Life...It's As Good As You Make It by Ron Woods

8 stars

This book became so big (in Japan) that I couldn't even find an image of it. Picture this:

• Thin blue hardcover book with a blue dust cover
• In big red letters it says "Life..."
• Then in yellow not-as-big letters it says "It's As Good As You Make It"
• Below that is a shadow of a person holding a trophy in the air with victory aglow. No, really, the trophy is all blingy like the sun is behind it just poking through, ie: victory aglow.

Now you have a picture of the book.

The subtitle of this book (yes, it has a subtitle. It has two apparently) is "practical advice on dealing with the past, enjoying the present, and preparing for the future". That is all the description it needs.

I'm a sap for books like this so when I saw it at my parent's house I decided to pick it up.

8 stars may be a little high if we're judging on literary mastery. What I really like about it, though, is its simplicity and lack of literary mastery. I've read lots of "self-help" books where the author feels a need to prove they are right or where they seem to be guilting the reader. This book does give suggestions but it never comes off as overbearing or preachy. I really like that instead of explaining concepts he uses fictitious life experiences to demonstrate the concepts in action. Even better, he uses a lot of the stories to promote questions, not necessarily to give answers. There were a lot of thought-provoking "ah-ha" moments in it.

Ron Wood is LDS and the book is very much written to an LDS audience. The concepts apply to those who are not LDS but he uses LDS jargon throughout. The simplicity of the writing, the short life stories throughout, the moments that made me review my internal motivations and challenges, and the fact that it is short (110 pages of large font) make it a book I hope to read again in a few years to garner new perspective.