The Return of the Ragpicker

"This book, and others by Mr. Mandino, have saved my life. This authors unique take on finding the light when the candle has been extinguished is invaluable. I am forever grateful to have been enlightened by his words."
~ Written on 2008-09-27

"There are many self help books. Og Mandino deserves a special place among the various authors to write on this topic. His message is very clear and practical. It is simple. The world would be a better place and there would be no threats or fears of terrorism. Og Mandino's books should be made compulsory reading in all schools all over the world to make a positive change. Only by hard work and persistence we will be able to make a positive change. It is our duty to be good to ourselves,and the world around us as we are part of the cosmic intelligence whether you accept it and like it or not. The message contained in this book is priceless and has stood the test of time.It is sad to see that we are still waiting and not acting."
~ Written on 2005-11-09

"I loved the original 'ragpicker' book by Og Mandino -- The Greatest Miracle in the World.' This sequel was written about 10 or 15 years later and something happened to Mr. Mandino in that time! He seemed more interested in telling you about all of his accomplishments, all of his material possessions, etc. than the inspirational message in the original book. Further, he replaced much of the God-based inspiration with politically correct platforms.

Just bizarre to me how an author could change that much. I read a couple other reviews from disappointed readers and ignored them. Now I wish I would have believed them.

I still love the older Og Mandino books, however, especially the Trilogy, but this one isn't worth the waste of time or money, or worth the disappointment in this author that I've looked up to....read at your own risk."
~ Written on 2004-06-11

"This book was extremely hard to read and appeared to be a bragging platform for the author. The majority of the book is full of the author proclaiming his success through his own words and the words of this mentor. I almost threw the book out the window when reading the passage, "Mister Og...Certainly you are no longer motivated by the need for money. I smiled thinking to myself that he already knew so much about me it was a good probability that he also had a good idea of my net worth." Use your time more wisely and find something more worthwhile to read."
~ Written on 2003-06-19

"I enjoyed Mr. Mandino's first effort, _Greatest Salesman in the World_, for substantially different reasons than _Ragpicker_. _Salesman_ was short and to the point and had a clever ending, and the principles were well worth repeating. I read it a few times over and, encouraged, I went to the library and picked up all the Og Mandino books I could find--they were nice and short and if a few were half as good, I could learn a lot in a short time. Self-help books usually give me a temporary boost, but regrettably, after a while Og's oeuvres fell into a certain pattern where my main 'can-do' was that I could write better than this. Person is down in the dumps, person finds inspiration to get out of the dumps, the original source of inspiration dries up, person writes to others how to follow suit before the advice is lost forever. _Ragpicker_ seems to epitomize what can go wrong with a lazy yet prolific writing style.

I suppose for practical purposes this is all right; a person can see different yet similar positive messages, and these offset the sorts you get in everyday life. What is not so good is that the style has degenerated terribly, and events begin to parallel Mandino's life, and eventually adulation for Mandino slips in; Mr. Mandino forgets that it is the reader who is supposed to enjoy the book. There are slight drops from _Salesman_ to part II, where Hafid, the Greatest Salesman, starts his own self-help tour for peasants. You see a huge drop in the prequel to _Ragpicker_, _Greatest Miracle in the World_, when an angel-figure dubs Mandino's work a 'hand of God' work with various timeless classics.

But in _Ragpicker_ the only originality left is that Og drops in a weird bird to accompany the angel-figure we thought had died in _Miracle_. They then discuss how good Og's descriptions are of his place in Arizona(financed by his business successes, natch) and how the book was a great seller and Og can't believe it's true. There are several rounds of 'Couldn't a done it without you, sport,' a general lamentation of the human condition, and an assurance that More Needs To Be Done(the book holds true to these convictions.) Og then spends a lot of time in equal disbelief over various good and bad events while espousing the need for faith. It's not all self-focused as Og gives some recognition to other people's books that he likes but this makes _Ragpicker_ feel more like an effort at networking and showing the author's in with the right crowd than a book for someone who wants guidance. There are far too many novels that give up on having a plot of their own and collapse into post-modern meta-art, but _Ragpicker_ seems even shabbier.

Yet every time I read it, _Ragpicker_ is so laughably fatuous that I find myself cheered up and motivated, laughing while considering the very valid principles discussed--it's easier to work when you're happy, you know. So if Mr. Mandino's intention was, at bottom, to inspire people to do it even at his own expense, a back/forth commute where I read _Miracle_ and then _Ragpicker_ does that. They're both short and facile enough for such quick disposal, and I'm in such a good mood and ideas are buzzing around in my head so fast that things I've put off for months will get done. Their very act of being published encourages me as a writer, in fact. But they are not good literature, and people of a less sardonic bent than myself will find better guidance in _Salesman_."
~ Written on 2003-04-15