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Sunday, June 24, 2012

Success Secrets Of Highly Secretive People


                                  [Harpo-cratic Eros, c. 100–50 BCE. (public domain)]
I don't ordinarily do reviews but will make an exception here because this is an exceptional book. I don't have to tell you how successful it has been over the years in helping people like you and me keep ourselves to ourselves in a pressure-cooker of mass disclosure. Nor do I have to tell you how many refinements and editions it has gone through, so I won't because I don't have to and you can't make me.

It is sufficient to say that, unlike other self-help books, Success Secrets Of Highly Secretive People has undergone enough constructive revision to have cleared it of any accidental clarity.

Some books can change your life. I'm not telling whether this one will or not. That is not the job of the reviewer. It is the job of the apologist, and most people think apologists are a pretty sorry bunch. I could tell you that is because most people never crack a dictionary --now THERE'S a life-changing book-- but I won't. That would be blabbing. Nor is it the reviewer's job to fall under the spell of his or her subject even when confronted with great truths like, "Only in the presence of secrecy can blabbing flourish." Of course, that is not a great truth, nor is it in the book. I just made it up. It is nonsense-- but could the reverse be true?

If there are answers to this and other important questions --who wrote the thing, where can one find it-- they are not forthcoming. I had the honor to meet the author at a wildly successful secret book-signing and asked how the subject arose and why it was so fascinating. The author gave me a kindly, earnest, pensive look, thought for a moment and said, "Nosey old thing, aren't you?"

9 comments:

  1. I wish you could extract some choice secrets from this secretive author and whisper them to me. I have long tried to live a secretive existence, until I started keeping a secretive blog which - for some reason unbeknownst to me - is no longer a secret. The success of secret people is a mystery to me, but something I would definitely like to pursue.

    (I was going to post this comment annonymously, but feared that my secret wouldn't be safe for very long)

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  2. True, neither of our blogs are secret any more but don't tell anybody!

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  3. I spelled "anonymously" wrong in my previous comment. Could you please keep it a secret?

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  4. Ah, you found the book that has been the secret to my success, which no one else knows about of course.

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  5. Know? Know about what book? Jon and I won't tell.

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  6. HA! How I've missed your wit! I especially like your comment that apologists are mostly a "sorry lot". Too funny. Good to be back visiting some of my favorite blogs again. Am eeeeasing back into the blogosphere today, and will start posting again on Wednesday. Recess is over!

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  7. Thanks Susan! Most kind. I look forward to Wednesday.

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  8. Why are we whispering?

    You obviously have no problem finding your creative muse, Geo. Classic.

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