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61 reviews for:
The Heart and the Fist: The Education of a Humanitarian, the Making of a Navy Seal
Eric Greitens
3.93 AVERAGE
61 reviews for:
The Heart and the Fist: The Education of a Humanitarian, the Making of a Navy Seal
Eric Greitens
3.93 AVERAGE
If you're a pacifist, or just any nonviolent person wanting to understand warriors, pick up this book. ❤️
As someone with a close relationship to warriordom, I deeply identified with so much of this book. It shows why someone might choose to be a soldier, and why - so long as aggressors exist in the world - we will always need warriors to protect the weak, the vulnerable, and all those who cannot or will not fight for themselves.
The heart of a true warrior will be made of the same stuff as humanitarians, but with that restless drive for adventure that gives them the boldness to face danger on behalf of others. Compassion. Honor. Gentleness. Resilience. Empathy.
This is one of those rare kinds of books that took me on a personal journey. I wrestled with it. I ached with it. I put it down for months, trying to sort out my beliefs, my convictions, my feelings about so many things it touches on.
There are problems with the U.S. military. So many problems. But this book highlights the things that are good about it. It captures the heart of what our military should be, can be, and in many cases, has been.
And more importantly, it captures the heart of what it means to be a true warrior. The kind we need more of in this world.
The kind I deeply hope to be.
As someone with a close relationship to warriordom, I deeply identified with so much of this book. It shows why someone might choose to be a soldier, and why - so long as aggressors exist in the world - we will always need warriors to protect the weak, the vulnerable, and all those who cannot or will not fight for themselves.
The heart of a true warrior will be made of the same stuff as humanitarians, but with that restless drive for adventure that gives them the boldness to face danger on behalf of others. Compassion. Honor. Gentleness. Resilience. Empathy.
This is one of those rare kinds of books that took me on a personal journey. I wrestled with it. I ached with it. I put it down for months, trying to sort out my beliefs, my convictions, my feelings about so many things it touches on.
There are problems with the U.S. military. So many problems. But this book highlights the things that are good about it. It captures the heart of what our military should be, can be, and in many cases, has been.
And more importantly, it captures the heart of what it means to be a true warrior. The kind we need more of in this world.
The kind I deeply hope to be.
Humanitarian. Boxer. Scholar. Soldier.
Eric Greitens has done more in his life than most, to be sure. He taught English in China, volunteered to help refugees and orphans in Bosnia, Rwanda, Bolivia, the Gaza Strip, and India (at Mother Theresa's Homes for the Destitute and the Dying), went to Duke University where he learned to box, was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford where he won boxing championships, and then trained to become a Navy SEAL in 2001 (just before the September 11th attacks) and has served in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. Now he runs an organization that helps veterans continue to serve others once they return home.
I was inspired by the first portion about his humanitarian efforts and how he learned to box, but he started to lose me with the BUD/S training and his military service. I agree with his general idea that being an effective leader and all around good person takes compassion and strength, but I wish he would have described more thoroughly his basis for such a firm moral compass.
Eric Greitens has done more in his life than most, to be sure. He taught English in China, volunteered to help refugees and orphans in Bosnia, Rwanda, Bolivia, the Gaza Strip, and India (at Mother Theresa's Homes for the Destitute and the Dying), went to Duke University where he learned to box, was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford where he won boxing championships, and then trained to become a Navy SEAL in 2001 (just before the September 11th attacks) and has served in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. Now he runs an organization that helps veterans continue to serve others once they return home.
I was inspired by the first portion about his humanitarian efforts and how he learned to box, but he started to lose me with the BUD/S training and his military service. I agree with his general idea that being an effective leader and all around good person takes compassion and strength, but I wish he would have described more thoroughly his basis for such a firm moral compass.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
informative
inspiring
sad
fast-paced
Interesting book. Greitens is a good story teller. However, there are just too many stories in this book, making the end lessons less clear. This book would be much better if it was more condensed. I almost image this would be a better movie.
A couple of weeks ago at the Seattle airport I bought a book. A hardcover book. For full price. I never do that. But there were two compelling factors: (1) I had somehow neglected to bring enough reading material for my trip and (2) one book in particular caught my eye, both for subject matter and, yes, excellent cover art. The book is called The Heart and the Fist: The education of a humanitarian, the making of a Navy SEAL and it’s a relatively new release.
It’s the story of Eric Greitens, who has some deeply life-altering experiences in some of the poorest, most difficult places in the world — meeting orphans following the genocide in Rwanda, street children in Bolivia, the dying at Mother Teresa’s home in Calcutta, and refugees of war in Bosnia. He obviously had — and has — strong humanitarian impulses. But after all of these experiences, and following a stint as a Rhodes scholar at Oxford, he became a Navy SEAL...
- See more at: http://tjhoiland.com/wordpress/2011/06/compassion-war
It’s the story of Eric Greitens, who has some deeply life-altering experiences in some of the poorest, most difficult places in the world — meeting orphans following the genocide in Rwanda, street children in Bolivia, the dying at Mother Teresa’s home in Calcutta, and refugees of war in Bosnia. He obviously had — and has — strong humanitarian impulses. But after all of these experiences, and following a stint as a Rhodes scholar at Oxford, he became a Navy SEAL...
- See more at: http://tjhoiland.com/wordpress/2011/06/compassion-war
Another book for school! Yeeeeaaayyyyy (heavy sarcasm). This is a good book though. Truly, I recommend it, just because it's an important read. Similar to Kindred, which is another book I had to read for class, I feel like this book should be read just because it contains important lessons and important things to think about.
The reason I only give it three stars, however, is just my personal enjoyment. The book is never really DRY, per-say, but I just personally prefer fiction books to nonfiction. It's nothing against the actual book itself.
The reason I only give it three stars, however, is just my personal enjoyment. The book is never really DRY, per-say, but I just personally prefer fiction books to nonfiction. It's nothing against the actual book itself.
Very interesting book--geography, military, and philosophy
For the Brookings Community One-Read for 2013, Eric Greitens will be coming to our town in November speak about his humanitarian efforts abroad. His book asks a difficult and sensitive question, and portrays the concept of foreign aid in multiple lights to do so: at what point does humanitarian aid best occur through the killing of enemy soldiers? While the book never really made that the major issue of its narrative, focusing instead on the experiences of a pre- and post-Navy SEAL, the back matter editorializes just enough to bring the concern through to the reader. Without that blurb, the question goes unanswered in lieu of the personal narrative of Greitens as he travels from one place to the other, allowing his experiences to shape his worldview and his impetus to act.
The moral dimension of the question and of the experiences that Greitens relates are significant, but the structure of the novel was far more episodic than a typical memoir, in which formative experiences are related to a reader around a single maxim or life discipline and its formation. The detail with which Greitens writes is impressive, especially as he relates SEAL training to his reader. I've seen G.I. JANE, and I likewise had a book on Navy SEALS when I was a boy, but the depth of the endurances that a candidate must tolerate was far more engaging than other SEAL narratives I have happened across. Had he chosen to relate his experiences through just his SEAL training, the book loses its disorganized episodic feel, and becomes about mental toughness in the face of immediate adversity. Greitens never really pulls that thread through the other experiences, and the impact of the experiences as a whole loses its impact.
In the end, it was a quick read, but it lacked the power that the reviews promise. The book connected me to the intensity of foreign aid, but encouraged me to think about such things in no new way. I learned about SEAL training, but not why such training matters to global peace. His talk should cast some light on the transition from soldier to humanitarian--and vice versa--but I still am left, at least by his book, wanting to understand how to answer the question the book apparently asks.
The moral dimension of the question and of the experiences that Greitens relates are significant, but the structure of the novel was far more episodic than a typical memoir, in which formative experiences are related to a reader around a single maxim or life discipline and its formation. The detail with which Greitens writes is impressive, especially as he relates SEAL training to his reader. I've seen G.I. JANE, and I likewise had a book on Navy SEALS when I was a boy, but the depth of the endurances that a candidate must tolerate was far more engaging than other SEAL narratives I have happened across. Had he chosen to relate his experiences through just his SEAL training, the book loses its disorganized episodic feel, and becomes about mental toughness in the face of immediate adversity. Greitens never really pulls that thread through the other experiences, and the impact of the experiences as a whole loses its impact.
In the end, it was a quick read, but it lacked the power that the reviews promise. The book connected me to the intensity of foreign aid, but encouraged me to think about such things in no new way. I learned about SEAL training, but not why such training matters to global peace. His talk should cast some light on the transition from soldier to humanitarian--and vice versa--but I still am left, at least by his book, wanting to understand how to answer the question the book apparently asks.
I didn't really know what to expect from this book. It's not something I picked up on my own; it's a selection for my common reader committee. I ended up liking it much more than I thought it would. I learned a lot about how Navy SEALS train and operate along with some context to add to my slim knowledge of recent American military exploits. I really enjoyed hearing about the author's experience at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. (And I grew green with envy when he talked about attending a reading party. A READING PARTY. This a thing where people hang out in a cabin, read books, and discuss them in the evening. My new goal in life is to attend or throw one of these. Something that combines READING and PARTY --best idea ever.)
I like that Greitens leaves for the complexity and ambiguity that surrounds issues of modern warfare. He doesn't shy away from saying what (in his experience) the military does badly and what it does well. It's written not as a defense of the Navy SEALS as a humanitarian organization, but as an argument for living with intention and purpose. At the end of the book we find out he has founded an organization that gives fellowships to wounded veterans who want to volunteer in their communities.
It's one of those books that I want to discuss upon finishing. Someone out there read this, and I'll buy you a cup of coffee and we'll discuss.
I like that Greitens leaves for the complexity and ambiguity that surrounds issues of modern warfare. He doesn't shy away from saying what (in his experience) the military does badly and what it does well. It's written not as a defense of the Navy SEALS as a humanitarian organization, but as an argument for living with intention and purpose. At the end of the book we find out he has founded an organization that gives fellowships to wounded veterans who want to volunteer in their communities.
It's one of those books that I want to discuss upon finishing. Someone out there read this, and I'll buy you a cup of coffee and we'll discuss.