Love is the Killer App by Tim Sanders Book Review

A friend of mine recently lent me this book and I’m super glad that he did. I found it to be incredibly useful as it tackles the most important issue of all, relationships. It’s written specifically from a business point of view and how we can improve our business relationships.

The author makes three main points to improving your business relationships, add knowledge (read books and invest into your wealth of knowledge), add to your network (add people and then connect those people to other people in your network), and finally be compassionate.

I love this approach to relationships. In a world where “More me now” seems to be the dominating paradigm it’s amazing to see someone successful saying that there’s another way. By giving away what you know and championing others you can find success. It was a good read.

I did feel that the first 1/3 of the book was where I took most of my notes and that the rest of it wasn’t as impactful (but that was only my opinion). It’s a short, quick read and I would encourage anyone who’s in the business world, wants to be in the business world, or simply anyone who’s looking for a healthy way to relate to others, to pick this book up.

Enjoy this day,
Matt

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One Man’s Wilderness book review

One Man’s Wilderness is a book about Robert L. Proenneke and his adventures in moving to the Alaskan wilderness. It’s a work of non-fiction, which makes it so much more enjoyable. And although Robert successfully moves to the wilderness and lives for the last thirty years of his life; the book is mostly about the first year of him living there. How he managed to build his own cabin as well as how he sustains life in the wilderness, were things I loved reading about. What makes this remarkable true story even more amazing is that Robert moved to the wilderness and built his own cabin when he was 50 years old!

Things I liked about this book:
The adventure of Robert’s life was such an interesting thing to read about. I also loved seeing a person following their loves/passions even to the extreme measures of living in the wilderness, alone. Hearing how he did it was also something that I found fascinating and knowing that it was a true story made it a real fun read. I think part of the reason I like this book stems from my childhood love of “The Hatchet”.

Things I didn’t like about this book:
A lot of attention was given to building details that I can’t follow or envision so it left me lost. As much as I found it interesting that he built everything by hand, it was hard to follow the writer in his descriptions of the process. Also, not much background was given as to why Robert decided to make this his life’s goal. I really wanted to hear more about his experience and things he learned/gained from being there for thirty years. (Although a lot of this is addressed in a small section at the end of the book)

My favorite quote from this book was “I don’t think a man knows what he can actually do until he is challenged”.

I enjoyed reading this book. But I also realize not many people would enjoy reading about a guy living by himself in the middle of Alaska.

Enjoy this day,
Matt

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A Walk in the Woods Book Review

I love Bill Bryson, I reviewed I’m a Stranger Here Myself here, and also loved reading Lost Continent. So for my birthday I thought I would continue the trend of Bryson books by picking up both A Walk in the Woods and A Sunburned Country.

I just finished A Walk in the Woods and thoroughly enjoyed it. Bryson has an incredible way of combining elements of; day-to-day observations, wit and humor, as well as historical notes on places and people. He makes the history and significance of the places he’s traveling incredibly interesting. As soon as I began reading this book I found it hard to put down.

The book is about how Bill Bryson decides to hike the Appalachian Trail, which covers over 2000 miles, in total. It is something that demands everything from those who are brave enough to give it a go. After months of planning, Bryson invites friends to come along with him on this adventure. To his surprise, one of his friends, Katz, agrees to go with him.

It’s obvious (Because Bill makes it so) that both of our characters are badly out of place, being out of shape and not experienced in hiking. None-the-less they push on towards their goal of completing the Appalachian Trail. With tons of memorable moments along the way, as well as, memorable people, this is a really fun book to read.

Again, something I love that Bryson does is that he interjects history and science that are relevant to his travel books. It adds an interesting dynamic to his books. I will, for as long as I can, read any new Bryson book that finds their way into my hands. If I were to ever become a writer, I would hope to write with a similar style to Bill Bryson.

Enjoy this day,
Matt

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The Four Hour Workweek Book Review

The Four Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss is an interesting read. I liked some parts, didn’t like others, and think that in some cases I probably missed the point. We’ll get to all of that, but first let me tell you about the book.

In the Four Hour Workweek, Tim writes a lot about his personal experience of removing himself from having to work long hours, in a bad work environment, which truly was making his life miserable. He talks about setting up his own company and what it took for him to make the company self-sustaining so that he could enjoy life. It’s full of testimonies from others who have successfully implemented these steps in doing this for themselves. There are TONS of resources and “how to” information for simplifying your work load and being able to do it from a remote location.

I loved Tim’s ideas on productivity, especially checking emails at specific times (and only twice a day), getting your most important task done before 11am (and knowing what it is the day before), and his thoughts on reading the news online. He’s totally right in all these aspects. I also love the ambition that he shows and inspires in the reader, to go out and do something crazy and unique. His book has already inspired me to look at my life and how I can be more proactive in setting up my own business. He also talks at great length about how to make your business profitable and reducing your workload in running it. Great info and I can’t wait to use these principles. And Tim is really a funny guy, which made the book even more enjoyable to read.

In some cases the book felt more like a “get rich quick” scheme, and I was a bit leery of some of its angles. I enjoyed when Tim talked about people getting more time to spend with their families, but I was not interested in hearing about how people just wanted to party in every corner of the world. That’s just not me and it isn’t a strong motivator for me. To Tim’s credit he did end the book talking about how freeing up your time should be used for yourself as well as helping others, and I find that incredibly motivating.

I live in China and this book really reinforced some decisions I have made as well as gave me things to consider as I move forward. It isn’t for everyone, but if you don’t like your job or have big dreams, then you will find value in it.

Enjoy this day,
Matt

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The Writer’s Survival Guide Book Review

Hello everyone! I hope that this post finds you doing well. Since starting my family blog in 2008 (and this one in 2009) I have had people tell me from time to time that they enjoy my stories and reading what I write. This has lead me to want to become a better writer, and heck, maybe even try and get published someday. So recently I picked up a book to help that dream, The Writer’s Survival Guide by Rachel Simon, to see what I could learn about writing.

What I liked about this book. I think that becoming a writer and writing something that gets published is a huge dream, but Rachel definitely puts into perspective how hard you need to work to achieve the dream of becoming a writer. I’m glad I read that. If you want to become a better writer, it takes a lot of hard work, commitment and sacrifice. I think it’s important to start a journey knowing what you will need to accomplish your goals, and this, like I said, put those needs into perspective.

I also enjoyed the fact that Rachel takes basically a “how to guide” and makes it personal. Although I know nothing about Rachel, I feel that she does a good job at making this book warm and full of her story. Rachel offers a wide range of advice, such as, organizing your time to be more productive, developing a sense of commitment and discipline, choosing material, getting started, handling criticism, overcoming writer’s block and networking. So if you have tons of questions she does a good job at covering a lot of ground.

Which reminds me, I found her suggestions for finding time to write very useful and have already started applying them to my schedule (with success).

There were some things I didn’t like about the book. I guess with any “how to guide” each reader will run into sections that they don’t find as useful as the next person and so from time to time I found myself skipping sections. But whatever.

Well I hope this helps you. If you’re aspiring to become a better writer, checkout my tips section on this blog. What books have you read about becoming a better writer? Do you have any tips you would like to share?

Enjoy this day,
Matt

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I’m A Stranger Here Myself Book Review

I’m a huge Bill Bryson fan and so when I stumbled upon his book buried in my closet it was an easy decision to read it. This particular book was written by Bill after he and his family move to America after he had lived in England for 20 years. (Bill’s wife is English and their four children had all been raised in England) Originally a friend of his proposed that Bill write a weekly column for a paper back in England and each chapter is one of those articles.

Most of his articles are observations he makes about life in America, our food, the conveniences of life, and differences between life in England and America. Much of his writing also revolves around the area he has now moved to, New Hampshire. He takes time giving historical backdrops to his observations, which I always enjoy.

I loved reading this book because, like I already said, I love Bill and his writing style. When I dream of becoming a writer I would love to have the ability to re-tell stories from my life in a way similar to Bill’s. He’s funny, witty and takes most of his cheap shots at himself.

This book, in my opinion, was not as good as the previous one I’ve read Lost Continent, but it still had me laughing and nodding in agreement as I read through it. Some of the content and observations Bill makes in I’m a Stranger Here Myself are a bit outdated, but this is because he wrote the articles from 1996-1999.

For anyone who enjoys Bill Bryson and his work, you should definitely read this one, but know that he has other books that are better than this one. I look forward to the next book of Bill’s I read, he doesn’t let me down.

Enjoy this day,
Matt

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A Beginner’s Guide to Getting Published Book Review

So I picked up this book from a used book store the other day and decided to give it a shot. Heck, I might get published! But as I drove home I realized I had made one crucial error in buying it… I didn’t check when it was published. When I flipped to the inside of the cover I discovered that it had been first published in 1990… ummm… suck. But I still gave it a shot and came away with some stuff I will share with you here.

Things I liked about the book. The book did write quite a bit about different ways to get published and although some of the ideas were a bit out dated there were some I would have never thought of. Crossword puzzles, movie reviews, and greeting cards were just some of the ideas that they laid out in this book that I wouldn’t have thought of. They also had good ideas for how to get published, in detail they tell you about writing local newspapers, national magazines and a few other ideas. I guess I would have only thought of writing a publisher and not newspapers/magazines. Also, there were some good tips about becoming a better writer.

Things I didn’t like about the book. The book was extremely outdated and made a lot of the information irrelevant. Also they wrote about a lot of ideas and some of them just didn’t appeal to me and I found myself scanning and skipping a lot of sections of this book because it simply didn’t connect with me.

Well I hope that I find a better book on how to get published. Until then.

Enjoy this day,
Matt

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Irresistible Revolution Book Review

I really enjoyed about 2/3’s of this book…. I love reading stories and I love reading about passionate people doing crazy awesome things. Irresistible Revolution brings those together in an amazing way.

The book is about Shane Claiborne, his beliefs, and what he does with those beliefs. It follows him from his High School and College days, to his trips to work with Mother Teresa as well as going to Iraq. Interspersed with his stories and his beliefs are examples of what the community he’s started (The Simple Way) is doing. I particularly enjoyed reading the stories of what they were doing in their community, because you could see real people meeting real needs in really creative ways.

It’s all too common that we see people who say one thing, but don’t live up to it. Shane really brings it with what he believes and what he does. It’s also cool to see how he’s inspired others to go on and pursue their dreams. Shane seems like a super chill kind of a guy that I could relate too and would enjoy spending time with.

The one thing about it that I didn’t enjoy about this book was that I felt like the Author repeated himself way too much. Going over the same point became a bit draining. But that’s a small criticism of an overall amazing book. I would recommend this book to anyone who’s interested in; community development, social injustice, pacifism, or serving others.

Enjoy this day,
Matt

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Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson Book Review

Simply put, this was an amazing book. Here are a few reasons why. So many books we pick up to read are out of our minds as soon as we’re finished with the last page. But reading Three Cups of Tea left me with a different impression, the impression that long after I’ve closed this book it will continue to impact me. I guess we call that inspiration, if so, this book is very inspiring.

This story is about a man named Greg Mortenson who travels to Pakistan with hopes of climbing K2. He fails to summit K2 and on his way down from the mountain ends up in a small Pakistani village and his life as well as many, many more are forever changed. As Greg surveys the condition of this particular village he sees an incredible need for a proper school and teacher to give the children an education. And with that simple but powerful revelation he begins his quest to build them a school. As Greg builds this school he finds that there are many more needs and villages that are desperate for their children to be educated.

Time after time his work is threatened by powerful enemies and difficult situations. These accounts were incredible to read about and time after time we see Greg emerge with even more of a passion to educate people in the Pakistan area (and later Afghanistan).

In an interesting twist Greg’s story begins to be intertwined with history as it unfolded in the events leading up to and after the terrorist attacks of 9/11. In what starts as educating children to fight poverty (and the struggles associated with it) also ends up being about fighting terrorism through hope and peace. Giving kids books in this region would end terrorism better than any amount of bombs is one of the many conclusions Greg comes to… and I would agree with him.

This was an incredible book and I would suggest it to anyone. I also look forward to reading Greg’s next book about his continued work in Afghanistan.

Enjoy this day,
Matt

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“Same kind of different as me” book review

Books that are true stories are amazing to me, they pull me in and don’t let go. “Same kind of different as me” is a true story that pulled me in. The book is primarily about a homeless black man named “Denver” and a wealthy white couple, “Ron” and “Deborah”. The book details the upbringing of Denver and Ron as well as key stories that shaped both of them as people. Eventually Ron, Deborah and Denver’s paths cross and the book continues on telling their story from each side.

I don’t obviously want to give away too much of the book, but reading about Denver’s childhood was particularly interesting. He was raised in a family that worked on a cotton plantation and to see that their situation is no less then modern day slavery was a harsh reality. So often we hear of slavery as part of history or some other countries problem (like child sex trafficking), but to see how it still exists under a different disguise within our own country is something that needs to be brought more into the light. And this book does an incredible job of exposing this problem, putting names and faces to this issue will touch you more than any stats you could read on slavery or poverty.

Also, seeing the passionate lives of people who give themselves fully to serving others is incredible, as you find with Deborah. It’s refreshing to read about men and women of passion, because it in turn, stirs us. The dreams and things they (Ron and Deborah) do to serve the poor in their community is inspiring. Again, it’s a needed thing to read about passion and lives that reflect it, because it will push us in our own lives.

On a last note, Denver shows an incredible; depth, wisdom and love that shocked me. I guess I too wrote him off as being uneducated and not being able to contribute in certain ways because of that. But over and over he drops these amazing lines of wisdom and displays a radical love for those he’s loyal too. It was humbling to read.

I would encourage people who are interested in issues of social injustice, poverty, slavery or serving others to pick this book up and give it a read. Again, the fact that it’s a true story also gives the book a depth and personality that makes it hard to put down.

Same Kind of Different as me is written by Denver Moore and Ron Hall

Any of you read any good books lately? Leave a comment at the bottom of the page and let us know.

Enjoy this day,
Matt

P.S. I just read that they are going to be making this story into a movie, with Samuel L. Jackson playing Denver Moore. Should be worth a trip to see.

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