Best Advice I Ever Got: Lessons from Extraordinary Lives by Katie Couric

Summary: "What was the tipping point for Malcolm Gladwell? What unscripted event made Meryl Streep who she is? In this inspiration-packed book, Katie Couric reports from the front lines of the worlds of politics, entertainment, sports, philanthropy, the arts, and business—distilling the ingenious, hard-won insights of leaders and visionaries, who tell us all how to take chances, follow our passions, cope with criticism, and, perhaps most important, commit to something greater than ourselves." -Amazon

This is a collection of stories, advice, and general lessons from a large variety of well-known people.  Ellen DeGeneres, Drew Brees, Steven Spielberg, Malcolm Gladwell, and many, many more (114 in all) are contributors to this collection.  The book is arranged by themes and each theme has an intro from Katie Couric (I enjoyed these).  While some of the advice given in this collection is really good, quite a bit of it is rather trite.  I was looking for something deeper than this book was able to give; however, there were some beautiful moments.  I think I lost something by listening to this as an audiobook; owning this book and randomly reading an essay when the fancy strikes would allow for more thought and digestion.  I may give it a few months, buy a physical copy, and give it another go. 

Overall, I am going to give it a 3/5, but I am going to encourage others to try it out, especially if one of the 114 contributors is a favorite of yours. 

320 pages