Take It from Me: Life's a Struggle But You Can Win - Hardcover

Erin Brockovich; Marc Eliot

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0071383794 ISBN 13: 9780071383790

Publisher: McGraw-Hill, 2001

Synopsis

Chronicles Brockovich's life, discussing her marriages, divorces, and children; her battle on behalf of the residents of Hinkley, California; and the aftermath of the fame she received due to the movie portraying her story.

About this title

About the Author

Erin Brockovich is the real-life inspiration for the Oscar-winning movie that bears her name. Today, she continues her legal work as a director of environmental research and is involved in consulting on numerous toxic waste investigations. Brockovich is active on the motivational speaking circuit with a thriving lecture series and has a television talk show in development.

Marc Eliot is a New York Times bestselling celebrity collaborator. He has coauthored numerous books including Kato Kaelin: The Whole Truth, Down 42nd Street: Sex, Money, Politics, the Mob, and Disney at the Crossroads of the World, and Barry White: Love Unlimited.

From the Back Cover

"Take It from Me brings us the greatest of Erin Brockovich's accomplishments in the lesson that no one starts at the top, and we all have to find the power inside to create lasting change and empowering results."--Anthony Robbins, Author of Awaken the Giant Within and Unlimited Power

Thanks to the Oscar-winning movie, "Erin Brockovich" is a household name. But before the money, the movie, and the fame, there was simply Erin Brockovich. Every fairy tale has its villains, heroes, and lessons to be learned, and Erin's story is no different. But unlike most fairy tales, Erin's story is too good not to be true. In Take It From Me, Erin shares her most personal challenges, and shows how anyone no matter how down and out can call on the inner strength that lies within us all to achieve success.

In a battle that climaxed with an astounding quarter billion dollar settlement, the drama that led up to Erin's victory was one that began when Erin was a little girl suffering from dyslexia, shyness, difficulties at school, and a taste for the wild side of life. The journey she took from Kansas to California led her down a road of self-realization, self-improvement, and self-empowerment. Drawing on the moral fiber of her heartland childhood, her inner strength (often her only resource) helped her beat overwhelming odds and overcome painful obstacles such as dead-end jobs, dead-end relationships, and loneliness. She shares her achievements and continuing struggles with life's adversities to offer readers valuable lessons for reaching their full potential no matter how dire the circumstances. Refreshing and inspiring Take It From Me illuminates a path to empowerment, self-satisfaction, and happiness anyone can follow.

Reviews

Motivational authors often tell stories of triumphing over adversity, but few become the powerful cultural icon that Brockovich has, complete with an Oscar-winning movie bearing her name. A flashy blond with a big chest, Brockovich says that people often ask how she, a single mother without a bachelor's degree or a paralegal certificate, managed to bring down the colossal PG&E for knowingly poisoning the water supply of Hinkley, Calif. She offers this book as her answer. In simple, informal prose, with a sparkling sense of humor, Brockovich describes her childhood and her wild adolescence. As important as her family, who taught her values, ethics and perseverance, was one high school teacher who recognized her dyslexia and showed her that she was smart and able to succeed, permanently changing her self-image and enabling her to graduate and enroll in fashion college. Several jobs, a few boyfriends, two husbands, three children and many hardships later, Brockovich was living in California, recovering from a car crash and in need of a job, which she found in the offices of her lawyer, and thus begins the now familiar tale. Even after the $333-million PG&E settlement, of which she received $2.5 million (before taxes), Brockovich endured an extortion attempt, a custody battle, seeing two of her children through drug rehab and having her dream house turn out to be filled with toxic mold. Her story is absorbing, and her advice is down-to-earth, accessible and heartfelt. Her "Inner Strength Workout" and "Shorthand Guide to Winning Life's Struggles" offer practical lessons in honesty, integrity, belief in oneself and "stick-to-it-iveness." Agent, Mel Berger. (Dec.)Forecast: As motivational self-help books go, this one is right up there with the best. Because of her fame (due to the movie) and her flashy style (for which she is criticized, but would she get as much attention if she were dowdy?), Brockovich is in a unique position to inspire and enlighten people. This book may crack bestseller lists.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Few first-time authors can claim the name recognition a popular, Oscar-winning film confers, and since the film was released, Brockovich has appeared with some frequency on TV chat fests and in newspaper gossip columns. So Take It from Me--written with Marc Eliot of the New York Times--arrives virtually presold to the millions captivated by the movie's saga of a dyslexic, impoverished single mom's transformation into a strong and astonishingly successful eco-warrior. Brockovich's book combines memoir and how-the-film-got-made details with the you-can-do-it-too self-help advice that has made its author a busy motivational speaker. There's nothing groundbreaking here, but Brockovich's Eliot-assisted "voice" is accessible and appealing, and many readers will find her message empowering. Mary Carroll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Brockovich explains in frank terms that she has never led a Julia Roberts happily-ever-after life. Unrecognized for years as a dyslexic, she was labeled pretty but dumb, a judgment that severely hurt her self-esteem. Before age 30, she found herself with two failed marriages, three children, and no child support. Brockovich's book details how she came to grips with changes taking place around her and, more important, inside her. She learns to "press on," as her father had taught her to do as a child. If you saw Erin Brockovich, you should read this book to discover the heartache and trauma the movie didn't cover. The book reads like a soap opera of poor choices and unfortunate consequences, which include abortion, loneliness, poverty, and manipulative ex-husbands. Still, it's a quick and easy read, full of gripping details, and will be popular in bookstores and public libraries and on talk shows. Susan Burdick, MLS, Reading, PA
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: McGraw-Hill
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0071383794
• ISBN 13: 9780071383790
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 194