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The Road to Success is Paved with Failure : How Hundreds of Famous People Triumphed Over Inauspicious Beginnings, Crushing Rejection, Humiliating Defeats and Other Speed Bumps Along Life's Highway
 
 
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The Road to Success is Paved with Failure : How Hundreds of Famous People Triumphed Over Inauspicious Beginnings, Crushing Rejection, Humiliating Defeats and Other Speed Bumps Along Life's Highway [Paperback]

Joey Green (Author)
4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)


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Book Description

April 25, 2001
Down on your luck? Don't despair. You might still be headed for the top! After all, consider the experiences of: Marilyn Monroe, who in 1947, after one year under contract, was dropped by 20th Century Fox because the production chief thought she was unattractive; Walt Disney, whose first cartoon production company went bankrupt; Johnny Cash, who sold electrical appliances door-to-door; Barbra Streisand, who made her stage debut aged 19 in a show that opened and closed on the same night; and John Grisham, whose first novel "A Time to Kill" was rejected by 16 agents and a dozen publishers. This is an inspiring compendium of pop culture and historical trivia to amuse those who regard their glass as half empty.


Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Joey Green is the author of many books including a number of bestsellers. He was formerly a contributing editor to National Lampoon and an advertising copywriter and he has been profiled in The New York Times, USA Today and People magazine.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 288 pages
  • Publisher: Little, Brown and Company (April 25, 2001)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0316611166
  • ISBN-13: 978-0316611169
  • Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces
  • Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #894,001 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Joey Green--author of "Polish Your Furniture with Panty Hose," "Paint Your House with Powdered Milk," "Wash Your Hair with Whipped Cream," and "Clean Your Clothes with Cheez Whiz"--got Jay Leno to shave with peanut butter on "The Tonight Show," Rosie O'Donnell to mousse her hair with Jell-O on "The Rosie O'Donnell Show," and Katie Couric to drop her diamond engagement ring in a glass of Efferdent on "Today." He has been seen polishing furniture with SPAM on "NBC Dateline," cleaning a toilet with Coca-Cola in "The New York Times," and washing his hair with Reddi-wip in "People."

A former contributing editor to "National Lampoon" and a former advertising copywriter at J. Walter Thompson, Green is the author of more than forty books, including "Sarah Palin's Secret Diary," "Marx & Lennon: The Parallel Sayings," and "The Zen of Oz: Ten Spiritual Lessons from Over the Rainbow." A native of Miami, Florida, and a graduate of Cornell University, he wrote television commercials for Burger King and Walt Disney World and won a Clio Award for a print ad he created for Eastman Kodak. He backpacked around the world for two years on his honeymoon and lives in Los Angeles with his wife, Debbie, and their two daughters, Ashley and Julia.

You can visit him at www.joeygreen.com and www.wackyuses.com


 

Customer Reviews

26 Reviews
5 star:
 (21)
4 star:
 (1)
3 star:
 (2)
2 star:    (0)
1 star:
 (2)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
4.5 out of 5 stars (26 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Read Me First!!, July 29, 2001
By A Customer
This review is from: The Road to Success is Paved with Failure : How Hundreds of Famous People Triumphed Over Inauspicious Beginnings, Crushing Rejection, Humiliating Defeats and Other Speed Bumps Along Life's Highway (Paperback)
Please look at all of the reviews that gave" five stars" . They had almost the same lenght and the same writing style. The reviews have been written from JUNE 27, JUNE 28, JUNE 29, JUNE 30 and JULY 1. Interesting!
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Look to this for inspiration galore..., August 25, 2001
By 
This review is from: The Road to Success is Paved with Failure : How Hundreds of Famous People Triumphed Over Inauspicious Beginnings, Crushing Rejection, Humiliating Defeats and Other Speed Bumps Along Life's Highway (Paperback)
When people look at someone who is successful (even if the definition of "success" varies from person to person) they usually have a tendency to think that someone went from point A to Point B with nothing in between. It's the old story of the "overnight success" that may have taken someone a lifetime or may have been achieved with great heartache, pain, and stress. One way of being inspired is to read biographies constantly. I'm an entertainer (ventriloquist, believe it or not) and I love reading show biz biographies. And I've found that when I read them there is a LOT of drama that took place between Point A (starting out) and Point B (succeeding). In The Road to Success Is Paved with Failure Joey Green has boiled down these life stories into a small book that completes its mission so thoroughly you will not only want to read, keep and refer to this book again and again -- but you'll want to gift this book to some loved ones. The concept is simple enough: each page, in large type, refers to a less-than-successful, unflattering or downright failure item involving a now famous successful person. At the bottom of the page, in smaller type, he tells you who this person is and why they are now famous for succeeding. This is "no frills" inspiration. And it works. Here's one example: (Big type) "Barbara Walters was told in 1957 by Don Hewitt, who became executive producer of 60 minutes, to "stay out of television."" Bottom of page (small type): "Barbara Walters became a host on the television talk show Today, an anchorwoman on The ABC Evening News, and a host of 20/20. She has won six Emmy Awards for her work on television and was elected in 1990 to the Television Hall of Fame." There are many others. But this is the kind of book that you can quickly re-read, or just grab a few pages and read if you're feeling "down" or discouraged. It gives you the mental vitamins to resist the naysayers and ignore discouragement and focus on the possibilities. Great concept. Great execution. Great biographical examples. Great value...given what it can do to uplift your life.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Something to read on the "can," otherwise skip it., November 22, 2005
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This review is from: The Road to Success is Paved with Failure : How Hundreds of Famous People Triumphed Over Inauspicious Beginnings, Crushing Rejection, Humiliating Defeats and Other Speed Bumps Along Life's Highway (Paperback)
I have several dozen books on various aspects of success and failure and this book is the most mediocre of them all. Each page has about 100 words at best and there is no detail to any of the stories of the effort and perseverance required to actually succeed. So some slightly famous someone you have heard about had a bad day once. Big deal, there is no lesson to that. The real lesson is in reading about the depth and breadth it really takes to succeed - real commitment, not just a simple piece of good or bad luck.

If you have a friend who just doesn't like to read at all, this would be a suitable gift. I'm not saying that to be a book snob...we have all been in "their" houses, where the heck are the books? If you have a friend or relative who is trying to achieve something great in his or her life, but they are just not the type to read, then this book would be an acceptable choice. My younger brother - whom - I admire a great deal, is trying to succeed at a very difficult career path and I will be getting this book for him for his Christmas present. However, if you want anything more than the most superficial read, choose a different book.
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Inside This Book (learn more)
First Sentence:
Marilyn Monroe was dropped in 1947 by Twentieth Century-Fox after one year under contract because production chief Darryl Zanuck thought she was unattractive. Read the first page
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
New York, United States, Academy Awards, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, American Graffiti, David Letterman, John Adams, New Jersey, Richard Nixon, Andrew Jackson, Fred Smith, Henry Ford, Humphrey Bogart, Marilyn Monroe, Meet John Doe, Rudolph Valentino, Supreme Court, Twentieth Century-Fox, World War
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