"Monique Y. Mudama" wrote:
On 2006-07-06, Takayuki penned:
That poor first impression ruined the rest of it, since in order to
benefit from a self-help book, you need to trust the author, or at
least be able to relate at some level.

Absolutely. And it may very well be that your personal journey won't
benefit from that book, whereas your friend found some profound
insight for him/herself.

Out of curiosity, since the tone of the book grated on you so much,
did it affect your view of your friend?

No, it didn't affect my views. I just admired that she was working to
improve herself in various ways, and I just thought that it wasn't me.
Ketchup doesn't taste good on everything.

My feelings towards Covey was not grating, precisely, but more like
inadvertent humor. To me, the experiences he related were tragicomic,
and it made me think of him as a Gilligan or Jack Tripper instead of
someone who was trying to advise me, which was probably not the effect
he was after.