Here’s a good way to save yourself $23.95: Don’t buy The Secret.  It’s not that I’m against secrets in general, it’s just that I want to spare you from wasting your money on a hot new book called “The Secret,” a book that has hit a new low in shallow, self-absorbed and insipid hype.  There is almost nothing in this book worth reading, which is a pretty amazing thing to say about a a book that is featured prominently at Borders and other large bookstores.  It’s has even become the number one best selling hardcover advice book according to the NYT.  And why wait to make it into a movie?  Truly, why wait?

I don’t know much about Rhonda Byrne, the author, or her gaggle of “great writers, leaders, philosophers, doctors, and scientists.”  Byrne presents an unlikely image of a sage.  She attempts to strike a pensive blonde pose on that the inside flap, yet obliviously presents herself as strained, contorted and out of her element. Much like her book.  Or am I too contaminated by the shallow, self-absorbed and insipid hype that one finds wrapped in that beautifully designed book jacket? Truly, the book jacket is gorgeous, though you would get equally helpful advice (perhaps more) by trying to “read” a Persian rug.

You’re impatient, though.  You want the goods.  Here they are: What can you say about a book based on the following premise: “Everything that’s coming into your life you are attracting into your life.  …