Humilitas

Publisher's Summary

Humility, or holding power loosely for the sake of others, is sorely lacking in today's world. Without it, many people fail to develop their true leadership potential and miss out on genuine fulfillment in their lives and their relationships.

Humilitas: A Lost Key to Life, Love, and Leadership shows how the virtue of humility can turn your strengths into true greatness in all areas of life. Through the lessons of history, business, and the social sciences, author John Dickson shows that humility is not low self-esteem, groveling, or losing our distinct gifts. Instead, humility both recognizes our inherent worth and seeks to use whatever power we have at our disposal on behalf of others. Some of the world's most inspiring and influential players have been people of immense humility. The more we learn about humility, the more we understand how essential it is to a satisfying career and personal life. By embracing this virtue, we will transform for good the unique contributions we each make to the world.

©2011 John Dickson (P)2011 Zondervan

Humility is nearly impossible to capture in a book

As well as Humility can be recorded, described and expressed without sounding not at all humble, John Dickson has not disappointed. I am however, biased because I tend to enjoy all of his books I listen to or read. He is a very learned, capable writer, and seems to love difficult concepts to capture in the written form. He is a humble man though I think he would say he has not got a good grasp of humility at all.
John Dickson is an incredible teacher, Pastor, with an uncanny ability to capture subject matter that most would run from. I will read and listen to this book again throughout the years. I have much to learn on the matter.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Great history/value/importance/practicality of H.

Great job on the history of humility and the context out of which it arose in comparison to other ancient civilizations. Many great stories drive home the importance and value of humility. Especially insightful is his perspective and analysis's on how humility is a better remedy for contemporary society'll ills than tolerance. A must read for all college students. Finally, the author is skillful in driving home the practical implications and applications of humility for business and personal settings in contemporary life.

Deeply needed...

Great listen! I'm convinced that now more than ever this book is a gift to the 'self' generation we live in.

Top 10

This book entered my top ten list of favorite books of all times. His take on the subject is easy to read, entertaining and plain old good. It's a short listen, don't miss out!

A Bit of A Disapointment

Its great to have John Dickson narrate his own stuff as he always has plenty of personal anecdotes to illustrate his points , and when he is himself narrating, the point is really driven home in his own pleasantly endearing voice. I have read plenty of John's writings and especially like " The Best Kept Secret of Christian Mission", and "The Spectator's Guide to World Religions". All his other stuff is first-rate. I have used his "Life of Jesus" video in a Sunday School setting for adults and it went quite well--plenty of well researched and sharply presented apologetic and archaeological material on Jesus and the culture , geography,topograghy , you name it of the first century Jewish milieu that the King walked into.
However, this book is not so great. Probably, its the subject that is so difficult or even inappropriate for anyone to pin down and dissect with any amount of clarity and honesty and John Dickson makes a decent go of it but the book is somehow seriously lacking. Maybe its the many examples of business leaders and their humility that puts me off . I will be honest and admit I do not generally hold business leaders up as wonderful people. John does nicely point out the sea-change event of the appearance of Jesus Christ into a very honour , position and fame based culture and how He changed that , but that is not developed in the book enough. Again, humility is like an elusive magical butterfly. As soon as you realize its in your life it's gone. Our inherent, " Johnny is a bright good little boy " assurances that we all may have grown up with are in conflict with the real call to esteem all others as better than ourselves which is at the deep heart of humility. God knows I have not learned real humility in any deep way yet and this book helps a tad but that's all. Lately, I have been reading alot on cross-cultural Christian missions and see in some very self-sacrificing outreach people deep examples of long lasting commitment to humble service that borders on the outlandishly miraculous. And the weird thing about these people is their consistent sense of humour and some of the very funny situations their service throws them into. They have a joyous time in seemingly terrible circumstances. As examples, "There's a Sheep in My Bathtub" by Brian Hogan and " Through Her Eyes " by Marti Smith. Those books will blow you away with accounts of the humble service of everyday people.

loved it and having it in audible makes it great

having it in audible even makes it great book to listen - a big fan