I Can See Clearly Now

January 1, 2014
A self-help guru's reflections on how he became who he is. Self-empowerment is one key to success in life, and nowhere is this more evident than in Dyer's (21 Days to Master Success and Inner Peace, 2012, etc.) rich unfolding of his life stories. From some of his earliest childhood memories in the early 1940s to the present, Dyer takes readers on a nearly year-by-year trip through the events in his life that led him to write more than 40 books and undertake other projects related to self-development. Each action, he writes, often directed by a divine force, put him one step further on the path of becoming the man he knew he was meant to become. For years, he questioned the people and books influencing him, but he continued to follow an inner knowledge that connected him spiritually and emotionally to the world around him. Dyer writes, "It no longer takes years for me to have this insight--everything and everyone are connected to each other and to the Tao or the universal one mind from which all things originate and return." Dyer addresses the fears and setbacks that he encountered along the way, including the need to find his absentee father, whose abandonment filled Dyer with anger for years. Only at his gravesite was the author able to forgive the man and "[cleanse his] soul of the toxicity that living with internal rage brings." Every emotional experience was another pivot point for Dyer, and from them, he produced his best-selling books, audiotapes and lectures. The author's reflections on the twists and turns of his authentic life reveal the power inherent in each of us to have the same joyful existence, though many of his pronouncements may be too far out there for many readers--e.g., "There is no time; 1968 and 2018 are all one, even though our body-mind sees them as separated by 50 years." For devotees of both Dyer and self-help books, an inspirational account of the essence of the man behind Your Erroneous Zones and other self-help titles.

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March 1, 2014
In this memoir, best-selling author and self-help guru Dyer writes about where he came from and how he got to be who he isbut that doesn't mean he's not teaching his readers at the same time. Dyer picks dozens of episodes from his life and follows each several-page remembrance with an explanation of why the event was key and how it pushed him along his path. Coming from a broken home and spending much of his childhood in foster care, Dyer didn't have a road map for success. Yet, by following his instincts, feeling the fear and doing things anyway, and trying to come from a place of service rather than acquisition, he became one of the best-known names in the self-help industry. Along with writing about his successes, Dyer dips into what some might construe as less-stellar momentsillness, marital strifebut he explains how these events had their own brand of both purpose and meaning. Those on a spiritual path will find this a satisfying stop.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)