I bought this book for my son who is a fan of all things Hamilton, and to be honest, has a tendency to be a bit of a grump. I thought that this book might help him when he was feeling out of sorts, and that he might actually read it because it was written by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Voracious reader that he is, he powered through this book rather quickly, and seemed to enjoy it. I had been having a challenging time balancing work and personal life, and the audio book became available at the library, and I figured it would be helpful to get through the tedium of chores and commuting.
I really appreciated the audio book, because as much as I can anticipate Lin-Manuel’s tone when reading the book, it added a layer to the book to hear him read it. There is nothing earth shattering here. It is filled with short little mantras (I think they were all either posted on Twitter, or are in a Twitter friendly format) intended to get you through your morning and evening. In the intro, he states that he often puts these sayings out into the world because it’s what he most wants to hear himself. While I would typically breeze past a similar offering from an unknown offer, Lin-Manuel’s charm made this considerably more delightful, and darned if some of these little meditations didn’t hit me in the feels from time to time and speak something to me that I needed to hear. If you’re not into this sort of book, it’s unlikely to change your mind, but I thought it was a good book for what it was intended to be. Last year I started a tradition with my kids of having ice cream for breakfast on the last day of school to celebrate, and when a friend talked about what a neat idea it was, I stated that I was making an opportunity for joy. I think this book is doing a lot of the same.