In case you don't get past the first paragraph, let me sum it up.  This strange and wonderful book is a must read.  Buy it today, no matter who you are or where you are in your life, this book will change the way you look at life.

I recently drove to Minneapolis from Kansas City for a work event.  It gave me an opportunity to listen to a couple of books while I was hopping from travel centers, gas stations and random truck stops through Iowa.

I was catching up on Chris Brogan's blog when i ran into his book review of Donald Miller's: A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life.  A few clicks later, the book was on my iPhone and I was heading north on 35 hwy.

This was my first Don Miller book, so I didn't know the background story that had gotten him to the spot in his life where he wrote A Million Miles.  Don had written a best seller "Blue Like Jazz" years prior and hadn't had the same luck with his next few books.  The guy was suffering from writers block when a couple of film makers came to him with a plan to start writing the film adaptation of "Blue Like Jazz". 

Through the process of writing the screenplay, Miller was struck by the fact that his own story didn't have what it took to create a movie that anyone would watch. 

He then takes us through his personal quest of story, told through his experiences with the screenplay as a guide through building story into his own life.  He sees himself as the protagonist in his own movie and uses the same age old rules of story building to put himself into situations that gives his character more strength and more value in their given plot line.

He goes after the girl, rides his bike across country & takes a journey to find his biological father, all with the filter of "the story".  Building on the concept in a gradual, natural and non methodical way that gives this book a very personal and real feel.

This book is really tough to put into a bucket.  I guess I could call it the strangest self help book that I've ever read.  Through the first few chapters, I found myself enjoying the life of Donald Miller, but the book takes a leisurely turn and very quickly I was reflecting on my own life.  Once the idea of "personal story" gets into your head, you're going to have a hell of a time getting it out.

 As an audio book, this just had to be told by the author, so I was very happy to here Don's voice behind the narration.  He's not a professional, but his own words wouldn't sound nearly as honest coming from someone else.

This is the kind of book that you'll find yourself constantly telling people about.  You'll begin to see things through a filter of "story", but not in the judgmental way that you may think. 

 The narration of Don's life may not be memorable in a few weeks, but the idea of creating "story" within your life will be with me always.  It's sticky, simple and smart.