Overall rating and opinion of "And Then I Met Margaret"

[Christina Rose]

I haven't read this, but 'Wow', @AliceofX; a self-help book that isn't very helpful, huh? And I know exactly what you mean. All my life, I've heard, "you can be anything you want to be", "follow your dreams", etc. Well, I can guarantee that I never intended to be poor and struggling all the time. Despite reaching reaching reeeeeeeeeeeaching and clamoring for my dreams, here I still am. I agree with you; sometimes life just doesn't give one the tools or opportunities one needs. It's all well and good to give the previous advice, but when so much of life depends on others, especially others in positions of power, what can one really do?

This is all very true. The age old saying that if you do your best you can accomplish anything isn’t necessarily true. It’s motivating, as it was meant to be, but not always feasible or realistic.

[Christina Rose]

I really enjoyed reading this book because all of the different stories taught a different lesson. Although the author was writing about the lessons he himself learned from each person he encountered, he really taught me some things about life as well. From reading this book, I learned that you should first and foremost follow your dreams no matter what. I learned that in following your dreams, you will encounter setbacks. How you handle those setbacks will determine whether you will succeed or not. I think that all of us can learn a lesson or two from reading this book, which is a wonderful way to start the New Year!

I’m glad you were able to learn some things from this book. It doesn’t seem to be appealing to everyone, as no single book will ever be, but it’s great to know that the author was able to reach some.

[Christina Rose]

Actually I found this book very inspiring! The author's practical approach on how he understood life and how he practically applied what he learnt from his experience is very fascinating. This book reminded me of things that I know sometime back and it renewed my memory. The approach that he has applied in his book by representing what he believed (knew) with what he learnt and started to believe after his experience helped me to use the same approach in my life. Each chapter had something to say, apart from what the author has learnt, I too saw some theory on my own as additional learnings. I believe this book has something to offer too everyone in different aspects. The book was a bit boring at the introduction but later continued to amuse me and inspire me. Actually I would love to recommend this book to anyone who wishes to be inspired!

I’m glad you were inspired, and that you stuck it out past the parts that bored you!

[Christina Rose]

I haven’t quite gotten around to this one though it has been in my to-read pile forever. I don’t read a ton of self-help but I do enjoy personal anecdotes, which is the format of this particular book it appears. I am a little put off by the comments about the author’s arrogance, however, since that is likely to rub me the wrong way. I’ll still give it a shot though.

I’m put off by those comments as well. However, I’ll still read the book and develop my own opinions. I hope you find something to enjoy in your reading of it!

[Christina Rose]

I don't read a lot of self-help books but this one motivated me and taught me a lot of things in life like to expect the unexpected. The author started life from scratch and worked all the way to become a real estate owner. Epic

It’s good to hear you were motivated, and that you learned life lessons. Books in this genre should at least provide readers with such lessons and motivation!

[Christina Rose]

I really enjoyed "And Then I Met Margaret". I liked that each chapter was short and it was easy to read. I felt it was inspirational and would recommend it to others.

I find this helpful as well, especially in this genre. Nonfiction books with longer chapters and too much technical language really just cause me more confusion than enlightenment.

[Christina Rose]

"This book would be enjoyable to casual readers, but it wouldn’t be very helpful to people who have serious problems in their lives."

I think that's pretty much always true of self help, "motivational" books. There's a huge difference between the "struggle" an intelligent, not to badly off kid leaving a small home town for university has; and the "struggle" that many people facing severe health or poverty issues will have. That's always my issue with these kind of books. They define "success" as wealth and success in business, where for many people "success" is getting through the day.

But that's an issue with the genre - and it's a very popular genre, even among people with huge problems - not this book specifically.

This may be why I enjoyed From Drift to Shift so much. The stories were about people from such a wide range of backgrounds and abilities.

[Mdoc]

This is a real life event book whose writer brings out its message through a third part.

[Mdoc]

This is a motivational book much helpful to casual readers

[nwojijiblessing]

it made me feel like I was in it. Giving so much hope. then again in the real world one may not have the materials to pursue his dreams.

[Katerina Katapodi]

In this book, there are, in my opinion various messages for reader: Being a novel, that apart from Litereture, it offers many messages of Philosophy and potentially Religion. The writer points out the message of ''Wisdom of Univers', and therefore God, for those who believe Him.
Everything is done with wisdom, even bad experiences can turn to good ones, according to ''which prisme' we see life, and of course depending on the different and unique experience of someone, compared to others. Based on our personality, and uniqueness, we are 'called' by life to evaluate our experiences, obtain teachings and form our judgement. This can vary fromm person to person, according to one's (unique) way of judgment, and how one will use his/her experience. Although we may feel desperate sone times, that our dreams haven't been realized at least ''yet'', life has its own secrets, for incidents to happen at the right time, and in a way of fulfillment of our destiny. Just one may use his/her experience in a different way than others, according to his/her natural way of thinking and judging. Thus, the right thing happens at the right time. The narrator claims that ''hero'' (else,''saver''), in this case Margaret, whom he met later, helped him in knowing to learn, as in the past, and also recnet passed, or long time ago, he (hero) was confused, and had to make a choice, among things and chances of life offered to him so far. Thus, meeting Margaret, helped him in getting rid of his confusion, and more through their relationship, he recognized that life has meaning, to live it, but also helped in thinking with maturity..

[EvaDar]

I appreciate these forums so much. I hear that people are challenged by the author's point of view. Good to know. I am looking forward to reading it, hoping it will be a spiritual awakening story. I have just started reading it and am rooting for him to transform that arrogance...

[bet22]

I enjoyed reading the book. The author tells the stories in a very interesting and humorous way. The greatest lesson that I picked from the book is that we should learn to pay attention to the people around us since we can learn a lot from them. The greatest teachers are usually the people closest to us.

[Colleen0701]

Make no mistake, the author can tell a tale. We have all met a Margaret or an aunt or a teacher that has been interested enough in us to give us a word or a push in the right direction.
Most of us, myself included accepts their gift without realising what a gift it is. I may put it down to luck and someone else to fate.
What we didn't realise is what the author has caught. Observation.
If we observed our own lives closely, we would see the same people with basically the same lessons.
Bravo to Mr. White for his keen observance and also the skill to turn these lessons into stories.

[Mwanaidi]

Interesting self help motivational book,that the author see out to tell us we can determine our own destiny. In part, I feel that this is true, but one has to have deep depths of determination to live like this.