:03:30Z")
I bought the book during a tough time in my life because someone recomended it. I returned it to the bookstore, unfinished. The store asked the reason for the return, and I answered honestly “Because it’s bullshit.” ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Crap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.crap/32/3131_2.png) [@Dr.Crap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Crap)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-book-the-secret/913823/11 "2020-07-01T02:40:52Z")
The Secret is about the Law of Attraction. > **[The Truth About the Law of Attraction](https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-blame-game/201609/the-truth-about-the-law-attraction)** > > It doesn't exist! In the movie, the book’s author claimed Benjamin Franklin and others knew about the Law of Attraction but suppressed knowledge of it because they were assholes – my paraphrasing. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-book-the-secret/913823/12 "2020-07-01T16:26:39Z")
I read it, because a person I normally think of as rational recommended it. After reading it, I surreptitiously scanned him with my Woo Meter and he pegged it. I’d never noticed! It’s complete bullshit, but written in a way that the weak minded can glom onto and believe that they now have the Secret. ---
**Author:** ![erysichthon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d07c76/32.png) [@erysichthon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erysichthon)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-book-the-secret/913823/13 "2020-07-01T17:15:25Z")
I haven’t read it. However, a friend recommended it to me, and explained how the “law of attraction” could provide me with whatever I wanted. I jokingly said that it didn’t work for me because I wasn’t married to Charlize Theron. She replied, in a tone of utter seriousness, that I wasn’t married to Charlize because I hadn’t _wanted_ it enough. Anyway, I thanked her for the recommendation and told her I’d “check it out,” which is my go-to response for unsolicited recommendations that I have no intention of following up on. ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-book-the-secret/913823/14 "2020-07-01T17:19:28Z")
I appreciate you taking one for the team, **snfaulkner**! I haven’t read The Secret but I’ve read Richard Bach’s Illusions: The Adventures of a Reluctant Messiah. Ol’ Richard had the secret way back in the seventies! ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-book-the-secret/913823/15 "2020-07-01T17:30:38Z")
This thread isn’t about [buried treasure](https://smile.amazon.com/Secret-Byron-Preiss/dp/1596874015/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3560EVBWJPUGC&dchild=1&keywords=the+secret&qid=1593624541&s=books&sprefix=the+secret%2Caps%2C151&sr=1-3)? ---
**Author:** ![mystrygst2](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@mystrygst2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mystrygst2)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-book-the-secret/913823/16 "2020-07-01T18:52:33Z")
What do you think of their chapter “the Secret to Health” in particular? Such as the following: - the placebo effect? - People curing themselves of cancer or diseases on their own without any treatment or anything? - A man who thought himself how to walk after being paralyzed from crashing an airplane (i.e. and where the doctor also said he’d be a vegetable the rest of his life, etc). ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-book-the-secret/913823/17 "2020-07-01T19:18:44Z")
How about you tell us what you think about those things? ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-book-the-secret/913823/18 "2020-07-01T19:27:53Z")
I read part of it at the urging of a girlfriend long ago. As far as I can tell _The Secret_ is just survivorship bias. Sure, if you ask a bunch of successful people what they did, they are almost always going to say that they imagined their success and strived for it. But lots of unsuccessful people did too. Everyone who buys a lottery ticket imagines themselves winning. But almost none of them do. Wanting something, and envisioning a future in which you have it, is probably a _necessary_ component of achieving it. If you don’t want it, you won’t take steps toward it. But the idea that it’s enough on its own is bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2020, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-book-the-secret/913823/19 "2020-07-01T23:41:59Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > This thread isn’t about [buried treasure](https://smile.amazon.com/Secret-Byron-Preiss/dp/1596874015/ref=sr_1_3?crid=3560EVBWJPUGC&dchild=1&keywords=the+secret&qid=1593624541&s=books&sprefix=the+secret%2Caps%2C151&sr=1-3)? That was my first thought also. As you can imagine, I was a little confused when I started reading this thread.