In [i] Wisdom of the Men [/i], Clint Arthur narrates the story of his life starting from when he was studying at the Wharton Business School, pursuing the Hollywood dream as a weekend taxi driver, and finally becoming a celebrity entrepreneur. Clint was a member of a gentleman club called “The Men” where they could share their experiences and encourage each other to achieve their dreams. In the first few chapters, the author describes how he met Andy Warhol, the artist, and Frank McCourt, the teacher, who taught him creative writing. The next chapters describe how after pursuing the Hollywood Dream for six years, Clint decided to quit and become a butter salesman. Tony Robbins’ books and CDs inspired Clint to become a celebrity entrepreneur. In this new career, Clint would attend seminars, events, and parties whereby famous people were in attendance and learn from them. He would take pictures with them and ask them about the most important things they ever learned. Using those lessons, he created the [i] Celebrity Launchpad [/i] seminar for promoting little-known people to become celebrities. For example, Clint helped people like Hal Elrod and Fantastic Frank to get their stories out, thereby making them famous. On the side, Clint built his other businesses including selling butter, building houses for sale, and writing and selling books. Also, he got married to Alison and they had children together. He started going on TV and talk shows to promote his program. Over the course of his career as a celebrity entrepreneur, Clint met pop stars like Snoop Dogg, Mick Jagger of the [i] Rolling Stones,[/i] and Ringo Starr of [i] The Beatles.[/i] In addition to that, he met five U.S. presidents, along with other prominent people like Mike Tyson, Joel Osteen, Dr. Oz, and Oprah Winfrey.
One of the things I liked about the book is that it describes the life and times of Clint from the perspective of changing careers. In other words, by reading how Clint tried to become famous in Hollywood and failed, you get to know his family background, the schools he attended, his marriage life, etc. In each chapter, readers get to know a part of Clint’s life and, therefore, you have to read all the chapters for you to know everything about him. Another thing I liked is the inclusion of pictures in the book to show the celebrity that Clint met with in a certain event. What is interesting about the pictures is that Clint is always smiling and then, at that point, he says that he asked the person in the picture the most important lesson they have ever learned. It is also interesting how Clint is a student much like he is a teacher in his celebrity adventures. I mean Clint attended events to learn about success and then used those lessons to teach other people who aspired to become celebrities. I would argue that, in the beginning, Clint knew little or nothing, but he learned along the way and taught others. Lastly, Clint teaches readers to stay humble, have confidence, and work on their personal images to achieve success.
Regarding the negative aspects, I would indicate that there is minimal use of vulgar language and sexually explicit content. For example, there is an awkward reference to Benjamin Franklin doing drugs and other private things. Also, Clint expressly describes his intimate relationship with a college girl where he would paint her nude appearances on a canvas. Another negative thing is that there is a lot of drinking and smoking before Clint changed his ways. Lastly, there are a considerable number of errors in grammar, where some appear to be purely unintentional.
I would give the book a rating of [b] 4 out of 5 stars [/b] even though the number of strengths is almost equal to the number of weaknesses. This is because what is described as a weakness in the book may not necessarily be a mistake because that was a part of Clint’s life. There is no way the author could have omitted his old habits of smoking pot, drinking, and partying because that forms part of the inspiring story. The other justification for the rating is that some of the grammar errors in the book seem to be unintentional and somehow related to the author’s preferred type of English; British or American.
I would recommend the book to authors, motivational speakers, life coaches, and other celebrities because it teaches them how to do their work better. Clint describes how to promote a book, how to motivate people, and how to teach people about personal development among other lessons. Also, those people who are aspiring to become celebrity entrepreneurs, TV anchors, and radio hosts can learn a lot of things from Clint’s book.
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