The Ultimate Gift: A Novel – The Timeless Tale of a Young Man’s Journey Toward Discovering the True Gift of Life

Great book. Learned a lot from it.

Great book

It was one of those inspirational life-lesson type books, think The Alchemist, or Way of the Peaceful Warrior. Quick read in a novel format (I mean novel as in story, not as in new... maybe I should have said narrative.) Stoval intentionally writes in a way to drag emotions out of the reader and I may have succumbed to "seasonal allergies" as well a time or two... but they were transparent ploys by the author to cause such things... and they worked in spite of being obvious. The lessons were good ones. The person learning the lessons of course went from selfish prat to aware and dashing off to be humble, loving, and help the world. All these books start and end the same way. Self-absorbed to self-aware in 200 pages by {insert author here}. I'm a sucker for this kind of book about twice a year. If you like them then give it a read. If you think they're crap avoid it. It's a really good example of the genre and will appeal to the market it's aimed at.

Great book that everyone should read and share.

I began the book with no expectations. I only knew that being a Cook offering it would be Christ centered even if it did not spend a moment "preaching." I am slow on the uptake and it took me a couple of chapters to get the hang of what was going on. After that, each chapter contained its own variation on the theme. That was what kept me coming back for more, the next transformation toward the "Ultimate" transformation. The pace was maintained by each month being the presentation, sometimes a little of the struggle and the summary. This could have been a much longer book but I think that it wasn't was very deliberate. Redeeming transformation is a cause for rejoicing and this story brought joy, education and edification. Very entertainingly done.

Great book everyone should read. Including your soon to be teenagers

Quick read. Very warm story with valuable lessons within. Highly recommend to anyone. *warning* may elicit emotional responses. haha ha.

If I had to choose one word to describe this book, it would be hokey. Campy and cliché would work as well. Although, somewhat well-written (it did keep my interest for the most part), it was rather predictable. I spent a lot of time rolling my eyes. To say more, I have to get into the details. Read on if you don't mind being spoiled. Spoilers ahead. So the deal is Jason has to complete a task every month to the lawyer's satisfaction. He has to learn about 12 gifts that will make him a better person, the first being work. Am I really supposed to believe that a spoiled rich kid is going to go to some guy's ranch and work for a month and come back a changed man? Say we accept the premise, and this month of hard labor changes him. The later challenges aren't really all that challenging. He might as well have just told him to pay attention to the people around him. Multiple times he's sent to observe and come back and report about what he's learned. So because he saw someone laughing, he's realized the gift of laughter? Um... okay. I think the idea for this story was interesting, but it wasn't executed in the best manner. I would have liked to have seen more experiences (like helping out at the boys' home). I also would have preferred to read it from Jason's point of view instead of the lawyer's. I think we could have had a richer story from that point of view, and it would have been less campy. It also could have been longer and more involved.

Helps us to appreciate every minute of our lives. Great READ!!

This book by the legendary author Jim stoval is beyond extraordinaire and phenomenal. The lessons are extremely powerful and eternal. It has covered all the facets of life. I am immensely overwhelmed wonderstruck bamboozled flummoxed dumbstruck and speechless at the wisdom. I strongly recommend this book to the whole of humanity.

What a great book. It grabbed me from the start and I never left. We can all learn so much from his insight.

The book is truly profound in the way it explains concepts so familiar to you like friendship, love, work, aspirations. Such a short book, but such wisdom in it, that it is just remarkable. Give it to anyone you see or love.

Pour améliorer mon anglais quoi de mieux qu'un livre en "VO", couverture style vieillot, un livre à découvrir pour se perfectionner