CalledToBetter

Ten Secrets for the Man in the Mirror by Patrick Morley: A Review

Buyers confuse these two books constantly, so start here. Ten Secrets for the Man in the Mirror is not Patrick Morley’s famous book. That one is The Man in the Mirror: Solving the 24 Problems Men Face, and it is longer, better known, and the reason anyone knows Morley’s name. This is a separate, shorter title carrying the subtitle Startling Ideas About True Happiness. Zondervan published this edition in May 2002 at 176 pages, following an earlier 1999 release.

If someone recommended “the Man in the Mirror book” to you, they probably meant the other one.

What this book argues

Morley goes after happiness directly. His claim is that men chase a version of success that cannot produce the thing they actually want, and that they keep chasing it long after the evidence is in. Money, position, and being admired all deliver less than advertised, and men respond to that disappointment by pursuing more of the same.

His alternative is not what a self help book would offer. Morley argues that the road to a satisfied life runs through unselfish love, through sacrifice, and through a willingness to suffer for something that matters. That is a hard sell and he knows it, which is why the subtitle calls the ideas startling.

He works through what he calls blockage points, the specific things that keep a man from joy. That is the practical spine of the book.

Where Morley is credible

He is a businessman before he is an author. Morley built a real company and has written more than twenty books, and the business background shows in how he talks about ambition. He is not a pastor telling men that work does not matter. He is a man who did well and is telling you what it did and did not deliver, which lands differently.

Readability

Short chapters, plain writing, 176 pages. It moves. Morley is not a stylist and does not try to be; the value is in the clarity of the argument rather than the prose.

Because it dates from 2002, some illustrations feel like another era of work life. The core argument about ambition and disappointment has not aged at all.

A note on the old version of this review

The previous version of this page quoted a named reviewer describing his experience with the book. That person does not exist and the quote was invented. It has been removed. Nothing on this page now is attributed to anyone we cannot point to.

Who it is for

The man in his thirties or forties who hit the targets and is surprised by how little they moved him. Men’s groups looking for a short study. Anyone who liked the bigger Man in the Mirror book and wants more from the same author.

Bottom line

A good, brief book on an important question, from an author worth reading. Just make sure it is the title you actually meant to buy.

Find Ten Secrets for the Man in the Mirror on Amazon.