Book Review: The Final Summit by Andy Andrews

Excerpt: Overwhelmed by grief, David reached for the tobacco pouch and the Seven Decisions and drew them into a pile. Placing his arms around the items and his head on top of his arms, he wept in great, agonizing sobs.

After a time, with his head still on his desk and his tears spent, he said aloud, "I don't know what to do. I just don't know what to do."

"And you are not alone in that sentiment," a voice replied. "Perhaps that is why I am here."

Startled, David jerked his head up and stared open-mouthed into a face he had not seen in twenty-eight years - the archangel Gabriel. The Final Summit, pgs 28-29.

Back Cover: David Ponder is back. This time the fate of mankind is in his hands.

This is mankind’s last chance. Centuries of greed, pride, and hate have sent humanity hurtling toward disaster, and far from its original purpose. There is only one solution that can reset the compass and right the ship, and it consists of only two words.

With time running out, it is up to David Ponder and a cast of history’s best and brightest minds to uncover this solution before it is too late. The catch? They are allowed only five tries to discover the answer.

Readers first encountered David Ponder in The Traveler's Gift. Now, in The Final Summit, Andrews combines a riveting narrative with astounding history in order to show us the one thing we must do when we don’t know what to do.

My Review: I'll admit from the start that I did not enjoy The Final Summit as much as I had hoped. I had not previously read The Traveler's Gift, so I was not exactly sure what I was going to find in this book, but I figured I would give it a try since I do enjoy fiction. When the book came, I was a little surprised to see that it was classified as "Self-Help" and "Motivational." However, as I read, I could clearly see that this was a work of fiction... maybe better described as a kind of present-day parable. Andrews seems to have an agenda as he writes the book - an agenda to teach the reader an important lesson. By answering the big question posed in the book, the reader is then empowered to live their lives differently. Though the style and actual story felt odd, the lesson taught between the pages was motivational - and for that one point, I believe that the book was a success.

My Rating:

My Recommendation: I recommend this book to readers of Andy Andrews.

(I received a complimentary copy of this book for the purpose of review.)

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.