Book Review: The Noticer

"I'm a noticer," he said. "It is my gift. While others may be able to sing well or run fast, I notice things that other people overlook. And, you know, most of them are in plain sight." The old man leaned back on his hands and cocked his head. "I notice things about situations and people that produce perspective. That's what most folks lack - perspective - a broader view. So, I give them that broader view . . . and it allows them to regroup, take a breath, and begin their lives again." pg 6

Defeated, alone and feeling completely abandoned, twenty-three year old Andy finds himself living under the Gulf State Pier in Orange Beach, Alabama. It is at this low point in his life that he meets a strange old man who changes his perspective forever. Jones has an uncanny ability to be at the right place at the right time. His meeting with Andy was just one of those occasions documented in this book. Written in Andy's conversational tone, we share several "appointments" that Jones has with the residents of Orange Beach as he offers wisdom and life principles we all could apply. It is a journey of realization as life is put into perspective.

This book arrived at a time that I needed to get a bit of perspective. I had been moping around for a few weeks, feeling sorry for myself because of delays in the restoration of my home after two major issues this past winter. My husband and I had been reduced to sleeping in the dinning room of our three bedroom home. because the other rooms were uninhabitable. I had lost track of the silver lining on the storm clouds that sat above my head. The Noticer, by Andy Andrews, helped me get my focus back on the positive things as I put my "suffering" into perspective.