Way to Be!: 9 ways to be happy and make something of your life [Hardcover]

Gordon B. Hinckley (Author), Steve Young (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 6, 2002

From one of the world's foremost spiritual leaders, an inspiring book that provides young adults and their parents with a game plan for leading a better life.

This inspiring, upbeat, life-affirming book shows teenagers and their families how to navigate through the moral minefields of contemporary life and how to truly enjoy the opportunities and blessings that the modern world has to offer.

Drawing upon his faith as well as his personal experience, Gordon B. Hinckley provides his readers with a game plan for discovering and embracing the things in life that are valuable and worthwhile. He shows how our lives are shaped by the decisions we make every day about personal behavior -- and he shows how to make the right decisions with the help of nine guiding principles.

With its vivid anecdotes, invaluable precepts, and timeless wisdom, Way to Be! will be a source of both inspiration and practical advice for young people everywhere who want to lead better, fuller, more satisfying lives.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The nonagenarian president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints offers young adults optimistic, down-to-earth advice in this inspirational gift book. In short chapters that are especially directed at teens, Hinckley presents "nine suggestions gleaned from more than nine decades of living": young people should be grateful, smart, involved, clean, true, positive, humble, still and prayerful. The tone will be familiar to those who enjoyed Hinckley's 2000 book Standing for Something: Ten Neglected Virtues That Will Heal Our Hearts and Homes; even the virtues themselves are very similar. As before, Hinckley shares simple but meaningful stories from his own life, concentrating mostly here on anecdotes from his childhood on a fruit farm. Although Hinckley's chief role is as a Mormon prophet, his folksy advice is virtually indistinguishable from that found in other Christian self-help books: he lauds Jesus Christ as "the Savior, who is the perfect example in all things," discusses the importance of not taking the Lord's name in vain and argues for daily prayer. He also adopts conservative stands on social issues, eschewing pornography, tattoos, drugs and premarital sex. Some readers may wish for more, since the book feels a bit thin on the ground; young women, also, may wish that Hinckley had more consistently employed gender-inclusive language. In all, however, this heartfelt, homespun primer on spiritual values is well crafted for its intended audience of young Christians, Mormon or otherwise.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Hinckley is not just the 50th president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; he's also a best-selling inspirational writer who hopes to continue his streak with this book for young adults and their parents.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster (August 6, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743238303
• ISBN-13: 978-0743238304
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (21 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #148,880 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's worth your time., February 6, 2004

By 

Mike Compton (Provo, UT) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Way to Be!: 9 ways to be happy and make something of your life (Hardcover)

This book is very simple and it's a quick read (you can finish it in an afternoon). It's also fun and inspires without being preachy or using guilt. The heartfelt suggestions encourage one to simply be a better person and the themes are memorable. It's worth your time.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Simple Truth Miscalled 'Simplicity.'" Sonnet 66, September 5, 2002

By 

Kendal B. Hunter (Provo, UT United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Way to Be!: 9 ways to be happy and make something of your life (Hardcover)

This book is geared towards the youth and teenagers, and is a companion volume to President Hinckley's "Standing For Something." So don't expect the King Follet Discourse when you read this book. Instead expect straight talk and simple language about what the youth can do about improving the world.

I found this book to be refreshing in that it focuses on the way youth need to be, and what they can do to themselves to improve. It doesn't advocate the type of "Superman" activism, where people go off to other lands for a certain amount of time and solve everyone else's problems. Nor does the book rely on political-governmental solutions to the world's problems. Instead, President Hinckley suggests nine habits, or virtues, that the youth can incorporate in their lives to help change themselves.

This is a quiet book. It doesn't advocate a new government bureaucracy, or tax cut to solve the problems the youth are facing. It suggests the simple and soft things we can do to make a difference. Much like the three servings of leaven that filled the whole loaf.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Way to Be, September 22, 2002

By 

Edward A. Smith (Phoenix, Arizona, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Way to Be!: 9 ways to be happy and make something of your life (Hardcover)

Although this little book is aimed at teenagers, I have found its down-to-earth advice a kind of compass for finding happiness in a noisy and distracting world. I'd recommend it for young and old alike.

Edward A. Smith, MD, MPH
Assistant Research Professor
Universtiy of Arizona College of Medicine