After I first finished this book, I thought I would give it 4 stars. But after I mulled it over more and more, I liked it less and less.

It was interesting, and the pace was right - it kept me turning the pages, which is always a good thing.

What I dislike is that the book is at odds with its subtitle: "How an ordinary person can create extraordinary change". The author, Adam Braun, is not ordinary. He was born into a wealthy family, with many wealthy friends, lives in NYC (the good part, I imagine!), triple majored in college, attends galas, etc. He goes out of his way to explain how amazing he is, and then turns around and claims to be ordinary.

There is incessant name-dropping in the book. If it's not Sophia Bush or Justin Bieber, it's some CEO of some huge company. At first, I didn't mind the name-dropping. Credit where credit is due, right? If these people truly did help the organization get to where they are, no big deal. What bothered me is that Braun didn't go to great lengths to include the truly "ordinary" or "small" people, not by name and in as great of detail as all the famous/"big"/extraordinary people.

I got the impression that being "ordinary" is okay for everybody else - so long as Braun himself gets to stay more than ordinary.

(I also mistakenly thought the book would include more stories of work on the ground, and the stories of the people impacted through the schools and the communities they were built in - it definitely is not that, and focuses on the author, which is not necessarily a bad thing, I just didn't realize it going in.)

So overall, it was a good read and kept me entertained while reading, but left a bad taste in my mouth once I was finished. ( )

A good book about life, business, non-profits, and following your dreams told in bite sized chapters titled as mantras. A lot of inspiration from a 25 year old entrepreneur! ( )

For anyone with a big dream to transform the world, this book will show you how to get it done.

So, this book was not what I was hoping it would be. I'd heard such great things about it! I find these kinds of stories about walking away from a lucrative career to pursue a dream to better the world, so compelling. I personally know many people who have done something similar on a smaller scale.

Let me say that the advice Adam Braun gives I found to be mostly solid. Each chapter has a practical lessons with the story of that chapter bearing it out. I loved the start - the caution not to settle for normal, to get out of your comfort zone, to do small things that make others feel big, to embrace lightning moments.

Loved the insight into how the author was brought up and his parents' instilled values, loved that he bootstrapped the Promise of a Pencil organization with $25. Except...

The author was brought up affluent. His birthday parties, which were no small affairs, became fundraisers. He graduated from an Ivy league school, so he is surrounded by access to money and influence. His brother was (is?) Justin Bieber's manager, and he had more than a little help from Bieber and his celebrity friends. I mean it would have been harder not for him to succeed and he had no shortage of safety nets and soft landings had he failed. I guess from a privileged world, he is a rare bird to leave security, but I feel like there's a million like him who don't have the resources or network he has. How do we inspire them and tap their potential to make a difference?

What I really wanted was insight on how to bootstrap a non-profit, how to serve in a part of the world while navigating foreign laws and customs...something more like a playbook. And what I got was essentially a well-written and inspiring informercial in book form for Braun's organization.

It's a good cause and worth supporting, but it seemed an opportunity missed. I would have liked either it to be more instructional on how to change the world with nothing more than $25 OR to have more information on how to get involved with Braun's Promise of a Pencil foundation. Instead, I got something else and while it wasn't bad, neither was it provocative in the way I'd hoped. ( )

one of the best true stories of a motivated generous person finding how to help others learn, and how to set up and run a nonprofit organization that will outlast him. ( )