Can you restart your life with the bare minimum? This is the question for which Adam Shepard tries to find an answer. Adam leaves his home town Rayleigh with $25 in his pocket, a gym bag and the clothes he is wearing. He moves to Charleston, South Carolina and lives in a shelter home. His objective is simple. After one year, he should be living in a furnished apartment, own a car that works and has $2500 in his saving account.
Adam Shepard writes about his experiences during this period in this book. He reaches his goal. But what he learns in this journey is interesting at many levels. Adam understands the importance of savings. So, he looks for alternatives which meets the requirements with compromises and avoid splurging. At one point, he even looks at his mother's constant pestering about turning off the lights for what it really means. Control the operating expenses. He also realizes the importance of budgeting.
At the same time, he also wonders why the other residents of the shelter home do not realize the importance of these skills. The shelter homes have counselors who emphasize on these points. Then, why? This is where you start to wonder about Adam's educational background. Adam and also his parents are educated. For an educated person with his background, it is easy to be motivated and also be set in the path. But what about the people who end up in shelter homes? There are no teachers. There are only experiences!
Nevertheless, Adam chronicling the events gives the reader confidence, enlightenment and also hope. Things can get better if you decide to do something about it.
This is an interesting read.
Seems to be an inspiring book. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete@Harish - :)
ReplyDeleteI liked the review, Nona. And am now going to pick up this book. This kind of reminds me of a reverse experiment that two men did in Kerala by subsisting on minmum wages for a certain period of time.
ReplyDelete@Sudhagee - :) These two people you talk about...I think the experiment was done in Bengaluru. There were also blogging about it.
ReplyDeleteLife is too short to make all the mistakes in the world and learn from it. So you might as well learn from others mistakes and experiences. Good review. Will borrow the book from you.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous - :) Thanks. I don't have the hard copy of the book. I have switched to Kindle a long while ago. :|
ReplyDeleteThe books look good.
ReplyDeleteBTW I love Bengaluru <3 miss it. I studied there for four years.
@Megs - Yes, it is. :) Well, now Bengaluru is a traffic nightmare!
ReplyDelete