4 out of 4 stars
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The Mindset, written by Ace Bowers, is a short memoir that details the author's tumultuous life beginning when he was a child raised in a home by alcoholic parents. He spent much of his younger years feeling inferior as poverty prevailed due to the household budget being mismanaged. Much of the income from his father's employment was spent on purchasing cigarettes and liquor while his mom did not have a job outside of the home. His embarrassment about his living conditions often hindered him from inviting friends over. His mom would begin an argument with his dad nearly every night as they got drunk. These altercations escalated fast as voices were raised and household items were thrown.
In addition to making excuses for not allowing people over, he grew up highly self-conscious regarding the lack of needed material possessions. While others had new supplies for school, he had to get by with what was handed down to him from an older sibling. He tried his best to cover his feelings of inadequacy, but suppressing all of these emotions led to a depressed young man at the age of eighteen. When many of his classmates went off to college, he was living at home unemployed, racking up debt and ruining his credit score by buying items that he had no way to afford.
I liked how this book was written in short chapters as it followed the chronology of the author from the pit of despair to how he achieved great financial success. This material does not contain any steps on how to get rich quick, but rather, it is simplistic in its presentation making it seem that anyone can wake up to their highest potential at any time and overcome the adversities of life. The writing is straightforward with no motives to sell the audience anything. Readers will come to understand that having motivation can lead to perseverance, and the shifting of one's outlook can go a long way to opening doors that were never imagined. This book teaches that when something appears to be bad news, it could be the catalyst that is required to ignite change and set a new course for a better way of living.
I did not find anything I did not like about this book. If a reader is on the hunt for a quick dose of inspiration, then this is the one for you. Because the writing revolves around the author's late teens and twenties, young adults might find this book appealing. More mature readers may also find enlightenment in its 92 pages which contain profound wisdom. For those who don't like memoirs or books that don't give direct instructions and checklists to achieving goals, then you might want to bypass this one. However, a good piece of advice is that if you wish to obtain a higher standard of living, you might want to invest a small bit of your time in learning how he got from point A to B.
I am awarding this a 4 out of 4 stars for its high-quality writing and valuable lesson sharing. I only found two small errors that can be easily fixed, and this book has great potential to help those who may be struggling with the same issues that the author has overcome. By the end of the book, I found myself thinking that this is only the beginning for this writer. He has so much experience to share in the world of finances, family dysfunction and healing from emotional wounds of the past.
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The Mindset
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