Roses & Thorns

Roses & Thorns

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Made for More by Curtis Martin

Blurb:

Life is an adventure, and while everything you do and every decision you make is aimed at making you happy, you may step back from time to time and ask yourself, “Why am I here?” and “Is there a deeper meaning to life?”  To find these answers, you need to go beyond the distractions of the world and be open to discovering your true purpose and potential.

Review by Rose Thornton: 

Author Curtis Martin in Made for More takes a serious look at ethics and morals as the sources of happiness in this otherwise materialistic world:  “Many of our choices deliver only temporary or fleeting happiness, sometimes at the cost of our ultimate happiness.  Good choices offer a lasting, deeper kind of happiness.”  This book does have a strong underlying religious principle, which a reader may or may not be drawn to, but I did not find it to be overly preachy or persuasive.  However, it’s true that I am someone who reads a variety of materials and I’m likely to find something thought-provoking in every book whether I agree with the author’s premise or not, so I am personally not adverse to reading materials with various ideologies.  For instance, I found his statement above to be true regardless of any religious connection…..which indeed was not introduced until later in the book. 

One of Albert Einstein’s famous quotes from an interview with The Saturday Evening Post, 1926, clearly demonstrates how this great thinker kept his interests and beliefs separated without threat to either:

 “As a child I received instruction both in the Bible and in the Talmud.  I am a Jew, but I am enthralled by the luminous figure of the Nazarene……no one can read the Gospels without feeling the actual presence of Jesus.  His personality pulsates in every word.  No myth is filled with such life.”

I believe every reader can do this and it will be up to the individual reader to decide if this book is appealing enough to enjoy.  The one section that most intrigued me as merely an objective reader was where Martin quotes H.G. Wells who, although not a supporter of Christianity himself, wrote :

“I am an historian.  I am not a believer, but I must confess as an historian that this penniless preacher from Nazareth is irrevocably the very center of history.  Jesus Christ is easily the most dominant figure in all history.”

Martin then asks: “How is it, then, that Jesus has become the single most influential person in the history of the world?”  That kind of question either interests a reader or it does not.  If it does not, then I would recommend this book as one to skip; however, if it does pique an interest, I could recommend this book as one man’s answer to the question and suggest reading it with an awareness that it is only one man’s answer.

Length:   130 Pages
Prices:
Print:  $4.60
Digital:  $8.99
Buy Link: