I have just started reading “The Saint, the surfer, and the CEO”. Will do a book review later. I have gone through a couple of chapters now. The book is a typical Robin Sharma book – starting off as a story, and a lot of conversations, between the ‘hero’ and ‘teachers’ that he finds (or is assigned to). I find both Robin Sharma’s books and Paulo Coelho’s books interesting, only because of this. Their story-like way of illustrating things is nice to read. Even if some of the concepts are similar, and you may have read it in other self-help books, it feels different and closer hitting, when it is shown as a conversation between 2 seemingly real people in a story. One other strong point in both of these authors works is the presence of ‘teachers’. Their characters seek these teachings from wise men.
It is my opinion, that these draw close parallels to Hindu epics like Bhagawat Gita, Ramayan, Bhaagavatham etc. The Gita is a good example in itself. It is a great self help book. Arjuna is seemingly a real world character – of that time – a warrior in a war. He gets his teachings from a wise man – Lord Krishna.The bible is one such book too. People looked up to their guru – “Moses”. Interesting. Leads me to believe – religion itself is a huge self-help paradigm, and religious scriptures are the self help books, that one is recommended to read.