The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari: A Fable About Fulfilling Your Dreams & Reaching Your Destiny by Robin S. Sharma

Product Description


Wisdom to Create a Life of Passion, Purpose, and Peace

This inspiring tale provides a step-by-step approach to living with greater courage, balance, abundance, and joy. A wonderfully crafted fable, The Monk Who Sold His Ferrari tells the extraordinary story of Julian Mantle, a lawyer forced to confront the spiritual crisis of his out-of-balance life. On a life-changing odyssey to an ancient culture, he discovers powerful, wise, and practical lessons that teach us to:

Develop Joyful Thoughts,

Follow Our Life's Mission and Calling,

Cultivate Self-Discipline and Act Courageously,

Value Time as Our Most Important Commodity,

Nourish Our Relationships, and

Live Fully, One Day at a Time.
Product Details
Amazon Sales Rank: #2638 in Books
Published on: 1999-04-02
Released on: 1999-04-21
Number of items: 1
Binding: Paperback
224 pages
Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com
Everyone loves a good fable, and this is certainly one. The protagonist is Julian Mantle, a high-profile attorney with a whacked-out schedule and a shameful set of spiritual priorities. Of course it takes a crisis (heart attack) to give Mantle pause. And pause he does--suddenly selling all his beloved possessions to trek India in pursuit of a meaningful existence. The Himalayan gurus along the way give simple advice, such as, "What lies behind you and what lies before you is nothing compared to what lies within you." Yet it is easy to forgive the story's simplicity because each kernel of wisdom is framed to address the persistent angst of Western white-collar professionals. --Gail Hudson

--Paulo Coelho, author of The Alchemist
"A captivating story that teaches as it delights."

Joe Tye, author of Never Fear, Never Quit
"A treasure--an elegant and powerful formula for true success and happiness. Sharma has captured the wisdom of the ages and made it relevant for these turbulent times. I couldn't put it down."
Customer Reviews

If I had a Ferrari and a crappy life, I'd sell it too!
This was one book I judged by its title. I found it gimmicky so resisted reading it for a long time. In retrospect, I should have read it much earlier.

The book lays out its 7 principles using a silly but effective fable that is easily remembered. The principles are:

1. A magnificent garden that signifies our mind.
2. The lighthouse is a representation of the purpose of our life.
3. The Sumo wrestler stands for Kaizen, the continuous and never ending improvement that we must bring into our lives.
4. Pink wire cable denotes the discipline that's required to be successful.
5. The stopwatch represents time and how it is the most important commodity.
6. Fragrance of fresh yellow roses signifies the service we must do unto others.
7. A bright diamond studded path represents enlightened living.

Read the book to see how these 7 principles fit in a mythical funny fable. http://www.kuzzuk.net/weblog/?p=62 has the summary of the book.

Terrific Help
I happened to notice this book at our library due to its unusual title --' The Monk who sold his Ferrari'. To my utter surprise, I discovered after reading a few chapters that it was a real gem of a book.

So I recommend the book wholeheartedly for any person .. young or old .. who is motivated in finding 'true' meaning in their lives.

Also given the abstractness of topics covered here, I must say the story telling of Sharma makes it very easy to grasp for the average reader. I disagree with many of the early reviewers on this note.

Based on this experience, I will now look out for other books from Robin Sharma.

Where's the beef?
This novel is a light and easy read, with a writing style at about a 6th grade level.

There is not much in the way of a plot, and the story is the interaction between a high profile trial lawyer and his protoge. You would expect this pair to not only be highly intelligent, but highly articulate as well. The simple and trite dialog between the two just did not seem realistic to me. The story and it's characters seemed shallow.

In terms of enlightenment the book presents 7 steps to live a wonderful life. I found the parable given to be silly, but the 7 steps are good stuff. They came off as lacking depth to me though, probably because the story was not good enough to draw me in.

Entertainment: 2 stars
Enlightenment: 4 stars