Why Good Things Happen to Good People - Book Report/Review Example

?Review of the book “Why Good Things Happen to Good People” Why a person in MLOS program should read this book The book “Why Good Things Happen to Good People” is important to the general life as well as the academic life of a student taking MLOS program. Why good things happen to good people serves as a title as well as an answer to the question of gratitude. It is a wish of every person to attract good things or to have good things happening to them and this explain why the book is important. Only from reading the book can one learn the important lesson of why good things happen to good people. The book bases its lessons of good life on generosity and doing good things for other people. Giving and generosity are human behaviors, which have a positive effect on organizations. As a leadership student, one needs to learn methods and techniques of changing human behavior to achieve effective leadership. This book is therefore important to students studying master in leadership in organizational studies. Specifically the book gives lesson as well as real life examples of how gratitude and love can cause positive changes in life. The book brings out the realization that “in the giving of self, lies the unsought discovery of self” (p. 5). It is only by learning this lessons we realize changes in our organizations. Why the Author Preferred This Particular Subject Why good things happen to good people is written from the author’s perspective and subject for several reasons. The book is based on the theory of love and generosity, which happens not to be a friendly topic to most people. Most people consider giving favorable when they are the recipients. This implies that most people are comfortable with receiving than giving which explains why philanthropists are so few. The writer of this book believes in giving and the power of generosity and therefore writing on his own subject gives him a chance to make an evaluation of his state of generosity. As stated by Post & Neimark “people want to be generous; they don’t want to risk it” (p. 213). Although generosity is in every person’s wish list, only a few people achieve it and this makes it an interesting subject. Generosity is a human behavior and therefore the best way to learn the subject is through studying of human behavior. The author of the book understands himself better than any other person does. Therefore, his own life formed the best reference to write a perfect book. Giving and good life are two dependent factors, good life can only be realized after practicing giving. Giving is an important concept that every person needs to learn however, the concept depends on the gift of love. The author of the book gives an account of an afternoon he spent with one of his friends, and in the encounter, his friend gave him the idea of starting an institute of love. From the encounter, the author learnt that it is a desire of man for people to be generous. By using, his own subject in the book the author is able to demonstrate that giving is not only important to the person who receives but it is more important to the person who gives. Giving comes with a prize of good life and the author could only demonstrate this using himself as the subject of the book. Point Of View of the Author’s Work The work begins by posing a question of why good things happen to good people that requires an answer from the audience or the readers of the book. Throughout the book, the author engages the audience with questions concerning good life and giving. The author tries to answer or find solutions to these questions and therefore the book is written from an investigative point of view. Love and giving are important lessons that every person needs to learn. Although love and giving are two simple lessons, not everyone is able to live according to the teachings. The book focuses on good life by giving the relationship between giving ad good life. Specifically the book states that giving results in good life, the author of the book achieves this through a theory that links satisfaction from giving with long life. The theory of giving is the basis of the so-called spiritual biology (p. 287). The book develops lessons related to giving and good life in a logical manner, which can be seen as an educational perspective. After establishing the “Templeton foundation, the institute for research on unlimited love, many of my colleagues even my good friends have been amused by the name” (p. 49). This proves that practicing love is a mystery to many people, and this indicates that the society has a problem. The writer therefore writes the book from a corrective perspective with the aims of correcting the worsening human behavior and attitude towards love. The modern society lacks love. Therefore, the book offers correction to such people by giving making them realize what is required of them. The book achieves its correction objectives by giving stories and other people’s encounter on issues related to love and the important lessons from their lives. Method Used By the Author to Put the Message across The author develops his lessons of love and giving without involving or using any technical information. People distance themselves from love and giving due to lack of information and this is the second issue that the author covers. Although the title of the book begins by enquiring why good things happen to good people, love is neither a complex nor a technical subjects and therefore writing the book did not require any technicality. The writer tries as much as possible to base his arguments on logical explanation whilst remaining simple and clear. To build on his explanation the writer gives a self-assessment questions and suggests ways of good giving. Neimark and Post are forced to expand their definition of love to include acts of compassionate and confrontations of wrongdoing. This explanation dilutes the giving as a concept through the introduction of other related concept. By diluting the concept, the explanation weakens the basic argument of the book. From this argument, the author is able to base his explanation and information. From forgiving, “there was increased self-esteem and hope. A few studies have shown that these benefits may last for a year” (Post &Neimark, 2007). These and similar other explanation are given by the author of the book as information is intended to convince and educate the readers. From the information, the writer is able to convince the readers that truly good life depends on giving. Using this basic explanation the author is able to give the connection between love and good life The Intended Audience The main objective is to investigate factors that result or brings about good life. Good life is a subject of interest to people from all lifestyles irrespective of their background. The message of good life is important to medical doctors who know all about clinical health and even important people like gardeners who knows or have little information about health. To achieve its objective, the book breaks down the subject of love into related sub-topics or into ways through which a person can show love. Respect and forgiveness are some of the issues related to love that are covered in the book. Although love and giving are the desires of every person not everyone can achieve all the discussed aspects of love. The book therefore is addressed to all people with the aim of addressing the related problems at a personal level. The book addresses the issue by offering education to affected people and encourages those that are already practicing the concept of love and giving. Author’s Style The author of the book uses informal language from which he develops a commendable work. Using the informal style of writing the author is able to address the audience in a warm and friendly manner. The use of informal language is demonstrated by the usage of phrases that do not make sense or have a different meaning in a formal setting. The writers also make use of rhetorical questions to demonstrate his informal style of writing. “You wish to be happy?” (p. 4) is an example of such questions. Although the writers develop most of his work using informal language, the work is of good academic standards. Firstly, most of the arguments raised in the book are logical and therefore the book has a high standard of coherence. Secondly the writer has a clear message of love and giving that he wish to present to people of all walks of life this makes the writer to adopt a simple language. The use of simple language makes the book to have a high degree of clarity. Thirdly, people are aware of love and its benefits however, very few authors have addressed the issue previously, and this makes the book to have a high degree of originality. Finally, the book is full of challenges that address the readers and therefore it is relatively fluidity. These qualities make the book appropriate for its intended audience. Influence of the Book on Personal Beliefs From the book, I realized that giving comes with a prize and this made me increase my effort towards doing well to other people. Before reading the book, I had an idea relating satisfaction to the acts of generosity but they were not in any way close to what I have learnt from the book. Reading the book did not change my original ideas towards giving but only reinforced the idea. I share the same thoughts as the writer where he claims, “We care for our parents out of pure love” (213). Loyalty is another reason for our care towards our parents. After reading the book, I realized that caring for other is a duty that we must fulfill. As a prospective leader, the book gives me extra knowledge on matters related to giving that is important to my future career. The subject of the book relates to the emotional satisfaction that I always achieves after assisting a person out of a problem. Effectiveness of the Book The main goal of the book is to change people’s attitude towards giving that results from love. The author of this book has been able to put this message across in a clear, concise, and elaborate way. The main focal point of the book is exemplified by use of personal experiences. This implies that the book has achieved its goals. Using logical argument the writer of the book is able to relate giving and good life. From this argument, the writer is able to conclude that givers live a long life that is full of happiness. Living a happy and long life is the desire of every person. Readers of the book therefore have no any other option than to change their attitude. From the book, it is clear that “if we give to others we shall benefit enormously” (p.283). This is the main message that every reader of the book will obtain after reading the book. If every reader takes understands and practices the philosophy, the book will have achieved its objective. Recommendation I would recommend this book to any other person for personal and scholastic purposes. Firstly, the author of the book has important and beneficial lessons that he intends to pass to the readers. The book revolves around the subject of love and giving by illustrating the relationship between them. Love is demonstrated through giving and this makes it an important virtue that people need to cultivate. A society that embraces love is a better society and this is the first reason for recommending the book. I would therefore recommend the book to all people regardless of their social and economic status. Secondly, the book is based on logical explanations and conclusions that have been realized after a detailed analysis of the issue. The book is also based on research findings this is evident from the frequency of the word researchers and research throughout the book. The author confirms that the love institute will “focus on the helper literary by studying their good hearts, good works, and good lives” (p. 5). This implies that the subject of the book is an important research topic and therefore the book is appropriate for scholars interested with the subject. I would therefore recommend the book to students and researchers concerned with the discipline. Evaluation from a different Perspective The subject of good long life resulting from giving is not well known to many people and this makes the book interesting to read. The book also attempts to give an explanation as to why good people live longer which is also interesting to any reader of the book. The arguments raised in the book are based on other people’s real-life experiences and this makes `the book to have a relatively lower level of accuracy. Nevertheless, the book contains a message that is important to all readers. The book develops a thorough explanation and analysis of good life resulting from giving and this makes the book to be of great importance to the intended readers. The author’s main arguments are true and this can be verified by numerous real life experiences given in the book. According to the message given in the book, I agree that generosity results into satisfaction that leads to improved quality of life. This is the main reason that the book emphasizes that “it is never too late to make a difference” (p. 287). I however do not agree with the author’s argument that the relationship between the two factors can be verified scientifically. The book however arrives at a logical conclusion that relates giving and good life. The writer arrives at this conclusion after raising several possibilities and suggestions, specifically the writer points out that generous people will have a good life. The author begins the book with an intuitive approach that he maintains to the end of the book and therefore any new sources uncovered in the book has no effect on the author’s approach. The book would therefore fit perfectly as a psychology research materials that require further advancement. The brilliant work of Post and Neimark challenging as well as educative on matters related to good life sum up the book appropriately. Reference Post, S. & Neimark, J. (2007). Why Good Things Happen to Good People. New York, NY: Broadway Book Read More