Zig Ziglar's Life Lifters: Moments of Inspiration for Living Life Better

Motivational and salesmanship guru Ziglar, author of See You at the Top, draws on parables, inspirational true-life stories, biblical injunctions neurological research and the aphorisms of thinkers from Hegel to Dr. Seuss in this usually commonsensical if none-too-profound self-help tract. Ziglar's 56 brief chapters of advice cover a wide range of topics, including parenting (spank judiciously), education (consider home-schooling and vouchers), salesmanship (do little things for customers) and weight loss (when all else fails, trust in God.) Mostly, though, he reminds us that happiness lies in moving beyond self-centeredness and attending to the needs of others:""you can have everything in life you want if you will just help other people get what they want."" Ziglar's is a sober and incremental approach to self-improvement, with the emphasis on inculcating steady habits of thoughtfulness towards others, perseverance and positive thinking; he feels that cultivating the outward forms of good behavior can eventually work profound changes on inner attitudes. Civility is therefore a persistent theme: Ziglar exhorts Tiger Woods to clean up his language, extols a Louisiana law compelling schoolchildren to say""sir"" and""ma'am"" and opines that""a woman loses some of her femininity when she resorts to vulgar talk."" Ziglar's genteel nostrums (like a""National Kindness Day"") can seem superficial. But compared to other bland and turgid self-help books, his sermons are well paced and pointed, and make his age-old nuggets of wisdom go down easy.