Book Note 3: THE TRAVELER’S GIFT.

Book by Andy Andrews

“Turning to face Gabriel, David said, “What is this place?”
Flexing the wings in his back, Gabriel took a step closer to David and swept his arms out from his sides as if to welcome an honored guest. “This, my friend, is the place that never was.”

David got fired from work, and his life immediately took a downturn. His wife worked round the clock to pay the house bill, and their only daughter, Jenny, got sick and needed a surgery to get her tonsils taken out.

David is frustrated. He wishes for his life to end, and on a sunny afternoon, when be finds himself driving home from work, he press hard on the acceleration, going down a slope, and until everything goes black out.

Andy Andrews, in this book, shares seven concrete real life decisions that make for personal success through a fictional story. He tells them through the world of David Ponder, where he finds himself traveling back and forth in time to hold conversations with people that have walked this earth surface.

First, he finds himself in office of President Harry Truman… then in law court of King Solomon….and finally, a warehouse in heaven. Getting one of the seven decisions at each stopover he gets to.

Andy Andrews’ use of allegory, and real life happenings in this book is profound. It resonates with the reader, and his story telling skill is top of the game.

This is one book I’ve literally lost count of the number of times I’ve picked it up to read.
It’s intriguing.
It’s captivating.
It’s enlightening.
It’s one book I find difficult to put down whenever I start to read it, no matter where I begin from, and even though I already know its end. I read it again, and again.

“The dialogues flow smoothly and naturally; the people are very real. The historic examples are captivating; they connect with a reader’s experiences and knowledge.”

So much wisdom to learn in one book. One thing I always learn and relearn from this book is how that’s there is so much we can do with our lives for generations if only we decide to stop the buck and take responsibility of lives (Decision number 1), and leave the place that never was.

• Bolu Animashaun TCW