Don Miguel Ruiz

ISBN 978-1878424310

The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom

I was suprised. I thought I would really like this book. A friend of mine told me the basic ideas are to be impeccable in your speech, not take things personally, make no assumptions, and always do your best. That sounded good to me: be honest, be mild, give others the chance to express their opinion and do your best... or so I thought!

The ideas were actually more like: don't send poisonous words that enchant people, don't let others poison you with their spells (strangely, right?), don't expect others, and yes, do your best. My husband and I wanted to read it together, but he couldn't keep it to page 16! I had to read it to our reading group, so I continued on my own. I found the explanations for these ideas unnecessarily described as black or white magic, unnecessarily loaded with examples, and I felt the author was turning to me.

The four agreements audiobook

Also by far the biggest flaw in the book, if it wasn't so bloated by explaining EVERY concept too much, the information could have been presented in half OR LESS length!!!! Really, an elementary school student might need all the simple explanations backed up by many examples, but even a teenager would feel like Ruiz is beating a dead horse! (Just like my husband and I on page 16!) Another friend told me that the ideas in this book reminded her of things she'd heard before, citing You Are Special, an excellent children's book by Max Lucado, as an example. I recommend that you read this instead of this book. The ideas in the book seemed religious and might suit someone who has no religion and is looking for principles to rule their lives.

But to me as a Christian, I felt that these concepts were not just familiar, but summed up in "loving one another" and "trying to be like Jesus." I didn't really like the book, but I don't have to worry about the author taking it personally! :)