Thursday, August 12, 2010

A Hero's Journey"

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Dr. Ken Davis is former professor and chair of English at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis and president of Komei, Inc., a global training and consulting firm. His clients have included the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, the Republic of Botswana, IBM, the International Monetary Fund, and the U.S. Social Security Administration. I met Ken when I lived in Indiana; we don't see each other very often but we are still friends and business associates. Ken is a passionate lover of books. Amongst his prolific activities, he teaches people how to manage business writing and he maintains a blog, Prospero's Books, about seeing the world as a whole by looking at signs, stories, systems and spirit.

I enjoyed reading Ken's succinct review of my book on Amazon.com. Thank you Ken - I value your opinion and your review means a lot to me!

A Hero's Journey, August 5, 2010
By Dr. Kenneth W. Davis (Indianapolis, IN United States)

Jack Keogh's Driving Straight on Crooked Lines is a splendid example of Joseph Campbell's "hero's journey."

The author/narrator leaves his Dublin home and family to follow a dream--to change the world as a missionary. He soon finds himself in a world of contradictions: the huts of Africa's poor and the homes of the United States' and Mexico's wealthiest families; his personal devotion and the politics of power; his vow of poverty and his superior's taste for luxury.

He ends up indeed playing a role in changing the world, and in the process, changing himself. As a result of this change, he returns to build a new home and family.

For anyone interested in the developing world, in the Catholic Church, in organizational theory, or in intercultural communication, Driving Straight provides excellent object lessons--and takes readers on an exciting journey of their own.

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