Review of "Outlive Your Life" by Max Lucado

In Outlive Your Live, Max Lucado challenges the reader to live to make a difference in their world. Good, challenging, except I felt like I was already coming from the other side of this. This book seems to be written to the complacent church-goer in North America, the ones that aren't involved, haven't yet been inspired to do more with their lives--more than just live for themselves.  I know many who are NOT complacent, already involved in great things.  And I myself was already inspired with this idea years ago--30 or more perhaps, and have sought to spend my life in ways that would "outlive my life".

So, from that perspective, I personally found the book lacking, and maybe a little simplistic. Main beef here is that while Lucado gives great inspiration for living and doing more, there is not an appreciation of the complexity and difficulty of truly engaging in something that will make a long-term difference.

Did the author hold my attention? Not really. I read 2/3 of the book close to when I first received, but then put it down for a long time--maybe it is where I am, or was wanting something that he wasn't trying to give--motivation and help and ideas to KEEP outliving my life when the outliving gets hard.

Still, there were some inspiring bits. I have really enjoyed Max Lucado's writing at times, but then I get tired of the style. I thought I might like to read one of his books again, but in the end I didn't even finish this one.
 
I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” 

Review of "Love and Respect for a Lifetime" by Dr. Emerson Eggerichs

This is my first review for BookSneeze--they send free books, and I agree to review them! Looking forward to getting into the swing of this, although it took me a LONG time to review this one.

At first I was a little disappointed with this book. I had thought I was getting the big, full-length, and in my mind almost CLASSIC, book Love and Respect, I wanted to read it because I have heard great things about it, I buy it and give it away in Chinese..thought I should check out the original. But alas, this is the table-top edition. I was a little disappointed.

However, on reading this book, I was quite impressed. It is the gift edition, with some pages containing only one big quote, but there are pages with more content too--six chapters and an introduction to boot. I suspect that for many that may never get reading the full-length book, this one would be great for succinct content, covering the main points of what I suspect the full length book is about. "A women needs love like she needs air to breath. A man needs respect like he needs air to breath." (p. 5). Yes, women, men need love too, but for them it is spelled R-E-S-P-E-C-T.  In the space of this short little book, some specific differences are pointed out--what that "love" really looks like for a woman, what "respect" really looks like for a man, and deals with reasons we don't want to give him the respect he needs or the love she wants. This little book packs a punch. I think I know marriages that would be improved simply by the individuals involved reading this book, talking about it, listening to each other, and deliberately putting it into practise.

Downsides: I did think the "pink" wife and "blue" husband was kind of corny (probably in the big book too). Sometimes statements come rather abruptly and out of context. More background may help to understand better.


And my personal take away (gee, some of this is basic kind and caring communication stuff--not just for marriage!). Good reminders about things I have been told before that I need to watch--the expressions on my face--the reactions. I wonder how many times my tone of voice or stern expression makes it hard for others to hear--they may not feel loved or respected. And I think, it can make it especially hard for male staff members. I'll keep working on this.

NOTE: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze®.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”