A Million Miles in a Thousand Years

You are a character. This life is your story.

What a powerful thought.

Donald takes us with him as he reflects on life and meaning when he is told that his real life is boring...and realizes the profound opportunity that we have for following God and our dreams.

Get off the couch. Try something crazy. Make memories. Share life with others. Be peaceful.

It's so interesting to reread certain books at different parts in your life. I remember being so impacted by this book the first time I read it, close to when it first came out (which is more than 10 years ago now!). I still appreciate the concept of living your life as a better story, and I've even adapted that into my own life motto. But I'm not as charmed by Miller's writing as I once was. I noticed a lot more misogyny in his writing; or perhaps that's too strong of a word, but women and girls were often tools in the storytelling rather than fully realized characters themselves. I think I can appreciate this book as a good resource to help remind me of using my life to tell a better story, but I can also leave it at that.

I love the power of a personal vision, story or goal. Whether in a job or my personal life, I feel lost without one. Donald Miller comes at this idea from a perspective I've never seen before - by learning how to write a good story and applying that to his own life.

What could have been a dry, goal oriented book is actually a hilarious, fun, brilliantly written autobiography. I loved how Miller recognized and wrote about the littlest moments and somehow jumped around time without it seeming out of place.

His take on advertising was brought back to stories too:

Advertising and marketing try to sell us a story that by buying their products, OUR story will match their perfect one.

If you can live a better story, there is no reason to buy into someone else's. Find a story you want to live and live it.

A great Don Miller book, as usual. Really makes you think about what you are making of your life/story and how we get to choose whether it's a great story or not. Loved it!

I love the power of a personal vision, story or goal. Whether in a job or my personal life, I feel lost without one. Donald Miller comes at this idea from a perspective I've never seen before - by learning how to write a good story and applying that to his own life.

What could have been a dry, goal oriented book is actually a hilarious, fun, brilliantly written autobiography. I loved how Miller recognized and wrote about the littlest moments and somehow jumped around time without it seeming out of place.

His take on advertising was brought back to stories too:

Advertising and marketing try to sell us a story that by buying their products, OUR story will match their perfect one.

If you can live a better story, there is no reason to buy into someone else's. Find a story you want to live and live it.

This book had some really good lines about the nature of story and about life. Unfortunately, and I don't know how to articulate this in a more polite way, but the author just came across like an idiot constantly. I say this with no malice. Some people are not smart. The author was determined to make himself seem like one of said people.

I'm unsure if it was a narrative decision in order to have information relayed to the audience feel as if he was learning at the same time, or if Miller was just honest about how he was a man in his forties who knew absolutely nothing. It felt like every chapter he had to have basic things explained to him. He says he spends most of his time going to movies and then does not understand the most basic, no-shit things about them. He actually calls a scriptwriter back to have him explain to him the concept that “story needs conflict” again because he didn't fully understand it the first time it was explained to him. Dude, it's your book - just pretend you already knew some stuff. Leave this part out.

Anyway, I skimmed the back half of this book because I was secretly afraid if I read a book about an idiot too closely that I would also become an idiot. Jury's still out.

4/10

I love thinking about our lives as “our story.” It has provoked a lot of thinking, even had me up in the middle of the night thinking about whether I am living a “good story.” Really hit the spot.

Don Miller tells us stories from his life while introducing lessons and insights he has gained. The focal point of the book is the concept that people ought to see their lives through the framework of story. Consider building your character the same way a fiction author would develop a main character. Shift your view of challenges from show-stopping events, to negative turns on your Hero's Journey. This hardly covers what Don brings to the table.

I cannot adequately express how much I loved this book. It will remain in my library for years and I plan to lend it out as often as possible.

Finally, Don does not stray away from, or avoid, God in his analysis of life. In fact, he embraces God without being pushy or evangelical. It was the perfect nuance for the narrative arc and I am sold.

The overall theme of the book is that we are all living a story, and if we don't like the story we are living, we should change that story. It is not as simple as that and Miller makes that clear. He is also very real and does not present himself as having the answers. In fact, after reading it I really do understand why so many people don't like him as an author. He talk about having a beer on several occasions, he knows he doesn't have the answers and doesn't pretend that he has it all together. This is stark difference to the tone of many Christian books I have read. It is refreshing.

I have posted a longer review on my blog at http://bookwi.se/a-million-miles-in-a-thousand-years-and-blue-like-jazz-the-story-of-a-story/

Sort-of memoir/book about the author's experiences of helping to produce a film about his life. Miller is really good at painting himself as a very ordinary guy (slightly veering into pathetic/loser territory). Apparently he's also written a bestselling book. It's almost confusing - because I couldn't see why he's famous (from the way he writes about himself), and I probably should've just read that bestseller instead of this one.

It comes across as a book for the everyday person. Miller struggles with life (and don't we all). Maybe his conversational, casual tone is what makes his writing so popular.

Unfortunately I think I'll have to give this one a 3 or 3.5. I think it is probably a lot better if you go into it with the context of knowing about the author.

What a beautiful book - I laughed and cried throughout it. I've read Donald Miller's early works (many moons ago) and recently discovered (and enjoyed) his business/marketing book called Building a Story Brand. There's an honest humility in his writing and he tells a great story.