I don't usually buy self help books but when invited by Netgalley to read this book I took the plunge and downloaded it.
I wasn't sure what I might get out of it, but early on in "Relationships" came across a series of questions which made it pretty clear that, as a happily married man with a successful career behind me I was not in the target readership. Putting it rather cruelly, but bluntly, the book reaches out to those who are unhappy in their lives and, in particular are longing for a successful relationship.
None-the-less, I read the book from cover to cover and it seemed to be to have some useful ideas. There is nothing new about the basic theme of positive thinking; the famous book, "The Power of positive Thinking " by Norman Peale was published in 1952. Here much the same was repackaged for a modern audience and the suggestions for taking up yoga, and being better organised in daily life cannot do any harm.
These sound ideas were wrapped up in references to recent scientific research and garnished by the author's undoubted professional qualification but cutting through the well written presentation I found little here that was actually new or original.

Certainly an interesting read. Gives you pointers on a variety of subjects
Thank you to both NetGalley and Penguin for giving me the opportunity to read this book in exchange for my honest unbiased review

This book is like a better version of the Secret. It doesn’t play the blame game but specifically focuses on the present and future. What are you doing today to impact your future.

There are real life examples throughout the book of people who Tara has coached with their lives before and after focusing on what they want in their life and how to visualise that future.

There is a big focus at the beginning about the physiology of our manifestations and how neuroscience works for us,

I thought it was informative and practical and has given me ideas on how I can move forwards and stop feeling ‘stuck’.

Not the first book I’ve read that covers this subject material. It was interesting, especially from the more scientific angle. I’m not sure that it really told me anything I hadn’t encountered in a slightly more personable format before. By and large the information was good if a little padded and a little drily presented. I can see this being a revelation for one person and a disappointment for another.

My thanks to NetGalley and publishers for the ARC.
I've always been somewhat interested in the power of the mind which prompted me to have a look at this book. However, I found it extremely dry reading, prescriptive and full of promises that I would be 'shown' how to achieve my life's ambitions yet, 40% through I felt I was getting nowhere. I have no doubt Tara Swart is a very learned person, and she does give researched evidence of changes in brain activity, however for me, I found this book akin to academic text and lacking any dynamism directed at enthusing the reader.

A very interesting and well executed book regarding the neuroscience evidence on how to replace negative or harmful behaviour and habits with more positive ones by the avenues of neuroplasticity. This is something I've become interested in recently after reading a few guides to mindfulness etc and so it is apt that this book arrived when it did to explore these concepts in more depth and learn how to apply them to my daily life. Dr Tara Swart writes in a way that you can easily understand the concepts and biology of what our brains are capable of and then provides easy to follow step-by-step instructions on how to not only identify what changes we need to make but how to achieve these goals.
I am vaguely aware of the concepts surrounding The Secret and this book tackles them from a neuroscience evidence based approach which was well explained and inspiring.
This would be a great book for anyone that feels stuck, anxious or a great other variety of negative life situations at work, home etc.

First, this book's cover does not do it justice. It's a fairly generic self-help cover without anything to really suggest the utter treasures inside! My suggestion would be to create something WAY more dynamic.

That said, this book is every self-help science focused nerd's dream. It's verification and scientifically-tested improval tips for many of the major self-help techniques. I've been mostly reading about visualisation and, coming from a cognitively trained background, although the writing is friendly and straight-forward, the breadth of knowledge behind it is breathing-taking.

I think it worth pointing out that Jesus himself talked about the importance of visualising your prayer goals (for things you wish to receive) and although this is science based - there never really was a huge gap between science and religious faith. The first great scientists all believed in a universe ordered by laws given my God - so the idea that evidence like this would not be useful to a person of faith - is misguided.

I fully recommend this book. It even has an innovative link method contained within the book - when the author mentions a previous point she includes a 'jump-link' so you can go back to that page and refresh yourself on the point. This is such a great idea I'm going to use it in my books.

Fascinating insight into the brain, how our minds work and the impact upon our lives as well as our health (both mental and physical).