The Wise Man Said-Priya Kumar

Book: The Wise Man Said

Author: Priya Kumar

Publisher: Books That Inspire

Have you ever met someone who has changed the way you look at life?

Have you faced situations in life that have taught you valuable lessons?

Or sometimes a journey you have undertaken might have changed your life?

The Wise Man Said is a collection of 12 stories of Sammy, an 80-year old billionaire who decides to undertake a journey for 11 months in a year where he leaves behind his identity and money and allows his curiosity and his willingness to experience life as it comes.

The book opens with an introduction to Naina, an author who is facing a deadline to submit her book and failing to start the same. To get inspired, she decides to take a walk in the fields in Surrey, UK. After walking for a while, she sees an old man working in the field and feels a strange connection to the man. They start talking and Naina feels her boundaries breaking down and she starts confiding in the Old Man. She learns that his name is Sammy and that he travels for 11 months of the year leaving behind his identity and just experiences things as they come. After a while she dozes off and when she wakes up, she finds a diary next to her, signed The Wanderer and a note inside. She starts reading the book and along with her, we experience 12 stories of different adventures of Sammy and each of them has multiple emotions in it. Be it wisdom, surprise, humor or an eagerness to live, we see many of the, coming to the fore.

Priya has taken up the concept of a travelogue and penned a wonderfully inspiring book that teaches us the fundamental lessons of life. Each of the 12 stories is crisp and has a definite structure. After each story, Priya has penned down the lessons that come out of the story so that message does get across to the reader. Sammy’s experiences seem truly genuine and as a reader you imagine facing those adventures yourself. It is easy to relate to most of the stories as coming from something that the reader might have faced in his or her life as well.

Sammy is the dominating character of the story and his character is well developed. We see layers of Sammy unfold and with his character development, we get a chance to develop ourselves as well. The plot of the story is smooth as well. Despite being a motivational book, this one is refreshing and keeps the reader hooked.

The book has given something for me to work upon and I thoroughly enjoyed being a part of it.

I would rate the book 4/5.