C. J. Healey

Never. This book by Napoleon Hill is yet another work of genius from this great author. Unfortunately it has been utterly ruined by Sharon Lechter, at least in audiobook form.

As the story is told this unspeakably annoying woman interjects repeatedly to echo what was just said, restate it, put her own religious spin on it, or explain her understanding of it.Her interjections completely ruin this book just as a first year art student would ruin a famous work of art if he or she tried to 'improve' it with a Sharpie.

Just as you are absorbing the genius of Hill's work, you have to patiently wait while Sharon witters on, or tries to apologize for the author's choice of language or opinion (the book was after all written over 70 years ago and has a few dated assertions).

I am just grateful that Napoleon Hill is not alive to witness this defacing of his great work by this talentless hack. I am angry that I am probably going to have to stop listening to this book because I can no longer stomach the idiotic and mindnumbingly stupid comments made by this woman.

Not at all. I just don't want his work defaced by a simpleton who thinks they can improve upon his writing.

I thought the performance was great actually, If only it were not being interrupted all the time while Sharon Lechter tells me what to think, feel or deduce from the work.

The book was fascinating for sure. Napoleon Hill draws on his life experience to produce a very forward thinking and thought provoking piece that essentially reveals how apathy or 'drifting' robs so many humans of their potential. The use of 'The Devil' to further this metaphor is clever, and so far ahead of its time the book was suppressed by family and those with the ability to suppress it after Hill's death in the 70s until now.However, the core message is a great one, and a nice companion piece to the famous Think And Grow Rich.

Sharon Lechter has not only ruined the book by scrawling her unwanted opinion all over it, but I think she makes the classic mistake of over reaching on her understanding of the religious connotations of the piece.

The Devil in this work could be any number of things, it's not really important. It's merely a character used to illustrate the power of failure and the patterns of behavior that harm people through self sabotage or lack of tenacity.Unfortunately Lechter pushes her clearly overtly religious Christian beliefs all over the book, pouncing on the authors use of prayer or faith or various expressions.

It is kind of ironic that The Devil in the book warns about the power of propaganda, and here this woman is pushing her pro-religious, pro-Christian propaganda along with some thinly veiled right wing politics on top.

What we have is a great book, ruined by a second rate author simply using it as a pulpit from which to spout her views.When I go to see a great play, I want to see the actors perform, and I want to take away a message from the play and internally digest what I have seen. What I don't want to see is a critic from the local newspaper standing on the corner of the stage telling me what the author was thinking as he wrote the play, and then telling me what I should conclude about the play, how it relates to me, asking me open ended supposedly thought provoking questions, and telling me to love Jesus.

By the same token when I listen to a great book, I don't need someone blathering over the top of it ruining it for me. I sincerely hope that eventually a version is released that is true to the original, without the unnecessary interruptions of a third party.