Review by Walterevws -- From Drift to SHIFT
Posted: 28 Aug 2017, 04:43
[Following is a volunteer review of "From Drift to SHIFT" by Jody B. Miller.]
3 out of 4 stars
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I have been a voracious reader of various genres of books, but inspirational and self development books have taken a special place in my heart's bookshelves. I particularly love these books because they allow me to travel to that place where no other route can take me; the minds and hearts of men and women. This is based on the realization that the greatest improvement of all begins in the mind and from there all other manifestations ensue,be they physical or otherwise. This conviction drove me to choose the book "From Drift to SHIFT" by Jody B Miller.
The writer in this book uses other people’s personal stories to illustrate how one’s life can change from a state of “Drift” to that of “SHIFT”. The stories have been picked from people with different backgrounds and places which make them reach and resonate with a wider number of its intended readers.
The writer introduces by posing a number of soul-searching questions in an attempt to find out why people tend to cope or just drift in situations and circumstances that they loathe.She draws from a family story going back in the early 1900’s when her great grandmother moved into the United States and brought with her fancy dishes, which had been handed down to her grandmother and finally finding their way into her custody.These two generations never used the utencils but merely kept them as a way of maintaining linkage with the ancestors, a practice that the writer continued with unquestioningly. When “shift” finally hit her, she had to tear herself away from her past, her history and embrace a new fresh future; start a new life. From that point onwards, she was able to face her demons, as it was, overcome them albeit one at a time, and then embrace happiness full throttle.
What I enjoyed most about this book is the imbedded message that change from a state of “drift” to one of “shift” is something that we all can achieve and should strive to encounter at one point in life. If the old ways are not working, as the writer aptly quotes the legendary American rapper, Tupac K Shakur, then we should device new ways of doing things so as to, not only survive, but more importantly, thrive.
The writer’s style of using other people’s stories does the book much needed justice as it gives it depth and raw substance that other self-help books tend to lack. The author’s job is to narrate the stories while the reader’s role is to pick the lessons and learn from the real life stories. She goes into great pains to pour herself out to the reader to a point of overindulgence. Suffice it to say that the stories are quite well researched and detailed except for some few instances. In these cases, the writer includes details which in my view are not necessary in driving the point home. A good example is the visit to the Amazon Achuar tribe Shaman for a fortune telling session in the Amazon forest. I find the detailed narration of the visit lacking in relevance.
In my reading of the book I encountered quite a number of oversights, mistakes and other syntactic anomalies that would call for a thorough editing and proof reading. I also came across several misplaced commas. Another thing that I noted is that the writer takes a large portion of the book telling the reader what the book will deliver in terms of impacting the reader, something that should be left to the pages and to some extent, the reviewers who have actually read the book. She goes to great pains to push the title down the throat of the reader, so to speak, in the earlier pages, an exercise that might not go down well with discerning readers who wish to dive right into the “meat” of the book. This attempt makes the introduction unnecessarily long.The author also delves into the nitty gritty of Hinduism, something that I find unnecessary and uncalled for in equal measure. In my honest view the inclusion of the Archetype portion is misadvised.
Another glaring oversight is the misplacement of important information in the book. A case in point is found on page 221 of the appendix. This information should have been placed in a different part of the book given that most readers, and rightly so, believe that the book ends with the last word of the last chapter, and so few of them bother looking at the appendix, myself included, unless the book has really impressed me or is an academic book and so I need to check out more reference material.
In view of the aforementioned and taking all this into account, however, I would still gift this book to the consummate lover of inspirational and uplifting books. And especially those who love life stories that have lessons in them. Also it will be of great benefit to those who have reached a point where they feel as if they were merely drifting with the current and need to change course and aim for happiness against all odds. Similarly those who believe in the resilience of the human spirit, this book will do them much good. After reading this book I rated it 3 out of 4 stars.Save for the real life stories, I would have given it a 2. Again it could not qualify for a 4 mostly due to the mentioned shortcomings.
******
From Drift to SHIFT
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
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3 out of 4 stars
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I have been a voracious reader of various genres of books, but inspirational and self development books have taken a special place in my heart's bookshelves. I particularly love these books because they allow me to travel to that place where no other route can take me; the minds and hearts of men and women. This is based on the realization that the greatest improvement of all begins in the mind and from there all other manifestations ensue,be they physical or otherwise. This conviction drove me to choose the book "From Drift to SHIFT" by Jody B Miller.
The writer in this book uses other people’s personal stories to illustrate how one’s life can change from a state of “Drift” to that of “SHIFT”. The stories have been picked from people with different backgrounds and places which make them reach and resonate with a wider number of its intended readers.
The writer introduces by posing a number of soul-searching questions in an attempt to find out why people tend to cope or just drift in situations and circumstances that they loathe.She draws from a family story going back in the early 1900’s when her great grandmother moved into the United States and brought with her fancy dishes, which had been handed down to her grandmother and finally finding their way into her custody.These two generations never used the utencils but merely kept them as a way of maintaining linkage with the ancestors, a practice that the writer continued with unquestioningly. When “shift” finally hit her, she had to tear herself away from her past, her history and embrace a new fresh future; start a new life. From that point onwards, she was able to face her demons, as it was, overcome them albeit one at a time, and then embrace happiness full throttle.
What I enjoyed most about this book is the imbedded message that change from a state of “drift” to one of “shift” is something that we all can achieve and should strive to encounter at one point in life. If the old ways are not working, as the writer aptly quotes the legendary American rapper, Tupac K Shakur, then we should device new ways of doing things so as to, not only survive, but more importantly, thrive.
The writer’s style of using other people’s stories does the book much needed justice as it gives it depth and raw substance that other self-help books tend to lack. The author’s job is to narrate the stories while the reader’s role is to pick the lessons and learn from the real life stories. She goes into great pains to pour herself out to the reader to a point of overindulgence. Suffice it to say that the stories are quite well researched and detailed except for some few instances. In these cases, the writer includes details which in my view are not necessary in driving the point home. A good example is the visit to the Amazon Achuar tribe Shaman for a fortune telling session in the Amazon forest. I find the detailed narration of the visit lacking in relevance.
In my reading of the book I encountered quite a number of oversights, mistakes and other syntactic anomalies that would call for a thorough editing and proof reading. I also came across several misplaced commas. Another thing that I noted is that the writer takes a large portion of the book telling the reader what the book will deliver in terms of impacting the reader, something that should be left to the pages and to some extent, the reviewers who have actually read the book. She goes to great pains to push the title down the throat of the reader, so to speak, in the earlier pages, an exercise that might not go down well with discerning readers who wish to dive right into the “meat” of the book. This attempt makes the introduction unnecessarily long.The author also delves into the nitty gritty of Hinduism, something that I find unnecessary and uncalled for in equal measure. In my honest view the inclusion of the Archetype portion is misadvised.
Another glaring oversight is the misplacement of important information in the book. A case in point is found on page 221 of the appendix. This information should have been placed in a different part of the book given that most readers, and rightly so, believe that the book ends with the last word of the last chapter, and so few of them bother looking at the appendix, myself included, unless the book has really impressed me or is an academic book and so I need to check out more reference material.
In view of the aforementioned and taking all this into account, however, I would still gift this book to the consummate lover of inspirational and uplifting books. And especially those who love life stories that have lessons in them. Also it will be of great benefit to those who have reached a point where they feel as if they were merely drifting with the current and need to change course and aim for happiness against all odds. Similarly those who believe in the resilience of the human spirit, this book will do them much good. After reading this book I rated it 3 out of 4 stars.Save for the real life stories, I would have given it a 2. Again it could not qualify for a 4 mostly due to the mentioned shortcomings.
******
From Drift to SHIFT
View: on Bookshelves | on Amazon
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