The recently released book The Road to Character
The book looks at a variety of men and women, all leaders and inspirational thinkers, who built a strong inner character. Each faced different circumstances, had different weaknesses and strengths, lived in different eras, and overcame different challenges. Brooks teases out lessons about developing our character from the stories of these men and women, concluding with his thoughts on why we need to imitate them and how to apply the lessons we’ve learned.
I like the simple image he uses of “resume virtues”, such as our education, career, and all the things we put on a resume, and “eulogy virtues”, which are the character traits people will remember at our funeral. Our culture is so focused on the Big Me, and developing our resume virtues, that we’ve forgotten how to develop our eulogy virtues. The book aims to revive interest in those virtues.
I was drawn to the book because Brooks was the Westmont commencement speaker last weekend, which means I had the opportunity to meet him. He was funny, thoughtful, engaging, and challenging. Just like his book. My friend Lorinda snapped the picture below showing David at the podium (I’m in the background wearing sunglasses and laughing).
The Road to Character is deeply insightful, crucially needed, and counter-cultural in our narcissistic culture. I might read 100 books again this year, but if you only pick one from my list, pick this one.
