Book Review - Find Your Strongest Life:

Find Your Strongest Life: What the Happiest and Most Successful Women Do Differently by Marcus Buckingham. (Book review for Thomas Nelson Book Reviewer Program)

I ended up getting this book more by accident than intentionally for review. I saw the main title, "Find Your Strongest Life" and clicked to review it then happened to see "What the Happiest and Most Successful Women Do Differently" and thought "how is this going to be helpful, since I am a male." However, as a husband and father to two daughters, it was helpful.

The author cites research that men tend to become more happy as they grow older, but women tend to become less happy as they age (p. 19). He illustrates this by pointing out that women take more antidepressants than men, 2 to 1. So his purpose is to show women how to be happy and successful. That is a tall order! Buckingham declares that the key to a happy and successful life is to do things that you are good at (p. 52).

That of course raises the question, how do you determine what you are good at? The author has included a Strong Life Test which has 9 "Life Roles" to help an individual determine what she ® he) is "good at." It is an interesting test, which really could be helpful for women and men to find out where to focus one's life. This seems to play off the author's book, "The Truth About You."

There is nothing of substance from a Biblical perspective in this book. In fact, there are three issues that create problems for me. The first is that there are a couple of illustrations in the book that imply that a couple is living together but not married (p. 71 for example). It certainly is not possible to find your happiest and most successful life if you are not following the instructions for life.

Secondly, the author assumes that the roles of male and female, husband and wife are pretty much interchangeable as he suggests being a "stay at home Dad" is a viable option (p. 76). It seems pretty clear from the Genesis account of creation along with instructions to husbands, wives, fathers and mothers, in the New Testament, that there is a certain giftedness for men and women. I am not referring to who is able to run a vacuum cleaner, or wash dishes or change the oil in a car. From my limited observations from those who have tried this model over the long term, there have been some significant social issues in the children.

Thirdly, there is the inclusion of a poem about being part of the universe (p. 143-144) which is sentimental, but of course untrue. Our meaning and purpose does not come from being a child of the universe, but being created in the image of God and the invitation to be His child.

Conclusion: The book could make for some good discussion between husband and wife, and father and daughter to gain perspective on what each is thinking. I felt that the Strong Life Test was the best part of the book. It would be helpful for anyone to evaluate where to focus his or her life based on personal strengths.