Advice My Parents Gave Me and Other Lessons I Learned from My Mistakes

Rodolfo Costa
AuthorHouse (2009)
ISBN 9781449025526
Reviewed by William Phenn for Reader Views (12/09)


Not only has the author learned from his mistakes, but he has written a book about it.  With a nice peppering of his own views, advice and ideas on life, this collection of 409 thoughts, quotes, ideas, lessons, suggestions, words of advice and reminders is the next best thing to a “Bartlett’s Quotations.” I use Bartlett’s as a mild comparison because the book contains quotes from some famous people. It is actually much more than that. It is a book full of life lessons - a collection of quotes from the author on how to live life, with a mixture of quotes borrowed from many others.

Mr. Costa is inspirational in what he tells the reader. He emphasizes positive thinking and self esteem. Another specific in his advice is goal setting; Rodolfo instructs the reader to set goals and to stick with it. He reminds the reader to never stop learning, to read as much as they can and to study and observe. His philosophy on finance and spiritual growth was another interesting point of view, as was his suggestion that we should learn to relax, to take time for ourselves.

“Let the cell phone rest and give yourself a break,” is just one of his many suggestions. (In a perfect world, that would be a very nice thing to do.) It sounds wonderful in theory but this is what Rodolfo is saying that we have to do in the grand scheme of things.

My favorite quote in the book is number 403: “You are not growing old; you are only growing more experienced.”

I keep telling that to my kids but they insist that I am just plain, “Old.”

Mr. Costa’s book is 120 pages of suggestions for living your life as a better human being. Young or old, “Advice My Parents Gave Me and Other Lessons I Learned from My Mistakes” by Rodolfo Costa will appeal to anyone that is interested in ideas to better one’s self.  I gave it an overall A and thought it very fitting reading for this day and age.

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