Title

The decisions you make and the way you treat others have more impact than you may ever realize.

Speaker and New York Times best-selling author Andy Andrews shares a compelling and powerful story about a decision one man made over a hundred years ago, and the ripple effect it’s had on us individually, and nationwide, today. It’s a story that will inspire courage and wisdom in the decisions we make, as well as affect the way we treat others through our lifetime. Andrews speaks over 100 times a year, and The Butterfly Effect is his #1 most requested story.

Also included with the purchase of the book is a link to view a 9-minute message of Andrews telling The Butterfly Effect story to a live audience.

My review:

While I love the premise of this book; that one’s actions can have countless reactions throughout your lifetime and beyond, I was a bit disappointed in the author’s primary example.

Don’t get me wrong. I love the story of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain and how he cried  for his men to “fix bayonets” and charge the confederate army. (If you’ve not heard the story, getting this book is a nice way to get a summary of it - or you can watch it dramatized on the movie “Gettysburg.”  While you’re at it get the movie “Gods and Generals” too... it’s even better.)  It’s a tremendous story of quick thinking, of bravery and of an amazing turnaround of that particular battle.  And while I’ll agree that winning that single battle probably did have a tremendous affect on the outcome of the War Between the States, I think the author takes the “Butterfly Effect” a bit far with his thoughts of what might have happened had the results of that war been different. We don’t know what might have happened. We just know what DID happen and to conclude, therefore, that had Chamberlain chosen to retreat instead of attack, Hitler might have won World War II, etc., is mere speculation at best.

The other examples given in the book work their way backward in history specifically how one man’s action affected another man’s actions who then hired another man, etc.  Here the author shows how one man’s triumph can be traced back to generations of choices before him with facts, not speculation.

And that’s why I’m giving the book 3 stars.  One star for the interesting story of Chamberlain, one star for the easy read and one star for the premise and overall good feeling of the book.