The Way of Adventure: Transforming Your Life and Work With Spirit and Vision

Rating:
Summary: Some good advice
Review: Here are three things I liked the most: -The concept is interesting (bring the lessons of adventure down to everyday life). - The last chapter seemed superb and worth the price of the book. -The author seemed to have a good sense of humor and a reasonably joyful approach to describing his adventures. Here are three things I liked the least: - The author seemed a bit wordy. -Many insights came from people who appeared more entertaining than profound (although even then, I don't know if disembowelling live guinea pigs is necessary to illustrate competent and compassionate faith healing). - This area ("self-help") is an extremely crowded one, and to rate five stars, I think the book would need to be a classic. In summary, I think it is a good first work, and the author has generously left plenty of room for others who would like to try their hands at describing the benefits of adventurous transformation. Here's another thing to consider: when you read this kind of book, you may put a significant part of your world-view in the hands of your "teacher," and because time is limited, you forego an opportunity to learn from someone else.

Rating:
Summary: The spirit and vision of Jeff Salz
Review: Here's a "self help" book that is a joy to read. The spirit and vision of the author shines through in his personal experiences and life searches. He writes with humor and just a bit of sardonic wit that entertains at the same time as it educates. The hands-on exercises are easy and illuminating and EVERYONE will find a way to apply these lessons to his(or her) everyday life. This book is a must!

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyable read
Review: I have read a lot of non-fiction selp help and spiritual books and I must say this one was a pleasure to read. The writer, who spent 20 years he says, completing this books shares with the reader what he learned mainly from his life experience not just "book larnin", so to speak, which makes this book a somewhat light but pithy and very interesting read.

The author uses a pattern whereby he writes a chapter that tells the story of one of his adventures in what I found was an engaging, honest and delightful way. It was hard not to want to find out how things turned out I found and hard, at times, to put the book down.

After you read a fact based chapter, the author then writes a chapter that summarizes the life lessons he learned from his experiences in a point by point manner although he still weaves his life into these chapters as well. These chapters I found easy to follow and yet packed with good life advice. Some of it is probably a review of what you may have heard somewhere else but has the ring of experience behind it that makes it seem more real. For example, from one of his encounters with one of the last real life gaucho's we are given his (the gaucho's) meaning of life summarized in a few sentences- "There is nowhere to go. There is nothing to do except to be of service." Then, the author expands upon that statement in the following chapter.

The author's proclivity for action makes this a good read in particular for those seeking to become better people but lack the personal motivation to pursue a more sedentary sitting meditation practice. The author's perspective is interwoven with a spiritual foundation but emphasizes an active pursuit of one's growth to reach a more spiritual point of view. That is, using everday life as a tool for growth. It also emphasizes the fact that one can become a more complete person without having to embark upon the adventuresome and risk taking life that he did. (Oh yes, some of his fellow adventurer's were woman as well and there is definitely something in here for woman, even householder's, as well.)

My only criticism is the author's political naievete' which he sort expresses at the end but not blatantly, but that doesn't detract from the highly entertaining way that hard earned and quite useful life messages are communicated to the reader. (I probably only noticed the political stuff more because of my own sensitivity to that arena not because the author is trying to blantly push a political message because he is definitely not.)

If you are a "seeker" looking for a change of pace and refreshing read I think you will find it in this book. At least I did. In fact, I hope to reread it to remind myself of the useful messages conveyed if I can put down all of the other books that I have committed myself to, that is.

Rating:
Summary: SEEKING ADVENTURE?
Review: I SAW THIS BOOK WHILE I WAS ON CHRISTMAS SHOPPING SPREE AND I BOUGHT IT AS A GIFT. I STARTED READING IT AND I COULDN'T PUT IT DOWN.I ENJOYED IT SO MUCH THAT I HAD TO RETURN TO THE BOOKSTORE AND BUY TWO MORE COPIES. THIS BOOK STIRS THE ADVENTUROUS PART OF THE SOUL. GREAT READ!!

Rating:
Summary: What Are You Waiting For?
Review: In his Introduction, Salz observes:

"This book is about facing everyday life, work, and relationships with the spirit of adventure. And one thing is certain: most folks in modern civilization are seriously in need of adventure. Never before has a species been locked in a struggle with its own datebooks for survival. We are moving so fast that the phrase human race has taken on a new meaning; each day we feel as though we are falling farther and farther behind. And there is a modem to our madness."

Years ago, someone whose name I do not recall suggested to the effect that there is so much pleasure in our lives...but so little joy. Salz seems to agree. The subtitle of his book indicates that it is about "transforming your life and work with spirit and vision" and that is quite true. He engages his reader in a spiritual as well as physical journey which consists of a series of six "steps", each of which he discusses with meticulous care and engaging sensitivity. These "steps" are:

Leap Before You Look

Aim Higher Than Everest

Give It All You've Got

Work Some Magic

Keep On Your Bearing

Enjoy the View

It would be a great disservice to Salz and to you for me to reveal more about the aforementioned "journey" except to add it is one which really can enable anyone to transform her or his life and work "with spirit and vision." If you are among those who now feel (and are concerned about) an absence of joy in their lives, read this book and then seek out your own "mountains" to climb. Whitman once said, "I am large. I contain multitudes." So are you. I am certain you will find Salz to be an invaluable source of wisdom and inspiration as you prepare for your next "journey."



Rating:
Summary: A Remarkable Adventurer
Review: Jeff Salz is adventure. Every minute of his life is filled with the quest for it. His talent at sharing this with others is amazing. To follow Jeff's sharing is to find the love of adventure within the folds of your own life. Or to break out of those folds and do something that is so you, so on your edge and so filled with aspects of your own unlived life that you know aliveness from the inside out. You can live great aliveness and inner peace at once. Jeff has the gift to show how.

Rating:
Summary: Adventures in Everyday Life
Review: Salz tone of high adventure combined with self-deprecation (he actually advocates falling off your horse as an excellent way to establish rapport with the natives) definitely makes for an entertaining read.

While his of the Andes and Patagonia (from which one can learn an astounding number of ways to use one's hands when they are frozen solid) are gripping, Salz should be more readily compared to Richard Bach than Sebastian Junger.

Salz manages to give concrete ways of getting the spirit of adventure into your life without having to get your passport stamped... or even leaving your own backyard!

I'd recommend this book highly to anyone who feels like the grind of everyday life is getting them down. I look forward to his next book!

Rating:
Summary: Equal Parts Adventure, Wisdom, Humor, and Joy.
Review: This book tells the story of the author's travels to exotic locales in search of adventure, self, and the meaning of life. Along the way he discovers that you don't need to leave home to find meaning and fulfillment, you just need the courage and willingness to discover the adventure of being human.

Salz's writing is authentic, his observations simple but profound, and his stories entertaining and inspirational. Each chapter is sprinkled with adventures and exercises you can create that cost nothing, require little time, and are sure to make a difference in your experience of life.

You don't have to be a mountaineer, athlete, or traveler to enjoy this book, all you need is a desire to squeeze every juicy drop out of life. I plan to give copies of this book to many friends.