Average Rating: 
Rating:  - Not worth the paper it is printed on.
I sensed I was in trouble with this book when I read an endorsement from Deepak Chopra, the Martha Stewart of enlightenment. In writing this review I have no delusion about changing the minds of any true believers, those seekers of the truth. There are enough of you to keep this author prosperous for years. Instead, I am hoping to stop those readers who are earnestly looking for more out of life from wasting their money. This may be the worst book of its type I have ever read. It goes nowhere. It offers no new insight, nor does it take existing ideas and present them in a new, creative way. One critic refered to his writing as gibberish. I think that's being kind. I actually got angry reading this book. OH! I was very much in the "Now" when I had this reaction. You could read this book a hundred times and not find anything useful. Here is the gist of what I think he's saying. Don't spend time worrying about things you can't control or change. It leads to frustration and in extreme cases to serious illness. Take the energy you would spend worrying and apply it towards positive, constructive thoughts and actions in everything you do. There are so many authors who say it more precisely, more insightfully and more creatively. Invest your money in them. Eckhart is a charlatan. He has figured out one of our modern era's greatest shames; you'll never go broke preying on the needs of others. Mr. Tolle is to serious insight into life as John Tesh is to serious music.
Rating:  - One Of The Greatest Books Ever Written
Just got through reading "The Power of Now". I've read all the spiritual classics: "I Am That", Vivekananda, Yogananda, Adi Da Samraj, Ramana Maharshi, Ram Dass's "Be Here Now", Shankara and Vedanta, Buddha, all the major religions, Rajneesh/Osho, "The Impersonal Life", and they are all very good to great but this book is by far one of the most clear and practical. Maybe I was just ready, but the book gives direct and specific instruction for entering "THE NOW" in plain, modern day, unpretentious language. Some of the other spiitual books, though not all, used either too much indecipherable parable, ancient language, excessive moralizing, or had a non-western view point that made application unclear. I sometimes only got fuzzy, ephemeral glimpses of the here and now. In contrast, this book just hammers you into the here and now like a sledge hammer busting up the deluded mind, the dysfunctional mind, the neurotic mind, the desperate mind, the lost mind, the angry and confused mind, like a boulder dropped into a pond we drop to the bottom of the here and now. At first the plain western looking cover with a white guy on the inside back flap didn't look impressive. It looked like some sort of self help, psychotherapy pap. The author was not from India so what credibility does he have? Every one knows that the East has the metaphysics thing down to a science. Western psychology is just superficial rearranging of neurosis. They have no idea what enlightenment is. Only yogis, swamis or spiritual masters can open the doors to enlightenment. Plus the author said his enlightenment or realization was sudden. He did not appear to have prepared through meditation, but in the midst of a personal crisis this white guy suddenly figures it all out! Come on! But looks are deceiving. This guy knows what he's talking about. Now that I think about it, Ramana Maharshi had a similar unexpected realization of the truth. The author makes no claims to any religious tradition or spiritual, path yet in light of the understanding uncovered in this book, many previously cryptic spiritual parables become clear. There are few examples of this given by the author.
BE WISE. Don't wait for a disaster to strike to be forced into accepting the here and now. Do it NOW. Read this book again and again until it sinks in. I'm glad there are so many good reviews. The more people who utilize these teaching the saner our world will be. I'm going to buy the CD to listen to while in the car.
Rating:  - overgeneralized
AS a long time student of meditation practice, I found Tolle' book too often offering overgeneralizations that don't fit. His section on couples and relationships is so idealistic as to be unrealistic. He makes many excellent points, but misses others. I do not doubt his experience(s), but his explanations leave one wanting too often. For what it purports to be, I was disappointed in this book. Too often , "self enlightened" teachers misinterpret their very real experiences and mislead the eager reader or student. Pema Chodron is a better source for those seeking to learn of self realization and it's implications in every day life.
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