By Brian David Bruns, author of Cruise Confidential—Foreword Magazine's Humor Book of the Year.

A unique blend of humor, global perspective, and self-improvement disguised as ghost lore.

Is a ghost a spirit, an energy, or a banana? What if I told you it's all three? Why aren't ghosts souls or invisible flying eyeball wheels? Hint: it's in the Bible. And what kind answered Edison's ghost phone?

Answering "What is a ghost?" reveals what really shapes our lives—perspective. The Motivational Ghost shows us how to finally see what's holding us back. Plus:

• How the ghost of a samurai's head literally rules Tokyo.
• Why Golden Boys are the creepiest of all haunted dolls.
• Why a toilet ghost is a good thing and phantom termites aren't.

Meet the five most outrageous ghost hunting pioneers you've never heard of and the philosophical razors they used to overcome failure.

• Why Catherine Crowe, who gave us poltergeists, walked the streets of Edinburgh naked—in winter! And how she finally escaped the insane asylum by utilizing Hume's Razor.
• How a failed fruit farmer used vegetable ghosts to become the world's first, and most controversial, ghost hunter. Answer: he understood Hitchens' Razor cuts both ways.

Learning about ghosts teaches us how to see things we didn't realize were there all along. And ghost hunting pioneers show us how the right philosophical hack helps us cut to the truth.

Plus an honest and raw look at how ghosts helped me overcome my embarrassing failures—including scams, sabotage, and literal insanity—to finally find success on the far side of the world, at a haunted manor overlooking the sea. Oh, and it includes the dumbest ghost encounter you've never heard of.

Motivational Monsters® offers critical life skills disguised as monster lore—short, funny, effective.