A forthright motivational memoir from a professional motivator.
Debut author Joseph recounts how Christianity guided him during doubtful periods of his professional career in this inspirational remembrance.
The author grew up learning the entrepreneurial spirit from his father, Milton Joseph, a Los Angeles businessman who made millions in various enterprises, including a construction business and a real estate investment firm. His father also taught Joseph failure, however: while the author was in his early 20s, his parents were nearly driven into bankruptcy by poor business decisions. Joseph had expected to follow in his father’s footsteps as a businessman, but instead he became a police officer. He channeled his energy into off-duty martial arts and raising a young family, but Joseph felt unfulfilled until he heard a chance sermon from his Baptist pastor one Sunday: “The sermon he preached was not a message of hope and triumph. It was about the realities of the valleys in your life. I was taken aback by the sermon because it patterned my current state.” Joseph says that he then opened himself to divine guidance, often finding it in the form of friends or strangers who offered him advice or opportunities. He began to build a fitness and martial arts training gym, slowly investing time and money to grow his reputation and client base. Relying on his trust in God and the support of his wife, he sought to avoid the mistakes of his father. Joseph recounts his story in confident, straightforward, and unexpectedly nuanced prose: “I had a moment of doubt in the middle of my good fortune,” he writes. “You might call me a positive pessimist. It means I’d rather think of the worst-case scenario so if something does not go well my emotions would be balanced.” Joseph also recognizes that not everyone is a Christian believer, and so the book is rather light on proselytizing. Joseph can be quite confrontational, as proven by the numerous feuds detailed in the book; whether the reader attributes his success to divine intervention, luck, or hard work, his account surely demonstrates a doggedness that would-be entrepreneurs should note.
A forthright motivational memoir from a professional motivator.Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-578-19811-8
Page Count: 256
Publisher: CJ's Functional Fitness & Self Defense LLC
Review Posted Online: Feb. 5, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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