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On Purpose Lessons in Life and Health from the Frog, Dung Beetle, and Julia
When Vic Strecher lost his daughter, Julia, to a rare heart disease, his world ended. Only it didn't. Vic's wife, Jeri, and older daughter, Rachael, were still very much alive, as were his two demanding careers. What did end was his worldview: one based on long-held assumptions and beliefs about life, death, disease, health, risk, and ultimate purpose-subjects on which he had been writing and speaking for years-but the validity of which he now questioned.
Vic's experience of being "broken open" (to take bestselling author Elizabeth Lesser's phrase) set him on a life transforming journey through ancient and modern philosophy, literature, psychology, neuroscience, and Egyptology. Along the way, Vic was introduced to an unlikely role model: a six-legged superhero whose unique relationship with a ball of excrement forever altered Vic's outlook. A self-help guide, college lecture, confessional, and time-travel adventure all rolled into one, On Purpose uses a beautiful, fantasy-fueled, graphic novel format to tell a story of self-discovery and personal growth you'll never forget.
From the Foreword: "Writing this book has given Vic Strecher a powerful sense of meaning. Reading it may do the same for you. It did for me. The light drives out the darkness and we can experience our world anew, filled with pleasure, joy, and meaning." - Dean Ornish, M.D.
Vic's experience of being "broken open" (to take bestselling author Elizabeth Lesser's phrase) set him on a life transforming journey through ancient and modern philosophy, literature, psychology, neuroscience, and Egyptology. Along the way, Vic was introduced to an unlikely role model: a six-legged superhero whose unique relationship with a ball of excrement forever altered Vic's outlook. A self-help guide, college lecture, confessional, and time-travel adventure all rolled into one, On Purpose uses a beautiful, fantasy-fueled, graphic novel format to tell a story of self-discovery and personal growth you'll never forget.
From the Foreword: "Writing this book has given Vic Strecher a powerful sense of meaning. Reading it may do the same for you. It did for me. The light drives out the darkness and we can experience our world anew, filled with pleasure, joy, and meaning." - Dean Ornish, M.D.
184 pages, Hardcover
First published November 23, 2013
7 people are currently reading
205 people want to read
About the author
Victor J. Strecher
9 books32 followersVic Strecher, Ph.D., M.P.H., is a professor at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health and its Director for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship. For over two decades, Vic has been a leader and visionary in the fields of health and well-being, creating new solutions that operate at the intersection of the science of behavior change and advanced technology.
A noted researcher and successful entrepreneur, Vic has cultivated a passion for connecting academic research to practical applications. In 1998, Vic created Health Media, pioneering web-based “digital health coaching.” The company set a new benchmark for scalable lifestyle and condition management program delivery. Health Media was acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 2008.
In late 2014, Vic founded JOOL Health Inc. as a major paradigm shift in how individuals engage in the pursuit of well-being while offering organizations a more insightful means to support positive, healthy change. Vic and his work have recently appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, WIRED, The Chicago Tribune, and at TEDMED and TEDx events. He lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with his wife, Jeri.
A noted researcher and successful entrepreneur, Vic has cultivated a passion for connecting academic research to practical applications. In 1998, Vic created Health Media, pioneering web-based “digital health coaching.” The company set a new benchmark for scalable lifestyle and condition management program delivery. Health Media was acquired by Johnson & Johnson in 2008.
In late 2014, Vic founded JOOL Health Inc. as a major paradigm shift in how individuals engage in the pursuit of well-being while offering organizations a more insightful means to support positive, healthy change. Vic and his work have recently appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Los Angeles Times, WIRED, The Chicago Tribune, and at TEDMED and TEDx events. He lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, with his wife, Jeri.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
October 15, 2022
I had to read this book for class, however I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a very easy and quick read, and it was very insightful. I actually feel motivated for once to apply this book to my life because it really spoke to me. I’d highly recommend, and it doesn’t take that long to read.
December 31, 2022
read for class and i just wanna reach my book goal for the year🫶🏻🫶🏻
May 3, 2018
Devastating and profound. Be ready to cry a lot.
June 10, 2025
We’re all going to die and humans are uniquely positioned (so it seems) to be aware of this fact, but we stridently avoid discussing it, at least in American culture. Uncovering the purpose of life in the face of our death then is the question that has vexed philosophers, scientists, theologians, and everyone in between since humans started thinking. Ultimately, succinctly, I think the purpose of life is to do as Welsh poet Dylan Thomas suggested, “rage, rage against the dying of the light.” We all have to find our purpose — the fulcrum upon which to rage. Perhaps, then, a fear of death is a fear of living, a fear of having not found such purpose. A fear of having gone “gentle into that good night,” to quote Thomas again. When something like grief consumes us — death or a loss of some kind — purpose can feel like a futile notion. But at the risk of utilizing the cliche, grief is love and in love one finds purpose again; it just may take more time through the grief journey. All of which is to say, Dr. Victor Strecher’s 2013 graphic novel, On Purpose, Lessons in Life and Health from the Frog, Dung Beetle, and Julia is a profound, albeit accessible, entry point into addressing one’s grief, thinking bigger than ourselves, and indeed, finding purpose.
Dr. Strecher is a professor of Health Behavior and Health Equity at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health. In 1990, his second daughter, Julia, was born and shortly thereafter, they learned she needed a heart transplant. When she was nine, she needed a second heart transplant. Unfortunately, she died in 2010. Strecher was adrift, a fitting metaphor since he begins his graphic novel with a dream involving Julia and then taking a kayak on the water to reflect on how it was time to move forward. To keep living and certainly, to be happy can feel like a betrayal of the person lost, and yet, in reality, to continue living is a beautiful tribute to the person and a continuation of their legacy. Dr. Strecher only needed to find his purpose again in a world without Julia. A friend told him the best way to begin moving forward, especially when sad, is to teach someone something. I interpret that as both a way to a.) get lost in the sauce (in a good way!), i.e., to keep busy and moving forward, and b.) through teaching others, you also learn from them, and in so doing, it can help you move forward. Dr. Strecher decided to teach about purpose, life, health, and death.
On the surface, defining health appears easy enough. To be healthy is to not be dead, for one, and to not be sick. While these negative, or external, considerations are important — in some respects, the greatest project and success of modern humans is our war upon diseases of the body with all manner of health interventions, perhaps most significantly vaccines and antibodies, ensuring more babies don’t die within five years, and extending our life expectancy — there is a whole category missing from such discourse. I said diseases and not dying are negative or external in the way that, for example, we have negative rights, i.e., protection from intervention by external actors (other people, the government). This missing category is tantamount to positive rights, then, or those items in which I’m entitled to for well-being. To slightly deviate from the analogy, the entitlement for well-being in my formulation does not so much come from government as positive rights activists would attest (such as a right to education, housing, healthcare, etc.), but rather ourselves. I have a positive duty to my health and well-being to take care of myself. Which is to say more clearly, there are lifestyle changes I can make to be healthier. Those lifestyle changes do not necessarily mitigate all external elements, environmental and genetic, but they’re a helpful part of the equation. Indeed, what is missing from only a disease-oriented measurement of our health is both our own agency in directing our health outcomes and our own perception of our health. The latter is vitally important. Dr. Strecher uses the example of Japan, where people have among the greatest longevity on earth, but also one of the highest rates of suicide anywhere in the developed world. Conversely, Costa Rica reports one of the highest rates of life satisfaction. Notwithstanding any concerns you may have about self-reporting surveys, where would you rather live? Japan or Costa Rica? Or as Dr. Strecher puts it, what motivates you, death or life? The avoidance of one or the embrace of the other?
One of the metaphors Dr. Strecher uses (again, notwithstanding if we think it’s actually true or just serves as an apt metaphor), which I think maps on to the experience of grief nicely, but is applicable to the wider conversation about health and all manner of other socio-political issues, is the frog in boiling water. As the metaphor goes, put a frog in boiling water, it’ll immediately jump out, but put it in cold water and slowly heat up the temperature, the frog will fail to notice the change and die. The onset and all-consuming nature of grief is akin to this, wherein one is traversing through Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s five stages of grief (and not necessarily in a linear fashion, importantly) and before you know it, you’ve changed. As Dr. Strecher puts it, there was who he was before Julia and who he is after Julia. They are two different people. In a real sense, the person you were before your loved one died also died with them, hence why finding renewed purpose is so essential. Of course, whether it’s the grief lens (Dr. Strecher said he wasn’t fine and didn’t want to be fine) or other ways in which the ever-heating water sneaks up on us, we tend to build walls around our perception of reality (I flipped Dr. Strecher’s thinking here, as he argues major illnesses or death, among other issues, can break down the walls of our ego). Anything that may contradict the reality is hindered by the wall. Sometimes we have a “drawbridge” that allows other information in, but it’s not as common. Change threatens our ego and thus, hits the wall of our reality because it makes us defensive. To change then is to use motivation not tied to ego, but rather our core values. This is where Dr. Strecher arrived at the concept of “self-transcendence” and the example of the dung beetle. Oh yeah, let’s go!
As the term indicates, self-transcendence focuses on that which is bigger than ourselves (our ego!). The dung beetle, a nearly holy fixture in ancient Egypt, is so dedicated to rolling its dung with purpose that Dr. Strecher argues it’s a form of self-transcendence. Finding purpose enables self-transcendence. Most have probably heard of Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. It’s a pyramid of what humans need in life from physiological needs at the bottom through safety and social needs and then to esteem needs (respect from others and self-respect) and the top is self-actualization (realizing one’s full potential). All of these are ego-based! So, Maslow came to realize there is an even higher need and that’s self-transcendence. He called such people who reach this level “transcenders,” which sounds like an awesome superhero flick. Such people are motivated by beauty and the world around them, creating patterns in disparate items. Inventors and artists fit int his category. They “exhibit humility, a sense of ignorance, a feeling of smallness, awe before the tremendousness of the universe.” That’s lovely and in my view, what ought to be our orientation! Notably though, transcenders are not necessarily “happier,” owing to the disparity they see between the world as it is and the world as it ought to be. Maslow called it a “cosmic sadness,” which is another lovely, if melancholic phrase. Ultimately, I think one of our purposes in life is to always be striving toward the ideal life. (Related to health, quoting Aldous Huxley, Dr. Strecher said people can attempt to escape their ego through descending, i.e., alcohol and drugs.)
This all seems lofty, right? Nobody sits around thinking about higher ideals and the good life in this transcendent way, right? But we all need purpose. Moreover, Dr. Strecher makes the argument that scientific studies have shown having purpose makes us more resilient, and appears to prevent disease and premature mortality. In a manner of speaking then, our perception of our health influences our health. Psychiatrists are in the back of the room nodding their heads.
Core values that could be important to someone include romance, adventure, community, family, spirituality, integrity, generosity, etc. An example of a transcending purpose is to “be a gentleman,” as one character in the book seeks. Which is to say, moving toward the ideal world would be imbuing it with more gentleness and less “manliness.” Purpose helps to guide us when we’re lost, adrift in grief or otherwise. Dr. Strecher uses a sandwich shop’s mission statement as example of how the business grounds itself when lost, “Showing love and care in all our actions to enrich as many lives as we possibly can.” For his part, Dr. Strecher found two new purposes: a.) reconnecting with his wife and his other daughter, Rachael (letting them in again!), and b.) helping others to find their purpose, such as through this very graphic novel.
Purpose is an interesting question, of course. Vaguely at the top of this review, I said the purpose of life is to “rage, rage against the dying of the light,” but the purpose within that purpose for myself is to give. Of my time, my attention and energies, my monies, and even my body (I’m a living kidney donor). To give with no expectation of anything in return is the greatest gift I can imagine and as such, a great purpose to pursue. Core values I hold to undergirding it (the roots of this purpose) are ones of community, generosity, compassion, courage, and integrity (giving implies commitment and maintaining commitment involves integrity) to name a few. So then, I live out that purpose by giving in big and small ways, sometimes directly (the person knows) and sometimes anonymously (my preference!).
Dr. Strecher’s graphic novel ended fittingly with where it began: a dream involving Julia. He’s mournful Julia didn’t get to live; he tells her he would have given his life for her to live. She retorts, “But you did, Dad. You and Mom gave me a full life.” The book ends with them admiring the sun setting (one of the transcendent observations that contributes to a feeling of smallness, or ego-smashing) and then jumping toward the sun on lily pads like frogs. He asks Julia if he had a choice in his “nice jump.” Julia remarks, “Of course, You did it on purpose!” I was teary-eyed. Beautiful and profound. Julia’s life was not measured in years. To quote one of the characters in the book, it’s the life in the years, not the years in the life.
Anyone going through grief or a loss of some kind or otherwise feeling marooned within themselves (their ego!), I highly encourage them to read Dr. Strecher’s graphic novel. He presents difficult concepts in easy-to-understand ways — he used dung beetles, after all! — and he may motivate you to move beyond the walls of your ego into transcendence.
Dr. Strecher is a professor of Health Behavior and Health Equity at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health. In 1990, his second daughter, Julia, was born and shortly thereafter, they learned she needed a heart transplant. When she was nine, she needed a second heart transplant. Unfortunately, she died in 2010. Strecher was adrift, a fitting metaphor since he begins his graphic novel with a dream involving Julia and then taking a kayak on the water to reflect on how it was time to move forward. To keep living and certainly, to be happy can feel like a betrayal of the person lost, and yet, in reality, to continue living is a beautiful tribute to the person and a continuation of their legacy. Dr. Strecher only needed to find his purpose again in a world without Julia. A friend told him the best way to begin moving forward, especially when sad, is to teach someone something. I interpret that as both a way to a.) get lost in the sauce (in a good way!), i.e., to keep busy and moving forward, and b.) through teaching others, you also learn from them, and in so doing, it can help you move forward. Dr. Strecher decided to teach about purpose, life, health, and death.
On the surface, defining health appears easy enough. To be healthy is to not be dead, for one, and to not be sick. While these negative, or external, considerations are important — in some respects, the greatest project and success of modern humans is our war upon diseases of the body with all manner of health interventions, perhaps most significantly vaccines and antibodies, ensuring more babies don’t die within five years, and extending our life expectancy — there is a whole category missing from such discourse. I said diseases and not dying are negative or external in the way that, for example, we have negative rights, i.e., protection from intervention by external actors (other people, the government). This missing category is tantamount to positive rights, then, or those items in which I’m entitled to for well-being. To slightly deviate from the analogy, the entitlement for well-being in my formulation does not so much come from government as positive rights activists would attest (such as a right to education, housing, healthcare, etc.), but rather ourselves. I have a positive duty to my health and well-being to take care of myself. Which is to say more clearly, there are lifestyle changes I can make to be healthier. Those lifestyle changes do not necessarily mitigate all external elements, environmental and genetic, but they’re a helpful part of the equation. Indeed, what is missing from only a disease-oriented measurement of our health is both our own agency in directing our health outcomes and our own perception of our health. The latter is vitally important. Dr. Strecher uses the example of Japan, where people have among the greatest longevity on earth, but also one of the highest rates of suicide anywhere in the developed world. Conversely, Costa Rica reports one of the highest rates of life satisfaction. Notwithstanding any concerns you may have about self-reporting surveys, where would you rather live? Japan or Costa Rica? Or as Dr. Strecher puts it, what motivates you, death or life? The avoidance of one or the embrace of the other?
One of the metaphors Dr. Strecher uses (again, notwithstanding if we think it’s actually true or just serves as an apt metaphor), which I think maps on to the experience of grief nicely, but is applicable to the wider conversation about health and all manner of other socio-political issues, is the frog in boiling water. As the metaphor goes, put a frog in boiling water, it’ll immediately jump out, but put it in cold water and slowly heat up the temperature, the frog will fail to notice the change and die. The onset and all-consuming nature of grief is akin to this, wherein one is traversing through Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s five stages of grief (and not necessarily in a linear fashion, importantly) and before you know it, you’ve changed. As Dr. Strecher puts it, there was who he was before Julia and who he is after Julia. They are two different people. In a real sense, the person you were before your loved one died also died with them, hence why finding renewed purpose is so essential. Of course, whether it’s the grief lens (Dr. Strecher said he wasn’t fine and didn’t want to be fine) or other ways in which the ever-heating water sneaks up on us, we tend to build walls around our perception of reality (I flipped Dr. Strecher’s thinking here, as he argues major illnesses or death, among other issues, can break down the walls of our ego). Anything that may contradict the reality is hindered by the wall. Sometimes we have a “drawbridge” that allows other information in, but it’s not as common. Change threatens our ego and thus, hits the wall of our reality because it makes us defensive. To change then is to use motivation not tied to ego, but rather our core values. This is where Dr. Strecher arrived at the concept of “self-transcendence” and the example of the dung beetle. Oh yeah, let’s go!
As the term indicates, self-transcendence focuses on that which is bigger than ourselves (our ego!). The dung beetle, a nearly holy fixture in ancient Egypt, is so dedicated to rolling its dung with purpose that Dr. Strecher argues it’s a form of self-transcendence. Finding purpose enables self-transcendence. Most have probably heard of Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. It’s a pyramid of what humans need in life from physiological needs at the bottom through safety and social needs and then to esteem needs (respect from others and self-respect) and the top is self-actualization (realizing one’s full potential). All of these are ego-based! So, Maslow came to realize there is an even higher need and that’s self-transcendence. He called such people who reach this level “transcenders,” which sounds like an awesome superhero flick. Such people are motivated by beauty and the world around them, creating patterns in disparate items. Inventors and artists fit int his category. They “exhibit humility, a sense of ignorance, a feeling of smallness, awe before the tremendousness of the universe.” That’s lovely and in my view, what ought to be our orientation! Notably though, transcenders are not necessarily “happier,” owing to the disparity they see between the world as it is and the world as it ought to be. Maslow called it a “cosmic sadness,” which is another lovely, if melancholic phrase. Ultimately, I think one of our purposes in life is to always be striving toward the ideal life. (Related to health, quoting Aldous Huxley, Dr. Strecher said people can attempt to escape their ego through descending, i.e., alcohol and drugs.)
This all seems lofty, right? Nobody sits around thinking about higher ideals and the good life in this transcendent way, right? But we all need purpose. Moreover, Dr. Strecher makes the argument that scientific studies have shown having purpose makes us more resilient, and appears to prevent disease and premature mortality. In a manner of speaking then, our perception of our health influences our health. Psychiatrists are in the back of the room nodding their heads.
Core values that could be important to someone include romance, adventure, community, family, spirituality, integrity, generosity, etc. An example of a transcending purpose is to “be a gentleman,” as one character in the book seeks. Which is to say, moving toward the ideal world would be imbuing it with more gentleness and less “manliness.” Purpose helps to guide us when we’re lost, adrift in grief or otherwise. Dr. Strecher uses a sandwich shop’s mission statement as example of how the business grounds itself when lost, “Showing love and care in all our actions to enrich as many lives as we possibly can.” For his part, Dr. Strecher found two new purposes: a.) reconnecting with his wife and his other daughter, Rachael (letting them in again!), and b.) helping others to find their purpose, such as through this very graphic novel.
Purpose is an interesting question, of course. Vaguely at the top of this review, I said the purpose of life is to “rage, rage against the dying of the light,” but the purpose within that purpose for myself is to give. Of my time, my attention and energies, my monies, and even my body (I’m a living kidney donor). To give with no expectation of anything in return is the greatest gift I can imagine and as such, a great purpose to pursue. Core values I hold to undergirding it (the roots of this purpose) are ones of community, generosity, compassion, courage, and integrity (giving implies commitment and maintaining commitment involves integrity) to name a few. So then, I live out that purpose by giving in big and small ways, sometimes directly (the person knows) and sometimes anonymously (my preference!).
Dr. Strecher’s graphic novel ended fittingly with where it began: a dream involving Julia. He’s mournful Julia didn’t get to live; he tells her he would have given his life for her to live. She retorts, “But you did, Dad. You and Mom gave me a full life.” The book ends with them admiring the sun setting (one of the transcendent observations that contributes to a feeling of smallness, or ego-smashing) and then jumping toward the sun on lily pads like frogs. He asks Julia if he had a choice in his “nice jump.” Julia remarks, “Of course, You did it on purpose!” I was teary-eyed. Beautiful and profound. Julia’s life was not measured in years. To quote one of the characters in the book, it’s the life in the years, not the years in the life.
Anyone going through grief or a loss of some kind or otherwise feeling marooned within themselves (their ego!), I highly encourage them to read Dr. Strecher’s graphic novel. He presents difficult concepts in easy-to-understand ways — he used dung beetles, after all! — and he may motivate you to move beyond the walls of your ego into transcendence.
July 25, 2017
This is a profound book, and don't let the format fool you - publishing this as a graphic novel was an inspired choice. The visuals actually add depth and complexity, bringing the ideas to life in a new and different way. It can be read in an hour, but deserves to be thought deeply about over time and put into practice over a lifetime.
I have heard Vic Strecher speak on this topic, and worked with him as a presenter for a training program I ran a couple of years ago. He is genuine, creative, and passionate about helping people find their purpose.
I can't recommend this book strongly enough.
I have heard Vic Strecher speak on this topic, and worked with him as a presenter for a training program I ran a couple of years ago. He is genuine, creative, and passionate about helping people find their purpose.
I can't recommend this book strongly enough.
January 27, 2023
I was skeptical that a graphic novel could go into much depth or be as thought-provoking as a more traditional non-fiction book on life and meaning but I was wrong, at least about the second part. It absolutely did provoke me to reflect on what I believe, what my core values are, and my purpose. A quote that sums up much of what the author wants to convey comes from Nietzshe who wrote: "He who has a why to live for can bear almost any how." The author uses a series of characters - a frog in boiling water, a dung beetle, and the grim reaper - and graphic art to talk about how focusing on our values helps us overcome our ego and experience self-transcendence, building in us a sense of connection to something bigger than us. The author, Victor J. Strecher, leans heavily on science and research and seems very keen to make sure readers do not see this as about religion or spirituality. That is probably my one critique of the book. It places science and Western philosophy as superior and maybe even in conflict with spirituality and religion instead of seeing them as different ways of understanding and experiencing reality. The number of thinkers and philosphers he quotes is impressive but there is a definite bias for Western or "Global North" (i.e. from North America and Europe) sources. This centering of science and Western philosophy probably makes his message more compelling to many readers who share his bias. All in all, it stirred a lot of thoughts in me about what I believe and why I believe it which is why I thought it deserved four stars.
Finally, while the graphic novel format does put limits on how deeply Strecher can delve into any one idea,the notes at the end of the book are helpful and include lots of references to other resources the reader can look into.
Finally, while the graphic novel format does put limits on how deeply Strecher can delve into any one idea,the notes at the end of the book are helpful and include lots of references to other resources the reader can look into.
April 11, 2022
First, I recommend that you skip the introduction, which ruins the plot of the book and is heavy-handed and preachy.
Unfortunately, I read the intro. It caused me to start the book with a sour notes, and since I already knew what would happen, I found it difficult to care. There is a certain sweetness to it, but it never rose to the level of creating empathy. It also has a problem with cliches, using the old boiling frog anecdote and the grim reaper as a character. Even so, there are parts that I felt were useful-- primarily its discussion of the three kinds of transcendence.
Unfortunately, I read the intro. It caused me to start the book with a sour notes, and since I already knew what would happen, I found it difficult to care. There is a certain sweetness to it, but it never rose to the level of creating empathy. It also has a problem with cliches, using the old boiling frog anecdote and the grim reaper as a character. Even so, there are parts that I felt were useful-- primarily its discussion of the three kinds of transcendence.
March 1, 2022
I had to read this for a class in human ecology, and it gives you a lot to think about. Probably some of the most complex stuff there is to life, but a bitter sweet reality to who we are and how we live. As someone with a lot of anxiety about death, this is a calming perspective worth understanding.
October 19, 2024
In 1 ruk uitgelezen. Dat kon ook makkelijk, want het is een stripboek. Maar wat voor een! Boordevol uitspraken waarop je dagen, weken kan kauwen. Het gaat over (het belang van) het vinden van en hebben van een levens bestemming. En wat dat kan betekenen als je te maken hebt (gehad) met trauma. Voor mij is het een boek van hoop. Aanrader! Ik ga weer opnieuw beginnen. Als in: nu.
October 9, 2019
Not what I thought it would be. Better.
May 15, 2020
Interesting premise, fair-to-middling delivery.
August 6, 2016
The book is impressive on many counts. It is a graphic novel, stunningly illustrated by Kody Chamberlain. The book stands on its own, although it has a companion piece written in a more traditional vein. Both books revolves around—and are propelled by—Strecher’s gut-wrenching experience of losing his daughter, Julie. Paralyzed by grief, he spent a great deal of effort coming to grips with his loss before returning to his active life as an academic. During his many months of active mourning, Vic Strecher studied the work of artists, scientists, thinkers and philosophers—from ancient to current times: Aristotle, Socrates, Seneca, Nietzsche, Camus, Kierkegaard, Shaw, Mozart. He devoured their work in an effort to stay afloat, to find meaning and purpose in life. That journey transformed him and his work. He now calls upon others, including the many who helped him on his journey, to identify, find, and adopt purpose. In order to drive home his point, he wears his heart on his sleeve, calls upon Julia to inspire him, and works to ensure that that the death of his daughter 6 years ago, at age 19, was not in vain. Her life, her energy, and the love they shared inform almost everything he says and does.
Through the course of mourning, while reading voraciously, he looked to find out what, if anything, was the purpose in, essentially, repeatedly pushing the rock up the hill, knowing it will only roll back down. He discovered that Albert Camus, the French existentialist and Nobel laureate, posited that Sisyphus DID have a purpose in life. Pushing that rock up the hill WAS his purpose—nevermind that he’d need to repeat the task everlastingly. In considering Sisyphus, Strecher stumbled on a parallel: the dung beetle, too, occupies itself (forever) in what seems a thankless, purposeless task. Its life-long occupation is to form and then roll a ball of dung to its destination. It is notable that farmers import dung beetles to help nourish their land, rather than use other methods that might bring unpleasant consequences. In a curious, additional note, Strecher informs us that the dung beetle is always guided by the North Star. It is the only creature on earth that navigates by the stars. Using the dung beetle as his wise protagonist, “Winston,” Strecher learns—and teaches his readers—to apply the same lessons to their own lives. People with purpose are happier and healthier than those without. People with purpose live longer. These are incontrovertibly appealing goals.
Stretcher was already an accomplished behavioral scientist, teaching at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health, when he lost his daughter. Though her death hit him hard, it wasn't entirely unexpected. She had her first heart transplant when she was less than a year old. Her second heart transplant occurred 9 years later. Before that second transplant, the doctors gave her up for dead. By some miracle, she came back to life.
Stretcher likes quoting her. Shortly before dying (in her sleep, of a heart attack), she said: "I'm so happy I could die right now!" In some respects, those words represent a kind of "mission accomplished" validation. Her parents had long struggled with how they might ensure that they helped give their daughter a life worth living. Clearly they did. And now, in turn, she helps them.
Through the course of mourning, while reading voraciously, he looked to find out what, if anything, was the purpose in, essentially, repeatedly pushing the rock up the hill, knowing it will only roll back down. He discovered that Albert Camus, the French existentialist and Nobel laureate, posited that Sisyphus DID have a purpose in life. Pushing that rock up the hill WAS his purpose—nevermind that he’d need to repeat the task everlastingly. In considering Sisyphus, Strecher stumbled on a parallel: the dung beetle, too, occupies itself (forever) in what seems a thankless, purposeless task. Its life-long occupation is to form and then roll a ball of dung to its destination. It is notable that farmers import dung beetles to help nourish their land, rather than use other methods that might bring unpleasant consequences. In a curious, additional note, Strecher informs us that the dung beetle is always guided by the North Star. It is the only creature on earth that navigates by the stars. Using the dung beetle as his wise protagonist, “Winston,” Strecher learns—and teaches his readers—to apply the same lessons to their own lives. People with purpose are happier and healthier than those without. People with purpose live longer. These are incontrovertibly appealing goals.
Stretcher was already an accomplished behavioral scientist, teaching at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health, when he lost his daughter. Though her death hit him hard, it wasn't entirely unexpected. She had her first heart transplant when she was less than a year old. Her second heart transplant occurred 9 years later. Before that second transplant, the doctors gave her up for dead. By some miracle, she came back to life.
Stretcher likes quoting her. Shortly before dying (in her sleep, of a heart attack), she said: "I'm so happy I could die right now!" In some respects, those words represent a kind of "mission accomplished" validation. Her parents had long struggled with how they might ensure that they helped give their daughter a life worth living. Clearly they did. And now, in turn, she helps them.
February 26, 2015
This was my first graphic novel. Certainly makes it easier to convey his message. I found the novel enlightening in certain areas but hard to understand some of the psychological concepts. Overall a sad tone as he was really working through a tough personal situation.
March 24, 2015
A simple book, but nonetheless full of many truths worth remembering. The author's resilience in the wake of tremendous loss is a powerful reminder that if we remain focused on the meaning in our lives we can overcome anything. The illustrations are also a real treat.
June 12, 2015
Loved the book and even the format (despite having never read a graphic novel before). I just wish that the book went more in depth--it felt like it just scratched the surface. It was a great introduction but I wish there was a sequel that delved further.
May 7, 2014
This book made me consider the importance of creating my own personal mission or purpose in life...
October 24, 2014
Please don't think that because this is a graphic novel that it is not profound. Read it, and reflect on your own purpose int life....
December 21, 2014
This was a great book with wonderful takeaways. Also enlightened me to what a graphic novel really is :)
January 31, 2016
This is a great book everyone should read
June 28, 2016
Easy read, graphics are nice. Cannot wait to see this professor speak in person, many many tell me that he is awesome to go see.
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September 25, 2016Not particularly ground-breaking ideas, but beneficial to read nonetheless for its composition, quotations, and thorough citations.
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