New Psycho-Cybernetics

Now, Dan Kennedy has done us all the great service of revitalizing Maltz's book for a new generation. It's still the classic work, but it's got LOTS of new material, new case studies, and new spirit. Even if you have read the original over and over again, this new version deserves a spot right next to it on your bookshelf.


Classic book - revised and updated   March 3, 2002
36 out of 38 found this review helpful

Srikumar S. Rao is Louis and Johanna Vorzimer Professor of Marketing at Long Island University.

Some forty years ago I read the original Psycho Cybernetics, by Maxwell Maltz, and instantly recognized its value. It was, by far, the best self improvement book ever written. It is with deep pleasure that I came across this timeless classic spruced up for today with more up to date examples, a breezier style and helpful features like end of chapter exercises.

The premise is simple. The human organism, like a computer, is capable of miraculous feats. You just have to program it correctly. This is done on a mental level by regulating thoughts and the stimuli we expose ourselves to. Couple this with powerful visualization and our mind, like an unstoppable servo-mechanism, propels us to success. Many other persons have also written about this such as James Allen in "As a Man Thinketh".

It is simple, but not easy. Maxwell Maltz, a plastic surgeon, observed how his patients blossomed in many ways when his scalpel removed disfiguring afflictions. Further study convinced him of the effect of self image on happiness and accomplishment. Over the years he came up with a step by step method of working on oneself to eradicate the boll weevils of negative thinking.

Dan Kennedy has retained the flavor and the essence of Maltz, but has introduced a breezy style and more modern examples. Today's world has many more stress inducing factors like PCs, cell phones, email and the Internet. He acknowledges these and shows how they, too, can be tamed using the same principles. He has introduced helpful exercises at the end of each chapter and added useful follow-up resources at the end of the book.

Kennedy, by the way, is an astute observer of the business scene, and has an extensive array of Marketing books, manuals. audio tapes and video tapes...The tapes of his high-priced seminars are not particularly good but the packages on copywriting, information publishing and magnetic marketing are excellent.

One book he has written, The Ultimate Success Secret, parallels Psycho Cybernetics and extends it in some ways. It is self published, has many typos and is very poorly produced, but has superb content. If you like Psycho cybernetics, get that as well.


Better Than the Original; Max Would Have Been Proud   February 16, 2003
A User (Tacoma, Washington United States)
36 out of 40 found this review helpful

Greetings:

Join us at the Psycho-Cybernetics discussion group on [...]

To date, I have bought three hardcover editions of the New Psycho-Cybernetics (NPC): one I gave to a friend, one I take with me to read during the day, and one I keep in my home office to work with on those days when I work at home. I have found it a significant improvement upon the original. (I have used up three paperback versions of the original over the last 10 years.)

I remember when I first read the original version of PC, in around 1990. I thought it was somewhat hokey. I used to be an engineer, and I thought it somewhat strange to try to apply feedback control systems theory to people. We are not machines, after all.

The strange thing, though, was that the system worked for me. Still, I was somewhat embarrassed about the whole thing, so I sort of kept my dabbling to myself.

Then, in the mid-late nineties, I read Fritjof Capra's book, The Web of Life. In that book, Capra talks a lot about systems theory, and he also goes into the history of the original cybernetics group (not Psycho cybernetics, but rather a group of mathematicians, psychologists, biologists, and physicists who collaborated in WWII to create anti-aircraft guns that could effectively track and destroy enemy aircraft). In his discussion, Capra explains that the original cybernetics group's goal was to try to make machines that could do what people and animals do naturally and easily, without conscious thought. They tried to do this, in part, by observing the actions of animals and people. Based on such observation, the group devised the early foundation of what became our modern science of systems control as used in almost every modern electrical/mechanical system.

What Maltz tried to do was take a bit of the science and art of systems control and apply it back to people, in an attempt to improve their functioning. I think one of the original cyberneticists, Norbert Weiner, also tried to do this in his book, The Human Use of Human Beings, but I could be wrong.

Anyway, because Psycho-Cybernetics is based on systems theory, in contrast to other types of "self help" or positive thinking books, it recognizes that a person trying to achieve her goals is going to fail, and miss what she is pursuing, probably many times on her way to her destination. Rather than candy coating this fact and suggesting "positive thinking," PC suggests feedback control system oriented techniques to use, deal with, and not be completely stymied by such failures.

It also provides techniques to help one deal with "drama queen" co-workers and supervisors who seem to go out of their way to provide damaging negative feedback (e.g., ignoring negative feedback in ch. 11, "How to Unlock Your Real Personality"), or retarding how fast responds to negative feed back (e.g., delaying the response, as in ch. 12 "Do It Yourself Tranquilizers that Bring Peace of Mind.").

Now, on to the new version of PC: my own opinion is that it is better than the original. Dan follows the original structure of the PC book, and much of the text is in common. However, Dan has buttressed that text with additional examples taken from the many hours of recordings and reams of Maltz' notes that Dan owns. In addition, Dan also provides many practical examples of the successful application of PC techniques that have arisen since the original version of the book was published in 1960.

Try NPC. If, like me, you have areas in your life where you would like to do better, I think you will find it useful.


Great Update of a Classic!   February 20, 2002
Rubin Wald (Eastchester, NY USA)
32 out of 36 found this review helpful

Dan Kennedy has done a brilliant job of giving Dr. Maltz's classic text a contemporary feel while remaining true to the original version.

I still have my 1974 Pocket Book edition of Psycho-Cybernetics and its ideas and insights helped me a lot in understanding life and success and how I could control my own destiny.

This updated version is even better! I especially liked the PRESCRIPTION and MENTAL TRAINING EXERCISE boxes that Mr. Kennedy has strategically placed throughout the book. They contain very clear suggestions and practical exercises for living an abundant and fulfilling life. For example, he prescribes keeping a "success diary" as a tool for building a stronger self-image. And on page 201, there is an powerful exercise for developing the all important habit of forgiveness.

One of the insights Dr. Maltz gave me that helped clarify my own life journey was his understanding that our unconscious minds cannot distinguish between a real experience and the same experience vividly imagined. Years later I found confirmation for this idea in Quantum Physics.

Nobel Prize winning Physicist Niels Bohr's Complementarity Principle shows us that the mental aspect of an imagined experience is complementary to its physical aspect. Both are equally 'real'. No wonder imagination and visualization are such valuable skills to master for anyone who wants to transform their dreams into physcial reality.

I wonder if Dr. Maltz and Dr. Bohr ever had a conversation!

Dan Kennedy has done a tremendous favor for anyone who wants knowledge and practical applications for being more successful. I applaud his efforts.