How to Be Like Walt : Capturing the Disney Magic Every Day of Your Life (How to Be Like)

Rating:
Summary: How to be Like Walt by Pat Williams
Review:
"How to be Like Walt" needs to be in every 6th grade through community college library. It needs to be in classrooms and read by teachers and students. Teachers need to read it to their students and discuss the chapter end lessons. Young people should be challenged to make their own life goals, name obstacles and hindrances--including difficult people who seem to block their dreams.

It is written at a level that is an easy read. It seems the purpose of the "How to be Like Walt" book is to inform and instruct, especially young people.

This book should be in every school district and required reading for middle school or high school. Excellent discussion material follows each chapter. Our young people need these books. And so does the church!

I liked how the authors wrote, "Don't be like Walt," regarding his smoking, that led to his premature death. The book speaks personally to its audience. Very warm and friendly. Like Walt.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who loved Walt Disney, but especially to young people and adults working with youth. Young people will be inspired and encouraged by Walt's own struggles to overcome growing up with an abusive father, yet never letting his dreams die.



Rating:
Summary: A biography with great insight into the man, Walt Disney...
Review: As a self-help book, "How to Be Like Walt" is a powerful tool with 17 lessons exemplified by Walt Disney's life. As a biography, the book is one of the finest written about Walt Disney.

Disney was a unique Hollywood success story. The squeaky-clean Disney reputation was built on a lifetime of doing good work. It's not that Disney was without fault or rough edges. But Disney was more often the victim of unscrupulous dealings rather than one who was putting a deal over on someone else. This book explores those aspects of his life, and reveals how these experiences shaped his career and led him to bigger and bigger accomplishments.

Just as each of Disney's successes was based on telling a compelling story, Pat Williams and Jim Denney have told Walt's life story in a unique and interesting way. The narrative is filled with stories and challenges in Walt's life, as related by friends, family, and co-workers.

The stories tell about the man, Walt Disney, more effectively than most biographies which are loaded with impersonal facts.

This book provides a multifaceted look at his personality as well as his behaviors. Different people saw him in various ways; that is all fully explained and reconciled as well as can be expected of a complex, creative genius who is not easily explained.

Disney was a workaholic and a taskmaster, yet he was also compassionate about his creative staff and his family. As you read the story of Walt's life, you will learn how we can adapt our lives to achieve greater creativity, success, and fulfillment.

As an author who has read and written about Disney, I recommend this book as one of the best Disney resources available.

Buy this book and read it several times; with the extensive details of the many Disney stories, you will find each reading reveals new insights about Disney's approach to success.

-- Rich Hamilton

Rating:
Summary: The Power of One Life
Review: Just when I thought I knew everything there was to know about Walt Disney, along comes this brilliant book. How to Be Like Walt shines fresh light on the person and character of Walt Disney, a man I never knew but have loved all my life. More than that, it encourages all of us that we can be like Walt, too - if we study his life, discover what drove him, learn from his failures and examine his interactions with others. There will never be another Walt, but we can all be like Walt if we want to be. This book tells us how. He wasn't perfect - but neither are you or I. Still, as the book says, the world would be a poorer place if it hadn't been for just one Walt Disney. I don't know about you, but I wouldn't mind being remembered for making my world better like he did.

How to Be Like Walt tells his story through the eyes of people who knew him and loved him, people who have admired his accomplishments, and people whose lives have been shaped by the force of his personality. It's the most complete picture of Walt Disney available to date from any book. In the bargain, we get lessons to apply to our own lives. Everything to gain and nothing to lose! Read it today.


Rating:
Summary: Brought me to tears
Review: The other reviews highlight some of the excellent reason to treasure this book. I'll just add that I was a really big Walt Disney fan before reading this but learned many new things about him, including details of how Walt handled his last few months.

The chapters on Walt's last months were so touching and emotional this book brought me to tears. Even if you never use the lessons contained (which I think are worth lots of consideration, of course), this book is a very entertaining and touching read.

Highly recommended!