Beating the Marriage Odds Book Review
Bring It On Communications sent me Beating the Marriage Odds by William R. Campbell to read and review. It is published by Deep River Books in Sisters, Oregon(I didn't even know there was a city named Sisters) in 2009. After reading my review, if you're interested in getting a copy of this book for yourself, here's the ISBN number: 1-935265-03-2. It is available from Amazon.com for about $11.
Beating the Marriage Odds can be for an engaged couple, an already married couple who needs to review some marriage basics, or for a Christian counselor to use as a pre-marital counseling guide. Each chapter focuses on different aspects of marriage and ends with a principle to sum up the chapter and Scripture references to back it up. Also, throughout the book, the author references several other books that you can go to for additional help on a specific topic or principle. The end of the book has a review of all of the principles from each chapter, and review questions and answers for each chapter. There is also a wedding planner form and an outline for a counselor to use, broken into four counseling sessions.
There are several things that I liked about this book. I like that a lot of his examples of situations that other couples have gone through are usually taken from real couples, including the author and his wife. I like that Chapter 4 "True Love" includes a section on salvation, because any time someone is presenting Christian principles is a great time to talk about salvation! Chapter 6 is about communication and it includes a running example of a fictional couple - I found this chapter very helpful. I also liked Chapter 13 "Advice for Troubled Times," when the author explained the different types of counselors available and where you can find them. He doesn't just tell you to get help and leave you hanging, he actually gives you practical resources.
There is only one thing about the book I didn't like. Several times within each chapter, the author refers to a previous or future chapter for additional info. on a topic he mentions. I didn't like that because I don't want to keep flipping back and forth in the book to find out what the author is referring to. I'd rather be able to just read through it all the first time, and then go back to whatever topics peaked my interest.
Overall, I thing Beating the Marriage Odds is a great book. I've been married 15 years and I found some helpful advice in it, but I think the book is best for engaged couples and a great resource for pre-marital counselors. If you would like to look at the book from the publisher's website click here.
Beating the Marriage Odds can be for an engaged couple, an already married couple who needs to review some marriage basics, or for a Christian counselor to use as a pre-marital counseling guide. Each chapter focuses on different aspects of marriage and ends with a principle to sum up the chapter and Scripture references to back it up. Also, throughout the book, the author references several other books that you can go to for additional help on a specific topic or principle. The end of the book has a review of all of the principles from each chapter, and review questions and answers for each chapter. There is also a wedding planner form and an outline for a counselor to use, broken into four counseling sessions.
There are several things that I liked about this book. I like that a lot of his examples of situations that other couples have gone through are usually taken from real couples, including the author and his wife. I like that Chapter 4 "True Love" includes a section on salvation, because any time someone is presenting Christian principles is a great time to talk about salvation! Chapter 6 is about communication and it includes a running example of a fictional couple - I found this chapter very helpful. I also liked Chapter 13 "Advice for Troubled Times," when the author explained the different types of counselors available and where you can find them. He doesn't just tell you to get help and leave you hanging, he actually gives you practical resources.
There is only one thing about the book I didn't like. Several times within each chapter, the author refers to a previous or future chapter for additional info. on a topic he mentions. I didn't like that because I don't want to keep flipping back and forth in the book to find out what the author is referring to. I'd rather be able to just read through it all the first time, and then go back to whatever topics peaked my interest.
Overall, I thing Beating the Marriage Odds is a great book. I've been married 15 years and I found some helpful advice in it, but I think the book is best for engaged couples and a great resource for pre-marital counselors. If you would like to look at the book from the publisher's website click here.
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