Book Review: Og Mandino- Three Volumes In One

Og Mandino ~ Three Volumes In One
Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

This is my first book review at All Around The Circle.
I hope you enjoy my book reviews and insights in addition to Elle's.

This is a book I would not have chosen for myself.
It was given to me as a gift from my sister, 
who just happens to be my up-line with Avon.
Why wouldn't I have chosen it for myself you may wonder?
Well, I'm not a 'self-help' reader and definitely am intimidated when I see a big 'ol book like this one is!!!!  Granted, there are three books in one in this particular book, but none the less, it sat on my bookshelf for about eleven months before I decided to make myself read it!

At first I thought it was going to be all about business.
But really, this is one of those books that you can apply to life in general, so I would recommend it to anyone.  Also, there are religious references in this book (no doubt) but even if you are not the religious type, do not let that hold you back from reading this book to gain knowledge.

The first book is called "The Greatest Salesman In The World."
This story is the basis of everything.  I honestly found myself excited to sit down and read to find out what would happen next.
The main take away from this book are 'The Ten Scrolls.'
These are ten lessons for beginning anew; to believe in yourself, have faith, build confidence, control emotions and focus on what you want in your life.  If you follow the book the way the author wants you to read the book, you will be reading one scroll every month to ingrain these scrolls into your brain.  Well, I do not have that kind of time and as I said above, I was intimidated enough at the size of the book and just wanted to get through it! (Just being honest here.)
So with that said, I know I will refer back to this book in the future when I need some inspiration.  I enjoyed the story of the salesman and in the life lessons each scroll touches upon.  This is one of those books that every senior in high school or freshman in college should be required to read.

The second book was called 'The Greatest Secret In The World' and I felt it was just reiterating each scroll in more detail and dragging out the process of dissecting each scroll.

The third book was called 'The Greatest Miracle In The World' and I really enjoyed this one.  I couldn't wait to finish it to find out what happened!
Og Mandino is a tremendous storyteller and I often wondered throughout this book how much of this story was fiction and how much was non-fiction because it truly read like a non-fiction book to me.

I know I did not give away what the story lines of these books are about.
It is very complicated to explain, but just know that these books are like no other I have ever read.  I can truly say that.  

If you do read any of these books, please don't hesitate to come back and visit me here to comment and talk about the books.  

The next book I would like to read by Og Mandino is 'The God Memorandum' which was a part of the last book ('The Greatest Miracle In The World.')  I was thinking of reading  'The Return Of The Ragpicker' because I thought it would pick up where the story left off in 'The Greatest Miracle In The World', but then I read some reviews from others who have read it.  They said the author wrote it ten to fifteen years after 'miracle' and that it was basically a 'brag' book of the author's accomplishments and 'politically correct platforms' replaced his God-based inspirations.  Because of this I will probably not bother with the 'return' book, however I would like to read more of his early works because it seems to me that is when he was most 'humble.'