Official Review: Thoughts on life by William Doak
23 posts
[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Thoughts on life" by William Doak.]
Thoughts on Life by William Doak is a collection of a man’s questions, concerns, and ideas about life. My biggest emotion taken away from this book is confusion. I have no idea what purpose the author had in mind for this book. By my interpretation, the book has 3 parts. The first is self-help, the second is a poorly executed research paper, and the third is a dream journal. There is a severe lack of consistency in the main idea and that caused the few interesting concepts in this book to be muddled.
The author’s ideas are heavily influenced by Christianity and Buddhism. One of the most interesting portions of the book is how Doak tries to explain the similarities between these two ideologies. I like how this was an attempt to link cultures and try to help bring them together, but it just didn’t land. The author’s own bias about Christianity being superior came through. I appreciate the author’s attempt to try and help people live a better life, but Doak offers facts that are either unaccredited or false. I strongly disliked some of the claims this author made. For example, “In North America we are standing on the backs of the unselfish acts that our fore parents made before us” (p.38). There is no doubt that North American countries have made significant progress in dealing with social injustices, but the vast majority of inequalities are present today. Those inequalities can be traced back to an attempt to gain power and destroy the cultures of people like the Native Americans. We have a lot of work to do to create a prosperous North America. Hopefully one day, our children can stand on the backs of our unselfish acts.
The author also makes claims that the world would be better if we all held the same values. Well, not all cultures will share the same values. That needs to be celebrated and accepted! To have one set of values for the world is to have one culture dominate all others. It just doesn’t create the harmony the author was trying to achieve.
I like that the author is trying to help people live a better life, but I hate the method that they go about it. This book needs to be edited and the author needs to know it’s purpose. Is it a journal, scientific study, or a self-help book? The ideas and stories do not link and this causes confusion to the reader. I found multiple spelling and grammar mistakes that did affect the meaning of the sentences in the text.
To say the least, I was disappointed and confused about the purpose of the book. I would not recommend this book to anyone yet. Once the author goes and makes the appropriate adjustments, then I would recommend the book to people who use Christian values to guide their life. They would enjoy the breakdown of what the author believes is how to live a good life.
With all the above reasons, I am rating Thoughts On Life by William Doak 2 out of 4 stars. The spelling, grammar, lack of purpose and lack of adequate research into scientific claims just weigh down the few glimmering ideas presented.
******
Thoughts on life
View: on Bookshelves
Thoughts on Life by William Doak is a collection of a man’s questions, concerns, and ideas about life. My biggest emotion taken away from this book is confusion. I have no idea what purpose the author had in mind for this book. By my interpretation, the book has 3 parts. The first is self-help, the second is a poorly executed research paper, and the third is a dream journal. There is a severe lack of consistency in the main idea and that caused the few interesting concepts in this book to be muddled.
The author’s ideas are heavily influenced by Christianity and Buddhism. One of the most interesting portions of the book is how Doak tries to explain the similarities between these two ideologies. I like how this was an attempt to link cultures and try to help bring them together, but it just didn’t land. The author’s own bias about Christianity being superior came through. I appreciate the author’s attempt to try and help people live a better life, but Doak offers facts that are either unaccredited or false. I strongly disliked some of the claims this author made. For example, “In North America we are standing on the backs of the unselfish acts that our fore parents made before us” (p.38). There is no doubt that North American countries have made significant progress in dealing with social injustices, but the vast majority of inequalities are present today. Those inequalities can be traced back to an attempt to gain power and destroy the cultures of people like the Native Americans. We have a lot of work to do to create a prosperous North America. Hopefully one day, our children can stand on the backs of our unselfish acts.
The author also makes claims that the world would be better if we all held the same values. Well, not all cultures will share the same values. That needs to be celebrated and accepted! To have one set of values for the world is to have one culture dominate all others. It just doesn’t create the harmony the author was trying to achieve.
I like that the author is trying to help people live a better life, but I hate the method that they go about it. This book needs to be edited and the author needs to know it’s purpose. Is it a journal, scientific study, or a self-help book? The ideas and stories do not link and this causes confusion to the reader. I found multiple spelling and grammar mistakes that did affect the meaning of the sentences in the text.
To say the least, I was disappointed and confused about the purpose of the book. I would not recommend this book to anyone yet. Once the author goes and makes the appropriate adjustments, then I would recommend the book to people who use Christian values to guide their life. They would enjoy the breakdown of what the author believes is how to live a good life.
With all the above reasons, I am rating Thoughts On Life by William Doak 2 out of 4 stars. The spelling, grammar, lack of purpose and lack of adequate research into scientific claims just weigh down the few glimmering ideas presented.
******
Thoughts on life
View: on Bookshelves
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