“If Only”


Non-Fiction - Self Help
5 Pages
Reviewed on 10/14/2015
Buy on Amazon

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    Book Review

Reviewed by Roy T. James for Readers' Favorite

“If Only” by Patrick Klein is a short essay examining success and the many excuses we have found to justify our inability to attain success. He points out “If only…” excuses as the prime culprit in preventing us from substantiating our dreams. Thereafter he suggests various ways of circumventing the propensity to find such an excuse, one being to change your excuse from “If only…” to “What do I do next?” Once that is decided, further activities involving resources or time can be planned, with or without help from others. Patrick also dwells on the importance of keeping good company, as well as avoiding those with a negative outlook.

“If Only” by Patrick Klein, though a short essay, examines success fairly comprehensively. It looks at the difficulty we have in achieving success, and how we camouflage that difficulty by our excuses. This in fact ends up compounding it, making success effectively unattainable. Patrick’s observation, that we must surround ourselves with positive people, is advice worth its weight in gold. In fact this single act, being friends with good people, can do a lot for us. Not only are they unlikely to give wrong advice, but also we are sure to get good advice. This small booklet contains quite valuable suggestions. However, I feel that these can be elaborated a little more, adding real life examples, historical references, as well as anecdotes, making it a more lively discussion.