The Pursuit of Happyness
by Chris Gardner
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Book Summary Information
Author: Chris GardnerContributor: Quincy Troupe
Edition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-10-24
ISBN: 0060744871
Number of pages: 320
Publisher: Amistad
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780060744878
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of The Pursuit of Happyness
Book Review: Pass The Salt
Summary: 3 Stars
Surprisingly 317 reviewers for the movie and just 137 for the paperback only 6 for the hard cover book. When comparing a book and a movie, I hear all the time that the book is better than the movie... In this case, it may just be the opposite.
As for covering a 30 plus year timeline, the subject matter comes off as a surprisingly bland depiction of Mr. Gardners experience. NOTE: See any of Frank McCourt's books for really good story telling. In McCourt's book, he described a desperate childhood marked by severe poverty, malnutrition, neglect, infectious disease and loss. "When I look back on my childhood I wonder how I survived at all. It was, of course, a miserable childhood: the happy childhood is hardly worth your while. Worse than the ordinary miserable childhood is the miserable Irish childhood, and worse yet is the miserable Irish Catholic childhood," -Frank McCourt, from the book Angela's Ashes.
Things that I liked about Start Where You Are:
- Lesson # 19 "No test, no testimony"
- Drawing a line like a stock graph as a visual to help determine your past performance
- Lesson # 34 Money isn't the answer OR the problem
- Bible reference of Moses as an example of resourcefulness
- The phrase "evergreen" marketplace lessons
Things that I did not like:
I guess it's not bragging if you can do it - and he did however I'm not sure Mr. Gardners happyness experience can be replicated? In addition, I am not sure what the intended target audiance for this book is. Is it for the every day rank and file? The subject matter falls under Amazon's Self Help section but moves around quite a bit and covers: selling, motivation, inspiration, public speaking and business.
Rappers, singers, actors, and performers are used as examples of "happy" people and this seemed to run contrary to the books intended message of happyness. In seems many people with world class ambition choose to go too far - ie Major Leagues Baseball's Sammy Sosa, Mark McQuire or US Track and Field's Marian Jones or most recently Michael Jackson.
I am still not sure why the door was opened to Mr. Gardner. It is unclear to me why his Wall Street wizards and the others decided to mentor him? (ie stockbroker Red Ferarri owner Bob Bridges, heart surgeon Robert Ellis, Gary Shimano & Marshall Gellar at Bear Stein, TV/radio host Glynn Beck, as well as Barbara Scott Priscall, and Bill Lucy. There seems that there was no particular reason stated.
Most people are not Olympic athletes, most people don't know or meet famous people, most people don't have a limo, most people do not have a willing/knowledgable mentor, and finally most people do not have San Francisco, Chicago and New York as their playground/backdrop. So I am not sure if mentioning all these things adds to the importance of his story.
Lesson # 30 Seek the furthest Star. Key word Risk
This may not be completely applicable to everyday choices. For example, the number of people that show up to risk it all for auditions for ALL the talent related t.v. shows prove that for 99% of those seeking their 'furthest star' are self dullusional. Most of the the unwashed masses are sifted during this process. They are given their shot at 15 minutes of fame and prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are in the wrong field and possess little or no "marketable" talent. Key word marketable! It is like a jockey trying to become an NBA star or vice-a-versa. It doesn't matter how many 'baby steps' they take or how much love for the game they claim - their talent will NEVER prove marketable.
Suggestions for additional information on similiar topics covered in this book:
Peter Lynch - Starting now (on something like investing)
Jack Welch - Differentiation being a key value to getting ahead
Lee Iacocca - People don't change after age 21
Lou V. Gerstner - Having a sense of urgency (Planning & analysis is secondary to action)
Zig Ziglar -Selling
Dale Carnegie - Winning friends
Tony Robins - Mastery & asking questions,
Harvey Mackay - On networking
John Maxwell - "Mentoring their is no success without a successor"
Lance Armstrong - On how to "exhaust the possibility"
Two questions for the author:
How did he get pass the No Solicitation signs on the front door of most places of business he visited?
How did he prevent himself from appearing to be a paparazzi that is stalking his prey when selling his wares?
Two suggestions for the author:
As a bonus the audio book would be better if at the end it included short interviews with Mr. Gardners mentors or his two adult children to get their perspective.
Finally, I wish the 44 take away lessons at the end of the book had some "tactiness" to them. Make them work like a post-it note, they need to be presented in a fashion that they can mentally be easily pulled out and recalled for everyday use. For example think of how the fire department teaches kids about the dangers of fire. SDR - Stop, Drop & Roll. Like that.
Overall Rating: Definitely watch the movie and if you have the time maybe borrow the book from a friend or get a used copy
Summary of The Pursuit of Happyness
The astounding yet true rags-to-riches saga of a homeless father who raised and cared for his son on the mean streets of San Francisco and went on to become a crown prince of Wall Street
At the age of twenty, Milwaukee native Chris Gardner, just out of the Navy, arrived in San Francisco to pursue a promising career in medicine. Considered a prodigy in scientific research, he surprised everyone and himself by setting his sights on the competitive world of high finance. Yet no sooner had he landed an entry-level position at a prestigious firm than Gardner found himself caught in a web of incredibly challenging circumstances that left him as part of the city's working homeless and with a toddler son. Motivated by the promise he made to himself as a fatherless child to never abandon his own children, the two spent almost a year moving among shelters, "HO-tels," soup lines, and even sleeping in the public restroom of a subway station.
Never giving in to despair, Gardner made an astonishing transformation from being part of the city's invisible poor to being a powerful player in its financial district.
More than a memoir of Gardner's financial success, this is the story of a man who breaks his own family's cycle of men abandoning their children. Mythic, triumphant, and unstintingly honest, The Pursuit of Happyness conjures heroes like Horatio Alger and Antwone Fisher, and appeals to the very essence of the American Dream.
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