A review by shighley
Thanks A Thousand: A Gratitude Journey by A.J. Jacobs
4.0
This book fit perfectly with my #oneword19, which I decided is "positive." Jacobs even talks about people with the deficit mindset; I decided to try to counteract the effect of encountering those showing negativity by being more positive myself. This was a great way to start a new year. I also enjoyed the fact that Jacobs narrated the audiobook this himself.
I had not heard the Ted Talk on this, and had not read any of Jacobs' other books. I was surprised that someone who had written The Year of Living Biblically would be an agnostic. To me, that was one thing that was missing from this book; no credit was given to God.
However, how many times can you say that the intro to a book alone made a difference? I really took this to heart; Jacobs talks about looking servers, cashiers, etc in the eye and thanking them. I immediately started doing this more. I had already vowed (several years) that I would write more thank you notes, and I have done that. Will I keep that up? Shortly after finishing the book, I was volunteering at an event where a respite care worker dropped off someone to watch a movie. As he walked away, I said, "Thank you for bringing him." He at first stopped, did a double take, and turned around to say, "You're welcome."
I enjoyed looking up the logo for Joe Coffee, the special lids, and several of the other ideas and people that were mentioned. I appreciated all of the research that he included, although I was a bit disappointed that he advocated for more government regulation. I couldn't believe that Barbara Ehrenreich has labeled gratitude as a right-wing conspiracy, but was glad that he pooh-poohed that a bit. Overall, this is a book that I think can have a positive, long-lasting effect on me.
I had not heard the Ted Talk on this, and had not read any of Jacobs' other books. I was surprised that someone who had written The Year of Living Biblically would be an agnostic. To me, that was one thing that was missing from this book; no credit was given to God.
However, how many times can you say that the intro to a book alone made a difference? I really took this to heart; Jacobs talks about looking servers, cashiers, etc in the eye and thanking them. I immediately started doing this more. I had already vowed (several years) that I would write more thank you notes, and I have done that. Will I keep that up? Shortly after finishing the book, I was volunteering at an event where a respite care worker dropped off someone to watch a movie. As he walked away, I said, "Thank you for bringing him." He at first stopped, did a double take, and turned around to say, "You're welcome."
I enjoyed looking up the logo for Joe Coffee, the special lids, and several of the other ideas and people that were mentioned. I appreciated all of the research that he included, although I was a bit disappointed that he advocated for more government regulation. I couldn't believe that Barbara Ehrenreich has labeled gratitude as a right-wing conspiracy, but was glad that he pooh-poohed that a bit. Overall, this is a book that I think can have a positive, long-lasting effect on me.