The Great Eight by Scott Hamilton

Another great book published by Thomas Nelson Publishers. http://brb.thomasnelson.com

The books starts off rather slow but it does pick up a bit. The writing is a little less structured than I would like to have seen – he jumps back and forth in time to tell his story so occasionally you can get a bit lost as he’s talking about his first cancer or his second (it might be a good idea to write on a slip of paper a few chronological dates.)

There are also times when he goes a little too deep into the skating world (such as a list of figure skaters I’ve never heard of because it’s not something I follow) but the book doesn’t lose it’s meaning just because it might lose you a bit on the skating part.

The entire book is not about God but if you can’t see past the mention of God then you probably won’t like this book since spirituality does play a role in his life and story. It is however not a book about Christianity, it’s a book about happiness and NOT one that preaches faith as the only way to happiness.

Here are a few of the tidbits scattered throughout because it is the best illustration of what really makes this book worth reading:

Pg 13
“You always have to keep things fun. If you don’t, no matter how many awards you win or how much money you make, you will never be happy.”

Pg 18
“Happiness is a fundamental, spiritual commitment to dedicating yourself to the things in life that bring you the most joy.”

Pg 19
“Things that happen to you may not be your fault, but they are thoroughly your responsibility.”

Pg 23
“As he saw it, coincidence was actually what he called a ‘God-scheduled opportunity.’”

Pg 48
“The best coaches would say to me, ‘You made a mistake. It’s over, it’s behind you. You’re not going to do that again. Let’s move forward.’”

Pg 52
“The 1980 Olympic Speed Skater Eric Heiden once said, ‘It’s not the events of our life that define our character, but how we deal with them.’”

Pg 152
“Too many times people live life as a dress rehearsal, tell themselves, ‘I’ll get to that someday.’ Well, you have only so many minutes on this planet, and if you spend them putting off making changes, then you are just wasting time.”

Pg 157
“I like to say that there are three choices we have when faced with change: succumb, adapt, or evolve. Succumbing is giving up and not trying anymore. If the boss wants you to start using the Internet to reach clients but you decide you’re too old to use a computer, you have given up and succumbed. If you learn the basic skills to appease your boss’s wishes, then you have adapted. But if you take the challenge to change as an opportunity to grow and learn something new, you have made the best decision – now you can evolve. Evolving will make you more successful and ultimately happier with your life.”

If you can get over it’s few flaws, you’ll probably find bits here and there that hit home more with you than they do for me. That’s part of the beauty of this book.  Again, I’ve been pleasantly surprised by a book I wasn’t entirely sure about.