This Way of Life
Sumner Burstyn
“In an isolated and rural New Zealand, Peter and Colleen Ottley-Karena raise their seven children on the thin edge between freedom and disaster. With its genesis in the multi-award winning 2009 documentary of the same name, we see where the Ottley-Karena family is now. Faced with a range of new challenges they approach life with characteristic dignity and strength. But is their unique lifestyle one that is sustainable in the long term?”
This is a collection of stories about this family which seem to be in no particular order. The writting style is rather strange and hard to parse. I wish the author had decided one way or another on what tense to use, and whether to use third or first person, and been consistent about the source of the stories.
Am I too cynical? Am I too widely read? For me this book was too short and ultimately unremarkable. I know of, and have read, similar non-fiction. I myself was somewhat brought up this way – only the serious things are out of bounds (eg. take the dog on your walk so you don’t run into a snake), the rest you learn by doing (eg. if you poke the ants’ nest, you will get bitten!).
There’s plenty of lovely colour photographs, but I wasn’t quite sure of the relevance of some of them to the stories. It’s simplistically written, yet too detailed in places to be considered a children’s book. I can’t think of who the target audience is, or why you would want to own it to read more than once. Maybe borrow it from the library if you are keen to read more of the Ottley-Karena family, but don’t rush out to buy it.
My beloved author strikes again! Although it sounds similar to Lencioni’s other novel, The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team, the two books are substantially different. The 5 Dysfunctions of a Team talks about the qualities needed for a team to work together. It focuses on how to lift other team members productivity by how to interact as a team.
I love this author to start with and couldn’t wait to read it! It lived up to expectations and was a great read. It’s a similar style to the author’s other novels. That is to say, most of the book is a fable and then it had the theory at the end. The fable makes it relatable to the reader. As the reader you can picture the characters in the fable and have likely been in the same situations as them. You get caught up and invested in the characters, also wanting them to succeed. 
This book was just average. I didn’t have any excitement from it or learn anything new. I guess the purpose of the book was to be a ‘only business book you need’ to learn most of what you need to successfully run a business. It’s basically all other business book theories in one. So I guess it did achieve this, and if you think about it like that, then this book is great.
I picked this book up for something lighter to read. This was lighter in comparison to other leadership books where you are constantly learning new things and wanting to implement them. The Beermat Entrepreneur was perfect for this! As you can imagine, the book was in a relaxed style. I could relate and laughed to some of the typical business things that happen at each stage of the business life cycle.
Yumiko has claimed her title of Emotional Female and taken it to the next level. As a patient, I feel most listened to when the doctor seems to actually be 1) listening and 2) can empathize. Yumiko takes us on a frankly uncomfortable journey into the Australian medical system where things are rancid and wrong to the core.
I had trouble with connecting to many of these stories. I am fortunate enough to work in an industry where gender doesn’t matter, and the same is true of my closest girlfriends. In Australia I think we are already very lucky that women tend to be well-protected and well-equipped to look after themselves. There are of course rapes and murders, but that could happen to anyone, not just women (although I admit women tend to be targeted more).
I picked up this book as I was after some actual practical ways to improve myself as a leader and manager. That was exactly what I got! I loved that it had practices to do including a chart of “common mindset” and “effective mindset” for you as a leader to compare yourself in the areas and see where you can improve.
This book was not for me. Although it’s in the “management” section of the library’s non-fiction, it’s all about theory and there is nothing practical or examples of what to do next. Not only is it theory, but it also doesn’t show “the right answer” at the conclusion of the theories. It basically says this can happen, and this can happen and this can also happen. It has no point or message that the book is conveying.