Life Principles of the Happiest and Most Successful Among Us: 25 Truths . . .a TOS Review

We were given the book Life Principles of the Happiest and Most Successful Among Us: 25 Truths from Ed Douglas Publications, written by Ed Douglas, a retired businessman, to review.

At 150 pages, it is a fairly quick and easy read. Mr. Douglas is also the author of two other books, “Making a Million With Only $2000: Every Young Person Can Do It”, and “The Money Marathon: 7 Simple Steps to Financial Freedom”. He gives seminars to adults and students about financial topics, as well as seminars on topics of character, values and virtue. Mr. Douglas has also served under three different Missouri Governors in positions such as Commissioner of the Missouri Highway and Transportation Commission, and President of the Northwest Missouri State University Board of Regents. He is currently serving on the William Jewell College Board, a number of local civic boards, and is an active member of his local church. He has been the high school tennis coach for the past fifteen years and is a member of the Fifty States Marathon Club, having run sixteen marathons in fifteen states.

From the website:

“This book began as a three page list that Ed had compiled and titled “Life’s Truths” or “25 Tips for an Enjoyable Life.” He shared the list with friends, acquaintances, and students that he coached as the head high school tennis coach.

Today, in a time of declining morals and values, the book is a motivational and inspirational guide built around Christian principles about what is really important in life. The book covers character and values, caring and compassionately dealing with others, making a difference in the world, and much more. In today’s fast-paced word, there doesn’t seem to be time to discuss these important concepts with children and others, so each truth is concise and easy to read, followed by discussion questions.”

My impressions:

This book is meant to be for students in grades 6 through 12, and is written in relatively short chapters of about four pages each, which includes discussion questions at the close of each chapter. Unfortunately, in our case at least, it was written above what my kids could really read and understand, given that they have varying special needs. I did read it myself, however, and discuss various truths with them after reading and thinking on how to relate the truths to them in ways they would be able to comprehend.

Some of the 25 truths in this book that I was able to relate to my children based upon things in their own lives are:

Truth # 3 – Watch What You Say, Do And Write

Truth # 5 – Tell the Truth

Truth # 8 – Be Quick To Apologize

Truth # 11 – Take it One Step at a Time

I was able to take these truths, and kind of change how we discussed them away from the business oriented theme of the book, to more of a biblical theme. As this book is marketed as a Christian book, I think I would have preferred to see the 25 truths written in terms of living a good Christian testimony, as opposed to what seems to me to be a book about becoming successful financially. God never promised financial success, but He does want us to live a good testimony. Also, there were some areas that touched on topics I don’t believe my children need to read about at this point in their lives, such as in truth # 3, “Watch What You Say, Do and Write”, in which he talks about the infidelities of Tiger Woods and former Governor Mark Sanford, and how it all came out in the tabloid press. I did use this truth, but preferred to use other examples, such as their everyday behavior, both at home and in front of others.

I think this book would work well with secular home-schoolers, and with adults, and it really is a good book if what you are looking for is a “how to be a success financially and in business” book, but it wasn’t a great fit for our family.

“Life Principles of the Happiest and Most Successful Among Us: 25 Truths” by Ed Douglas is available here for $12.50

Other crewmembers reviewed this book as well, so please sail on over to find out their thoughts!