What did you think of the author and his journey?
- SPasciuti
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What did you think of the author and his journey?
I found him to be a rather interesting person with a fair amount of character to him. I think there's definitely something respectable in the fact that he considered the people around him important teachers, almost implying that every person we meet has a lesson for us to teach us how to live our lives in a more meaningful and impactful way. And I appreciate his desire to learn from each of those people.
At times I found him a little self-absorbed, particularly when he would always have a very convient example for how he passed on these lessons that he learned. But I also appreciated that, oddly enough, if only because it's rather useless to say we learned a lesson from someone and not have an example of how we put that lesson into practice, wouldn't you say? If we didn't, I imagine that it would be arguable that we didn't actually learn the lesson at all. Rob White seems like a very thoughtful and interesting guy and I imagine he'd be rather fascinating to sit down and have a conversation with.
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I agree. I appreciated his examples as well, maybe so much so that I didn't really consider that it seems a little arrogant until I started discussing on this forum (after I posted my review!). My feelings are a little mixed now, too, though it is an autobiography, so talking about himself and what he's learned throughout his life is natural for the book type.SPasciuti wrote: ↑10 Jan 2018, 16:16
At times I found him a little self-absorbed, particularly when he would always have a very convient example for how he passed on these lessons that he learned. But I also appreciated that, oddly enough, if only because it's rather useless to say we learned a lesson from someone and not have an example of how we put that lesson into practice, wouldn't you say? If we didn't, I imagine that it would be arguable that we didn't actually learn the lesson at all. Rob White seems like a very thoughtful and interesting guy and I imagine he'd be rather fascinating to sit down and have a conversation with.
- SPasciuti
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Hahah, yeah. I remember while reading it that I came back to check other people's opinions and it sort of cemented my prior thought that he seemed a little full of himself. But, yeah. I dunno. The more I think about it, part of me wonders if the pat on the back thing he kind of gives himself throughout his narrative is kind of important? Not because I think he should feel full of himself, but rather because if he didn't feel like he was taking these lessons and teaching them to others, his advice would be less about passing on the experiences and teachings of life and more about simply saying something like, "this is how you should be."missiontrainer2000 wrote: ↑12 Jan 2018, 13:20I agree. I appreciated his examples as well, maybe so much so that I didn't really consider that it seems a little arrogant until I started discussing on this forum (after I posted my review!). My feelings are a little mixed now, too, though it is an autobiography, so talking about himself and what he's learned throughout his life is natural for the book type.SPasciuti wrote: ↑10 Jan 2018, 16:16
At times I found him a little self-absorbed, particularly when he would always have a very convient example for how he passed on these lessons that he learned. But I also appreciated that, oddly enough, if only because it's rather useless to say we learned a lesson from someone and not have an example of how we put that lesson into practice, wouldn't you say? If we didn't, I imagine that it would be arguable that we didn't actually learn the lesson at all. Rob White seems like a very thoughtful and interesting guy and I imagine he'd be rather fascinating to sit down and have a conversation with.
I'm kind of back and forth on it, lately. Cause as I read it, I hated that he always had a really convienent story for how he passed on the lesson. But at the same time, I'm a HUGE believer in Pay it Forward and, ultimately, he at least made sincere efforts to do so, which means something to me. So I think mixed feelings on him as a person is a really natural place to be as far as opinions go.
- Kathryn Price
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I agree! I think that his examples of how he taught others is a part of the reason I liked it so much - I've never read a book that actually showed how the author learned the lessons that he talks about. And Pay It Forward is so important in my mind because it's an extension of the Golden Rule. It's hard to tell whether I should like it or not, though.SPasciuti wrote: ↑12 Jan 2018, 15:34Hahah, yeah. I remember while reading it that I came back to check other people's opinions and it sort of cemented my prior thought that he seemed a little full of himself. But, yeah. I dunno. The more I think about it, part of me wonders if the pat on the back thing he kind of gives himself throughout his narrative is kind of important? Not because I think he should feel full of himself, but rather because if he didn't feel like he was taking these lessons and teaching them to others, his advice would be less about passing on the experiences and teachings of life and more about simply saying something like, "this is how you should be."missiontrainer2000 wrote: ↑12 Jan 2018, 13:20I agree. I appreciated his examples as well, maybe so much so that I didn't really consider that it seems a little arrogant until I started discussing on this forum (after I posted my review!). My feelings are a little mixed now, too, though it is an autobiography, so talking about himself and what he's learned throughout his life is natural for the book type.SPasciuti wrote: ↑10 Jan 2018, 16:16
At times I found him a little self-absorbed, particularly when he would always have a very convient example for how he passed on these lessons that he learned. But I also appreciated that, oddly enough, if only because it's rather useless to say we learned a lesson from someone and not have an example of how we put that lesson into practice, wouldn't you say? If we didn't, I imagine that it would be arguable that we didn't actually learn the lesson at all. Rob White seems like a very thoughtful and interesting guy and I imagine he'd be rather fascinating to sit down and have a conversation with.
I'm kind of back and forth on it, lately. Cause as I read it, I hated that he always had a really convienent story for how he passed on the lesson. But at the same time, I'm a HUGE believer in Pay it Forward and, ultimately, he at least made sincere efforts to do so, which means something to me. So I think mixed feelings on him as a person is a really natural place to be as far as opinions go.
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- Chelsy Scherba
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I completely agree! I think this works especially well in memoirs, really, and not as often in self-help books (so far that I've read, anyway) I've gotten to know a lot of people I've never met simply by reading the things they've written about themselves and I love having that insight. And you can learn so much about them. For instance, here, not only do we get light shed on his childhood, but we know about how he grew into the person he was. I'd say we can make inferences on his character and personality from what we've read, though admittedly I wont say we can be sure about everything we assume. Either way, it's fascinating.
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I actually agree with you that he became somewhat self-absorbed as the book went on. It is like he is some amazing person who manages to teach others lessons as well as learn from every little thing in his life. His wife hardly ever features...so what did he learn from his marriage and partnership? It seems to be a lot of business and finance as well as how to respond to people.SPasciuti wrote: ↑10 Jan 2018, 16:16 I thought about this a lot as I was reading and I have a feeling that it probably came up for a number of you as well, but what did you think of the author? He's a rather prominent feature of the book as he describes his encounters with each of these "gurus," ultimately moving on to give an account of how he himself turned around the lessons that he learned from the people in his life.
I found him to be a rather interesting person with a fair amount of character to him. I think there's definitely something respectable in the fact that he considered the people around him important teachers, almost implying that every person we meet has a lesson for us to teach us how to live our lives in a more meaningful and impactful way. And I appreciate his desire to learn from each of those people.
At times I found him a little self-absorbed, particularly when he would always have a very convient example for how he passed on these lessons that he learned. But I also appreciated that, oddly enough, if only because it's rather useless to say we learned a lesson from someone and not have an example of how we put that lesson into practice, wouldn't you say? If we didn't, I imagine that it would be arguable that we didn't actually learn the lesson at all. Rob White seems like a very thoughtful and interesting guy and I imagine he'd be rather fascinating to sit down and have a conversation with.
- N_R
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Do you think that any of the stories in the book have been embellished in some way? Or are they told exactly as they happened?
- SPasciuti
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Yes! I saw a lot of that in his book. I find it kind of strange that he didn't seem to be impacted very much by the woman he married, but rather more about those involved in business. Admittedly, I get that he in part is attempting to help people be successful, but this book is described as motivational, isn't it? And at that point, I just wonder where her big impact came from--because the story about how he did something he was afraid of at her encouragement wasn't really all that inspiring because it ultimately came down to Rob at the end suggesting we should set limits.N_R wrote: ↑14 Jan 2018, 16:46I actually agree with you that he became somewhat self-absorbed as the book went on. It is like he is some amazing person who manages to teach others lessons as well as learn from every little thing in his life. His wife hardly ever features...so what did he learn from his marriage and partnership? It seems to be a lot of business and finance as well as how to respond to people.SPasciuti wrote: ↑10 Jan 2018, 16:16 I thought about this a lot as I was reading and I have a feeling that it probably came up for a number of you as well, but what did you think of the author? He's a rather prominent feature of the book as he describes his encounters with each of these "gurus," ultimately moving on to give an account of how he himself turned around the lessons that he learned from the people in his life.
I found him to be a rather interesting person with a fair amount of character to him. I think there's definitely something respectable in the fact that he considered the people around him important teachers, almost implying that every person we meet has a lesson for us to teach us how to live our lives in a more meaningful and impactful way. And I appreciate his desire to learn from each of those people.
At times I found him a little self-absorbed, particularly when he would always have a very convient example for how he passed on these lessons that he learned. But I also appreciated that, oddly enough, if only because it's rather useless to say we learned a lesson from someone and not have an example of how we put that lesson into practice, wouldn't you say? If we didn't, I imagine that it would be arguable that we didn't actually learn the lesson at all. Rob White seems like a very thoughtful and interesting guy and I imagine he'd be rather fascinating to sit down and have a conversation with.
And I completely agree that we should, of course, when it comes to others convincing us to do things we're not too keen on doing, but I just wished that she had taught him something else that was positive rather than that he came to a conclusion based on the fact that he wasn't overly fond of the plane ride she'd encouraged him to take. I dunno, I guess I'm just surprised that the person he decided to marry didn't teach him much.
- KitabuKizuri
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