"The Meaning of Life is a thorough, detailed exploration of the factors that can help or hinder people as they seek to build a purposeful, fulfilling life."
-IndieReader Review ("Worth Reading" Rating)
"A broad-based, comprehensive approach to finding one's purpose in life."
-Kirkus Reviews
"The book is written in an easy-to-read style that engages the reader right from the beginning . . . those who don't want to simply float through life will discover great tools to define their foothold in this book."
-Readers' Favorite Review (Five-Star Rating)
"Questions about life's purpose lie at the root of a great many books, but few as concretely lay out a blueprint for discovering--or making--meaning."
-The BookLife Prize (9/10)
"Packed with practical applications for identifying and reaching individual goals, The Meaning of Life is an ambitious self-help work about achieving personal satisfaction."
-Foreword Reviews (Four-Star Rating)
"Novosel's content is original and actionable and his tone is compassionate and supportive, and that makes it well worth reading."
-BlueInk Review
"Most of all, it's clear from Novosel's material that he has a genuine zeal for helping interested readers to succeed."
-Self-Publishing Review (Four-and-a-Half-Star Rating)
"Reading this book feels like you are peeking into the mind of an Einstein or John Nash. Beautifully simple and amazingly deep. I'd highly recommend it!"
-Jeremy Ramsey (ARC Review)
2020-03-27
A broad-based, comprehensive approach to finding one’s purpose in life.
Figuring out the meaning of one’s life, writes consultant Novosel in his nonfiction debut, can feel too challenging to contemplate. To counter this type of thinking, he stresses that the insight necessary to begin a self-realization journey need not happen in a single, melodramatic flash—it can be a slow, gradual process. His book presents principles and some activities that aim to help make this process more concrete. Several chapters concentrate on big ideas, from “Emotions” to “Ethics” to “Belief,” and in all cases, Novosel reminds readers of their own agency: “You control your own destiny,” he writes. “Choice is a crucial component of finding your meaning in life because you ultimately decide what is meaningful to you.” In clear but substantial prose, he seeks to help his readers clarify what’s meaningful to them—and what isn’t and can’t possibly be. It’s not surprising, he writes, that people often use various crutches to manipulate these priorities, but he offers a warning: “Alcohol, tobacco, opioids, non-reproductive sexual activity, gambling, and other addictive substances and behaviors affect their emotions and trigger their brains’ rewards systems in ways that are not conducive to growth.” Novosel provides his readers with various “thought exercises” and writing assignments, and his tone throughout the book is one of reassurance as he tells readers of what they can achieve if they take stock of their emotions and self-destructive habits. His approach is also thoroughly secular and science-aware: “The result of human evolution,” Novosel writes, “is an unprecedented combination of genetics, instinct, and rational thoughts.” It’s an uncanny combination of elements that results in an unexpectedly uplifting book.
A richly thoughtful and offbeat self-help guide.
