By: Don Kennedy Publisher: Morgan James Publishing Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Format: Illustrated Label: Morgan James Publishing Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 108 Publication Date: February 01, 2008
Product Description: It's 5 A.M and Mike is already behind. Not just today, it's everyday. His hours merge and the years pass and every morning he opens his eyes and swears, "This is the day," but it never happens. Mike is overwhelmed and lives a frustrating and cluttered life. His work dictates his health, sleep and, relationships and he's never caught up. Time and change are elusive and he knows it and feels it. Mike's life takes a curve when he notices his co-worker, Ben, has become his opposite; healthy, happy and well organized. Through Ben, Mike is directed to a man with rules and a black workbook. Over the next few months Mike does searching assignments and meets his new friend at unusual locations where they discuss Mike's discoveries. It's there that Mike learns powerful lessons and an unusual word. In the end, Mike learns how to start living the story he wants and was created to tell... rather than the one he's being forced to tell. What is the word and lessons that change Mike's days
Don't buy this book - It's apallingly bad, offensively simplistic, very poorly edited Cards on the table, I'm not really hopelessly disorganised and I'm not unhappy with the direction of my life. I do, however, try to read a book or two on this type of subject every year, just to pick up some pointers or perhaps reinvigorate my approach. Unfortunately, this was one of the books I selected. Even worse, it was the only book I had with me for an epic, 17-hour flight.
First off, this is perhaps the most poorly edited book I have ever read. There is an entire chapter where virtually every line refers to the protagonist, "Mike", by name. Unfortunately, for the whole chapter, it interchanges "Mike" and "Ben", as if the author changed the name halfway through the writing it and only updated half of the references. There are also multiple misspellings - "your" instead of "you're" in a lot of places, "affect" instead of "effect", and far too many more to count. If this book was professionally edited, that person needs to find another career.
That whole aspect of the book left me with a very strong message: How professional and credible could the author be if he doesn't even care enough about the readers to ensure his book is edited and presented properly?
Every book I've ever read has had a typo or two - particularly in the first printing. I'm a writer myself, and my most recent book had two small typos on the first print run. It is a book with ten times the content of "5 AM and Already Behind", but I was still mortified. This is way beyond that. It just looked like they either just didn't care or don't know the difference.
As for the content, I didn't find anything groundbreaking or even slightly new. It's a rehash of the old use-checklists-to-find-your-purpose idea, which is fine, but other people do it far better. It also follows the well-worn path of building the content through narrative - "Mike's journey to self-fulfillment" - but again, many others have done it far better than this.
Finally, while there is a certain appeal to a short, concise book, this takes the idea of simplicity to the point of being almost offensive. It's a fable with a moral (and assignments), but Aesop had more depth and texture. It's a simple story written at an elementary school level, but "Dick and Jane" was more interesting.
I am not in any way for censorship, but for the first time in my life, I really wanted to burn a book. Not out of protest, but because I didn't want anyone else to waste a moment of their lives reading this mess.
Better books:
- The 4 Hour Work Week - Tim Ferriss (lots of fun and very inspirational)
- Getting Things Done - David Allan (my all time FAVE - and he's got a new book coming out)
- The E-Myth Revisited - Michael Gerber (he wrote the foreword for "5 AM and Already Behind", but I'm guessing he didn't read it first)
- Book Yourself Solid and Beyond Booked Solid - Michael Port
- Upgrade Your Life - Gina Trapani
sloppy writing Right off the bat I wasn't impressed with this book when Ch 2 was full of weird typos and kept confusing names with each other. First off, you know that "Ben" isn't there in that part of the story and that the author meant "Mike", but due to some really poor writing and/or editing, the two names keep getting used interchangeably, which is really confusing and more than a little annoying. After all, it's not a free book, so you'd think the author would put at least a tiny little bit of effort into it. Believe me, I'm not one who's picky about errors, but these are huge glaring things that make you question the quality of the content. There are some good things about this book/workbook, but overall I wasn't disappointed with how unprofessionally put together it is.
Wiling to give it a try I like this very simplistic approach to something we all know we should do, but can never seem to get to that point. It puts putting your habits behind you in perspective and gave you a slow methodical way to get it done.
My only criticism of the book was the editing/proof-reading. It was very confusing in the beginning when he was supposedly talking to Mike, but kept referring to him as Ben.
Nothing to lose Worth a try - will help identify those things holding you back from achieving a more satisfying and productive existance.
Excellent I have read many books on personal and professional success, and have found Dr. Kennedy's book to be one of the best. Though on the surface it would seem that he is addressing personal change, the ideas expressed in this book address the total quality of life. It portrays personal and professional successes as intrinsically intertwined and synergistic so that developing good habits and discarding old ones enhances all facets of ones life. This is an excellent read!!
Anything Goes Trivia
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Trevor
