AGE: roughly 53
OCCUPATION: Author of The Secret
NUMBER OF TIME COVERS: 0
PREVIOUS APPEARANCES ON THE TIME 100: 1
PRO: The Secret — Byrne's Opranointed gospel of wish-fulfillment heuristics — continues to dominate best-seller charts and redefine New Age spirituality as magic of bibbity-bobbity-boo variety: simply visualize what you want, and it appears. Backlash, criticism, parodies: nothing can stop The Secret. As we learned from reality TV king Mark Burnett, never underestimate the salesmanship of an Australian TV producer.
CON: Oh, come on.