Life's Golden Ticket: An Inspirational Novel [Hardcover]

Brendon Burchard (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 8, 2007

"Find my coat," she whispered weakly. "There's an envelope in the pocket. Don't open it. Take it to the park. You remember the rumors."

In what is sure to become a classic, Brendon Burchard has crafted a triumphant tale of personal growth and change that will inspire any reader who has ever wished for a second chance.

Life's Golden Ticket tells the story of a man who is so trapped in the prisons of his past that he cannot see the possibilities, the choices, and the gifts that are right in front of him. At the behest of his fiancée, Mary, who is clinging to life in a hospital bed, he takes a mysterious envelope from her and makes his way to an abandoned amusement park to appease her delirious pleadings. When he steps through the rusted entrance gates, the deserted park magically comes to life.

He soon meets an old, wise groundskeeper and together they set out to uncover what happened to Mary. Along the way, he encounters a number of caring yet confrontational park employees--a hypnotist, a fortune-teller, a lion tamer, high-wire performers--and they teach him more about his fiancée and himself than he bargained for.

What follows is an unforgettable journey of personal transformation as he overcomes his past, uncovers what happened to Mary, and, finally, discovers what is inside her mysterious envelope.

The author is donating a portion of the proceeds from the sale of this book to Kiwanis International, Junior Achievement, and the YMCA.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In his debut motivational novel, Burchard (The Student Leadership Guide) narrates a fantasy trip through a ghostly mountain amusement park that offers visitors a "golden ticket," or second chance at transforming their lives. The price of admission to the closed-down park, the narrator discovers, is to be open to possibility, face the truth and give up believing that change equals pain. He also must stick closely to his host, Henry, who serves as wise counselor ("let me reflect back to you what I've heard"). During the narrator's trip, he samples various amusement park rides (all with allegorical meaning) and revisits his past. Each carnie he meets is a motivational guide with spiritual wisdom to impart. The themes are familiar: risk change; forgive; take responsibility; be bold; contribute; look at the other person's point of view. [...] Burchard is a competent writer and full of earnest enthusiasm for his topic; the introduction tells of a real-life car accident a decade ago that served as a wake-up call and precipitated this fictional message. Readers dissatisfied with their lives but not wild about nonfictional self-help books may find inspiration for change here. (May)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

“Three cheers for Life’s Golden Ticket for helping us heroically step forward and claim who we are meant to be.” (James Redfield, author of The Celestine Prophecy )

“This is a powerful parable of loss, love and redemption that will stir the souls of its readers.” (Jack Canfield, Co-author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul(R) series and The Success Principles )

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: HarperOne (May 8, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0739481231
• ISBN-13: 978-1615542888
• ASIN: 0061173908
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.8 x 8.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (87 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #346,502 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Brendon Burchard was blessed to receive life's golden ticket -- a second chance -- ten years ago after surviving a car accident in a third-world country. Since then, he has dedicated his life to helping individuals, teams, and organizations create and master change. As a prominent life coach, leadership speaker, and change management consultant, his clients have included Fortune 500 companies, startups, nonprofits, universities, and thousands of individuals in seminars across the country. He is also a regular guest on national television and radio programs and an active volunteer for several nonprofit organizations. Brendon donates a portion of the proceeds from the sale of Life's Golden Ticket to Kiwanis International, Junior Achievement, and the YMCA. He lives in northern California but still calls Montana, where he grew up, home.
Prior to writing Life's Golden Ticket and launching his coaching and speaking career, Brendon was a change management consultant at Accenture, where his clients included JC Penney, eBay, Best Buy, Nordstrom, Levi's, Gateway, and Federal Mogul. His first book was The Student Leadership Guide. Brendon's signature events are Life's Golden Ticket seminars and his College Success Bootcamp. Learn more at www.LifesGoldenTicket.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Cliches, cliches, cliches, November 22, 2008

By 

S. Chen - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Life's Golden Ticket (Kindle Edition)

For something meant to be an inspirational novel, I didn't feel inspired at all. It was one of the books I had actually looked forward to reading - I'm a fan of inspirational novels, especially when they are original and provide a new way to look at things. Not so with this book. On every page I encountered exaggeration, cliches, and dialogue and scenes so corny I had to cringe. There was nothing motivating or new about this book. I don't recommend it.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Easy read, might be helpful, January 8, 2008

By 

B-man "Some Guy On Amazon" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Life's Golden Ticket: An Inspirational Novel (Hardcover)

For those who have realized that forgiveness and honest, rigorous introspection are critical for a fulfilling, meaningful life this book may not be inspiring or revelatory. However, for those who feel stuck, cheated, or resentful this book may be inspiring and revealing.

Regardless, it's an easy, pleasant read.

30 of 40 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not Impressive at All, Sorry Brendon, July 18, 2008

By 

The Book Bomber (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Life's Golden Ticket: An Inspirational Novel (Hardcover)

OK, first of all, let me tell you HOW I gave this book two stars. It's actually an average. I gave it 1 star for the story and 4 for intent. Since I can't give halves, it gets a 2. I'll explain story / intent below.

I was at a business seminar getting ideas for my business when Brendon jumped on stage and said some funny, mildly informative, and (a few) thought provoking things. Nothing spectacular here, on stage or in the book. It's really all been done and said before. But what propels people to the top is marketing and push, push, push. There's a lot of mediocre product out there that "makes it." Well, at least temporarily. Only time wil tell.

The book is rather contrived with a-man-goes-to-carnival instead of heaven theme (The Five People You Meet in Heaven) to discover truths about his life. But some serious detractors were the appearance of such characters as a wizard, a guy named Harsh, and other obvious labeling. I'm sorry, this was almost Mary-Higgins-Clark-forecasting bad. Like I said, nothing spectacular. But let me tell you what's going on here.

This guy teaches how to get your stuff into the public's hands. You do so by contacting for-profit and non-profit companies. He did so. You can see by the CEO's who wrote blurbs for his book. Well, they didn't--CEO's are too busy--they probably picked from a list of blurbs. And a good point of note here is that's how it's usually done. Either people who like you or benefit from association with you (a certain percentage of the proceeds go to the companies Burchard partnered with)give you a blurb for your book.

Also what's interesting is the people on Amazon who felt duped into having to read this book. Maybe the companies he partnered with made their employees read / buy it. Don't know. But just like email blasts on Amazon that shoots a book to number one based on who you know (joint ventures), this book will eventually fly or die on its own. With all his promoting, expert blurbs [even Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen (Chicken Soup for the Soul guys), and James Redfield (The Celestine Prophecy)] it's still only doing OK on Amazon. #653,392 to my 801,353 (my Black Body Radiation and the Ultraviolet Catastrophe), which actually got as high as 17,000 WITHOUT CORPORATE SPONSORS. Go figure.

But he is making thousands if not millions training people to change and such, so he's used his book as an in to his profession. But in this day-n-age of the master marketer, people can shoot to the top with a book without much substance or content. So buyer beware!

Oh, as far as intent is concerned, Brendon's heart is in the right place and he does give a percentage to charity. However, he is digging the TONS of cash piling up because of his second chance, his Golden Ticket given for another chance. So learn from Brendon how to make change as he takes your change, and then some, to the bank.