Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #33538 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781401900595
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
Jack Valentine is having a very bad day. He's chronically unhappy, unfulfilled and broke; his girlfriend has left him; and he's just been hit by a truck. Still, when he wakes up in a hospital covered in bruises, he's certain it's all happening for a reason. As Jack recovers, his dying hospital roommate, who happens to be Jack's long-lost father, imparts some final advice: the only three questions that matter are whether one has lived wisely, loved well and served greatly. He sends Jack on a journey around the world to meet three teachers (the saint, surfer and CEO), who guide him through a spiritual transformation and help him answer the three questions. Sharma, a motivational speaker and "life coach," has attempted a spiritual allegory … la Paulo Coelho's classic, The Alchemist. Unfortunately, Sharma's book lacks any narrative drive, the characters are thinly rendered and the dialogue is almost comically wooden ("You're getting to be a pretty good surfer there Jack." "It's become a passion of mine Moe"). Readers seeking Sharma's brand of advice (e.g., "see your life as a fantastic growth school" and "be true to yourself") will lose nothing simply turning to the last page, where the book's lessons are laid out in 10 succinct bullet points.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About the Author

Customer Reviews

Touching, Moving and Insightful! A Book that teaches you how to be HAPPY!!!
Imagine that you’re a molting animal that has to shed its outer layer when going through a period of change. Or rather, imagine that you are a caterpillar, shedding its cocoon so it can become a beautiful butterfly. Now imagine your soul doing that very same thing, continuously, in order to reveal the new you. That’s the effect that this book will have on its readers.

This book forces you to look at everything in your life that irritates you, that stresses you out, that presses your buttons and everything else that you dislike about yourself as “vehicles that carry the lessons you need to learn” and hence empowering you to move on to the next level of self-discovery.

Every single paragraph that you will read would bring you to a whole new level of awareness. You would never look at your life the same way again.

Its amazing how the knowledge of these 3 main characters of this book (1) The Saint (2) The Surfer and (3) The CEO, can transform your whole new outlook on life. The Saint teaches how to “live wisely”, The Surfer teaches how to “love well” and The CEO teaches how to “serve greatly”. These 3 main characters are actually life coaches of the protagonist who is called Jack Valentine. Jack is taught by his coaches:

• How to be “authentic as a human being”.
• “Theories on the way the world works as a school for our
growth, and how challenges are actually opportunities – if
we have the wisdom to seize them.”
• “The concept of The Integrity Gap and how we betray
ourselves when we’re not true to ourselves.”
• “The stained glass window metaphor and how it applies to
the filters through which each one of us see our world.”
• How to live “in the heart” and “The importance of staying
loose to the moments of the world”.
• How to release “the control that the vast majority of us
cling to in order to discover the true treasures that are
meant for our lives”.
• “The importance of making things happen in life” and
balancing it off with living “in the mystery of it all,
staying open to all possibilities”.
• “Self-care practices for personal renewal and creating our
best selves”
• How to translate all these above concepts into our careers
and professional lives, highlighting the need to be kind
and loving in business.

And many more mind baffling gems of wisdom for healing, for overcoming life’s struggles, for success in all its forms and for living a live of true happiness. These coaches do not only propose what things you can do to make it happen, but also how to do them - customizing it to your personal situation. It’s as if you have your own personal, career, leadership and life-legacy coach. I personally could not put the book down and had to go back on previous paragraphs in order to internalize this totally therapeutic experience.

To the reviewers who suggested that the plot of the story was too simple, to them I say that the plot of the story is not the point. It is not a literature classic but a self-discovery classic. Wisdom should not get lost in complication and should be understood by everyone, from any culture, and from any educational background. In other words, wisdom should be clear and not be confused in literary jargon. How can one reach the essence of their being through a set of hyperinflated words? Oh please! The beauty of the story is that it’s simple yet powerful.

This book is not only a self-help book but also a tool for having a successful business. The book ends with a surprise for Jack that translates as a surprise gift to the reader – which is “Gateways To A Beautiful Life” information gained from the book summarized into 10 outstanding declarations. You can simply type, print and place it in your office, bedroom or anywhere so you can easily be reminded of what you learnt while reading the book.

I’ll definitely get more copies as a gift to many of my family and friends. I’ll also share its concepts with my students and clients. Read it before its too late, it might just save your life. That’s how powerful this book is.

A nice collection of every success aphorism you ever heard
Sharma's book is a thinly veiled litany of pop-success, self-improvement, and leadership aphorisms and clichés which could be collected from any half-dozen other books or seminars. The author possibly intersperses a few bits of original thought between near-plagiaristic repetitions of metaphors. This is all loosely shrouded in the context of dialog between an obvious ignoramous who is supposed to represent the reader on their path of self-discovery of all of this new wisdom, and the saintly gurus who so generously spew it forth. The book is at once amusing and insulting. However, as a collection of good folk wisdom, one could read it as a concise reminder of the way in which we would all like to conduct our lives.

Insightful and Entertaining!
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It is written as a fictional story, but it is chock-full of wisdom and inspiration.

This book is about determining what really matters in life- not money, not material posessions, but the real stuff of life. The main character meets with three inspirational coaches who each offer a slightly different perspective and different advice on living an extraordinary life.

As a Professional Life Coach, I am always looking for books with deep wisdom and useful metaphors. I read this book with my highlighter in hand and I soon found that I had highlighted nearly the entire book! This is a book I will definitely read again and will recommend to my clients.

The information in this book is not new. Many other self-help books contain similar words of wisdom and advice. What was new about this book was the fact that it was an entertaining and easy read. It also contained many metaphors and examples that made it easy to relate to the concepts presented.

This is a wonderful book for anyone who is searching for meaning in their life. Give yourself time to really absorb the concepts and apply them to your life. You may find your life and your world transformed as a result.