The content is most lighthearted than most other self help books, all this stuff about kindness and giving others an extra chance really is well put and sounds great. This all will make you an easygoing person like I am sure Dr. Carlson is, but, (always a but here) is it possible really to reconcile all that with real life say, in a big city? For that, don't expect this book to help you out. This is a book to be a good person, not a strong person. This will mellow you out, leave the stress out, but may leave you too smily and soft to lead through some tough crowds.

Presented are 100 different ideas for living a more abundant life with less worry, which in turn will help you make more money. Sample chapters: Become Less Reactive and More Responsive; Surround Yourself with Experts; Ask for What You Want; Work on "Knowing" instead of "Believing;" Let Go of Fearful Thoughts; Lighten Up.

An inspiring little book you can read on the run (chapters are short). It's based on the simple premise that people have an innate capacity for happiness and when happy, we are much more competent, productive, and creative. It's a kind of roadmap of the various, often unconscious, distractions that create internal anger, depression and especially worry. When aware of these negative distractions, we are able to deal with each one more effectively and our lives are greatly improved.

Carlson, a practicing psychologist and stress consultant, makes a powerful point that we have two psychological modes most of the time: Reactive and responsive. The reactive mindset impairs our judgement and decision -making; we are overly critical and negative. The responsive state of mind is relaxed; we see the big picture; we are flexible, calm and at our best. Your level of success is a direct relationship with the amount of time you spend in the responsive state of mind.

A good, fast read that will pick you up and maybe change you for the better.

"Don't Worry, Make Money" is one of the most insightful books I have ever read. Dr. Carlson truly understands the way fear and worry can limit a person's life. This book is NOT a finical guide or a get rich quick book. In fact, "Don't Worry, Live Better" would probably be a better title. I can honestly say that this book has helped me overcome fears that have plagued me my entire life and the difference in my life is amazing!

This book goes through all (well..., the first 100) small tips how to succeed with your business and with relations to other peaople, to have a better life. And the title says it all... Don't worry, make money!

What's next--"Basic Manuals for Friends of the Black"? Wouldn't information about resources, adaptive technology and the ADA be useful for the disabled person too? I can't comment on the content of the book, but I think the title is patronizing and ridiculous.

The short chapters gave me just what I needed to use. It was not overly technical. Being in human resources, I felt I wanted facts and tips. This book was full of them.

There are four positions here, and I will address them in the order that they are presented in the book:

1. The Creationism position (for some reason the only position that is an "ism") was blandly proclaimed in a lengthy and mostly uninspired essay by Wayne Friar and Gary D. Patterson. Although I had never heard of them, I suspect they are part of some mutual admiration society overusing phrases in their supposedly critical response essays like "we commend", "we join", "we agree that" and "we share." They sacrificed the sharp sword of intellectual debate for the blunt instrument of patronizing accolades.
2. Jean Pond's position of Independence is ridiculous -- she plainly stated that belief in Christ "requires faith beyond reason" (p. 242) when taken in context implies that faith is not reasonable. Additionally she quotes Sagan, Dawkins and Gould with respect normally granted only to the Pope. She gives particular credence to Gould's NOMA principle (loosely put: an intellectual wall of separation between science and 'religion'.) She quotes Dawkins and Gould effectively stating that theology is the study of nothing (maybe the wall is a fence to keep God out?). Pond gently reminds the readers that they are the exception rather than the rule, but then doesn't follow through by affirming that the study of theology is the study of anything. She seems to throw up her arms in confusion because of the proliferation of denominations and the use of the Scriptures for both sides of crucial issues like homosexuality and the ordination of women.
3. I like Stephen Meyer's philosophical approach in the Qualified Agreement position -- at least he had guts to disagree with Pond and Van Till, something that Friar and Patterson were reticent to do. He exposes the Independence and Mutual Partnership's (see below) acceptance and promotion of what I call the "myth of religious/metaphysical neutrality." Additionally Meyers is strong when discussing the classical proofs of God and how those arguments can be resurrected by new discoveries, particularly in the area of information science.
4. Lastly, Van Till propounds the Mutual Partnership position where science and Christian theology are "partners in theorizing." Although his position is solidly evolutionary, I found his principle of robust formational economy (RFE) [Jean Pond found that phrase to be a mouthful -- one might say "say that three times fast."] interesting although not convincing. His desire is to take a razor blade to the idea of 'creation' by separating them into two distinct phases or arenas: the initial concept (dare I say 'design') and the actual formation or creating (read naturalistic evolution). Therefore, if I'm reading him correctly, Van Till gives all the credit to God for designing a system that is self-creating. Obviously God kicked off the process, but He's just watching it unfold perhaps like some Cosmic Couch-Potato Deity. Stephen Meyer is correct in his assessment that this is close to, if not fully developed, Deism. In advocating the RFE principle, Van Till rejects the artisan, craftsman or builder concepts. I think he does so to the detriment of the Holy Scriptures where God compares Himself to the Potter and we his creatures to the clay pot. The Potter doesn't just intellectually design His creation, but intimately molds his creation.

All of the contributors to this volume, including the editor, for the most part ignore important points in the first few chapters of Genesis. 1) God speaking the creation into existence; 2) the Fall and it's ramifications (the various curses and introduction of death); 3) the supposedly historically accurate reports of great life spans prior to the Flood; 4) the Judgment of Yahweh on sin in the Flood (and by extension the Apostle Peter's reminder of a future judgment by fire); and 5) the divine origin of human languages. One item worth noting is the simple, yet interesting, chart on the classification of the sciences by Arthur Peacocke (Theology for a Scientific Age) as modified by Nancey Murphy (Reconciling Theology and Science) -- perhaps their books will shed more light on the topic of Science and Christianity than this work compiled by Richard F. Carlson.

This book is exciting as well as informative. Steve Meyer's essay is extraordinary! Great info! I can't wait to read it again!!

While we stand firmly in the "creationist" camp, all of the contributors are worth reading here -- and Editor Richard Carlson provides invaluable help as "moderator." If you are dealing with these issues -- get this new book! Recommended. -- The Discerning Reader

As a student of Buddhism, I found much of the content in this book to be diluted Buddhism. Basically, it's Buddhist teachings without the Buddhism in it. I'm sure it helps many people, but for me it was diappointing - lacking in depth and substance.

It really is a "WORK" book. It takes alot of thinking and quiet time to answer the questions and to go back and analyze what you have written down. Too much work for me. I guess this book would be good for someone who has alot of extra time on their hands to ponder their life. I do not have that time.

The workbook is actually better than the book itself. The workbook has all the same information in it that the corresponding book has plus exercises and quizzes you can take to help improve your life. If you are disciplined enough to do the exercises in the workbook you will benefit by taking what you've learned and actually apply it towards your life. If you just read the book without doing any workbook exercises, the learning is much more passive and less fun.

I now understand that I bought this book attracted by its title. Great marketing approach! Compliments to author and editor. The contents itself is quite trivial as it proposes to focus on a list of questions that everyone had already asked himself. Moreover, it does not give much help to find answers (assuming that the the individual has hard time to find those answers) and does not give help to execute on actions. Bottom line: there are much better books than this. For example it cannot compare to Keith Ellis MAGIC LAMP (great!).

First thing I will admit that I did not pay much for this book... so I may not be the most critical of it.. However, I thought this book provided a nice place to write the goals and my reasons for leading up to them. It provides pages where you can list pros and cons on a topic and then circle those that are most important and that you can change. I liked how the book let you jump around... I have only used a few areas so far, and I think that the same approach for all areas may grow tedious.. However, I think it is getting me started and helping me to identify issues that are playing on my decision process...

I think I may outgrow this book.. but is a good place to start.

If you do a search on "sweat the small stuff" you'll find so many titles it boggles the mind. I find some things here useful but where are the references? Do I do this just because? Did Dr. Carlson's Ph.D. appear out of thin air? No, I think you learn that these time proven principles were concieved by greater minds.

"An aim is not the only fortune worth finding; and it is not to be found in foreign lands but in the heart itself." - Robert Louis Stevenson.

If you want to read a book with substance AND references, read Self-Help Stuff That Works by Adam Khan. No big marketing campaign there, just good solid principles backed up by research and tested by time.

I wish I had payed more attention when I ordered this book and noticed that it was written by Richard Carlson's Editors instead of himself. The advice in this book is no different than you read in any magazine on any given month from the grocery store.

I really like Richard Carlson's books from earlier days. I guess he has made to money now to write them himself.

Carlson certainly doesn't sweat small stuff like writing books. Any person of high school education could write a couple paragraphs each day and produce as many insights as the author does in this minimalist series. But he's a diligent and dedicated marketing genius who understands the reductive mentality of many of us as well as our need to receive confirmation that our own mediocre gifts, perhaps even in writing a wildly successful "book," will be sufficient to insure each of us some small piece of the American Dream. If you admire American enterprisers who get rich through shameless self-promotion, then you may wish to show your friends how they too have what it takes to strike a gold mine. In fact, if your friend saved some of those triple-spaced, cliched essays he wrote in school to meet a 5-page requirement, he may be inspired to dust them off, create a persona, and sell both to a publisher.