OPEN your copy of the The Secret, and you can't help but hope that your life is set to change for the better. Contained within the pages, author Rhonda Byrne promises to reveal a centuries-old blueprint for a happier existence, a secret that people like Shakespeare, Beethoven and Einstein all knew. From losing weight to sparking up a dying relationship, getting rich or curing medical problems, the power of The Secret knows no limits. "My intention in creating The Secret was - and still is - that it will bring joy to billions around the world, " Byrne gushes in her introduction.

It's an idea which is intriguing millions of people around the world. The Secret, with its mix of quantum physics, theology and philosophy (to name but a few of the disciplines that Byrne and her army of 'Secret Teachers' draw upon) was a DVD before being turned into a book. When Oprah Winfrey championed it over two episodes on her show in January of this year, it became a sensation, topping bestseller charts ever since.

But the thing about The Secret is that there really isn't anything secret about it at all, at least not to anyone familiar with the concept of the power of positive thinking.

The great 'Secret of Life', Byrne maintains, is the law of attraction: when you think a thought, you also attract like thoughts to you. The laws of attraction do not understand words like 'not', 'no' or 'don't', so if you think "I don't want to be delayed, " the law of attraction hears, "I want delays" and will dish out accordingly. Everything in your life right now, including the things that you don't want, is there because you've attracted them, according to the book.

To make 'The Secret' work for you, you must know what you want, ask for it, believe absolutely that you will get it, act as if you already have it and then waiting for the universe to respond. You don't need to know how it's going to come about but you can be assured that the universe will start to rearrange itself to make it happen for you, and quickly So you might think your dire financial straits are linked to your extravagant lifestyle. Wrong. The real and only reason you don't have enough is because you're blocking money coming to you with your negative thoughts, Byrne tells us.

Drowning in a sea of bills?

Because the law of attractions states that what you focus on you will get, you need to visualise a bunch of cheques arriving instead and before long things will turn around.

Feng shui also plays a vital role. One example given in the chapter entitled 'The Secret to Relationships' is the story of a woman looking for the perfect partner and who had gone about doing all the right things to attract him. However, he didn't appear. She then realised that her actions were contradicting what she wanted - her car was parked in the middle of her garage leaving no room for her potential partner's car. Effectively she was telling the universe she didn't expect to receive what she wanted. She re-parked her car to one side, made space in her wardrobe for her perfect partner's clothes, started sleeping on one side of her bed, as opposed to the middle, and, sure enough, she manifested her perfect partner and subsequently married him.

The idea that you deserve all the good things that life has to offer and that you can make them happen for you is obviously an attractive one.

But even the most openminded reader will balk at statements in the book such as, "Food cannot cause you to put on weight, unless you think it can, " or that using The Secret is like having the universe as your catalogue, where "you flip through it and say, 'I'd like to have that experience and I'd like to have that product and I'd like to have a person like that'".

Some of the book's more fantastical claims are that you cannot 'catch' any illness unless you think that you can or that one of the 'Secret Teachers', Michael Bernard Beckwith, has seen kidneys regenerated and cancers dissolved. This has raised concern in some critics, who fear it may prevent some people from seeking proper medical attention.

Others are concerned that the book uses ancient disciplines for what is essentially material gain and that the flipside of this message of hope - that you are responsible for everything that happens in your life - shows little compassion for life's unfortunates, the homeless, the drug addicted and whoever else.

But ultimately, the idea that you are the designer of your destiny is a seductive enough one to overcome quibbles about The Secret's reliance on pseudoscience, its lack of originality or basis in rationality. When Byrne tells you: "There isn't a single thing that you cannot do with this knowledge. It doesn't matter who you are or where you are, 'The Secret' can give you whatever you want, " it takes a strong character not to want to believe, even for the briefest of time.

SEVEN CLASSIC SELF-HELP BOOKS HOW TO WIN FRIENDS AND INFLUENCE PEOPLE By Dale Carnegie (1936) The art of getting what you want without causing resentment. Still considered relevant today and remains of the most important selfhelp tome.

THE POWER OF POSITIVE THINKING By Norman Vincent Peale (1952) Not unlike 'The Secret' and based on the premise that you change your thoughts and you change the world.

I'M OK, YOU'RE OK By Thomas A Harris (1967) Focuses on how the individual functions in and is shaped by relationships.

THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED By M Scott Peck (1978) Peck says life is difficult and we much employ discipline to evolve spiritually and use it as a tool to navigate life's difficulties.

THE SEVEN HABITS OF HIGHLY EFFECTIVE PEOPLE By Stephen R Covey (1989) In a nutshell: be proactive.

Begin with the end in mind.

Put first things first. Think win-win. Seek to be understand, then to be understood. Synergise.

Sharpen the Straw.

MEN ARE FROM MARS, WOMEN ARE FROM VENUS By John Gray (1992) Looks at the different communication styles and emotional needs of the sexes, ie women relieve stress by talking about it; men interpret this as an accusation.

DON'T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF - AND IT'S ALL SMALL STUFF By Richard Carlson (1997) How not to get stressed about things that really don't matter, ie "Remember, a hundred years from now, all new people!"