Take It from Me: Life's a Struggle But You Can Win [Hardcover]

Erin Brockovich (Author), Marc Eliot (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 2001

Erin Brockovich, a household name. Millions who have seen the movie Erin Brockovich have been inspired by her gutsy accomplishments. Julia Roberts, who won the Oscar for her starring role, calls Erin Brockovich "her hero." Tony Robbins, motivational giant, calls her "an incredible role model and example about what is truly possible." Without formal legal training - or much education at all, she is now highly regarded by the legal community. Companies like Miller Brewing and Toyota, women's forums, and trial lawyer's associations currently pay her $25,000 a shot for her lectures. She is literally the poster child for proving you can overcome any obstacle if you are determined enough and believe in yourself. With a thriving lecture series, continued work in the legal community as Director of Environmental Research, a talk-show in development, and more, Erin Brockovich is here to stay. To recap her inspiring story: Erin was a divorced mother struggling to raise three kids on $800 a month when she set off the investigation that forced a utility company to pay $333 million for leaking a known carcinogen into the water supply of a small California town. She was rewarded with a surprise $2 million dollar bonus for her efforts, but the real pay-offs were the respect she earned, the self-esteem she built, and the knowledge that she could accomplish anything by calling on her inner strength. Thanks to the movie of her David versus Goliath struggle and victory, Brockovich is now famous, but still fighting. She's currently researching numerous new toxicpollution cases. "We're going to make a difference," she says, "I absolutely believe that." This is what her book is about. In Take It From Me!, Erin herself provides readers with the motivational strategies and tactics that led her to find her inner strength and teaches readers how to use their own inner strength for amazing success. The book helps to answer the question Erin gets asked most often - in her lecture series, on "Oprah," by producers, reporters, and all the people who walk up to her at the supermarket: "Erin, how do you do it?" To succeed against overshelming odds - dead-end jobs, dead-end relationships, dyslexia, you name it - she had to find and free the power and force of her own inner strength, the inner strength that is there in everyone. While her story is wellknown, readers will find her advice surprisingly insightful, fresh, and accessible: * Sometimes you have to do what seems impossible because you have to. I have learned that some "choices" we make aren't choices at all, merely capitulation to our weaknesses. To develop you inner strength, you must push yourself to do your best, especially when you aren't sure you can, because You Can Because You Have To. * If you are so lonely you feel like sitting in the corner and shaking, stop feeling sorry for yourself and use that energy to find someone to share your life with. You don't need to be rescued, rescue yourself. Erin weaves her advice with her own personal stories - many of which she tells for the first time - including lessons she has learned long after the movie events ended. In this inspiring book, co-authored by New York Times bestselling celebrity collaborator Marc Eliot, Erin provides readers with the insight to put them on the path to discover the inner strength to empower themselves, no matter how great the challenge, no matter how impossible the obstacles. Erin Brockovich is more than just a movie - and she's got a lot more stories to tell and advice to offer to all who admire her.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Motivational authors often tell stories of triumphing over adversity, but few become the powerful cultural icon that Brockovich has, complete with an Oscar-winning movie bearing her name. A flashy blond with a big chest, Brockovich says that people often ask how she, a single mother without a bachelor's degree or a paralegal certificate, managed to bring down the colossal PG&E for knowingly poisoning the water supply of Hinkley, Calif. She offers this book as her answer. In simple, informal prose, with a sparkling sense of humor, Brockovich describes her childhood and her wild adolescence. As important as her family, who taught her values, ethics and perseverance, was one high school teacher who recognized her dyslexia and showed her that she was smart and able to succeed, permanently changing her self-image and enabling her to graduate and enroll in fashion college. Several jobs, a few boyfriends, two husbands, three children and many hardships later, Brockovich was living in California, recovering from a car crash and in need of a job, which she found in the offices of her lawyer, and thus begins the now familiar tale. Even after the $333-million PG&E settlement, of which she received $2.5 million (before taxes), Brockovich endured an extortion attempt, a custody battle, seeing two of her children through drug rehab and having her dream house turn out to be filled with toxic mold. Her story is absorbing, and her advice is down-to-earth, accessible and heartfelt. Her "Inner Strength Workout" and "Shorthand Guide to Winning Life's Struggles" offer practical lessons in honesty, integrity, belief in oneself and "stick-to-it-iveness." Agent, Mel Berger. (Dec.)Forecast: As motivational self-help books go, this one is right up there with the best. Because of her fame (due to the movie) and her flashy style (for which she is criticized, but would she get as much attention if she were dowdy?), Brockovich is in a unique position to inspire and enlighten people. This book may crack bestseller lists.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Brockovich explains in frank terms that she has never led a Julia Roberts happily-ever-after life. Unrecognized for years as a dyslexic, she was labeled pretty but dumb, a judgment that severely hurt her self-esteem. Before age 30, she found herself with two failed marriages, three children, and no child support. Brockovich's book details how she came to grips with changes taking place around her and, more important, inside her. She learns to "press on," as her father had taught her to do as a child. If you saw Erin Brockovich, you should read this book to discover the heartache and trauma the movie didn't cover. The book reads like a soap opera of poor choices and unfortunate consequences, which include abortion, loneliness, poverty, and manipulative ex-husbands. Still, it's a quick and easy read, full of gripping details, and will be popular in bookstores and public libraries and on talk shows. Susan Burdick, MLS, Reading, PA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 224 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill Companies (October 15, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071383794
• ISBN-13: 978-0071383790
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 6.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #702,986 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Lady, December 28, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Take It from Me: Life's a Struggle But You Can Win (Hardcover)

What a great lady! It was nice to read the real-life stories behind the Hollywood hype ... but the biggest surprise was that the truth was often more interesting and dramatic than the dramatization. Brockovich offers concrete advice to those who are trying to improve their lives -- she's a role model and inspiration to people everywhere. I also recommend "Open Your Mind, Open Your Life: A Little Book of Wisdom" by Taro Gold. I have found much inspiration from both of these books.

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Take it from me, too., December 25, 2001

By 

"lawchicky-hotmail-com" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Take It from Me: Life's a Struggle But You Can Win (Hardcover)

Erin Brockovich and I had several things in common. We were both blonde law professionals making our way in Southern California. For those reasons I have watched Erin's story unfurl with interest.

I first thought her "a brilliant woman trapped in a trailer trash body". Erin, a caterpillar, of sorts, has morphed into a butterfly. I have not changed my opinion in that regard, and as time marches on I hold Erin with increasing regard.

Now comes her book, "Take It from Me: Life's a Struggle but You Can Win". What better person to write such a book, but the queen of struggle, Erin Brockovich. Did you see the movie staring Julie Roberts?

When it comes to overcoming adversity, Erin is the expert. She lived every day of her life fighting the current. And now she has written a self-help, self-fulfilling, and all empowering book. I came away from her book thinking that I could have done more with my life. After reading this book I now feel inspired to do more with my life.

One review said that the book was a "pretty quick read". A straightforward assessment, but, according to her book, those three words sum up what Erin Brockovich is really all about. A simple, unpretentious woman, whose kind and moderate nature is both quick to forgive and forget. I enjoyed this book. I think you will too.

Erin has received a number of awards for her work. To mention a few: "Consumer Advocate of the Year" - Consumer Attorneys of California,"Profile in Courage" Award from Santa Clara County Trial Lawyers Association, "Justice Armand Arabian Law and Media Award - San Fernando Valley Bar,"Champion of Justice" Award from the Civil Justice Foundation of ATLA, President's Award - Oregon Trial Lawyers Association, and many many more.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Enjoyable, May 10, 2006

By 

Venus A. Rachal (California) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Take It from Me: Life's a Struggle But You Can Win (Hardcover)

I'll give this 3.5 stars. It's a deeper look at the woman behind the movie, Erin Brockovich. With wit and grace Erin tells the story of her broken marriages, the drug addiction of two of her children, and how she got through proving a difficult case against PG&E. Erin's honesty is refreshing, and I enjoyed her stories of talking to herself until she could figure out what to do. She says that sometimes you have to make your own decisions rather than relying on the advice of friends and I think that this is a valuable gift. There are times when you cannot reach your friends or you know that your situation is beyond their experience so the only person that can really help you work through it is YOU.

Erin's straight-shooter personality comes out in this book on every page. While she did have help writing the book, you can't help but notice Erin's voice.

I was very surprised as I read the book to find out about the hardships Erin had to endure both before and after the PG&E-Hinkley case. She tells of how almost all of her money went into a misrepresented house and taking care of her kids' addictions. She also tells the truth about "Jorge" from the movie and her dealings with Ed Masry.

She mentions the movie a few too many times throughout the book, so it gets a little irritating after the 10th time. However, I do appreciate her attempts at contrasting the movie with what really happened. It's just that several of her mentions of the movie are in little side comments that aren't really talking about the movie, but about the fact that her life SEEMS great because Julia Roberts played her, but that her life isn't great. This is fine, and needed to some extent, however, it happens many times throughout the book. Still, this is not enough to detract from the humorous, down-to-earth tale of the life of Erin Brockovich.