600 Hours of Edward by Craig Lancaster – Book Review

It’s been quite some time since I’ve read any fiction, and so as part of my reading goals, I’m planning to put this right. 600 Hours of Edwardwas my first toe-dip back into the fiction world.

Synopsis

The story is a about the daily life of a man who has Asperger’s syndrome and how over a period of 600 hours his life changes.

I find myself quite fascinated by personality types and how people negotiate the things that happen in their lives. Reading about someone with Asperger’s, from their own perspective, gave me an interesting insight into how difficult and confusing it can be to ‘comply’ with societal and cultural expectations. This probably indicates that the book is quite ‘heavy’, but it isn’t. The story flows well and I enjoyed getting to know Edward.

To be honest, I have no real experience of what it’s like to have Asperger’s having never knowingly met someone with this condition and so I have to say that I can’t comment on whether the personification of Edward is realistic or not. However, as a story it works very well.

The other major characters in the book are also well-developed, from Edward’s over-controlling father, to his new friend Donna who is facing her own challenges.

How Edward deals with these and other characters and circumstances forms the basis of a sometimes funny, sometimes challenging story.

There was just one thing that I wasn’t sure about and that was how Edward changed as the story progressed. I wondered whether this was a realistic personal development for someone with Asperger’s or whether there was a certain amount of poetic licence. But, as I said earlier, I have no real reference point, so it’s difficult for me to comment. Despite this though, I still really enjoyed the book and I’m happy it made it to my reading list for 2015!

 

Black Hole Focus: How Intelligent People Can Create a Powerful Purpose for Their Lives

By Isaiah Hankel

Why I Bought This Book

As the book title would suggest, I bought this book at a time when I felt that I lacked focus on my goals. Whilst my motivation was at a reasonable level, I felt that my efforts were scattered and consequently progress had become slow and painful.

What were the key lessons?

There are a myriad of lessons in this book and lots of useful examples given to bring the lessons to life. Here’s a snapshot of some of the lessons I picked up from this book:

• The importance of turning pain into gain, ie, strive to make the pain go away, don’t just settle.
• It’s important to be clear about what you want and then make a determined plan to achieve that outcome.
• The potential for success is all around, it’s not reserved for the privileged few.
• Always tell yourself positive and inspiring stories!
• Recognise that this is your path, others may not understand and that’s ok.
• Your decisions and actions will determine your outcomes.

Plus much, much more.

The Pros

[Read more…] about Black Hole Focus