Dr. Shapiro and his work

Dr. Shapiro and His Work

Dr. Shapiro . . .

Dr. Irving David Shapiro, a true Renaissance man, is the holder of four college degrees (a Doctorate and Master's in Business Administration from Columbia University, and a bachelor's and master's in Architecture from the University of California at Berkeley) and a member of Mensa as well as of the International Society for General Semantics. He was an adjunct professor at the USC Graduate School of Business Administration in the Sixties, a post he held after a brief stint as a Ford Foundation Fellow, a Harriman Scholar, and an Armand G. Erpf Scholar at Columbia University, where he was also a teaching assistant in Statistical Methods. On the nonacademic side, Dr. Shapiro, whose wide-ranging commentary on all aspects of life were heard for years on radio, co-founded a California bank, worked as a radio talk-show host and newsman, and practiced architecture for thirteen years during which he earned four design awards. He is also founder and president of the Mens Sana Foundation.

. . . and his work

It doesn’t matter what your age is. Or your gender. Or what you do for a living. Or anything else. You’re always dealing with words.

And no one has ever invented a better way to misinform, confuse, obscure, manipulate, mislead, deceive, intimidate, or induce guilt than through words.

Which means that if you don’t understand how verbal language — the language of words — works, you let people do these things to you. And then you wind up doing what they want you to do, not what you want to do. And what they want you to do is usually not in your best interests. Dr. Shapiro’s book, You Must Not Let Them Con You! There’s Too Much at Stake, is the perfect Rx for that disease; it’s like chicken soup for the head.

Alan Caruba said it well in a review that appeared in BOOKVIEWS:

You Must Not Let Them Con You! There’s Too Much at Stake, w

And here’s what some readers have had to say about You Must Not Let Them Con You! There’s Too Much at Stake:

“Impressive,” “stretched my mind,” “fascinating,” “great,” “should be taught to all children at an early age,” “the greatest self-help book I’ve ever read,” “a masterpiece,” “has the capacity to touch people at any level of need,” “the most intelligent book I’ve ever read,” “thorough and thought-provoking,” and “it introduces the reader to him- or herself.” Shann Nix, prominent KGO (San Francisco) talk show host, calls it her “bible on clear thinking,” a book that “stimulated . . .[her]. . . to think in entirely new directions.”

And then there’s the incident of the on-again, off-again homeless man, who who called Dr. Shapiro right after the book came out. It seems that he had picked up a copy at a San Francisco bookstore paying $32.42 for it, including sales tax. Considering his severely limited financial resources, what the book cost him constituted a small fortune. But he had browsed through it, and had decided that he had to have it whatever the price. The reason for the call, he said, was mainly to thank Dr. Shapiro for writing the book. As he put it, for the first time in eighteen years he felt liberated, although he had read only the first four chapters. Because of that, he added, the book was worth every penny he had paid for it.

Which is all very nice. But what can the book do for you? Well, it can:

Change an habitual negative outlook to one that is positive.

Get you into the habit of turning inward for solutions to problems, where they always are, rather than outward, where they never are.

Bring to you the realization that you, and you alone, are responsible for what happens in your life.

Improve your health in general by changing your outlook.

Reorder your priorities and values.

Give you the ability to focus on the important things in life while ignoring the unimportant ones.

Make you more selective in choosing which ideas to admit into your mind and which to deny passage to.

Transform the belief system through which you continually screen all entering ideas.

Keep you from wasting time entertaining false ideas.

Reduce the likelihood that others will be able to further their own best interests at your expense.

Reduce or even eliminate any tendency you might have to feel guilt.

Make it extremely difficult for others to kill your dreams.

Make it extremely difficult for others to intimidate you through words alone.

Make you more self-confident and self-reliant.

Give you a better understanding of people.

All you have to do to receive an autographed copy of You Must Not Let Them Con You! There’s Too Much at Stake postage-paid is make a minimum donation of $35 to the Mens Sana Foundation and send it to the Foundation at 492 Staten Avenue, Suite 1102, Oakland, CA 94610.

The Mens Sana Foundation is a qualified, tax-exempt organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Accordingly, all donations are tax-deductible as provided under Section 170 of the Code. We believe that all but $5 of your donation would qualify.

For a minimum donation of $500 (plus travel expenses for a destination out of the San Francisco Bay Area) to the Mens Sana Foundation, Dr. Shapiro will bring 10 (or more, if you wish, for an additional donation) copies of You Must Not Let Them Con You! There’s Too Much at Stake to your home (or office) for a Meet the Author event should you care to organize one. He will at that time personally inscribe the copies to your guests (or employees) as well as conduct a mini-seminar on words and the role they play in everyday life.

Call him at 510-835-2946 or send a FAX to him at 510-832-5370 or e-mail him at shapiro@menssana.org to make the necessary arrangements.

Is freedom from the tyranny of words, which means regaining control of your life, worth the price of a good dinner? If you believe that it is, click on the image to the left. (Don't worry, doing so isn't going to lock you into anything.) If you don't believe that it is, then I can't help you. No one can. But remember, you only get one shot at life. And if that one shot is spent in unhappiness, frustration, under continual stress, in poor health, and so on, well, it's your own bloody fault for not doing anything about it.

Your comments are welcome

The End

How to reach us.

Addresses (US Mail and e-mail)and telephone numbers (voice and fax) of the Mens Sana Foundation.