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Gerry’s first book is almost a bible for consultants. His second, follow-up, is very useful, but not the classic the original was. I would still recommend it.
Rating: 3 / 5

Several years ago, I read the original Secrets of Consulting by the same author, Gerald Weinberg (see my review for that book). After reading some of the other reviews here for More Secrets of Consulting, I must say that I concur with much of the opinion written. The original Secrets is a classic work – there simply is no other consulting book in the marketplace of this genre, and not only is the information presented in that work very useful, it is very entertaining as well. Unlike the original Secrets, which presents a philosophy of consulting, More Secrets makes an attempt to present a number of consulting tools within tangible categories that consist of six self-esteem tools by family therapist Virginia Satir as well as another ten tools that Weinberg created himself. As a general rule, I like the tools that both Satir and Weinberg offer in this book. I like how Weinberg ties together the Wisdom Box and the Golden Key, for instance. Among my least favorite of the tools presented is the Courage Stick and the the Egg, the Carabiner, and the Feather. The last three of these least-favorites are presented hurriedly in one chapter, toward the end of the book, and I cannot help to wonder whether he was pressed for time as he began wrapping up his writing. The Courage Stick chapter is bizarre – Weinberg actually seems to be recommending to readers that they carry physical objects, apparently similar to good luck charms, to help individuals build up courage during the more difficult portions of consulting engagements. Strange. If the reader disregards these two chapters, however, they will find that many of the rules and principles which Gerald presents here are much in line with the original Secrets – not nearly as entertaining, but still worth reading. Some of my favorites are:

*Cary’s Crap Caution: “Anything not worth doing is not worth doing right.”

*The Mercenary Maxim: “One of the best ways to lose lots of money is to do something only for the money.”

*Dani’s Decider: “When you stop learning new things, it’s time to move on.”

*The Railroad Counter-Paradox: “When service is too good, the suppliers may never hear about it, and thus they drop the service.”

*LeGuin’s Law: “When action grows unprofitable, gather information. When information grows unprofitable, sleep.”

*The Detective’s Fourth Rule: “If you can’t understand where the questions are coming from, they’re probably coming from an agenda someone doesn’t want you to know about.”

*The Parallel Paradox: “If you’re too much like your clients, you don’t attract them; if you’re too different, you frighten them away.”

*Knaomi’s Knowledge Knockout: “Experience is not just the best teacher, it’s the only teacher. Experience may be the only teacher, but it doesn’t necessarily teach anything.”

Of course, many of the rules and principles are just Weinberg opinion. Immanuel Kant, the great German philosopher, for instance, said that “experience teaches nothing without theory, but theory without experience is mere intellectual play”. Because I consider this book to be an extension to the original Secrets, I strongly recommend that these books be read in succession. Several other reviewers correctly note that Weinberg cites some of his other works in More Secrets. Although this can be seen as a bit of self-promotion (even a large portion of the bibliography for More Secrets consists of Weinberg writings), most of these citations are to the original Secrets because of the heavy tie between the two books, and I consider this facet of the book reasonable.
Rating: 4 / 5