Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices, & Priorities of a Winning Life

5 Responses to “Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices, & Priorities of a Winning Life”

1. Faye Quam Heimerl - Memoir and Children's Book Editor says:

   July 5, 2010 at 7:42 pm

   The bait: The take in photographs, title, subtitle, back take in, and book flaps, all of which benignly indicate the book’s about Dungy’s football education style as he believes it can be applied to life. The switch: “We are blessed and privileged to write the foreword to a book that truly represents the power of God and the rewards of obedience to God’s Word,” the first line in the atrociously written foreword by Pauletta and Denzel Washington. Until this, the reader has no way of knowing this book pushes an evangelical Christian agenda. Should the reader already know Dungy’s religion?

   For bring shame on! I blame Tyndale Publishers for this. I also blame them for allowing this cobbled together book to go to press before it was ready. It was ongoing after the February 2007 Super Bowl and was unrestricted in July 2007–way too fleeting a time to produce a excellent book.

   Because of this, I wanted to assign QUIET STRENGTH one star but I upped it to two because it DOES contain some redeeming/thought provoking thoughts:

   *”I know I can have blanket rules, but blanket rules don’t permanently fit every individual. I need to treat everybody honestly, but honest doesn’t permanently mean equal.”

   *”The truth is that most people have a better chance to be uncommon by effort than by natural gifts. Anyone could give that effort in his or her chosen endeavor, but the predictable person doesn’t, choosing to do only enough to get by.”

   * “I knew that I had made the incorrect choice. Just because a choice is deliberate doesn’t mean hindsight won’t make it clearer. And walking closely with the Lord, trusting Jesus, and looking to the Bible for guidance doesn’t guarantee that we’ll permanently make the right choice.”

   I don’t doubt Dungy is a man of principle. Obviously his publisher hasn’t adopted his principles.

   Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5
2. Avid Reader says:

   July 5, 2010 at 8:40 pm

   The book was a small dispointing and not what I was expecting – religion, not football or leadership, was the central theme.
   Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5
3. x says:

   July 5, 2010 at 8:45 pm

   There is nothing special about this book. I was curious what I’d reflect of it, agreed that I am not a Colts fan and am not religious. Despite assurances that it would be worth reading anyway, I wouldn’t give somebody else the same recommendation.

   It is not a terrible book, but. For a football fan, there are recollections from Dungy’s career — ranging from being a bit player to education the Bucaneers to education the Colts. Also, the “life lessons” certainly are valid — they’re just not anything an adult shouldn’t already know.

   (For what it’s worth, I don’t tend to read many sports bios, despite being a sports fan, or any self-help books. Silent Might may in fact be better than most examples of both genres, but it simply does not live up to the acclaim it has received, in my opinion.)
   Reader’s Rating: 3 / 5
4. Nyghtewynd says:

   July 5, 2010 at 11:45 pm

   I feel kind of terrible because I really like Dungy and I *really* wanted to like this book. But I kept waiting for this book to say something that’s not really predictable, and I’m done waiting. I feel like I could have written this by (a) getting a copy of his resume and (b) knowing that he’s a Christian. There’s just not much to this one, and that’s not adage anything about Dungy, who by all accounts is a fantastic guy. But not all lives of fantastic guy make for fantastic books, and that’s the case in this one.
   Reader’s Rating: 2 / 5
5. reading_mother says:

   July 6, 2010 at 12:12 am

   This was a present for my spouse. It came in excellent time and he is inspired by Tony Dungy’s words
   Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5