Life's Essential Primer by Robert C Trautman (Non-fiction, 8/10E, short 'n' sweet review)

April 2015, Xlibris, 342 pages, Ebook, Review copy 

Summary from Xlibris

Your current level of success (or failure) is the product of the choices you've made throughout your life. “Life's Essential Primer” provides a practical guide designed to help you make the choices that lead most directly to greater success and happiness. Ideally, school aged children should read, or be taught, the principles and practices detailed in Section 1. It will give them an essential framework within which they can plan and prepare their educational paths efficiently, to become successful, well-mannered, responsible adults, while avoiding the common pitfalls along the way. Unwittingly taking just such a path from an early age with meager means, the author was able to realize his own dreams. He now offers you the benefit of his experiences with the hope that your life will become filled with success and happiness, as well. It's never too late to get your life on track for greater wealth, both monetarily and emotionally. Sections 2 through 5 provide a series of amusing real-life adventures, illustrating the practical application of Section 1. Finally, Section 6 wraps it all up by showing how early choices affect events later in life. Success is a choice. Make it yours! 

Nayu's thoughts

I was intrigued to see if I could pick up any tips from this memoir. It's told in an interesting style, with Robert explaining incidents from his life and pointing out what can be learnt by them to the reader. I confess I thought there would be more focus on tips for the reader, rather than the sometimes long description of the events throughout his life, which had a lot of details, some of which I skimmed over as I didn't find them interesting.

However, the book as a whole is good because it explores over time how particular facts and figures about the world Robert lived in changed, his relationship with his brother and his family, and also how he matured over the years the more he experienced life. The various illustrations and photos that accompanied the text really brought Robert's world to life and explained some of the more complex occasions.