The Precious Present
by Spencer Johnson
Doubleday, 1984, 70 pgs, $19.95
ISBN 0-385-46805-9
The Precious Present is a feel-good book worth reading more than once. It starts out with an old man that tells a little boy about a gift that promises happiness forever. As the boy grows up the old man gives him clues about how to find this present.
The boy eventually becomes a man who finds himself looking all over the world for this gift. He returns to the old man time after time asking for help on his journey. Throughout the book he finds out that the precious present isn’t really a material thing and that you have to give it to yourself. When the old man eventually dies, the younger man is stuck without any more clues to lead him to the gift he desperately wants to find. Over time the man becomes more and more unhappy and even ill. He finds himself worrying about whether or not he’ll ever find this precious present. But he never looses hope.
In the Precious Present you see three main themes of determination, failure, and desperation because he is looking in the wrong places for what he wants to find. But I also see themes that are more like morals like look within, the best gift of all isn’t material, and maybe even enjoy life don’t fear it. Over all I think that the book has a main moral of live in the present, rather then a main theme.
Spencer Johnson uses one mans journey to give us all the advice needed to improve how you look at your life using a writing style that’s easy for anyone to read because of the small vocabulary and short sentences. But to fully appreciate the book you have to know what Johnson means when he explains how to not dwell on the past or worry about the future. The tale also shows how reminding yourself of the gift will keep you happy and healthy. So I recommend this book to anyone who is looking for a good advice and would want to cheer themselves up. When I’m having a bad day all I do is remind myself of the lesson taught in this book and I always find a way to get happy.
~ reviewed by Kaleigh
