Buying The Secret in South Africa is a bad idea!

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Last week I went to purchase some ink for my Lexmark printer at CNA. While there I asked the saleslady whether they had a copy of The Secret DVD (not the book!). As it turns out they were sold out. But what really shocked me was the retail price of R450! That is about US$65 and about 3.8 times the retail price the current retail Amazon.com of $17!

When it comes to The Secret, you either love it or hate. And if I had to go by the very heated Amazon.com Customer Reviews I would say that those who love it, cannot stop talking about it; while those who hate it, absolutely loath it. From 1681 total votes at the time of writing this is the overall feelings about those who purchased The Secret DVD:

• 58% love it *****
• 13% think it’s great ****
• 8% though it was average ***
• 6% didn’t like it **
• 15% hated it *

For better or worse, the law of attraction is no longer a secret thanks to Rhonda Byrne, the creator and producer of The Secret DVD. What bothers me most is the companies who used to retail this product before it got into CNA or Exclusive Books: Going4Gold and The Secret Online, were both selling it at ridiculously inflated prices. However, as of writing this neither of them stock the DVD any more but they do offer other related products like the book version, which is really just a transcription of the DVD. I refuse to read it because it’s a bad attempt by Rhonda Byrne, wanting to be considered and author. This fake book is a transcription of the ideas of the teachers in The Secret, and even some of them are quoting other sources as well or borrowing ideas liberally.

One female friend of mine swears by the book and is now obsessed with paying over R200 for a gratitude book. She hardly has money for taxi fare to and from work! “My god woman,” I said to her, “use a notepad or a hard cover if you have to express yourself in writing”. It’s simply a waste of money or cash because you can spend less then R10 to get you going with your list of gratitudes or even use some old paper you can surely find in your house. And if you have a computer just begin writing a daily list of gratitudes because that costs you ZERO. And I suspect it has something to do with not admitting that she made a mistake. She would basically be putting her own decision making down.

The point I’m getting to is that experimental psychologist concur that you retain 6 times more information when you learn from a audio-visual source compared to audio only. The studies I looked at don’t make a direct comparison with reading, however, I suspect it is even worse compared to reading depending on the person’s comprehension levels. So it is 6 times better to WATCH The Secret, rather than READ The Secret.

The Science of Getting Rich Scam

While I’m at it let me say this publicly for the first time: I’m absolutely and totally disgusted that Going4Gold and The Secret Online both sell a book, The Science of Getting Rich by Wallace D. Wattles, from their websites.

They incorrectly use a photo of Benjamin Franklin on the cover of this book. This is the book that helped Rhonda Byrne recover from her breakdown given to her by her daughter. What you may not know is that this book is in the public domain. That means it is completely free to republish by anyone and you can find many, many copies on the Web. To me this is like daylight robbery because they are selling something free and putting a price on it. And just because they add a new “Foreword” does not justify adding a R110 price tag on it.

So if you have bought The Science of Getting Rich from one of the above mentioned companies I suggest you return the book, ask for a refund, and access on the free copies here.