As a Man Thinketh
Assessment by Elnuma Emilkanova (Kyrgyzstan)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The whole idea of the book is about positivity: positive thinking, positive attitudes, positive feelings and…
2. What were the seven ideas which were personally most important to you and why? List these seven ideas followed by an explanation after each one as to why it was important to you. Use personal examples from your own life.
A. Frankly speaking, this book did not touch me much as the first one.
I guess because I have read a lot of books about positive thinking and so related topics that it was not new to me. I am so sorry; yes, I agree that we need to think positively that it influences our lives and so on. But I don’t want to repeat here all the ideas written in the book just in order to make up to 1,500 words. Dear, evaluator, hope you understand me and would not judge me strictly. I truly don’t want to answer this question just to meet the requirements. But I was glad that I read it till the end and even came across to another book of Russell Conwell’s, Acres of Diamonds. This was a fortune. Greatly enjoyed reading it and already had a little discussion with my family and friends who also read it after me. So I am very thankful that this book led me to another good book.
B. It is quite an interesting book and even challenging one as there are some thoughts that I agree and some are debatable.
As the mood of the book is written in two ways positive and negative, I think this is what I feel about it. Even the author makes a huge accent on positive thinking but it is difficult not to pay attention to the negative part as well because we know what is positive thanks to negative feelings.
C. There are so many ideas and comparisons in the book but to me it kind of seems that there is no soul in it.
It is all the assumptions and some facts but no stories, there are no people involved. It is so straight forward that there is nothing to visualize, to feel, to sense… No heroes, no flow, all just thoughts about positive and negative feelings. Every paragraph conveys a new idea, a new concept without giving enough time for a reader to think and analyze. Yes, I could stop after each idea and give a time for myself but it does not make sense as the main idea is already clear even reading between the lines. I guess presentation of the idea is different than I used to see and read.
D. Let’s take three heroes that author used in order to show their mistakes.
First one is a man who is wretchedly poor, the second one is a rich man who is the victim of a painful and persistent disease as the result of gluttony, and the third one is an employer of labor who adopts crooked measures to avoid paying the regulation wage to his work people in hope of making larger profit by doing that. Great examples, great lessons could be learnt from them but the way it is presented is dry. Three people’s life story is depicted in only three little paragraphs. The whole idea is dwelt around them but presented in a very poor way.
E. So many times in order to convince people or change their mind we strengthen our arguments with the support of examples, of true based stories of living human beings.
Especially, talking about the attitudes of people and trying to show them the best way, I think we need to be very convincing by different stories. Above mentioned three stories are great examples but make it sound more real, give a name, where they are from, be more specific what type of work they do and so on. A great example how the wisdom needs to be taught we can learn from God who in the Bible put it in the form of true based stories or parables.
Thank you, Deborah for making me to think more about it. So, I was thinking about this book today again and start asking myself questions: will I recommend this book to my friends? What should I say about it? If I would ever need to recommend this book to my friends or family, all I could say that it is a collection of thoughts about negativity and positivity from author’s perspective.
F. I am truly very sorry that my assessment of this book happened to be more criticism or disagreement.
Let me try my best also to put some good ideas about it. If it really considers a classic of all times and as it was written that it has inspired millions around the world there should be something that I could also find important or inspiring. I like these ideas: Cherish your visions; cherish your ideals; or calmness of mind is one of the beautiful jewels of wisdom.
G. Yes, there are good ideas but as I said they are not new to me.
The reason of my reaction to this book maybe is because the same ideas were much better portrait by other authors. This was the main reason I did not wanted to write the assessment at the first time knowing that it would mostly be negative. Sorry!!!
Over all, I read it twice and work on this assessment twice and met the minimum word requirement.
3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way, both in your daily personal life and in helping you to create a better world? If so, how?
Of course, positive thinking helps in all aspects of my life. It gives me a hope and believes that after challenges there comes a clear way.
4. Quotes: Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.
“Man is always the master, even in his weakest and most abandoned state.”
Yes, man has a choice but I am as a believer think that God is always the master.
“Blessedness and riches are only joined together when the riches are rightly and wisely used.”
I Disagree with this. God bless and give riches by His mercy. We have them not because of our good deeds.
“When a man makes his thoughts pure, he no longer desires impure food.”
It is true. When my thoughts are pure I have pure heart and pure mind but more important to have pure heart and soul.
“The dreamers are the saviors of the world.”
We, all are dreamers than we are all are saviors of the world. What about the people who only dream but do nothing to make this dream come true. Do we consider them also as saviors? Or maybe we need to distinguish and have two groups of saviors: passive and active. I don’t know.
5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?
This book was written in the form of comparison of positivity to negativity. Of course, I agree with the whole idea that positivity leads to better life, health, mood even wealth. But, I also believe that we need to experience the negativity in order to appreciate the positivity. I don’t want to lie to myself if I am in a bad mood that I am happy. Of course, I should not dwell on it but I need to be true to myself and focus on blessings.
Thanks to this book, I learned a lot of new words and pushed me from my comfort zone.
6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?
I don’t think I came across to any of them.
7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so, please comment.
I really interested about other people’s opinion about it. If it also possible to know why this book was chosen for the introductory part. My assessment for this book was not positive does it mean that I need to work more on my attitudes and try to find the balance. These are the ideas came to me during my second assessment because I really could not think about it differently even after the second try. Thank you!
Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good and one is poor.
A. How interesting was it to read? 3
B. How helpful were the contents? 2
C. How easy was it to understand? 9
D. Would you recommend it to others? 1
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 3
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 3
Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Assessment by Elnuma Emilkanova (Kyrgyzstan)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
According to my reading, I think that the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book is to be you: learn about yourself, stay strong for your dreams and live the life without any regrets.
2. What were the seven ideas which were personally most important to you and why? List these seven ideas followed by an explanation after each one as to why it was important to you. Use personal examples from your own life.
i. Follow your heart, follow your dreams.
This is the key idea of the book. It is amazing to know who you really are and why you are here. Knowing yourself and your purpose in life is a great achievement already. Congratulations!!! It is very inspiring story. I am so grateful that receive this book for reading at the time when I really needed it. This story of a seagull that just did not wanted to give up his dreams and for who not to pursue his dreams was like a failure and death. Yes, he is right. Life without dreams and hopes is like a death. Personally, I can correlate to the main hero of the book, unfortunately there are not so many I know in my life and this was one of the main reasons I decided to join IIGL is to learn more about other people who are like me, who have big dreams, who are driven by the idea of change and who sometimes needs a little understanding from others. Instead, most of the people want us to be “normal.” Bernard Shaw said it right: “People who say it cannot be done should not interrupt those who are doing it.”
ii. It is ok to be different.
Yes, it is ok but not easy. Actually, I would say that it is even necessary to be different in order to make your dreams come true and achieve your goals. I am different in my family, neighborhood, community and country so I feel ok but not always comfortable. I am different because I believe in Jesus while living in the Muslim country. I am different because I am still single at the age of 29 when usually girls get married here before 25. I am different because I don’t watch a TV. I am different because my work is charity. I am different for others but not to myself. I am who I am.
iii. Practice, practice and practice
It really pays off. Some dreams require some skills and knowledge. In order to acquire them we need to practice. Practice requires perseverance and patience. These are good “P” words to obtain in life. As for me, I wanted to learn English Braille and cane travel for my blind students but could not receive any training in my country. To do that I needed to go to the USA and be proficient in it. So, my dream to be a good teacher required a lot of practice in Braille and cane travel. I needed to write ten pages of Braille without any mistakes for each week during the three months and lots of reading assignments. Or I needed to walk with cane under blindfold for two hours every day for one and a half years. It may sound a lot but it was very enjoyable learning process. I have noticed when I am trying to achieve my goals; I will do everything what it requires without hesitation and with great pleasure.
iv. Disadvantage is an advantage.
It is like if you have a lemon make lemonade. When I started to work for blind people, I felt very hesitant to have discussions about blindness with them. I knew that I cannot be a great role model for them because I am sighted…But thanks to time and training, I understand that I can be very helpful in raising awareness among sighted people about misconceptions of blindness and for the last two years have been working with a wonderful young blind lady in partnership. Together we are changing what it means to be blind. Together we are empowering blind people to have fulfilling lives.
v. There are no limitations in life.
People create or put these limitations. I remember when I got saved in the USA, my first fear was that I don’t want to leave this country because here I have Jesus and won’t have Him back at home. Later, I learn that God is everywhere. I had this limitation in my mind and it created a fear. Or, like with Jonathan, when he put the limitation and said that he must fly home to the Flock and be content as he is, as a poor limited seagull, that he would be a normal gull; it would make everyone happier but not him. For me try to live the life other people won’t be to even the loved ones, it makes be sick later on and life loses it meaning and purpose. I think to live the life fully with thrive to achievement is not selfish but make other people to live the life you want is selfish. It is always important for me to be able to find path back to myself, to God’s given purpose after distractions.
vi. Life in not all about food.
Sadly enough for many people in my country it is. If in the book, for most gulls, it is not flying that matters, but eating or that the reason you fly is to eat; it is also so for many human beings. I remember I had this kind of life before without purpose; it was all about work, giving everything to myself, just be sure that I had clothes, food and shelter for a day… It was very boring and miserable life. When God changed my attitude to life and start shaping me and my mind, I start having the most excited journey full of love, giving, joy, laughter.
vii. Strong foundation is you and a hand full of followers.
As a building need to have a strong foundation in order to hold walls and roof; as well dreams also need a strong foundation of dedicated dreamers. My dream is to open the first social rehabilitation training center for blind adults in Kyrgyzstan. The most challenging part of this dream is not to find a building and have money to run the center but it is people. I need hand full of people who are driven by this desire, and who strongly believes that the center will help many people for many generations.
3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way, both in your daily personal life and in helping you to create a better world? If so, how?
These are very practical and necessary armors that we all need to have and remember. It is very easy to say but to really use them in life requires lots of energy. I truly believe that they helped many people and they will help me, too. By relying to these ideas and lessons, I can be confident that it works no matter where I am or what I am facing.
4. Quotes: Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.
“Boredom and fear and anger are the reasons that a gull’s life is so short. These three feelings are the reasons that people’s lives are short.”
It is so true. Yes, we all have these feelings from birth but our task is to conquer these feelings and make life more interesting and valuable.
“But you, Jon learned so much at one time that you didn’t have to go through a thousand lives to reach this one.”
If one person was able to do this then I can do it, too. It all depends on me. I don’t need to live several hundred lives. All I have is today. All I have is this life which is present and I need to do my best to take most out of it.
“It always works, when you know what you are doing.” As Walt Disney said: “If you can dream it, you can do it.”
How it is so true. When I know for sure what I want, it is so easy to achieve it. I can be like a rock and nothing can shift me when I know what I want.
“Keep working on love.”
Love is a decision. I love people and I love boys. I could go from one to another until I decided that I need to make a decision to love one person, one man. First, it was difficult because I thought love is a feeling that happens between man and woman but after some time it starts fading. Only by making a decision to love this person, we were able to make our love colorful and bright. It takes lots of working on love. Unfortunately, we don’t pay attention to it as much as we do for our career job thinking that love come and go. By making a serious personal decision, I know that it is possible to keep love and make it grow.
“Forgive them, and help them to understand.
Forgiveness is a gift that can make me free and give better understanding.
“We are free to go where we wish and to be what we are. The only true law is that which leads to freedom. Free mind, free will and freedom of yourself can take you to the highest. The gull sees farthest who flies highest.”
5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?
No, there is nothing in this book that I did not understand and I fully agree with the wisdom of the author.
6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?
There were no exercises to complete. I guess what author want me to do is to grasp his wisdom and apply it in my life which is lifelong task for me.
7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so, please comment.
I really enjoyed the way the author presented the idea. It is easy to read book and can be also a good story to read and discuss with small children.
Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good and one is poor.
A. How interesting was it to read? 10
B. How helpful were the contents? 10
C. How easy was it to understand? 9
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 10
How to Win Friends and Influence People
Assessment by Elnura Emilkanova (Kyrgyzstan)
1. What is the main idea that the author is trying to convey in the book?
The main idea that the author is trying to convey in this book is to introduce and equip us with different tools that help us in human relations. And it is in our hands, hands of readers to use them in our daily lives.
2. What were the seven ideas which were personally most important to you and why? List these seven ideas followed by an explanation after each one as to why it was important to you. Use personal examples from your own life.
This is a great and at the same time very challenging question for this book. Mainly because, it is full of great advices and examples which can be used in every part of my life: let it be with my colleagues, family members, friends or beloved one or even strangers, and future acquaintances.
i. Applying the principles in your life.
I remember my Mother recommended me this book for the first time when I was a freshman student at university. After reading several chapters, I came to my Mother and asked if she had read it herself and was she using the principles from this book in her life. The main reason I asked her that question was because I could see that she was using some methods which were described in the book. And you are right – of course, she said yes. She read it when she was in her teens and liked it so much that kept one copy for her future children. And I am glad that she did. Now, I can be very much thankful for my Mother and IIGL for this book full of wisdom and true stories in old and new versions. It is a must read book. I always wish that this book should be introduced and added in the school curriculum all over the world with adaptation of the stories from local people of the place where it would be introduced. The model which Dale Carnegie gave us could easily be adapted.
ii. Being a Hero in your own life
More I think and analyze about this book, I still think as the first time it made a great impact on me that all the people with their true stories make this story magnificent. There is not only one or two main heroes of this book. There are so many heroes as many stories. Everybody can be a main hero of this book by sharing the true story of your life whether you succeed or failed in human relationship. We need both as we learn from good examples and mistakes.
iii. The points are timeless.
The first moment when I read the title and name of the author, I thought great it is the same book I read before and start recalling stories but after an introduction I understand that it is different. Then, I thought why the title is the same and the name of the author; by the end of the book I know that it is never ending book and there is no need to change the title of the book as the content meets the same need and author will be always Dale Carnegie as he is the one who showed us the way.
iv. Stages of Life
As this book can relate to every part of our life and it could have different impact in different stages of our life. It means that there always will be something that we can find useful every time we read it. Some things can be more important because it is more relevant to us in this time of our life than other advices.
v. Empowerment
For me on my current part of my life and work the most important and valuable is to empower people I live with, work with or come across with. Empowerment for me means to strengthen people with powers they already possess. The last three parts of the book (Part Three – Win People to Your Way of Thinking, Part Four – Be a Leader and Part Five (from soft copy) – Letters that Produced Miraculous Results) are very powerful and full of wisdom for me. First of all, it means that I need to empower myself that is why joining to IIGL is one of the first steps toward my goal. Of course, a lot of teachings from Bible and prayers accompany my journey.
vi. Using personal stories
One of the main things that I have noticed from my two years trip to the USA that I find is the powerful tool in any kind of speech is to relate to an audience or a listener with a personal story. I find it fascinating how many Americans can tell a story from their life and relate it to any situation. And, it is so true that I remember very well the story which was told than the theory was lectured for several hours. It is one of the main principles that I am working on myself is to be a good story teller. For me to be a good story teller means to have a lot of interests, experiences and meet a lot of people with different stories.
vii. Have a sincere heart when relating to others.
This requires a lot of hard work yet it is worth it.
3. How will these ideas or lessons help you in a practical way, both in your daily personal life and in helping you to create a better world? If so, how?
They were helping for many years and very glad to read them all over again with new stories. Being equipped with the principles for better developing a human relationship is a big asset for me in my everyday life. Now it requires a lot of hard work from my side only. First of all, remember all of them and be aware and with sincere heart try to use these approaches.
I believe and see that the world is becoming a better place to live and people are more kind and caring, loving to themselves and others than it used to be many centuries ago. I am glad that we are on a right path but we should done stop. We need to continue to thrive. We are studying and developing ourselves thanks to such book like this one. I noticed more and more people are reading books in digital and hard copy formats, becoming more literate and confident no matter the age, race, gender or country from. Good changes happening daily thanks to people who believe in education and better world.
4. Quotes: Are there any statements which the author made that particularly got your attention? If so, please quote them and comment as to why they were important to you.
There are a lot of quotes and statements I could list here but the most powerful that really got my attention in this book and interesting enough the verse from Bible confirm it as well.
The words from William James, one of the most distinguished psychologists and philosophers America has ever produced: “Compared with what we ought to be, we are only half awake. We are making use of only a small part of our physical and mental resources. Stating the thing broadly, the human individual thus lives far within his limits. He possesses powers of various sorts which he habitually fails to use. In the Bible story when Jesus healed a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed and he arose, and departed to his house. But when the multitudes saw it, they marvelled, and glorified God, which had given such power unto men.” (St. Matthew 9:1-8)
It is one of the examples of power that God gave not only to one man but men. I truly believe and agree with Mr. William James that we are not using our full potential. We are all could bring a change into our lives and make a great impact in other people’s lives and in the world.
5. Is there anything in the book that you do not understand or are unclear about, or are there ideas which you disagree with and, if so, why?
The main concern I have is really be able to use this wisdom in the real life. Reading is one part but implementing is hardest one.
6. Did the book contain exercises for the reader to complete? If so, did you complete all of the exercises and did you find them helpful?
There were no specific exercisesbut all the principles are exercises for me to be able to use them in my life. There is no doubt all of them are useful.
7. Was there anything you read in the book that you would like to comment on that was not covered in the previous questions? If so, please comment.
No additional comments.
Please rate the following questions on a scale from 1 to 10. Ten is good and one is poor.
A. How interesting was it to read? 10
B. How helpful were the contents? 10 (It depends on me)
C. How easy was it to understand? 10
D. Would you recommend it to others? 10
E. What is the overall rating you would give it? 10