Review of "Live Large: The Achiever’s Guide to What’s Next," by Elizabeth B. Crook

Review of

Live Large: The Achiever’s Guide to What’s Next, by Elizabeth B. Crook ISBN 9781626344150

Three out of five stars

 I found this book underwhelming, so similar to other self-help books that I identified few differentiating characteristics. Most of the points and exercises seem to come from the book of bullet points in a self-help book for the creation of a self-help book.

 There are fill in the spaces worksheets where the reader is encouraged to write down goals, from core to “nice to have.” There is the “Yippee Index” where the reader is encouraged to identify what goals are important enough to cause you to yell “Yippee!” if you achieve them.

 Another figure is the “Bull’s-eye,” a chart of concentric circles where the reader is expected to label each area with different roles that they want to fill. The feature that amused me most, but in a dark sense, is the “Triple-J.” It is described as a self-defeating voice in your head, “Your Jury, Judge and Jailer.” Making up an original acronym seems to be a necessary component of any book designed to steer you onto a more productive path.

 It took me some time to read this book, for in the words of the late, great Yogi Berra, “It was deja vu all over again.” In chapter after chapter, I experienced the feeling that I had read this many times before. The only things different were the labels and the acronym.