Book Review- Life Lessons from History's Heroes by Michael Anthony Jackson
June 30th 2007 08:59
“The further backward you look, the further forward you can see,” said Winston Churchill. Using that statement as a springboard, this informative and helpful book studies five of history’s heroes and shows how their qualities can help reshape your life.
In 2001 the author, who had just turned 30 and had a passion for dangerous sports, set out to climb one of the world’s most daunting mountains, K–2. During the final ascent his sherpa suffered a collapsed lung, and to save his life the author carried him—at great risk to his own life—for three excruciating days back down the mountain to safety. That terrifying, life-changing experience led him to look more closely at his life and provided the inspiration for this book. Who were the people in history who overcame great odds and yet stood head and shoulders above their contemporaries?
What in their characters or lives—good and bad—was so special that they changed the world? What could we learn from them to change ourselves? With these questions in mind, he chose five “heroes”—Alexander the Great, Ghengis Khan, Hannibal, William the Conqueror, Elizabeth I—examined their lives, and determined what, today, we can learn from theirs and apply to our own.
Fascinating as history, Look Back to Get Ahead can also, he says, help you become “the person you were put on this earth to be.” (net sourced)
Now I bought this book in March 2005 and read it there and then, where after finishing, it laid on my book shelf along with the rest of my collection. Then a couple of weeks ago as I thought about how to develop my photography, the website, marketing etc, I thought it was time for a little motivation, so here we are.
I have read quite few different motivational books in my time and a book has to be something a bit special for me to pay full price for one, this was $26.95. If I recall correctly, I had borrowed this off someone first and was so impressed that I got my own copy. Anyway about the book, this is a motivational book with a difference, some books are all smiley and nice but in reality, it isn't like that in the real world and the end result is, that you can get disappointed if something doesn't work out.
By using his own experiences when climbing K2 and focusing on past figures from history, the author is being really clever as we all know what these figures like Alexander, Gengis Khan achieved but at that time, they wouldn't have had any idea if they were going to suceed or not but they still carried on anyway as they didn't have the benefit of hindsight.
This is one of the points the author is trying to make, this and the fact that drive and the belief to try again are all things that these people had in common. This is quite apt with where I am at the moment and what I want to achieve, eg be published as an author of fiction and fine art photography books but also be recognised for my photography too.
What this book explains to you, is that its quite likely that you might fail first, second or even third time around, but as with figures from history, you learn from your mistakes, think outside the square and keep trying until it does work.
Hannibal proved how effective thinking outside the square could be when he thrashed the Roman army of 80,000 men compared to his 40,000 at the Battle of Cannea-216 bc. Now this battle was a total disaster for the Romans and Hannibal thought that the Roman Empire would then give in but even when things were at their balckest, the Romans didn't and it was only when they started to change their way of thinking that they started to win the battles.
As the book advises 'If what you are doing isn't working, then stop doing it'.
The added bonus of this book is, if you like history in general, then you learn a little about these people good and bad, their battles, lives and motivation.
Overall this is a really well written book for todays busy world and I would seriously recommend this.
kiwiauthor rating 9/10
Heath
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