This book was more than you normally get from a personal development book, but I still feel it fell short.

I give it credit for the necessary detail and the lack of unnecessary content. But I was left wanting more of a case to be made about the character virtues described.

Some of the historical biographies in the book are of characters we do know had “character”, but I am not convinced of the value of many of the supposed virtues involved.

Just because a character makes it into history and through the struggles of their lives, doesn’t to me translate in the necessity to emulate them.

I don’t really have a case against character. I believe it’s a byproduct of any determined life. I just am not sure this book will help in understanding or gaining character as much as experience itself.

These types of books, we do tend to read in order to skip making many of our own mistakes. I had hoped this book would provide that, useful wisdom, but I don’t think it did. 

It wasn’t a bad book. But it wasn’t great either.