The Secret (book)

Gross

The book has been translated into 50 languages and has sold over 30 million copies.^[7] Due partly to an appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show, the book and film had grossed $300 million in sales by 2009.^[8] Byrne has subsequently released Secret merchandise and several related books.

Critical response

The Secret received excellent customer reviews by the general public. It got 4.8/5 on Books-A-Million, 3.63/5 on Goodreads, 3/5 on Better World Books, 4.6/5 on Amazon, 4.45/5 on MouthShut.com, and 4.5/5 on iTunes. ^{[9][10][11][12][13][14]}

US TV host Oprah Winfrey is a proponent of the book. On The Larry King Show she said that the message of The Secret is the message she's been trying to share with the world on her show for the past 21 years.^[15] Author Rhonda Byrne was later invited to her show along with people who vow by The Secret.^[16]

Elizabeth Scott states the pros and cons of the book in her Verywell review. The pros she points out are that it is empowering, that even if things seem bleak it reminds you that there is a lot that you can do to change your circumstances. It gives the reader research on optimism, visualization, and the power of perspective, while stating that The Secret encourages people to really visualize their goals clearly in order to attract what they want. The cons that Scott points out are that some people believe that it conflicts with their religious values, while others see it as a complementary approach. The book does spend considerable time on how to use the Law of Attraction to gain expensive material possessions, and without direct action; many people have asserted that having such a focus on external things and material wealth goes against the spiritual wisdom of the Law of Attraction. Other cons that Scott points out are the criticism of the idea that we create our own difficult circumstances in life, pointing out people born in extreme poverty, and that The Law of Attraction is not scientifically proven, but more of an anecdotally-observed phenomenon." Her final thoughts are: "Though there are some hiccups to it, I would say that this book can provide some excellent opportunities for stress relief, and a rough road map to a better life.^[17]

Valerie Frankel of Good Housekeeping wrote an article where she tries the principles of The Secret for four weeks. While she reached some of her goals, others had improved. Frankel's final assessment is: "Counting my blessings has been uplifting, reminding me of what's already great about my life. Visualization has forced me to pay attention to what I really desire. And laughing is never a bad idea. If you ignore The Secret's far-too-simplistic maxims (no, you will not be doomed to a miserable life for thinking negative thoughts) and the hocus-pocus (the cosmos isn't going to deliver a new car; it's busy), there's actually some helpful advice in the book. But it's nothing you don't already know." ^[18]

In 2009, Barbara Ehrenreich published Bright-Sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America as a reaction to self-help books such as The Secret, claiming that they promote political complacency and a failure to engage with reality.^[19][20]

John G. Stackhouse, Jr. has provided historical context, locating Byrne's book in the tradition of New Thought and popular religion, and concluding that "it isn’t new, and it isn’t a secret".^[21]

Byrne's scientific claims, in particular concerning quantum physics, have been rejected by a range of authors including Christopher Chabris and Daniel Simons at The New York Times^[22] and Harvard physicist Lisa Randall.^[23] Mary Carmichael and Ben Radford, writing for the Center for Inquiry, have also pointed out that The Secret has no scientific foundation, stating that Byrne's book represents: "a time-worn trick of mixing banal truisms with magical thinking and presenting it as some sort of hidden knowledge: basically, it’s the new New Thought."^[24]