Title: The Journey Through Four Seasons of Life
Author: Sin Mong Wong
Publisher: Pen Culture Solutions
ISBN: 978-1-63812-101-5
Pages: 330
Genre: Self-Help
Reviewed by: David Allen
Pacific Book Review
Sin Mong Wong’s A Journey Through Four Seasons of Life is the story of one man’s life odyssey – a journey through adversity, challenge, and growth. Wong has done his due diligence and offers us comprehensive hands-on bricolage for self-mastery and success.
Truly, Journey is the Home Depot of self-transformation. Readers will find all sorts of information here that is often only hinted at it in other personal growth books. The writing is based on personal experience and is set out, banquet-style, always with the reader’s progress in mind.
A book such as this is a living, working inspiration. Not only is the book comprehensive, reader-friendly, and extremely useful; it is also a testament to one man’s mastery and enjoyment of both the exigencies and rewards of life. Wong offers a handful of formulae and strategies that have served him well over the years: he writes, “I have to do something productive every day that moves me toward my goals and dreams.”
Indeed! This writer/practical philosopher is a recognized educator; an amateur basketball player; and an autodidact who has watched and honed stock picking to a fine art. Not only that, but in a sequence of easily digestible, very brief chapters, he passes his knowledge and experience on to the rest of us.
So, the book is a win-win, for the reader as well as the author. According to him, success and self-mastery begin with awareness. This wise man says he always follows a simple rule of life: do what you love and love what you do. Personal decision-making and goal-setting are vastly aided by clear thinking, focused meditation, and active visualization. Life is about change; the seasons; life is about ritual. Learning can and should take place throughout the life cycle. The mind is nearly infinite in power, and can overcome obstacles at every stage of life. An attitude of abundance rather than of poverty is key to happiness and material success.
A good part of the book is devoted to “Quantum”: quantum thinking, quantum jumping, quantum awareness. Wong’s section on understanding and making the stock market work for you begins with a zen koan-like statement: “The greatest shortcoming of the human race is our inability to understand the exponential function.”
Really? The remark turns out to be a lead-in to a discussion of the wonders of compound interest – which enable one to passively double one’s money. Other areas covered in this remarkable book are “Some Secrets to Happiness”; “Time Management”; “Family”; “Characteristics of Rich People; diet, Alzheimer’s, and weight control.”
The compound interest and take-home lessons of this book are palpable, manifold. This book is clearly a winner in the memoir/self-help category.
