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Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Living with small bites October 15, 2012
By John Salve
Format:Kindle Edition
An incredibly thoughtful and eclectic mix of sayings, life lessons and reflections. Jim Yarbrough has obviously taken his time with this book as the collection of his snippets comes at the reader from past sages, world leaders, comedians and religions.
Additionally, its an easy read as the wisdom has been organized in themes: Leadership & Management, Genereal Wisdom, Attitude, Spirit, Courage and a multitude of others. its a great book to keep at your bedside or office and skim through when you need inspiration.
Highly recommend the book!
5.0 out of 5 stars Beyond Impressive, A Corner Stone” book! October 15, 2012
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I picked up this book in hope that I would discover some new quotes or insights that I could use. The more I got into the book, the more I realized that James Yarbrough has put into this book his heart and soul along with a lifetime of wisdom. This has to be, in my humble opinion, one of the greatest compilations of aphorisms and wisdom I have ever seen.
Yarbrough has combed through every school of thought that I know of and even a few I had never heard of or seen before. His ability to see the innerconnectiveness of all these different perspectives is beyond impressive. To know that in this day and age, there is someone with this gift of seeing pass the veil in order to bring together such a massive, {yes, massive, this book comes in at over 340 pages}, book is reassuring that humanity might survive. This is one of those books that will be paying dividends for years to come, it is simply amazing.
Another impressive feature of the book is at the end, there is a chapter of the hyperlinks to all the Authors quoted within the book. That in itself is a major undertaking. This within itself is worth the price of the book!
While reading this book, you’ll soon realize that Yarbrough isn’t about trying making a buck, no, rather, he is about truly wanting to share his knowledge and help other people. Along with all the quotes, there are his stories that shed light into his personal life. My favorite is his experience with the Air Force during the POW/Survival training. I don’t think I could stand up to the torture that he was faced with in his training. As you read, you begin to know the person that is James Yarbrough. By the end of the book, he is one of those people you wished you had as a friend. I would like to see him come out with a book with just his thoughts, I know with his depth of knowledge, it would be a great read,{hint}
To share into his insight, I was impress when he quoted from Boris Pasternak, if you know who Boris is, then you are very well-read. While all the masters are there, such as, Buddha, Confucius, Epictetus, along with Thoreau, Emerson, and Rudyard Kipling he also has Eliza Dushku and Flip Wilson. Now anyone who can tie together Boris, Eliza, Flip and Theodore Roosevelt as got to be deep. I would like to know who would he invite to the ultimate dinner party, whoever it would be, it would be a blast.
My favorite quote from the book? Well, with so many to choose from, it would be from George Carlin, “I would rather live my life as if there is a God, and die to find out there isn’t than live life as if there isn’t and die to find out there is.” My second? Let’s give that one to Eliza, “Go Big or go home” That could be the motto for Yarbrough with this book, he definitely went big and I am happy that he did.
I believe I have found a book that if I could only save 5 books in the world, this just might be one of them. Yes, this really is a “Corner Stone” book. This book is so deep, you could spend a lifetime discovering something new every day. Thanks James Yarbrough for one treasure grove of a book.
5.0 out of 5 stars Wisdom lessons from a retired US Air Force pilot. October 14, 2012
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
Throughout the ages most of the motivational literature was about that – motivating people to pursue their dreams and hopes through cold logic of action.
The author is an experienced Air Force pilot and a father. This explains the names of the chapters and categorization of the quotes – they are a look inside of a mind of a disciplined and determined individual and his life experiences. His life philosophy, if you will, that he wishes to leave to his children as his gift.
This book is collection of ‘small bites’. ‘Small bites’ are aphorisms and morsels of wisdom that author found indispensable in his life. These ‘small bites’ of wisdom are collected in an actionable framework. Big emphasis on “Actionable.” Author does not care for ‘fluff’ and prefers to focus on the actionable core principals. To quote, ‘Take action to insure that Not Nows do not become Never Will’s’.
Most of self-development literature that I’ve read over the years was written by civilians. Teachers, businessmen, psychologists, etc. While I found many of these books very interesting and illuminating, I was fascinated to read a motivational book written by military professional, for as we all know, serving in the military is one of the most challenging things that anybody can do.
While book includes many quotations of famous people, that were re-known for a clever turn of phrase, I found most touching aphorisms of author’s father, who was an US Army Officer. Simple and unadorned in their style, they were profound and somehow comforting to read. Something tells me that author, Mr. Yarbrough, Jr. payed most heed to simple dictums that his father taught him.
Recommended.
