| The Ancient Wisdom of Ta Mo: Lessons on Life From A Chinese Take-Out Menu |  | Author: Michael Sobie
Publisher: Maurice Frances Brown, Ltd.
Category: Book
List Price: $15.95
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Seller: abookarama
Rating:  1 reviews
Sales Rank: 3,218,403
Media: Paperback
Edition: 1st
Pages: 240
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.8 x 6 x 0.6
ISBN: 1602240000
Dewey Decimal Number: 158
EAN: 9781602240001
ASIN: 1602240000
Publication Date: January 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Ta Mo, a mysterious and enigmatic Chinese-food deliveryman, shares the secret of happiness. Using only a simple take-out menu Ta Mo imparts nine lessons that are the recipe for a rich, rewarding, and fulfilling life. As Ta Mo himself said, self-help books are like diet books: there s always a new book rolling off the press. But if just one of them really worked, it would make all the others obsolete. THE ANCIENT WISDOM OF TA MO is the self-help book that really works. It speaks to the universal desire to be happy and most impressively it tells you how to be happy now. Today.
Realizing that he is in the presence of a great teacher, the author asks Ta Mo to help him achieve happiness. But first Mike s beliefs that subconsciously keep him from being happy have to be discarded. Next, the focus shifts to the basic inquiry into happiness what makes one happy? Priorities are questioned what we hold sacred, and why, is held up to the light. Spirituality versus religion, the importance of faith, the limits of man s knowledge and ultimately the nature of divinity is examined. Along the way insights from the likes of Bob Dylan and Henry David Thoreau are used to illustrate some basic truths. Succumbing to Ta Mo s unerring prodding, Mike s skepticism is soon vanquished. But more amazingly, Mike discovers that he is suddenly happy. Ta Mo succeeded. Now his mission is to share Ta Mo s astute insights with others. Ta Mo s Ancient Wisdom transformed Mike, let it transform you.
Be Happy Now.
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| Customer Reviews:
Be Happy Now! December 5, 2007
Mr. Fab (North Of Hollywood CA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This gem of a book works on so many levels. It succeeds at the rare combination of being entertaining while informing and even enlightening. This very clever premise of a harried urbanite's life-changing night with a wise & wonderful old Chinese take out delivery man skillfully draws the reader into their story. We empathize with the doubting westerner whose cynicism is worn away by the wise & gentle little man. In the process, our generalizations about what Buddhism & Zen might be become actual insights which grow into actual practical knowledge of how we may live happier more fulfilling lives. This all might seem like oversell for what could amount to a well crafted TV show or two character play. It is, however, so much more. My own initial skepticism was held at bay by the entertaining dialogue interplay between these two unlikely opposites. This allowed me to relax my cynicism which then allowed me to begin to understand the simple life precepts that wise old Ta Mo imparts to the protagonist/narrator Mike. The author builds to a very dramatic and effective mid story analogy. Ta Mo explains to Mike the nine Zen precepts of happy living by comparing them to ordering and enjoying a fulfilling Chinese meal. To be corny for a moment, I guarantee you WON'T be hungry for insight & entertainment an hour later! This is for me the sort of book you re-read again and again to further understand key ideas. Next you tell your friends about this great book you've read but quite can't describe. Then you end up gifting them with a copy of their own. They in turn give copies to their friends, and so on and so on! This kind of "special book" is typical of successful, engaging "self help" books. ANCIENT WISDOM OF TA MO is to its credit SO much more in the way its two characters engage and entertain then even inform and enlighten. What seems like basically an extended conversation becomes more by the conclusion. The author deftly makes the audience wonder if this special east/west encounter happened at all. It goes even further to suggest something else even greater & possibly more uplifting & wonderful may have in fact occured. Again, the author wisely leaves such conclusions open-ended & up to the reader. This sounds like a shameless "plug" for this special book, which in itself it is. I can honestly state that the positive life & thought notions abounding throughout TA MO have already taken root in me. I can sense a very positive change in my attitudes and in how I think about my life in the world around me. This sounds like a clever little book promising a lot, and, for me, it delivers, and then some, leaving behind a most uplifting afterglow. Try TA MO, you 'll like it! At the very least, you'll be entertained by the depiction of one special night where cultures meet. Very likely, however, you'll begin a much deeper appreciation of your own life. In the words of Ta Mo and the author, "Be Happy Now!
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