2 out of 4 stars
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Author Kim Alfreds has compiled 366 daily entries in his book, Daily Warrior: Daily Meanderings of an Old Warrior, that focus on inspirational sayings and motivational advice. With the use of his knowledge, works from others, and analogies, Alfreds describes the makings of a true warrior. He describes a warrior as, “a person engaged in some struggle or conflict”.
This is written in the three main point-of-views. Alfreds uses the first-person when he shares a couple of personal experiences, the second-person when he references his audience by using “you”, and the third-person when referencing general warriors. The switching was a little off-putting due to inconsistency, but not too distracting.
The book is divided into months and each day is clearly marked, including February twenty-ninth. Due to the entries being fairly short, someone leading an active life could easily read an entry a day. Some of the messages that came across are not necessarily new, but can be useful. For instance, creating a plan, enjoying life’s challenges, keeping it simple, and “Say what you mean and mean what you say.” (loc. 2122) are just a few examples.
However, the writing style was not one to my liking. I found the writing to be harsh, impatient, bogged down with too many analogies, and found some inconsistencies. The harshness and impatience come through in the following statements: “It’s tough being you, isn’t it?” (loc. 995), “Now have a brain, okay?” (loc. 1222), “Pay attention. Come on...really pay attention.” (loc. 1386-1393), “You are not so smart.” (loc. 3703), and several others. These types of sentences are not very motivating and can be hurtful to some. As far as consistency is concerned, at one point, the author says, “They (or it) tell us that confrontation must be avoided at all costs...The true warrior knows it takes confrontation to grow. (loc. 2287), and then later, he says, “The true warrior does not seek out discord, distress, and confrontation.” (loc. 2439). This makes it unclear if a true warrior gets involved in any sort of confrontation or not.
In general, though, the book could use more editing. For example, in the sentence, “Seek outside counsel and knowledge, and while you are it, take care of the small stuff…” (loc. 2332), “while you are it” is missing an “at” for the sentence to make sense. Unfortunately, there are others throughout.
As a warning, there was some talk about death, embracing pain, belief in God, and some inappropriate language scattered throughout. I found the talk about embracing pain could be a bit problematic with people who may not be emotionally and/or mentally stable, and the selective curse words seemed very out of place.
After much consideration and though the premise is interesting, I did not find Daily Warrior completely served its purpose as a daily inspirational book. Perhaps those who do well with “tough love” may find this to be more inspiring, but I did not. Therefore, I give this book a 2 out of 4 stars.
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Daily Warrior
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