Ten Things I Learned from Bill Porter

Rating:
Summary: A Delightful and Warm Book
Review: If you read one book this year pick this one up. It will make your heart sing with joy and inspiration!!! I loved it and you will too.

Rating:
Summary: A Must Read
Review: It all started with the "20/20" segment, then the TNT movie "Door to Door", and now Shelly's wonderfully written book about Bill Porter. Her first person account tenderly recounts Bill's hardships and obstacles. THIS IS A MUST READ FOR EVERYONE!! Several reviews (of course, they didn't post their names) take personal aim at Shelly. It smells of one single person who is jealous of Bill and Shelly's success.

Bill Porter is an inspiration to everyone. Shelly has done an incredible job in writing about her lessons learned from Bill Porter.

Don't just purchase one copy, but buy several and give them as gifts to your friends and family. They will thank you.

Rating:
Summary: A Must Read
Review: It all started with the "20/20" segment, then the TNT movie "Door to Door", and now Shelly's wonderfully written book about Bill Porter. Her first person account tenderly recounts Bill's hardships and obstacles. THIS IS A MUST READ FOR EVERYONE!! Several reviews (of course, they didn't post their names) take personal aim at Shelly. It smells of one single person who is jealous of Bill and Shelly's success.

Bill Porter is an inspiration to everyone. Shelly has done an incredible job in writing about her lessons learned from Bill Porter.

Don't just purchase one copy, but buy several and give them as gifts to your friends and family. They will thank you.

Rating:
Summary: Flawed book but Bill Porter shines through
Review: Like so many other people, I find Bill Porter deeply inspiring. Much has been written about the reactions Bill elicits in people, but this is a situation in which words fail most of us.

Bill is a product of an earlier, vanished time. I think that's a big part of his appeal. His genuine humility and determination mark him as an unwilling hero.

As others have commented, this slender tome is much too much about Shelly Brady and not enough about Bill. As Bill himself has said from time to time, he employed Shelly. She may be "an angel", but she was an angel on a salary.

If you can't imagine an associate of Mohatma Gandhi writing a book about Gandhi's teachings, but instead going on at length about his own obscure life, you won't like _Ten Things I Learned from Bill Porter_. The "I" in the title seems to be the clue to the book's content.

I got through _Ten Things_ by skimming the Brady portions, but even the Bill anecdotes had a Shelly spin. I never felt a connection with the man. For that, you'll need to see _Door to Door_, now available on DVD right here on Amazon.com. It's a work of fiction, and yet it feels so much more real.

Rating:
Summary: Flawed book but Bill Porter shines through
Review: Like so many other people, I find Bill Porter deeply inspiring. Much has been written about the reactions Bill elicits in people, but this is a situation in which words fail most of us.

Bill is a product of an earlier, vanished time. I think that's a big part of his appeal. His genuine humility and determination mark him as an unwilling hero.

As others have commented, this slender tome is much too much about Shelly Brady and not enough about Bill. As Bill himself has said from time to time, he employed Shelly. She may be "an angel", but she was an angel on a salary.

If you can't imagine an associate of Mohatma Gandhi writing a book about Gandhi's teachings, but instead going on at length about his own obscure life, you won't like _Ten Things I Learned from Bill Porter_. The "I" in the title seems to be the clue to the book's content.

I got through _Ten Things_ by skimming the Brady portions, but even the Bill anecdotes had a Shelly spin. I never felt a connection with the man. For that, you'll need to see _Door to Door_, now available on DVD right here on Amazon.com. It's a work of fiction, and yet it feels so much more real.

Rating:
Summary: Inspirational book that will move you
Review: Read and loved TEN THINGS I LEARNED FROM BILL PORTER
by Shelly Brady . . . this is the door-to-door salesperson in Oregon, born with cerebral palsy, who didn't let that fact prevent him from becoming his company's top producer.

Porter's life moved me when I saw the recent movie about him
on TNT (DOOR TO DOOR), starring William H. Macy . . . look for it on that channel and/or see if your local video store has it as a rental . . . you won't be disappointed.

But in the meantime, get hold of this inspirational book . . . Brady, who first worked for Porter as a teenager and now shares his story with various organizations and corporations, helps you
see that each one of us can make a difference . . . and as
Bill says, "Never doubt that your life is important."

You'll further become convinced that you can change the
world--one door at a time!

There were many memorable passages; among them:
According to the MERRIAM-WEBSTER DICTIONARY, the word "no"
is an act or instance of refusing or denying something. For instance, a customer's refusal to purchase goods or services from a salesperson is generally expressed via the word "no." For some reason or another, Bill Porter doesn't hear it that way. Bill hears the word "no" differently; he hears it to mean that the customer will be glad for Bill to return at
a more convenient time or please to be shown another, more
necessary product.

After talking with Bill about his dependence on others to complete his dressing, I wondered if under the same circumstances I would have had the courage to ask others to help. I quickly realized that we all need help, we all lack skill of some sort or another. It's just that
most of our inabilities aren't so visually evident as Bill's; they may be psychological rather than physical, and, often, we create them ourselves. And, as we all know, some of our self-imposed mental disabilities can be more difficult to overcome than physical ones. All Bill Porter needs is someone to button his cuffs and clip his tie; it's the rest of us who need attitude adjustment, R&R, and pep talks. In my clearest moments, I am able to see Bill Porter as he sees himself and truly say "What disability?"

And so with the aid of family, friends, and a few employees, I am better able to appreciate the time I spend with my family, while the joy I get form traveling to share Bill's story lasts until our next adventure. From Bill, I learned to accept the help of others without feeling less of a person. I also learned that others are just as capable as I am of doing many tasks that I thought only I could do perfectly.

Rating:
Summary: An inspirational biography
Review: Shelly Brady's Ten Things I Learned From Bill Porter tells of a man born with cerebral palsy who was told he was unemployable. Instead of accepting the label, he went out and made his living selling household products door to door. An inspirational biography by a woman who was both employee and friend.

Rating:
Summary: A Very Negative Book
Review: The narrative here just comes to a standstill right about on page 15 and is filled with too many details for an inspirational book. I was not inspired at all. The writing for the most part is dull, plain and flat. The pictures inserted into the text look homespun and in need of a professional photographer. I am sorry I bought this book.

Rating:
Summary: Profoundly Inspirational: BUY THIS BOOK!
Review: The story of Bill Porter is presented with great love by his friend and associate Shelly Brady. You can not read this book without gaining a small sense of the pride and perseverance of a truly great man who, along with his loving parents, refused to accept the limits that others would impose upon him. Bill Porter is just another version of John Wayne in one of his great western movies. He is heroic in his determination, his work ethic and his optimism and decency. The story of Bill Porter is plainly also a story of his Mother, Irene, whose greatness is evident in the life her son has lived. So buy this book to read about a truly great and good man. But, also, buy this book as a gift to give to your Mother, and buy this book to give to your kids or to a recent graduate so they can learn about setting goals and refusing to give up on those goals. And, by the way, anyone in sales, from Wall Street (where they obviously have much to learn!) to main street should own and read this book!

Shelly Brady has written a wonderful book that belongs in every library. She and her family have been deeply blessed by their relationship with Bill Porter, and it shows in every plain-spoken word of this book.

Bill Porter is a great man, a great American and a symbol of achievement. READ THIS BOOK ABOUT THE AMAZING BILL PORTER!!!!

Rating:
Summary: A Major Disappointment
Review: The TNT special about Bill Porter's life was wonderful, but this book has much to be desired. There is too much Shelly in the book and not enoough Bill. Bill seems to play second fiddle in a book about himself, which is just silly. The tone of the book is so self-serving that it pains the reader and what looks like a biography is nothing more than positive PR. I wish I could have learned more about Bill, his life, his thoughts instead of having to wade through the writing of an self-serving, ego loving author.