Book Review: Before You Wake by Erick Erickson

Author: Erick Erickson

Title: Before You Wake: Life Lessons from a Father to His Children

Genre: Autobiography

Format: hardcover

Pages: 224 

Published: October 3rd 2017

Where I Got It: My shelf (Dollar Tree)

Summary: 

In late 2016, prompted by the news that his wife was battling cancer and his own pulmonary medical scare, Erick Erickson posted a piece to his website, The Resurgent. Styled as a letter to his young children, the piece, titled "If I Should Die Before You Wake," was a stirring message--and challenge--about how to live a life of purpose and joy. The essay went viral, shared by figures like New York Times columnist and author of The Road to Character, David Brooks. Now, in a time when our country needs healing and a reminder of our values more than ever, Erickson has expanded the project, composing a total of ten letters, featuring a wonderful mix of the practical, inspirational, and spiritual.

Review:

Randomly picked this up at Dollar Tree a while back. The author name sounded familiar and I love life lesson/self-help books so I grabbed it. 

This is a book the author wrote to share some life lessons to his children and to the world. 

I finally realized why the name of the author sounded familiar. He is pretty famous in the political world here in the US. He may lean a little different from my personal beliefs, but I was intrigued. Life lessons are life lessons. 

There were some good stories in there that I could relate to. Some....I couldn't. Like all his travels when he was a kid and his career success. Even with the things you can't relate to there is a lesson there you can apply to something in your own life. 

There were also some parts that were a bit too preachy and Christian-y so be prepared for that. He really did play the God card a lot and make it clear that he wants his kids to hold on tight to their faith. This did drown a lot of the stories. 

I honestly really liked the last couple of chapters and all the amazing recipes he shared. I will need to save them! Yummmmmmy!

I did enjoy learning about the man behind the politics and learning his story. He seems like a nice guy with strong values and wants to share his stories and advise about life. I don't agree with him about a lot of things, but seeing behind the politic-mask was interesting. 

But yes, I did like some parts of this. Some good life lessons and some yummy recipes. It was a little heavy-handed on Christianity and God though so that is something to be aware of. I'll give this 2 stars.