Well, they’re all either of European or biblical extraction, although there are more accepting notes as well—“even if you don’t believe in God, he believes in you”, and a Union instead of an Alabama general: that’s just decency, really, but nobody has ever been happier for taking decency for granted—and one is from that most famous of oppressed peoples, the German-born Jews. It’s only a few people of course and all pretty famous, but I don’t mind it not including people that only I have heard of. Not all books are like that.

Of course, it is in some respects not quite written with me as the core audience in mind, although I do like “business” books and business fiction. Of course, it’s not too literary, and especially in the beginning can be a little sloppily put-together. That’s not quite what I mean, though. It’s just…. I don’t know, but a lot of the lessons are basically okay, such as: even though history and the collective level clearly exist, nobody has ever been empowered by blaming and claiming no power over their lives and their destinies. And plenty of men who are the core target demographic for this book ~do~ often blame people and life and claim that they have no agency over their lives—people don’t usually say it quite like that, but they do flip out like a burger sometimes, you know. Of course, the book does simplify life to some extent. But knowing who you are is basically more important than the details of “why you can’t win” and so on, and so I’d say it’s basically an okay book.

…. Some of the people I’m a little indifferent about, but Anne and President Abraham were great people, and Andy’s treatment of them is pretty good stuff too. Anne was on her best behavior with a stranger for five minutes, (the Solomon story about the whore-mothers was really Victorianized, you know), but it is fundamentally true that Anne did believe in choosing happiness, and that unhappiness is a sort of activity like listening to the radio, like saying the “beggar’s prayer” that there isn’t enough—and not enough to be grateful for. And it’s funny that Abraham’s speech was fundamentally about humility, not for some little nursemaid, but for wise men and leaders, functionaries: “We think that we’re doing the dead a favor by hallowing their graves, but they have done more by their actions than we can do by our words. It is rather for us the living to come here and be inspired, blessed, hallowed.” And forgiving yourself, and accepting your personal power to make the world a better place.

…. The study of business—the study of means, of action—is important, and so is the study of strange things. Both can be a sort of positivity. But I wonder if Andy spent too much time on that second kind of thing, you know—the imponderables, and didn’t quite bring it the business book back to business and doing, right. Sometimes even simple fiction becomes so “big”, plays such a big game. He plays such a big game, you know. It’s fine, but it’s really far more than was necessary, IMO. Or maybe it just needed more of a counter-weight; I don’t know.

…. Yeah; okay.

I really enjoyed this book. I borrowed it from my cousin and I enjoyed how it was almost a real story but clearly it was make believe. I had the honor of being on a private zoom meeting with Andy Andrews a few months ago, everything he says is motivational. If you're looking for it he can give it to you. ( )

I'm not sure I've read many (any?) motivational books so this is different for me.
I read this because my husband brought it home after a work event and I thought it sounded worth a read.

I definitely get the Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure feeling here (there's nothing wrong with that as far as I'm concerned, I love Bill and Ted).

A man is at his whit's end. He's feeling very badly for himself and his family.
Before crashing his car he says "why me?"

Then he starts hurtling through time. He meets several very inspiring historical figures and each one gives him a life lesson.

So, then the reader asks, "why him?" Why was this man chosen to take this journey and to learn these lessons?

I definitely feel that we are to believe that he is to do something very special with the lessons he's been chosen to learn. Um, is that something special to be a motivational speaker?

It gets a little bit corny at the end, but I enjoyed it. ( )

This book is awesome! I love the 7 decisions and how they were interwoven through history. This book is like a speculative fiction book for self improvement. ( )

seven decisions that determine personal success
The buck stops here. I am responsible for my past and future.
I will seek wisdom. I will be a servant to others.
I am a person of action. I seize this moment. I choose now.
I have a decided heart. My destiny is assured.
Today I will choose to be happy. I am the possessor of a grateful spirit.
I will greet this day with a forgetful spirit. I will forgive myself.

I will persist without exception. I am a person of great faith.