AWAKEN THE POWER WITHIN

In analyzing the accuracy of self-help and positive thinking, this groundbreaking and wholly unexpected exploration reveals what works, what doesn't, and why.

The $12 billion self-help industry is under constant attack for pedaling false miracles to duped believers. But sociologist Albert Amao demonstrates that we eagerly support self-help books, seminars, and programs because, under the right conditions, these things work.

Amao was born in a poor Latin American country into an impoverished family. He is the oldest of five children, and, because his parents are practically illiterate, he started working when he was six years old, shining shoes and selling newspapers to help his family. It seems unlikely that he would finish high school or be admitted to the San Marcos University in Lima to get his Ph.D. in sociology.

Despite these circumstances, Amao did, and he credits New Thought, or positive thinking philosophy, with his success.

Contrary to the critics who blithely dismiss self-help methods, or the New Age gurus who sell it them as miracles, Amao - writing with sobriety, scholarship, and drawing on deep personal experience - explore the conditions under which self-help is authentic.


Albert Amao is a graduate of San Marcos University, Lima-Peru. He holds a Ph.D. in Sociology and is a clinical hypnotherapist and holistic counselor. He is an ongoing Ageless Wisdom seeker and has studied metaphysics, New Thought philosophy, Hermetic Qabalah, and depth psychology most of his life, and he also lectures widely on these topics.