Don't expect to learn much, 13 Oct 2008
This is very typical of self-help books. Full of self-assessment exercises, quotes taken from The Oxford Book of Quotations or similar. The text is cobbled together from popular psychology and management theory. Some of the questionnaires would seem to belong in a women's magazine, rather than an academic book. Anyone who has done PD/PSE or a motivation course will have a good idea what to expect. It is amazing that this is set as essential reading on many university courses now.

Excellent book, 01 Oct 2008
I used this in conjunction with the Experts Guide Job Interview DVD Job Interview Skills - Extended DVD & CD, and found them both to be indispensable.

Excellent guide to PDP, 09 Oct 2007
For students at school and university this is an essential guide. Personal and Professional Development Planning is key to making the most out of your experience in any educational institution. Employers are looking for much more that the diploma/degree that you emerge form Uni' with. You are required to be able to demostrate your skills and attributes as they apply to the work that you would be doing. Cottrell shows you how to draw these out, collect evidence and demonstrate what you have gained and achieved through your educational experience.



Lot's of detail, too much, not inspiring, 09 Feb 2006
i was dissapointed when i bought my copy of this book. it is set out very much as an academic text and not very user friendly. i was surprised by the style of book the author chose to do. mostly forms and questionaires to fill in, followed by some short paragraphs. it is very much the typical type of offering from an hr department when they are encouraging time management, or reflective practice. not inspiring or motivational at all. the content is ok, but reminded me very much of the type of exercise they gave us for professinal development courses at university. i did not get a lot from them either. thorough but left me dissapointed.

Don't expect to learn much, 13 Oct 2008
This is very typical of self-help books. Full of self-assessment exercises, quotes taken from The Oxford Book of Quotations or similar. The text is cobbled together from popular psychology and management theory. Some of the questionnaires would seem to belong in a women's magazine, rather than an academic book. Anyone who has done PD/PSE or a motivation course will have a good idea what to expect. It is amazing that this is set as essential reading on many university courses now.

Excellent book, 01 Oct 2008
I used this in conjunction with the Experts Guide Job Interview DVD Job Interview Skills - Extended DVD & CD, and found them both to be indispensable.

Excellent guide to PDP, 09 Oct 2007
For students at school and university this is an essential guide. Personal and Professional Development Planning is key to making the most out of your experience in any educational institution. Employers are looking for much more that the diploma/degree that you emerge form Uni' with. You are required to be able to demostrate your skills and attributes as they apply to the work that you would be doing. Cottrell shows you how to draw these out, collect evidence and demonstrate what you have gained and achieved through your educational experience.



Lot's of detail, too much, not inspiring, 09 Feb 2006
i was dissapointed when i bought my copy of this book. it is set out very much as an academic text and not very user friendly. i was surprised by the style of book the author chose to do. mostly forms and questionaires to fill in, followed by some short paragraphs. it is very much the typical type of offering from an hr department when they are encouraging time management, or reflective practice. not inspiring or motivational at all. the content is ok, but reminded me very much of the type of exercise they gave us for professinal development courses at university. i did not get a lot from them either. thorough but left me dissapointed.

Confidence Is Key, 22 May 2008
This book was excellent in preparing me and helping me pass the PIRT.
It gave me the cofidence I needed on the day and I would reccommend it to anyone thinking about applying for the police force.
Go for it!


Lacks any real depth, 09 Jul 2007
Firstly, the book is good for the practice maths and verbal reasoning tests and helping you with your application form.

However, the book seems to lack any real help where you need it most. It seems to describe the process in detail but offer little help in the way of preparing you for the tests. For most people, the role plays and interview stages are the real worry of the Assesment Centre, there seemed to be little information of value on these stages.

As pointed out already, it is out of date. The book will teach you about writing a letter for the Assesment Centre which is no longer a requirement. In this sense, your on your own for the writen section of the Assesment Centre.

At the end of the day, the price of this book isn't going to put much of a dent in your wallet, and it does help to some extent.... but to me it didn't offer the kind of help other reviewers found it to be.

The most important information in this book is given to you, for free, prior to the Assesment Centre (should you pass the application form).

I'd advise others to buy it, but don't expect too much from it.

Worth every penny, 28 Dec 2006
I have just been accepted into Cheshire Police and this book played a large part in my application. I do believe that this book is the reason I passed my assessment centre. After reading the book I felt quietly confident going into my assessment centre and would have been a nervous wreck otherwise. I would advise anyone thinking of joining the police or already in the process of applying to buy this book as it is a great help.

so helpful, 14 Jul 2006
Just completed my a/c day for hants- this book is a bible when it comes to gathering knowledge of what to expext and practice questions

Absolutely invaluable, 06 Dec 2005
This book became absolutely invaluable to me as I was going through the recruitment process to join the Police. It gives you pointers on what to/what not to include on your application, practice questions for the pyschometric tests and good advice on what to do through the assessment centre. It helped me to get through the stages and I would recommend it to any potential new recruit.

Don't expect to learn much, 13 Oct 2008
This is very typical of self-help books. Full of self-assessment exercises, quotes taken from The Oxford Book of Quotations or similar. The text is cobbled together from popular psychology and management theory. Some of the questionnaires would seem to belong in a women's magazine, rather than an academic book. Anyone who has done PD/PSE or a motivation course will have a good idea what to expect. It is amazing that this is set as essential reading on many university courses now.

Excellent book, 01 Oct 2008
I used this in conjunction with the Experts Guide Job Interview DVD Job Interview Skills - Extended DVD & CD, and found them both to be indispensable.

Excellent guide to PDP, 09 Oct 2007
For students at school and university this is an essential guide. Personal and Professional Development Planning is key to making the most out of your experience in any educational institution. Employers are looking for much more that the diploma/degree that you emerge form Uni' with. You are required to be able to demostrate your skills and attributes as they apply to the work that you would be doing. Cottrell shows you how to draw these out, collect evidence and demonstrate what you have gained and achieved through your educational experience.



Lot's of detail, too much, not inspiring, 09 Feb 2006
i was dissapointed when i bought my copy of this book. it is set out very much as an academic text and not very user friendly. i was surprised by the style of book the author chose to do. mostly forms and questionaires to fill in, followed by some short paragraphs. it is very much the typical type of offering from an hr department when they are encouraging time management, or reflective practice. not inspiring or motivational at all. the content is ok, but reminded me very much of the type of exercise they gave us for professinal development courses at university. i did not get a lot from them either. thorough but left me dissapointed.

Confidence Is Key, 22 May 2008
This book was excellent in preparing me and helping me pass the PIRT.
It gave me the cofidence I needed on the day and I would reccommend it to anyone thinking about applying for the police force.
Go for it!


Lacks any real depth, 09 Jul 2007
Firstly, the book is good for the practice maths and verbal reasoning tests and helping you with your application form.

However, the book seems to lack any real help where you need it most. It seems to describe the process in detail but offer little help in the way of preparing you for the tests. For most people, the role plays and interview stages are the real worry of the Assesment Centre, there seemed to be little information of value on these stages.

As pointed out already, it is out of date. The book will teach you about writing a letter for the Assesment Centre which is no longer a requirement. In this sense, your on your own for the writen section of the Assesment Centre.

At the end of the day, the price of this book isn't going to put much of a dent in your wallet, and it does help to some extent.... but to me it didn't offer the kind of help other reviewers found it to be.

The most important information in this book is given to you, for free, prior to the Assesment Centre (should you pass the application form).

I'd advise others to buy it, but don't expect too much from it.

Worth every penny, 28 Dec 2006
I have just been accepted into Cheshire Police and this book played a large part in my application. I do believe that this book is the reason I passed my assessment centre. After reading the book I felt quietly confident going into my assessment centre and would have been a nervous wreck otherwise. I would advise anyone thinking of joining the police or already in the process of applying to buy this book as it is a great help.

so helpful, 14 Jul 2006
Just completed my a/c day for hants- this book is a bible when it comes to gathering knowledge of what to expext and practice questions

Absolutely invaluable, 06 Dec 2005
This book became absolutely invaluable to me as I was going through the recruitment process to join the Police. It gives you pointers on what to/what not to include on your application, practice questions for the pyschometric tests and good advice on what to do through the assessment centre. It helped me to get through the stages and I would recommend it to any potential new recruit.

Terrible. Terrible. Terrible., 03 Nov 2008
This suffers from the same problems as the DVD.

It's derivative. There is absolutely nothing that hasn't been said over and over again.

It's simplistic. Life can be simple, but that doesn't mean you should treat your audience as if they are too.

It's repetitive. Get a variety of different figures in your niche to all say the same things using slightly different words.

It's nasty. Follow the philosophy through to it's logical conclusion and you are left with the concept that those who suffer have brought it upon themselves. There may be a grain of truth for some of the many unfortunates out there, but try telling a starving family in a poverty- and drought-stricken wilderness that really they ought to just change their attitudes and it'll all work out, then see which religion's version of hell you belong in.

It's insidious. They stack what I am sure they see as reasonable arguments one on top of the other, leading from premise to unfounded conclusion at such speed and in such a fashion that they gradually start to get in just through the continual exposure to the same old message.

The whole thing is trite, simple and hackneyed.
Still, it proves what good underground marketing can do. Don't be a sheep. Borrow it first, read it carefully, think on it, then have a good laugh, give it back and forget you ever heard of this tosh.

Promises what it cannot deliver., 31 Oct 2008
Should you wish to read this book with the sole intention of feeling both good about yourself and the world in general, then you will undoubtedly find that it lifts the spirits and enables you to view everything through the proverbial 'rose coloured spectacles'. If this is all you want to obtain from this book then my heartfelt good wishes to you. If, on the otherhand, you are desirous of creating miracles (as the blurb promises) then you will be sadly disappointed. To preclude all doubt to the point where you are able to effectively change the world around you, or your future for that matter, takes something that the majority of us simply cannot command. Jesus could do it - but then he was something a bit special. The rest of us, unfortunately, will have to be satisfied with the rose coloured spectacles. Miracles are not intended for the mundane.

Is the world controlled by a 1% elite?, 21 Oct 2008
The book and the video are the two sides of the same coin and I would advise you to follow the one or the other. I will suggest though that you concentrate on the video because the commentary between the quotations are nothing but the proof that some people need a lot more explanations and a lot of paraphrase to understand the basic meaning. Are we all without limits? And that is going to be my very first remark. From my long experience I know that some people are physically handicapped, or mentally handicapped, or psychologically handicapped, or with many hurdles on their road and around them. You should see the state of some of those children born to deep alcoholics or drug addicts. Or what about children with a severe genetic disparagement? And I refuse to say they are just disabled, or differently-abled. They are handicapped by being materialistically in their very body or mind at a disadvantage that will prevent them from doing what most people around them will be able to do. If the mind is intact, and working on positive thinking is the only way for these people, then they can compensate their physical limitations with their spiritual achievements. But you can't run in the standard Olympics without legs just like a bicycle will not run without wheels. And this time, in most of these situations, one will not be able to excel, full stop and period, and if one can excel in one particular field in which he is not or is less limited, it won't be without the help of other people around them. You cannot think positive if there is no signs along that road. The second remark is positive. Apart from these special cases, everyone, absolutely everyone can excel somewhere and that excellence can only be reached if it is targeted, looked for and built. Positive thinking, education, understanding that the pleasure of such achievements is in the goal when reached and not in the effort you have to accomplish, even if for those who will reach the highest points this very effort is a pleasure, the pleasure of the effort itself. A runner has to train day in and day out and that is never, absolutely never a plain entertaining phase of relaxation and abandon. Physical pleasure requires sweat and heart speed. But if one does not set their minds on the aim they are going to strive towards, they will never reach it. Success is enormously in the mind, in the conscious and subconscious motivation of the candidate. Yet it is absolutely false to say that man has no limits. Humanity, and every member of it, has always been limited historically and no one could think plasma physics or quantum computers under Julius Caesar. Each historical period produces its possible fields of investigation that are limited because in a later historical period those fields of investigation will always be vaster, larger, deeper, more intense. Or then the author is speaking metaphorically of man as the representative of humanity in its cosmic history. But that is not helping any individual who is striving to achieve something in his own life. Icarus did try to fly but wax wings were kind of primitive. Then my third and last remark will be a question: why only ONE percent of humanity controls NINETY-SIX percent of wealth? If this is a fact, and it is, it is the proof that all men are not equal in facts but only in rights, and that is so by our collective decision to say so. But one thing is sure: thinking negatively is never good. Think of McCain and Palin and their negative campaigning. Think of all the anarchists of the world who have never achieved the slightest beginning of their dream which is only a negative picture of the world the way it is. If you criticize the world systematically, then your dream becomes the inverted image of this world, hence a negative picture of reality, and that will never guide or inspire people into desiring such a future. When I don't like something I do not ask for the reverse. I wonder what the situation is, what the possibilities are and if another solution is possible and which one. Then I will think positively along that objective, or rather as objective as possible, line, but to demand black because what I don't like is white, or to require red because what I don't like is blue is primitive negative thinking. That kind of realism and collective striving is absent from this book or video and that is a shame because they forget attraction holds the world and the cosmos up because it is always counterbalanced by repulsion. Otherwise the moon would have fallen onto the earth a long very long time ago, even if this repulsion is itself the product of attractions that are standing abreast and against the attraction of the earth. The apple did not fall as long as the stem was strong enough and the apple light enough for the stem not to break. The author of this book or video seems to have forgotten that the cosmos is a complex system of opposed spheres and when a weak point appears, then a catastrophe develops in that weak point, and the earth is doomed sooner or later in cosmic time to disappear, just like the sun which will one day have burned all itself fuel.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines


Dreadful Twaddle, 16 Oct 2008
After you cut though all the flannel, the secret is revealed. If you think about things they will come to you. No they won't. It takes dedication, persistence and hard work to achieve success, get rich, lose weight or achieve whatever your goal is. This book is delusional and misleading. The elements on positive thinking are fine but they are better expressed in many other self-help books. The 'secret' itself is laughable.

The Secret and The Scam, 11 Oct 2008
A friend of mine bought me this book for my birthday, explaining that it was a best selling spiritual read, so I was looking forward to what it had to say. I can honestly say I was unimpressed from the start. There was this build to this huge life changing 'secret' and it was like waiting for a huge explosion that never actually went off.

This whole Secret is based on wishful, dillusional thnking. It claims that if you want to have money, believe that you will have money and it will come to you. If you want to lose weight, believe that you're losing weight and it will happen. It rarely ever mentions that you have to put work in for these things to happen. In a good way this book does allow people to focus on what they want in life and to focus on the positive, but having a good life, having money and having good relationships requires some work on our part, not just repeating something in our heads and hoping the Universe will deliver. That's just lazy thinking. I gained a lot more from listening to Anthony Robbins CD's then I did from this book. And yes, I'm aware that he's in it for the money too.

This book also spent a lot of time advertising the film version, so there are a lot of people making getting rich from this book. Unfortunately it won't be the readers.

Don't expect to learn much, 13 Oct 2008
This is very typical of self-help books. Full of self-assessment exercises, quotes taken from The Oxford Book of Quotations or similar. The text is cobbled together from popular psychology and management theory. Some of the questionnaires would seem to belong in a women's magazine, rather than an academic book. Anyone who has done PD/PSE or a motivation course will have a good idea what to expect. It is amazing that this is set as essential reading on many university courses now.

Excellent book, 01 Oct 2008
I used this in conjunction with the Experts Guide Job Interview DVD Job Interview Skills - Extended DVD & CD, and found them both to be indispensable.

Excellent guide to PDP, 09 Oct 2007
For students at school and university this is an essential guide. Personal and Professional Development Planning is key to making the most out of your experience in any educational institution. Employers are looking for much more that the diploma/degree that you emerge form Uni' with. You are required to be able to demostrate your skills and attributes as they apply to the work that you would be doing. Cottrell shows you how to draw these out, collect evidence and demonstrate what you have gained and achieved through your educational experience.



Lot's of detail, too much, not inspiring, 09 Feb 2006
i was dissapointed when i bought my copy of this book. it is set out very much as an academic text and not very user friendly. i was surprised by the style of book the author chose to do. mostly forms and questionaires to fill in, followed by some short paragraphs. it is very much the typical type of offering from an hr department when they are encouraging time management, or reflective practice. not inspiring or motivational at all. the content is ok, but reminded me very much of the type of exercise they gave us for professinal development courses at university. i did not get a lot from them either. thorough but left me dissapointed.

Confidence Is Key, 22 May 2008
This book was excellent in preparing me and helping me pass the PIRT.
It gave me the cofidence I needed on the day and I would reccommend it to anyone thinking about applying for the police force.
Go for it!


Lacks any real depth, 09 Jul 2007
Firstly, the book is good for the practice maths and verbal reasoning tests and helping you with your application form.

However, the book seems to lack any real help where you need it most. It seems to describe the process in detail but offer little help in the way of preparing you for the tests. For most people, the role plays and interview stages are the real worry of the Assesment Centre, there seemed to be little information of value on these stages.

As pointed out already, it is out of date. The book will teach you about writing a letter for the Assesment Centre which is no longer a requirement. In this sense, your on your own for the writen section of the Assesment Centre.

At the end of the day, the price of this book isn't going to put much of a dent in your wallet, and it does help to some extent.... but to me it didn't offer the kind of help other reviewers found it to be.

The most important information in this book is given to you, for free, prior to the Assesment Centre (should you pass the application form).

I'd advise others to buy it, but don't expect too much from it.

Worth every penny, 28 Dec 2006
I have just been accepted into Cheshire Police and this book played a large part in my application. I do believe that this book is the reason I passed my assessment centre. After reading the book I felt quietly confident going into my assessment centre and would have been a nervous wreck otherwise. I would advise anyone thinking of joining the police or already in the process of applying to buy this book as it is a great help.

so helpful, 14 Jul 2006
Just completed my a/c day for hants- this book is a bible when it comes to gathering knowledge of what to expext and practice questions

Absolutely invaluable, 06 Dec 2005
This book became absolutely invaluable to me as I was going through the recruitment process to join the Police. It gives you pointers on what to/what not to include on your application, practice questions for the pyschometric tests and good advice on what to do through the assessment centre. It helped me to get through the stages and I would recommend it to any potential new recruit.

Terrible. Terrible. Terrible., 03 Nov 2008
This suffers from the same problems as the DVD.

It's derivative. There is absolutely nothing that hasn't been said over and over again.

It's simplistic. Life can be simple, but that doesn't mean you should treat your audience as if they are too.

It's repetitive. Get a variety of different figures in your niche to all say the same things using slightly different words.

It's nasty. Follow the philosophy through to it's logical conclusion and you are left with the concept that those who suffer have brought it upon themselves. There may be a grain of truth for some of the many unfortunates out there, but try telling a starving family in a poverty- and drought-stricken wilderness that really they ought to just change their attitudes and it'll all work out, then see which religion's version of hell you belong in.

It's insidious. They stack what I am sure they see as reasonable arguments one on top of the other, leading from premise to unfounded conclusion at such speed and in such a fashion that they gradually start to get in just through the continual exposure to the same old message.

The whole thing is trite, simple and hackneyed.
Still, it proves what good underground marketing can do. Don't be a sheep. Borrow it first, read it carefully, think on it, then have a good laugh, give it back and forget you ever heard of this tosh.

Promises what it cannot deliver., 31 Oct 2008
Should you wish to read this book with the sole intention of feeling both good about yourself and the world in general, then you will undoubtedly find that it lifts the spirits and enables you to view everything through the proverbial 'rose coloured spectacles'. If this is all you want to obtain from this book then my heartfelt good wishes to you. If, on the otherhand, you are desirous of creating miracles (as the blurb promises) then you will be sadly disappointed. To preclude all doubt to the point where you are able to effectively change the world around you, or your future for that matter, takes something that the majority of us simply cannot command. Jesus could do it - but then he was something a bit special. The rest of us, unfortunately, will have to be satisfied with the rose coloured spectacles. Miracles are not intended for the mundane.

Is the world controlled by a 1% elite?, 21 Oct 2008
The book and the video are the two sides of the same coin and I would advise you to follow the one or the other. I will suggest though that you concentrate on the video because the commentary between the quotations are nothing but the proof that some people need a lot more explanations and a lot of paraphrase to understand the basic meaning. Are we all without limits? And that is going to be my very first remark. From my long experience I know that some people are physically handicapped, or mentally handicapped, or psychologically handicapped, or with many hurdles on their road and around them. You should see the state of some of those children born to deep alcoholics or drug addicts. Or what about children with a severe genetic disparagement? And I refuse to say they are just disabled, or differently-abled. They are handicapped by being materialistically in their very body or mind at a disadvantage that will prevent them from doing what most people around them will be able to do. If the mind is intact, and working on positive thinking is the only way for these people, then they can compensate their physical limitations with their spiritual achievements. But you can't run in the standard Olympics without legs just like a bicycle will not run without wheels. And this time, in most of these situations, one will not be able to excel, full stop and period, and if one can excel in one particular field in which he is not or is less limited, it won't be without the help of other people around them. You cannot think positive if there is no signs along that road. The second remark is positive. Apart from these special cases, everyone, absolutely everyone can excel somewhere and that excellence can only be reached if it is targeted, looked for and built. Positive thinking, education, understanding that the pleasure of such achievements is in the goal when reached and not in the effort you have to accomplish, even if for those who will reach the highest points this very effort is a pleasure, the pleasure of the effort itself. A runner has to train day in and day out and that is never, absolutely never a plain entertaining phase of relaxation and abandon. Physical pleasure requires sweat and heart speed. But if one does not set their minds on the aim they are going to strive towards, they will never reach it. Success is enormously in the mind, in the conscious and subconscious motivation of the candidate. Yet it is absolutely false to say that man has no limits. Humanity, and every member of it, has always been limited historically and no one could think plasma physics or quantum computers under Julius Caesar. Each historical period produces its possible fields of investigation that are limited because in a later historical period those fields of investigation will always be vaster, larger, deeper, more intense. Or then the author is speaking metaphorically of man as the representative of humanity in its cosmic history. But that is not helping any individual who is striving to achieve something in his own life. Icarus did try to fly but wax wings were kind of primitive. Then my third and last remark will be a question: why only ONE percent of humanity controls NINETY-SIX percent of wealth? If this is a fact, and it is, it is the proof that all men are not equal in facts but only in rights, and that is so by our collective decision to say so. But one thing is sure: thinking negatively is never good. Think of McCain and Palin and their negative campaigning. Think of all the anarchists of the world who have never achieved the slightest beginning of their dream which is only a negative picture of the world the way it is. If you criticize the world systematically, then your dream becomes the inverted image of this world, hence a negative picture of reality, and that will never guide or inspire people into desiring such a future. When I don't like something I do not ask for the reverse. I wonder what the situation is, what the possibilities are and if another solution is possible and which one. Then I will think positively along that objective, or rather as objective as possible, line, but to demand black because what I don't like is white, or to require red because what I don't like is blue is primitive negative thinking. That kind of realism and collective striving is absent from this book or video and that is a shame because they forget attraction holds the world and the cosmos up because it is always counterbalanced by repulsion. Otherwise the moon would have fallen onto the earth a long very long time ago, even if this repulsion is itself the product of attractions that are standing abreast and against the attraction of the earth. The apple did not fall as long as the stem was strong enough and the apple light enough for the stem not to break. The author of this book or video seems to have forgotten that the cosmos is a complex system of opposed spheres and when a weak point appears, then a catastrophe develops in that weak point, and the earth is doomed sooner or later in cosmic time to disappear, just like the sun which will one day have burned all itself fuel.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines


Dreadful Twaddle, 16 Oct 2008
After you cut though all the flannel, the secret is revealed. If you think about things they will come to you. No they won't. It takes dedication, persistence and hard work to achieve success, get rich, lose weight or achieve whatever your goal is. This book is delusional and misleading. The elements on positive thinking are fine but they are better expressed in many other self-help books. The 'secret' itself is laughable.

The Secret and The Scam, 11 Oct 2008
A friend of mine bought me this book for my birthday, explaining that it was a best selling spiritual read, so I was looking forward to what it had to say. I can honestly say I was unimpressed from the start. There was this build to this huge life changing 'secret' and it was like waiting for a huge explosion that never actually went off.

This whole Secret is based on wishful, dillusional thnking. It claims that if you want to have money, believe that you will have money and it will come to you. If you want to lose weight, believe that you're losing weight and it will happen. It rarely ever mentions that you have to put work in for these things to happen. In a good way this book does allow people to focus on what they want in life and to focus on the positive, but having a good life, having money and having good relationships requires some work on our part, not just repeating something in our heads and hoping the Universe will deliver. That's just lazy thinking. I gained a lot more from listening to Anthony Robbins CD's then I did from this book. And yes, I'm aware that he's in it for the money too.

This book also spent a lot of time advertising the film version, so there are a lot of people making getting rich from this book. Unfortunately it won't be the readers.

Worth a look, though not hugely insightful & contains some errors, 10 Nov 2008
This book is helpfully reassuring if you're a bit nervous about taking such tests.
The general comments do give answers to niggling questions about how to cope with the tests.
The example tests are useful, though they're only indicative - for a fuller practice, try the online practice tests on SHL's website. I would say that many of the example questions in the book are more straightforward than you might want to expect in the "real thing".
What really worries me, though, is that the answers given in the book are sometimes wrong. It's not clear whether this is just an editing issue or whether the database they're taken from is wrong. In either case, it should be cleared up. If the database is wrong, then that is shocking, because peoples' job applications may depend on this. The book states "psychologists are only human" by way of apologising for errors that do crop up. However, as someone who has set professional exam questions, I view this as unacceptable.

Waste of Time, 12 Apr 2008
People should learn from their mistakes. Although the answers to the numerical tests are listed within the book, there are no EXPLANATIONS as to how to solve the problems! Therefore, how can someone improve if they get an answer wrong and do not understand the steps that must be taken to produce the correct answer? This has led to frustration.

Excellent book for Assessment Centre practice, 26 Oct 2007
An excellent book for assessment centre practice, full of useful advice and ideas including a wide variety of potential tests. Would recommend.

So, you want this job?, 24 Feb 2006
If you have been asked to go through an aptitude test, rest assured that you will find similar example questions in this book. It covers a wide variety of tests designed for graduate, senior and managerial positions in a wide range of industries. Furthermore, there are 35 tests designed by SHL, regularly used in the recruitment process of large-size organisations. The book is very well structured and the reader can easily spot and isolate the tests of interest. However, they are highly addictive, so you may end up spending hours or days, trying to solve all of them… There are also chapters dedicated to the preparation stage, the interview and the assessment process. The author does not try to cover all possible cases and questions you might encounter; she focuses on the key-elements that make a candidate successful. And she manages to emphasize the important information while using a plain and humorous language. I strongly recommend this book!

Don't expect to learn much, 13 Oct 2008
This is very typical of self-help books. Full of self-assessment exercises, quotes taken from The Oxford Book of Quotations or similar. The text is cobbled together from popular psychology and management theory. Some of the questionnaires would seem to belong in a women's magazine, rather than an academic book. Anyone who has done PD/PSE or a motivation course will have a good idea what to expect. It is amazing that this is set as essential reading on many university courses now.

Excellent book, 01 Oct 2008
I used this in conjunction with the Experts Guide Job Interview DVD Job Interview Skills - Extended DVD & CD, and found them both to be indispensable.

Excellent guide to PDP, 09 Oct 2007
For students at school and university this is an essential guide. Personal and Professional Development Planning is key to making the most out of your experience in any educational institution. Employers are looking for much more that the diploma/degree that you emerge form Uni' with. You are required to be able to demostrate your skills and attributes as they apply to the work that you would be doing. Cottrell shows you how to draw these out, collect evidence and demonstrate what you have gained and achieved through your educational experience.



Lot's of detail, too much, not inspiring, 09 Feb 2006
i was dissapointed when i bought my copy of this book. it is set out very much as an academic text and not very user friendly. i was surprised by the style of book the author chose to do. mostly forms and questionaires to fill in, followed by some short paragraphs. it is very much the typical type of offering from an hr department when they are encouraging time management, or reflective practice. not inspiring or motivational at all. the content is ok, but reminded me very much of the type of exercise they gave us for professinal development courses at university. i did not get a lot from them either. thorough but left me dissapointed.

Confidence Is Key, 22 May 2008
This book was excellent in preparing me and helping me pass the PIRT.
It gave me the cofidence I needed on the day and I would reccommend it to anyone thinking about applying for the police force.
Go for it!


Lacks any real depth, 09 Jul 2007
Firstly, the book is good for the practice maths and verbal reasoning tests and helping you with your application form.

However, the book seems to lack any real help where you need it most. It seems to describe the process in detail but offer little help in the way of preparing you for the tests. For most people, the role plays and interview stages are the real worry of the Assesment Centre, there seemed to be little information of value on these stages.

As pointed out already, it is out of date. The book will teach you about writing a letter for the Assesment Centre which is no longer a requirement. In this sense, your on your own for the writen section of the Assesment Centre.

At the end of the day, the price of this book isn't going to put much of a dent in your wallet, and it does help to some extent.... but to me it didn't offer the kind of help other reviewers found it to be.

The most important information in this book is given to you, for free, prior to the Assesment Centre (should you pass the application form).

I'd advise others to buy it, but don't expect too much from it.

Worth every penny, 28 Dec 2006
I have just been accepted into Cheshire Police and this book played a large part in my application. I do believe that this book is the reason I passed my assessment centre. After reading the book I felt quietly confident going into my assessment centre and would have been a nervous wreck otherwise. I would advise anyone thinking of joining the police or already in the process of applying to buy this book as it is a great help.

so helpful, 14 Jul 2006
Just completed my a/c day for hants- this book is a bible when it comes to gathering knowledge of what to expext and practice questions

Absolutely invaluable, 06 Dec 2005
This book became absolutely invaluable to me as I was going through the recruitment process to join the Police. It gives you pointers on what to/what not to include on your application, practice questions for the pyschometric tests and good advice on what to do through the assessment centre. It helped me to get through the stages and I would recommend it to any potential new recruit.

Terrible. Terrible. Terrible., 03 Nov 2008
This suffers from the same problems as the DVD.

It's derivative. There is absolutely nothing that hasn't been said over and over again.

It's simplistic. Life can be simple, but that doesn't mean you should treat your audience as if they are too.

It's repetitive. Get a variety of different figures in your niche to all say the same things using slightly different words.

It's nasty. Follow the philosophy through to it's logical conclusion and you are left with the concept that those who suffer have brought it upon themselves. There may be a grain of truth for some of the many unfortunates out there, but try telling a starving family in a poverty- and drought-stricken wilderness that really they ought to just change their attitudes and it'll all work out, then see which religion's version of hell you belong in.

It's insidious. They stack what I am sure they see as reasonable arguments one on top of the other, leading from premise to unfounded conclusion at such speed and in such a fashion that they gradually start to get in just through the continual exposure to the same old message.

The whole thing is trite, simple and hackneyed.
Still, it proves what good underground marketing can do. Don't be a sheep. Borrow it first, read it carefully, think on it, then have a good laugh, give it back and forget you ever heard of this tosh.

Promises what it cannot deliver., 31 Oct 2008
Should you wish to read this book with the sole intention of feeling both good about yourself and the world in general, then you will undoubtedly find that it lifts the spirits and enables you to view everything through the proverbial 'rose coloured spectacles'. If this is all you want to obtain from this book then my heartfelt good wishes to you. If, on the otherhand, you are desirous of creating miracles (as the blurb promises) then you will be sadly disappointed. To preclude all doubt to the point where you are able to effectively change the world around you, or your future for that matter, takes something that the majority of us simply cannot command. Jesus could do it - but then he was something a bit special. The rest of us, unfortunately, will have to be satisfied with the rose coloured spectacles. Miracles are not intended for the mundane.

Is the world controlled by a 1% elite?, 21 Oct 2008
The book and the video are the two sides of the same coin and I would advise you to follow the one or the other. I will suggest though that you concentrate on the video because the commentary between the quotations are nothing but the proof that some people need a lot more explanations and a lot of paraphrase to understand the basic meaning. Are we all without limits? And that is going to be my very first remark. From my long experience I know that some people are physically handicapped, or mentally handicapped, or psychologically handicapped, or with many hurdles on their road and around them. You should see the state of some of those children born to deep alcoholics or drug addicts. Or what about children with a severe genetic disparagement? And I refuse to say they are just disabled, or differently-abled. They are handicapped by being materialistically in their very body or mind at a disadvantage that will prevent them from doing what most people around them will be able to do. If the mind is intact, and working on positive thinking is the only way for these people, then they can compensate their physical limitations with their spiritual achievements. But you can't run in the standard Olympics without legs just like a bicycle will not run without wheels. And this time, in most of these situations, one will not be able to excel, full stop and period, and if one can excel in one particular field in which he is not or is less limited, it won't be without the help of other people around them. You cannot think positive if there is no signs along that road. The second remark is positive. Apart from these special cases, everyone, absolutely everyone can excel somewhere and that excellence can only be reached if it is targeted, looked for and built. Positive thinking, education, understanding that the pleasure of such achievements is in the goal when reached and not in the effort you have to accomplish, even if for those who will reach the highest points this very effort is a pleasure, the pleasure of the effort itself. A runner has to train day in and day out and that is never, absolutely never a plain entertaining phase of relaxation and abandon. Physical pleasure requires sweat and heart speed. But if one does not set their minds on the aim they are going to strive towards, they will never reach it. Success is enormously in the mind, in the conscious and subconscious motivation of the candidate. Yet it is absolutely false to say that man has no limits. Humanity, and every member of it, has always been limited historically and no one could think plasma physics or quantum computers under Julius Caesar. Each historical period produces its possible fields of investigation that are limited because in a later historical period those fields of investigation will always be vaster, larger, deeper, more intense. Or then the author is speaking metaphorically of man as the representative of humanity in its cosmic history. But that is not helping any individual who is striving to achieve something in his own life. Icarus did try to fly but wax wings were kind of primitive. Then my third and last remark will be a question: why only ONE percent of humanity controls NINETY-SIX percent of wealth? If this is a fact, and it is, it is the proof that all men are not equal in facts but only in rights, and that is so by our collective decision to say so. But one thing is sure: thinking negatively is never good. Think of McCain and Palin and their negative campaigning. Think of all the anarchists of the world who have never achieved the slightest beginning of their dream which is only a negative picture of the world the way it is. If you criticize the world systematically, then your dream becomes the inverted image of this world, hence a negative picture of reality, and that will never guide or inspire people into desiring such a future. When I don't like something I do not ask for the reverse. I wonder what the situation is, what the possibilities are and if another solution is possible and which one. Then I will think positively along that objective, or rather as objective as possible, line, but to demand black because what I don't like is white, or to require red because what I don't like is blue is primitive negative thinking. That kind of realism and collective striving is absent from this book or video and that is a shame because they forget attraction holds the world and the cosmos up because it is always counterbalanced by repulsion. Otherwise the moon would have fallen onto the earth a long very long time ago, even if this repulsion is itself the product of attractions that are standing abreast and against the attraction of the earth. The apple did not fall as long as the stem was strong enough and the apple light enough for the stem not to break. The author of this book or video seems to have forgotten that the cosmos is a complex system of opposed spheres and when a weak point appears, then a catastrophe develops in that weak point, and the earth is doomed sooner or later in cosmic time to disappear, just like the sun which will one day have burned all itself fuel.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines


Dreadful Twaddle, 16 Oct 2008
After you cut though all the flannel, the secret is revealed. If you think about things they will come to you. No they won't. It takes dedication, persistence and hard work to achieve success, get rich, lose weight or achieve whatever your goal is. This book is delusional and misleading. The elements on positive thinking are fine but they are better expressed in many other self-help books. The 'secret' itself is laughable.

The Secret and The Scam, 11 Oct 2008
A friend of mine bought me this book for my birthday, explaining that it was a best selling spiritual read, so I was looking forward to what it had to say. I can honestly say I was unimpressed from the start. There was this build to this huge life changing 'secret' and it was like waiting for a huge explosion that never actually went off.

This whole Secret is based on wishful, dillusional thnking. It claims that if you want to have money, believe that you will have money and it will come to you. If you want to lose weight, believe that you're losing weight and it will happen. It rarely ever mentions that you have to put work in for these things to happen. In a good way this book does allow people to focus on what they want in life and to focus on the positive, but having a good life, having money and having good relationships requires some work on our part, not just repeating something in our heads and hoping the Universe will deliver. That's just lazy thinking. I gained a lot more from listening to Anthony Robbins CD's then I did from this book. And yes, I'm aware that he's in it for the money too.

This book also spent a lot of time advertising the film version, so there are a lot of people making getting rich from this book. Unfortunately it won't be the readers.

Worth a look, though not hugely insightful & contains some errors, 10 Nov 2008
This book is helpfully reassuring if you're a bit nervous about taking such tests.
The general comments do give answers to niggling questions about how to cope with the tests.
The example tests are useful, though they're only indicative - for a fuller practice, try the online practice tests on SHL's website. I would say that many of the example questions in the book are more straightforward than you might want to expect in the "real thing".
What really worries me, though, is that the answers given in the book are sometimes wrong. It's not clear whether this is just an editing issue or whether the database they're taken from is wrong. In either case, it should be cleared up. If the database is wrong, then that is shocking, because peoples' job applications may depend on this. The book states "psychologists are only human" by way of apologising for errors that do crop up. However, as someone who has set professional exam questions, I view this as unacceptable.

Waste of Time, 12 Apr 2008
People should learn from their mistakes. Although the answers to the numerical tests are listed within the book, there are no EXPLANATIONS as to how to solve the problems! Therefore, how can someone improve if they get an answer wrong and do not understand the steps that must be taken to produce the correct answer? This has led to frustration.

Excellent book for Assessment Centre practice, 26 Oct 2007
An excellent book for assessment centre practice, full of useful advice and ideas including a wide variety of potential tests. Would recommend.

So, you want this job?, 24 Feb 2006
If you have been asked to go through an aptitude test, rest assured that you will find similar example questions in this book. It covers a wide variety of tests designed for graduate, senior and managerial positions in a wide range of industries. Furthermore, there are 35 tests designed by SHL, regularly used in the recruitment process of large-size organisations. The book is very well structured and the reader can easily spot and isolate the tests of interest. However, they are highly addictive, so you may end up spending hours or days, trying to solve all of them… There are also chapters dedicated to the preparation stage, the interview and the assessment process. The author does not try to cover all possible cases and questions you might encounter; she focuses on the key-elements that make a candidate successful. And she manages to emphasize the important information while using a plain and humorous language. I strongly recommend this book!

Ignore the answers completely., 15 Jun 2008
Never before have I felt compelled to write a review, but this book annoyed me so much that it had to be done.

The book consists of several chapters teaching you skills such as ratios and percentages, this first part is absolutely fine and the answers that I checked were correct also.

However, the final part of the book, the section which should be the most useful, data interpretation. You are given quite a few different data interpretation questions to answer in the form of tables, bar graphs and pie charts, all good so far. But unbelievably so after you have racked your brain to figure out the answers, only to discover that the 'correct' answers written in the book are wrong. Needless to say this is indeed infuriating, especially as it takes you a while to realise this, at one point I thought I was making no progress at all.

Although the bulk of the book is useful I would avoid purchasing the book purely because of its blatant mistakes.

How to pass numerical reasoning tests: a step-by-step guide to learning key numeracy skills (how to pass), 06 Jun 2008
This book is rubbish it does not teach you a single thing and if I could give it 0 out of 5 I would. It's boring, confusing and doesnt explain anything clearly how it ever got printed is beyond me, don't waste your money.

Infuriating, 25 Jan 2008
It's not often I feel compelled to write a review of a book or anything else for that matter but, this book has infuriated me to such an extent that I feel I have to.

Are the questions representative of those you might find in a real numerical reasoning test? Yes.

Does the book have a reasonable number of practice questions? Yes.

Will this book help you pass a numerical reasoning test? No

Why??

The questions often try to catch you out which, ordinarily, is fine. However, the author over does this too such an extent that sometimes even they appear to be confused (as can be seen by their incorrect explanation of the answer). This is a problem because often in real tests you might only get 45 seconds or so per question and after reading this book you'll find yourself searching for things in real tests that simply don't exist. Another problem is the confusing way in which the questions are worded which, when combined with a smattering of incorrect answers and the aforementioned will have you screaming in no time!

I ran this book by a couple of my friends who both have masters' degrees in maths from Imperial College. They struggled even more than I did!! Could they do the maths? Yes. Could they make sense of this book? No. You've been warned.

Excellent book for reviewing your math skills., 22 Nov 2007
I have been studying in university for quite a while but in my current subject area, I didn't have to solve mathematical questions. However, I was applying for jobs which also involve case studies and numerical reasoning tests. This book was very helpful, it explains calculating with big numbers, percentages, ratios, etc. In addition, you got some practice questions, as well. I would definitely recommend this book if you wanna brush up your math skills.

Learning the trade, 04 Nov 2007
If you havent touched any maths for years and require to polish your basic maths skills, this is the book. You can oil all them rusty questions and grey areas with this book.

If your facing an SHL numeric test for the first time, you may want to have a look at this as it has all the basic numerical functions. THIS BOOK DOES NOT HAVE SHL TYPE QUESTIONS.

Do not rely on this book if you have a graduate level test. Its only for basic's which its very good at.

Don't expect to learn much, 13 Oct 2008
This is very typical of self-help books. Full of self-assessment exercises, quotes taken from The Oxford Book of Quotations or similar. The text is cobbled together from popular psychology and management theory. Some of the questionnaires would seem to belong in a women's magazine, rather than an academic book. Anyone who has done PD/PSE or a motivation course will have a good idea what to expect. It is amazing that this is set as essential reading on many university courses now.

Excellent book, 01 Oct 2008
I used this in conjunction with the Experts Guide Job Interview DVD Job Interview Skills - Extended DVD & CD, and found them both to be indispensable.

Excellent guide to PDP, 09 Oct 2007
For students at school and university this is an essential guide. Personal and Professional Development Planning is key to making the most out of your experience in any educational institution. Employers are looking for much more that the diploma/degree that you emerge form Uni' with. You are required to be able to demostrate your skills and attributes as they apply to the work that you would be doing. Cottrell shows you how to draw these out, collect evidence and demonstrate what you have gained and achieved through your educational experience.



Lot's of detail, too much, not inspiring, 09 Feb 2006
i was dissapointed when i bought my copy of this book. it is set out very much as an academic text and not very user friendly. i was surprised by the style of book the author chose to do. mostly forms and questionaires to fill in, followed by some short paragraphs. it is very much the typical type of offering from an hr department when they are encouraging time management, or reflective practice. not inspiring or motivational at all. the content is ok, but reminded me very much of the type of exercise they gave us for professinal development courses at university. i did not get a lot from them either. thorough but left me dissapointed.

Confidence Is Key, 22 May 2008
This book was excellent in preparing me and helping me pass the PIRT.
It gave me the cofidence I needed on the day and I would reccommend it to anyone thinking about applying for the police force.
Go for it!


Lacks any real depth, 09 Jul 2007
Firstly, the book is good for the practice maths and verbal reasoning tests and helping you with your application form.

However, the book seems to lack any real help where you need it most. It seems to describe the process in detail but offer little help in the way of preparing you for the tests. For most people, the role plays and interview stages are the real worry of the Assesment Centre, there seemed to be little information of value on these stages.

As pointed out already, it is out of date. The book will teach you about writing a letter for the Assesment Centre which is no longer a requirement. In this sense, your on your own for the writen section of the Assesment Centre.

At the end of the day, the price of this book isn't going to put much of a dent in your wallet, and it does help to some extent.... but to me it didn't offer the kind of help other reviewers found it to be.

The most important information in this book is given to you, for free, prior to the Assesment Centre (should you pass the application form).

I'd advise others to buy it, but don't expect too much from it.

Worth every penny, 28 Dec 2006
I have just been accepted into Cheshire Police and this book played a large part in my application. I do believe that this book is the reason I passed my assessment centre. After reading the book I felt quietly confident going into my assessment centre and would have been a nervous wreck otherwise. I would advise anyone thinking of joining the police or already in the process of applying to buy this book as it is a great help.

so helpful, 14 Jul 2006
Just completed my a/c day for hants- this book is a bible when it comes to gathering knowledge of what to expext and practice questions

Absolutely invaluable, 06 Dec 2005
This book became absolutely invaluable to me as I was going through the recruitment process to join the Police. It gives you pointers on what to/what not to include on your application, practice questions for the pyschometric tests and good advice on what to do through the assessment centre. It helped me to get through the stages and I would recommend it to any potential new recruit.

Terrible. Terrible. Terrible., 03 Nov 2008
This suffers from the same problems as the DVD.

It's derivative. There is absolutely nothing that hasn't been said over and over again.

It's simplistic. Life can be simple, but that doesn't mean you should treat your audience as if they are too.

It's repetitive. Get a variety of different figures in your niche to all say the same things using slightly different words.

It's nasty. Follow the philosophy through to it's logical conclusion and you are left with the concept that those who suffer have brought it upon themselves. There may be a grain of truth for some of the many unfortunates out there, but try telling a starving family in a poverty- and drought-stricken wilderness that really they ought to just change their attitudes and it'll all work out, then see which religion's version of hell you belong in.

It's insidious. They stack what I am sure they see as reasonable arguments one on top of the other, leading from premise to unfounded conclusion at such speed and in such a fashion that they gradually start to get in just through the continual exposure to the same old message.

The whole thing is trite, simple and hackneyed.
Still, it proves what good underground marketing can do. Don't be a sheep. Borrow it first, read it carefully, think on it, then have a good laugh, give it back and forget you ever heard of this tosh.

Promises what it cannot deliver., 31 Oct 2008
Should you wish to read this book with the sole intention of feeling both good about yourself and the world in general, then you will undoubtedly find that it lifts the spirits and enables you to view everything through the proverbial 'rose coloured spectacles'. If this is all you want to obtain from this book then my heartfelt good wishes to you. If, on the otherhand, you are desirous of creating miracles (as the blurb promises) then you will be sadly disappointed. To preclude all doubt to the point where you are able to effectively change the world around you, or your future for that matter, takes something that the majority of us simply cannot command. Jesus could do it - but then he was something a bit special. The rest of us, unfortunately, will have to be satisfied with the rose coloured spectacles. Miracles are not intended for the mundane.

Is the world controlled by a 1% elite?, 21 Oct 2008
The book and the video are the two sides of the same coin and I would advise you to follow the one or the other. I will suggest though that you concentrate on the video because the commentary between the quotations are nothing but the proof that some people need a lot more explanations and a lot of paraphrase to understand the basic meaning. Are we all without limits? And that is going to be my very first remark. From my long experience I know that some people are physically handicapped, or mentally handicapped, or psychologically handicapped, or with many hurdles on their road and around them. You should see the state of some of those children born to deep alcoholics or drug addicts. Or what about children with a severe genetic disparagement? And I refuse to say they are just disabled, or differently-abled. They are handicapped by being materialistically in their very body or mind at a disadvantage that will prevent them from doing what most people around them will be able to do. If the mind is intact, and working on positive thinking is the only way for these people, then they can compensate their physical limitations with their spiritual achievements. But you can't run in the standard Olympics without legs just like a bicycle will not run without wheels. And this time, in most of these situations, one will not be able to excel, full stop and period, and if one can excel in one particular field in which he is not or is less limited, it won't be without the help of other people around them. You cannot think positive if there is no signs along that road. The second remark is positive. Apart from these special cases, everyone, absolutely everyone can excel somewhere and that excellence can only be reached if it is targeted, looked for and built. Positive thinking, education, understanding that the pleasure of such achievements is in the goal when reached and not in the effort you have to accomplish, even if for those who will reach the highest points this very effort is a pleasure, the pleasure of the effort itself. A runner has to train day in and day out and that is never, absolutely never a plain entertaining phase of relaxation and abandon. Physical pleasure requires sweat and heart speed. But if one does not set their minds on the aim they are going to strive towards, they will never reach it. Success is enormously in the mind, in the conscious and subconscious motivation of the candidate. Yet it is absolutely false to say that man has no limits. Humanity, and every member of it, has always been limited historically and no one could think plasma physics or quantum computers under Julius Caesar. Each historical period produces its possible fields of investigation that are limited because in a later historical period those fields of investigation will always be vaster, larger, deeper, more intense. Or then the author is speaking metaphorically of man as the representative of humanity in its cosmic history. But that is not helping any individual who is striving to achieve something in his own life. Icarus did try to fly but wax wings were kind of primitive. Then my third and last remark will be a question: why only ONE percent of humanity controls NINETY-SIX percent of wealth? If this is a fact, and it is, it is the proof that all men are not equal in facts but only in rights, and that is so by our collective decision to say so. But one thing is sure: thinking negatively is never good. Think of McCain and Palin and their negative campaigning. Think of all the anarchists of the world who have never achieved the slightest beginning of their dream which is only a negative picture of the world the way it is. If you criticize the world systematically, then your dream becomes the inverted image of this world, hence a negative picture of reality, and that will never guide or inspire people into desiring such a future. When I don't like something I do not ask for the reverse. I wonder what the situation is, what the possibilities are and if another solution is possible and which one. Then I will think positively along that objective, or rather as objective as possible, line, but to demand black because what I don't like is white, or to require red because what I don't like is blue is primitive negative thinking. That kind of realism and collective striving is absent from this book or video and that is a shame because they forget attraction holds the world and the cosmos up because it is always counterbalanced by repulsion. Otherwise the moon would have fallen onto the earth a long very long time ago, even if this repulsion is itself the product of attractions that are standing abreast and against the attraction of the earth. The apple did not fall as long as the stem was strong enough and the apple light enough for the stem not to break. The author of this book or video seems to have forgotten that the cosmos is a complex system of opposed spheres and when a weak point appears, then a catastrophe develops in that weak point, and the earth is doomed sooner or later in cosmic time to disappear, just like the sun which will one day have burned all itself fuel.

Dr Jacques COULARDEAU, University Paris Dauphine, University Paris 1 Pantheon Sorbonne & University Versailles Saint Quentin en Yvelines


Dreadful Twaddle, 16 Oct 2008
After you cut though all the flannel, the secret is revealed. If you think about things they will come to you. No they won't. It takes dedication, persistence and hard work to achieve success, get rich, lose weight or achieve whatever your goal is. This book is delusional and misleading. The elements on positive thinking are fine but they are better expressed in many other self-help books. The 'secret' itself is laughable.

The Secret and The Scam, 11 Oct 2008
A friend of mine bought me this book for my birthday, explaining that it was a best selling spiritual read, so I was looking forward to what it had to say. I can honestly say I was unimpressed from the start. There was this build to this huge life changing 'secret' and it was like waiting for a huge explosion that never actually went off.

This whole Secret is based on wishful, dillusional thnking. It claims that if you want to have money, believe that you will have money and it will come to you. If you want to lose weight, believe that you're losing weight and it will happen. It rarely ever mentions that you have to put work in for these things to happen. In a good way this book does allow people to focus on what they want in life and to focus on the positive, but having a good life, having money and having good relationships requires some work on our part, not just repeating something in our heads and hoping the Universe will deliver. That's just lazy thinking. I gained a lot more from listening to Anthony Robbins CD's then I did from this book. And yes, I'm aware that he's in it for the money too.

This book also spent a lot of time advertising the film version, so there are a lot of people making getting rich from this book. Unfortunately it won't be the readers.

Worth a look, though not hugely insightful & contains some errors, 10 Nov 2008
This book is helpfully reassuring if you're a bit nervous about taking such tests.
The general comments do give answers to niggling questions about how to cope with the tests.
The example tests are useful, though they're only indicative - for a fuller practice, try the online practice tests on SHL's website. I would say that many of the example questions in the book are more straightforward than you might want to expect in the "real thing".
What really worries me, though, is that the answers given in the book are sometimes wrong. It's not clear whether this is just an editing issue or whether the database they're taken from is wrong. In either case, it should be cleared up. If the database is wrong, then that is shocking, because peoples' job applications may depend on this. The book states "psychologists are only human" by way of apologising for errors that do crop up. However, as someone who has set professional exam questions, I view this as unacceptable.

Waste of Time, 12 Apr 2008
People should learn from their mistakes. Although the answers to the numerical tests are listed within the book, there are no EXPLANATIONS as to how to solve the problems! Therefore, how can someone improve if they get an answer wrong and do not understand the steps that must be taken to produce the correct answer? This has led to frustration.

Excellent book for Assessment Centre practice, 26 Oct 2007
An excellent book for assessment centre practice, full of useful advice and ideas including a wide variety of potential tests. Would recommend.

So, you want this job?, 24 Feb 2006
If you have been asked to go through an aptitude test, rest assured that you will find similar example questions in this book. It covers a wide variety of tests designed for graduate, senior and managerial positions in a wide range of industries. Furthermore, there are 35 tests designed by SHL, regularly used in the recruitment process of large-size organisations. The book is very well structured and the reader can easily spot and isolate the tests of interest. However, they are highly addictive, so you may end up spending hours or days, trying to solve all of them… There are also chapters dedicated to the preparation stage, the interview and the assessment process. The author does not try to cover all possible cases and questions you might encounter; she focuses on the key-elements that make a candidate successful. And she manages to emphasize the important information while using a plain and humorous language. I strongly recommend this book!

Ignore the answers completely., 15 Jun 2008
Never before have I felt compelled to write a review, but this book annoyed me so much that it had to be done.

The book consists of several chapters teaching you skills such as ratios and percentages, this first part is absolutely fine and the answers that I checked were correct also.

However, the final part of the book, the section which should be the most useful, data interpretation. You are given quite a few different data interpretation questions to answer in the form of tables, bar graphs and pie charts, all good so far. But unbelievably so after you have racked your brain to figure out the answers, only to discover that the 'correct' answers written in the book are wrong. Needless to say this is indeed infuriating, especially as it takes you a while to realise this, at one point I thought I was making no progress at all.

Although the bulk of the book is useful I would avoid purchasing the book purely because of its blatant mistakes.

How to pass numerical reasoning tests: a step-by-step guide to learning key numeracy skills (how to pass), 06 Jun 2008
This book is rubbish it does not teach you a single thing and if I could give it 0 out of 5 I would. It's boring, confusing and doesnt explain anything clearly how it ever got printed is beyond me, don't waste your money.

Infuriating, 25 Jan 2008
It's not often I feel compelled to write a review of a book or anything else for that matter but, this book has infuriated me to such an extent that I feel I have to.

Are the questions representative of those you might find in a real numerical reasoning test? Yes.

Does the book have a reasonable number of practice questions? Yes.

Will this book help you pass a numerical reasoning test? No

Why??

The questions often try to catch you out which, ordinarily, is fine. However, the author over does this too such an extent that sometimes even they appear to be confused (as can be seen by their incorrect explanation of the answer). This is a problem because often in real tests you might only get 45 seconds or so per question and after reading this book you'll find yourself searching for things in real tests that simply don't exist. Another problem is the confusing way in which the questions are worded which, when combined with a smattering of incorrect answers and the aforementioned will have you screaming in no time!

I ran this book by a couple of my friends who both have masters' degrees in maths from Imperial College. They struggled even more than I did!! Could they do the maths? Yes. Could they make sense of this book? No. You've been warned.

Excellent book for reviewing your math skills., 22 Nov 2007
I have been studying in university for quite a while but in my current subject area, I didn't have to solve mathematical questions. However, I was applying for jobs which also involve case studies and numerical reasoning tests. This book was very helpful, it explains calculating with big numbers, percentages, ratios, etc. In addition, you got some practice questions, as well. I would definitely recommend this book if you wanna brush up your math skills.

Learning the trade, 04 Nov 2007
If you havent touched any maths for years and require to polish your basic maths skills, this is the book. You can oil all them rusty questions and grey areas with this book.

If your facing an SHL numeric test for the first time, you may want to have a look at this as it has all the basic numerical functions. THIS BOOK DOES NOT HAVE SHL TYPE QUESTIONS.

Do not rely on this book if you have a graduate level test. Its only for basic's which its very good at.

brilliant!, 09 Oct 2008
brilliant! definitely worth a purchase as it gives you many tips and the examples are amazingly helpful!
only problem as with the numerical reasoning book, even though this says its aimed at graduate tests, some of the ones i have been completing have been a lot harder :S
definitely worth the practice though.

Don't expect to learn much, 13 Oct 2008
This is very typical of self-help books. Full of self-assessment exercises, quotes taken from The Oxford Book of Quotations or similar. The text is cobbled together from popular psychology and management theory. Some of the questionnaires would seem to belong in a women's magazine, rather than an academic book. Anyone who has done PD/PSE or a motivation course will have a good idea what to expect. It is amazing that this is set as essential reading on many university courses now.

Excellent book, 01 Oct 2008
I used this in conjunction with the Experts Guide Job Interview DVD Job Interview Skills - Extended DVD & CD, and found them both to be indispensable.

Excellent guide to PDP, 09 Oct 2007
For students at school and university this is an essential guide. Personal and Professional Development Planning is key to making the most out of your experience in any educational institution. Employers are looking for much more that the diploma/degree that you emerge form Uni' with. You are required to be able to demostrate your skills and attributes as they apply to the work that you would be doing. Cottrell shows you how to draw these out, collect evidence and demonstrate what you have gained and achieved through your educational experience.



Lot's of detail, too much, not inspiring, 09 Feb 2006
i was dissapointed when i bought my copy of this book. it is set out very much as an academic text and not very user friendly. i was surprised by the style of book the author chose to do. mostly forms and questionaires to fill in, followed by some short paragraphs. it is very much the typical type of offering from an hr department when they are encouraging time management, or reflective practice. not inspiring or motivational at all. the content is ok, but reminded me very much of the type of exercise they gave us for professinal development courses at university. i did not get a lot from them either. thorough but left me dissapointed.

Confidence Is Key, 22 May 2008
This book was excellent in preparing me and helping me pass the PIRT.
It gave me the cofidence I needed on the day and I would reccommend it to anyone thinking about applying for the police force.
Go for it!


Lacks any real depth, 09 Jul 2007
Firstly, the book is good for the practice maths and verbal reasoning tests and helping you with your application form.

However, the book seems to lack any real help where you need it most. It seems to describe the process in detail but offer little help in the way of preparing you for the tests. For most people, the role plays and interview stages are the real worry of the Assesment Centre, there seemed to be little information of value on these stages.

As pointed out already, it is out of date. The book will teach you about writing a letter for the Assesment Centre which is no longer a requirement. In this sense, your on your own for the writen section of the Assesment Centre.

At the end of the day, the price of this book isn't going to put much of a dent in your wallet, and it does help to some extent.... but to me it didn't offer the kind of help other reviewers found it to be.

The most important information in this book is given to you, for free, prior to the Assesment Centre (should you pass the application form).

I'd advise others to buy it, but don't expect too much from it.

Worth every penny, 28 Dec 2006
I have just been accepted into Cheshire Police and this book played a large part in my application. I do believe that this book is the reason I passed my assessment centre. After reading the book I felt quietly confident going into my assessment centre and would have been a nervous wreck otherwise. I would advise anyone thinking of joining the police or already in the process of applying to buy this book as it is a great help.

so helpful, 14 Jul 2006
Just completed my a/c day for hants- this book is a bible when it comes to gathering knowledge of what to expext and practice questions

Absolutely invaluable, 06 Dec 2005
This book became absolutely invaluable to me as I was going through the recruitment process to join the Police. It gives you pointers on what to/what not to include on your application, practice questions for the pyschometric tests and good advice on what to do through the assessment centre. It helped me to get through the stages and I would recommend it to any potential new recruit.

Terrible. Terrible. Terrible., 03 Nov 2008
This suffers from the same problems as the DVD.

It's derivative. There is absolutely nothing that hasn't been said over and over again.

It's simplistic. Life can be simple, but that doesn't mean you should treat your audience as if they are too.

It's repetitive. Get a variety of different figures in your niche to all say the same things using slightly different words.

It's nasty. Follow the philosophy through to it's logical conclusion and you are left with the concept that those who suffer have brought it upon themselves. There may be a grain of truth for some of the many unfortunates out there, but try telling a starving family in a poverty- and drought-stricken wilderness that really they ought to just change their attitudes and it'll all work out, then see which religion's version of hell you belong in.

It's insidious. They stack what I am sure they see as reasonable arguments one on top of the other, leading from premise to unfounded conclusion at such speed and in such a fashion that they gradually start to get in just through the continual exposure to the same old message.

The whole thing is trite, simple and hackneyed.
Still, it proves what good underground marketing can do. Don't be a sheep. Borrow it first, read it carefully, think on it, then have a good laugh, give it back and forget you ever heard of this tosh.

Promises what it cannot deliver., 31 Oct 2008
Should you wish to read this book with the sole intention of feeling both good about yourself and the world in general, then you will undoubtedly find that it lifts the spirits and enables you to view everything through the proverbial 'rose coloured spectacles'. If this is all you want to obtain from this book then my heartfelt good wishes to you. If, on the otherhand, you are desirous of creating miracles (as the blurb promises) then you will be sadly disappointed. To preclude all doubt to the point where you are able to effectively change the world around you, or your future for that matter, takes something that the majority of us simply cannot command. Jesus could do it - but then he was something a bit special. The rest of us, unfortunately, will have to be satisfied with the rose coloured spectacles. Miracles are not intended for the mundane.

Is the world controlled by a 1% elite?, 21 Oct 2008
The book and the video are the two sides of the same coin and I would advise you to follow the one or the other. I will suggest though that you concentrate on the video because the commentary between the quotations are nothing but the proof that some people need a lot more explanations and a lot of paraphrase to understand the basic meaning. Are we all without limits? And that is going to be my very first remark. From my long experience I know that some people are physically handicapped, or mentally handicapped, or psychologically handicapped, or with many hurdles on their road and around them. You should see the state of some of those children born to deep alcoholics or drug addicts. Or what about children with a severe genetic disparagement? And I refuse to say they are just disabled, or differently-abled. They are handicapped by being materialistically in their very body or mind at a disadvantage that will prevent them from doing what most people around them will be able to do. If the mind is intact, and working on positive thinking is the only way for these people, then they can compensate their physical limitations with their spiritual achievements. But you can't run in the standard Olympics without legs just like a bicycle will not run without wheels. And this time, in most of these situations, one will not be able to excel, full stop and period, and if one can excel in one particular field in which he is not or is less limited, it won't be without the help of other people around them. You cannot think positive if there is no signs along that road. The second remark is positive. Apart from these special cases, everyone, absolutely everyone can excel somewhere and that excellence can only be reached if it is targeted, looked for and built. Positive thinking, education, understanding that the pleasure of such achievements is in the goal when reached and not in the effort you have to accomplish, even if for those who will reach the highest points this very effort is a pleasure, the pleasure of the effort itself. A runner has to train day in and day out and that is never, absolutely never a plain entertaining phase of relaxation and abandon. Physical pleasure requires sweat and heart speed. But if one does not set their minds on the aim they are going to strive towards, they will never reach it. Success is enormously in the mind, in the conscious and subconscious motivation of the candidate. Yet it is absolutely false to say that man has no limits. Humanity, and every member of it, has always been limited historically and no one could think plasma physics or quantum computers under Julius Caesar. Eac