Become A Provider:  Discover The Joy Of Blessing & Protecting Others, by Justin Thomas

[Note:  This book was provided free of charge by Adams PR Group.  All thoughts and opinions are my own.]

There are at least a couple of things that would make this book better.  One of them is a table of contents, and the other is a title that better reflects the contents of the book.  This was not the book I expected to read based on its title, which promised a general approach to encouraging others to becoming a provider, whatever that means.  The vagueness of the book’s title, though quickly became a very compelling story about the author’s efforts in helping to care for his dying father as well as his widowed mother, and coming to grips with his family’s dark history, including his father’s attempt to evade the law as a drug trafficker.  A book this gripping and this interesting deserves a title that reflects the contents of the book about how the author became a provider for his family and came to grips with the inevitability of death and physical decay and the struggle for people to have a lasting legacy beyond the grave.  This book is a case where the contents of the book should not be judged by the cover.

This book is a bit more than 100 pages long and is divided into 27 short chapters.  Throughout the book the author seeks to juggle several intentions and plans.  Much of the book consists of the author’s efforts to care for his dying father, care for his mother after his father dies, and come to terms and secure his father’s legacy through sharing stories about his father’s life and also by helping to found a foundation in honor of his late father.  The author also engages in some oversharing about his own struggles and foibles, which will likely be either endearing or annoying to readers who see the author turn his own private suffering and experiences into a call to action for the reader as well, who may lack the same motivational experiences that led the author to be a provider for his family as he is.  The author balances his oversharing of his personal life and his earnest desire to encourage others to be providers for their family members (and others) with gracious acknowledgements of those who have helped and inspired him along the way.  This is a book of surprising heart given its rather pedestrian title.

In reading this book it is obvious that the author felt compelled to tell his story and wanted to frame it in a way that would be compelling to read for others.  This book is a case study in how people can find their own experiences give them a dramatic reason to seek to advice and counsel other people to engage in a particular action, with the presumption that their specific case will have more general benefits.  Whether or not there is such a link, the author’s own story and his efforts to memorialize his father through the CL Thomas Fellowship are certainly well worth reading and the author fills this book with poignant stories about his experiences in the approach and aftermath of his father’s death.  There is no question here that the author is writing a story from his own perspective, as the personal stories are blended with a 2 x 2 matrix that shows the influence of the author’s consulting experience and comes with plenty of influence from the sort of material that comes easily to those who read and write business literature.  Still, this book is consultant talk with a broken heart, and that is a remarkable accomplishment.