Most of the books I read tend toward Christianity or leadership, so I was pretty excited to take a break from that with “A Short Walk to the Edge of Life.”  What isn’t to like about a storyline explaining how a simple day hike turned into an epic 5 day fight for survival, right?  Unfortunately, the back cover tease pretty much summed up the entire book, and while it wasn’t the worst book I’ve ever read, the writing at the beginning of the book felt clumsy and hard to follow.  I’m sure that all the names and descriptions were crystal clear in the author’s mind (after all, it was his near death experience!), but with so many words describing places that I couldn’t picture, it felt like I was getting lost, too.

I will say that the story is compelling, but I think the reader will feel like it’s a long walk to get to the story of Scott Hubbartt’s short walk.  If you make it to that part of the book, I think you’ll come away appreciating how one man survived longer than he should have against impossible circumstances.  I just wish the book could have been about half the length that it is.  If it were, I think more people would take the walk with him.

I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review.

To be honest, I was expecting much when I agreed to read “Essentialism” for free in exchange for a review.  The title got my attention because I’m very curious about minimalism and pursuing more of a minimalistic lifestyle.  Maybe it’s just the ever-encroaching “stuff” that naturally happens in a family of 5, but I have found myself with a growing urge to pile most of what we own in the backyard and throw a match on it.  Not so much because I hate having stuff, but because I hate the feeling that the stuff has me.

So asking the questions, “What matters most?” and “What’s most essential in my life right now?” are right down my alley, and I expected to get some good tips on how to strip away the non-essentials without needing to get a burn permit from the city.

What I wasn’t expecting was to find myself soaking up so much wisdom on how Essentialism can make me a better leader, as well.  The author, Greg McKeown, does an amazing job of sprinkling short, easy-to-remember sayings with powerful stories from the business world as well as personal life, and when it was all said and done, I couldn’t believe how many times tears snuck up on me while reading it.  Living lives of significance is something we all crave and yearn for, and Essentialism did a fantastic job of clearing away the clutter so that I could be reminded again of what matters most for me: faith and family.

I have no doubt that this book will help you find the same focus.  5 stars!!

I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review.

I’ll make this review short and sweet.  Don’t waste time or money on it.  It’s not funny, it’s mostly in poor taste and I only read it because I knew I’d have to write a review in order to request the next book.

“Dear Luke, We need to talk. Darth” is a quirky book written by John Moe, and it’s a collection of pretend letters written by famous people and characters of pop culture.  And it’s stupid.  I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt that some of them could be funny if they were being read live (like on Mr. Moe’s radio show), but this book flat out fell flat.

I received this book for free from Blogging for Books for this review.