Books for Prep | |
 - A Good AttemptMy parents gave me this book last Friday for my college graduation. I'm assuming that they meant for it to give me some kind of wisdom or inspiration as I moved from the college world into the real world. I admit that I hadn't heard of it much beforehand. I read a great deal, but I prefer to stick with fiction, so this book had never really made it onto my radar screen. I decided to read it mostly out of curiosity -and because I don't have any other books to read at the moment and I'm trying to stay away from bookstores before Christmas. It's hard for me to approach this book because of its nature. Instead of telling of story, it includes a collection of personal anecdotes that are meant to leave the reader with nuggets of wisdom. Of course, if you don't get the "moral" of the anecdotes, there is an entire section of the book where the author creates a laundry list of inspirational wisdom that he feels is important for the reader to remember. I admit that it was difficult for me to get into the book because of this approach. It's not in chronological order (which bothered me somewhat), but was organized instead by topic. I did feel sorry for the author though. Even though I never met him, he seemed like a wonderful person whose life was suddenly cut short by pancreatic cancer. Plus, I couldn't help but find some things in this book that mirrored my own life: mostly the connections between the author's semi-nerdy engineering personality and my boyfriend's semi-nerdy engineering personality. There were quite a few times in the anecdotal part of the book where I found myself smiling and even giggling out loud because the author's personality quarks reminded me so much of my boyfriend. This made the reading the book considerably more enjoyable. However, once I got past the initial anecdotes, I got bored. I know that the book is only about 200 pages long, but it was too long. Getting through the second half of the book was excruciating. Trust me, I have plenty of patience to get through 600 page novels, but I could barely pull myself threw the second half of this book. It seemed like the author started to get repetitive with his advice, so much to the point that it wasn't fresh anymore and it felt well, overused and cliche. Overall, this book is a great attempt. There were a few gems that I was able to mine out of it, but sadly most of the time I felt like I was just finding rocks and dirt. There are definitely some messages here that certain people need to hear, but I felt like I've heard most of it before. A good inspirational piece, but not a groundbreaking one. Rating: - I wanted to like itThis book was recommended to me by my doctor. I went out and bought it and read it the same night. I wanted so much to like it. I felt so badly for the writer. He seemed like such a decent man. And he had an amazing life. The advice or wisdom he wanted to pass on didn't seem all that compelling. I wanted it to be, but simply found that part of the book lacking. Still, you might find something in it. Which is why I gave it three stars. Rating:  - Excellent conditionThe book was in an excellent condition. It took a while to get it though. Rating:  - Very good readA friend sent me this book on a whim as I had just suffered the loss of my daugther to cancer. I loved the ease of this book - I felt like I was sitting in the room with the author discussing his life with him. There are a lot of good messages in the book even though it is written by a terminally ill person. It is not a depressing book, quite the opposite. I have purchased many copies of the book for gifts for Christmas in memory of my daughter. If one person reads this book and then decideds to make a few positive changes in their lives, it will have been the best gift I ever presented. Rating: - Last LectureWonderful book on how to live life! Randy has lived a full life and has great advice for us, the reader. In association with Amazon.com | |