5 Overrated Books That Aren't Worth Your Time

All of these are self-help books.

Coincidence?

When people start reading books, there is a good chance they will start with a self-help book. I did that as well. However, most of these books provide mediocre information with zero future impact. All of the principles are sugarcoated with wise and beautiful words.

Here are the books that I would never recommend to anyone —

#1: The Secret — Rhonda Byrne

It has a 4.6/5 rating on Amazon.

The Law of Attraction. Whatever you send out of positive thoughts to the Universe comes back to you. It’s a bit like karma. You think positively, good things will happen, you think negatively, bad things will happen.

According to the author, people who are raped, killed, maimed, and tortured — all bring it on themselves with their negative thoughts. Outrageous.

Quantum Physicists will tell you the universe was created from thought!

No, it wasn’t.

I believe it is a dangerous book. Just like astrology, it puts you in your comfort zone. People limit their efforts to thoughts.

Positive thoughts won’t guarantee you success and happiness.

P.S If the world had such easy rules, everyone would have been successful.

#2: The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari — Robin S. Sharma

I never finished the book.

The Monk who sold his Ferrari. It’s written in a story format where the main character learns from his former boss who is rich but unhappy. It tells you things like you should use your time wisely, but it doesn’t give you any applicable advice to help you use time wisely.

It’s basically a beginner’s insight into spiritual development.

The author tried to fill the book with wisdom, however, it is very mediocre, failing to make any impact.

I found it very boring.

#3: Think and Grow Rich — Napoleon Hill

The first book of anyone getting into finance.

The starting point of all achievement is desire. Keep this constantly in mind. Weak desire brings weak results, just as a small fire makes a small amount of heat.

So if your business is not successful, you are to blame?

I’m sorry but this is f*cking hilarious.

Success in business depends on tons of factors —

• How well your business idea correlates with today’s society, timeline, trends and others.
• Where you are from. For example, people born in the US have a huge advantage over other countries. I can’t even apply for the Partner Program.
• The investing capital. You need a lot more money than you think you need.
• Sadly, your race, culture and nationality are still taken into account.
• The most important part, which very few people like to mention. LUCK. Pewdiepie, the most popular YouTuber, has mentioned that luck was a huge factor in his success.

#4: The Alchemist — Paulo Coelho

Everything in this book is so obvious.

If you really want something and “listen to your heart”, the whole universe will help you achieve it if you only look for omens.

Omens are the Language of the World. Learning to read them is communicating with the Soul of the World and the hand that wrote all. All things are one. Listen to your heart, it speaks in the Language of the World.

Please tell that to people who get bombed, a person who has a deadly illness or people who are born in poverty drinking polluted water every day. Or they don’t count?

The world doesn’t revolve around you. Sorry, but you are not special. We are just a bunch of atoms flowing through the universe.

The idea is the same as in “The Secret”. A sugarcoated placebo.

It felt like a really bad self-help book written for an 8-year-old.

#5: Rich Dad, Poor Dad

This was the first ever book I have read.

It was a good book to get me excited about my financial future, but there was a lot of false information that miss guided me.

Saying that higher education isn’t worthwhile is misleading. I agree that it is not essential, but still, people who attend good universities have a higher chance of becoming successful.

He also promotes the idea of getting out of a stable job, “the rat race”.

What’s so bad in working a stable job if you are getting well paid and you are enjoying the work you are doing?

Also, it appears that the whole book was a lie.

There never was a rich dad and Robert wasn’t wealthy until he embraced MLM and started selling get-rich books.

This was my opinion. I don’t mean to insult anyone. I believe you are going to waste a lot of time on these books. You can use this time on better ones.

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Thanks for reading :)