Phil Vischer

Me, Myself, & Bob follows Phil Vischer through his childhood and then the spectacular rise and tragic fall of his company, Big Ideas, which produced the much-loved (at least in my household!) Veggie Tales animated video series. Phil explores his nerdy but entertaining childhood and his passionate dream to build a media empire for God. We meet Larry, the cucumber, and Bob, the tomato, and learn how Phil used lattice deformation to animate his characters. We discover who the voices were behind show more Jr., the asparagus, and the silly Pirates Who Don't Do Anything. Very witty, with insights mirroring Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers conclusions, we watch how Phil developed his individual talents and then how he ultimately failed to incorporate his vision into his company. Written with a light hand (as in both funny and not overly religious), this is a wonderful book about a great vision and a great guy and I wish him lots of future success with his new company Jellyfish Labs. show less

I have never seen a VeggieTales video, but I’ve heard of them. And even though I wasn’t really interested in reading about how this business was created and became a success in the world of children’s videos, what did intrigue me was how author and VeggieTales founder Phil Vischer described his experience building a business – told his story of how God used his failures and the death of a dream to point him to true success.

Despite the not-very-interesting-to-me business descriptions show more of profit and loss, what kept me turning the pages was the personable writing style and the story of Phil’s heartfelt pursuit of his dream to change the world for Christ. We have the hindsight to see his mistakes and poor decisions as he grew VeggieTales, and it isn’t until the conclusion that we learn this book originated as a commencement address – and he only wrote it at the urging of many people who heard his story and thought he should share it with as many people as possible.

Whether or not you have any familiarity with VeggieTales or other children’s faith-based video series, this is a fascinating memoir of a man with a dream who learned through his inspiring success and breathtaking failure to really listen to God’s voice. As the book jacket says, “Phil shares an amazing story that shows how God can use our failures and the death of a dream to point us toward true success.” show less

This is just about the perfect picture book for Christian parents and teachers to read to their kids. So many Christian kids' books are preachy, cartoonish, or just...um, not high quality. The illustrations by Justin Gerard are wonderfully appropriate, and the pigs are...very much like you and me. Norman is a good pig; Sidney has trouble getting out of bed in the morning. Norman always did well in school and has a good job; Sidney spent many hours in the principal's office and he fears his show more boss now doesn't like him much either. They are neighbors, though they rarely meet until one day God invites both of them to meet him on Tuesday at noon on Elm Street...Regardless of which pig you identify with, or your child identifies with, God has something interesting to tell them both. Vischer has written a winner--with not only a message, but style, heart, and two darn cute pigs. show less

In this memoir, Phil Vischer briefly discusses his family background and formative years. But the major focus is his journey realizing the dream that was Big Ideas Productions, Inc. and the children's series Veggie Tales. Detailing the meteoric rise and the then very painful implosion of the company he created, Vischer explores his own faith and relationship with God throughout that period of his life.

I went into this book knowing only it was a book from the guy who'd created Veggie Tales, show more which I'd been a fan of since the age of 11 or so. I had had no idea of the many issues that were occurring behind the scenes. Vischer is honest in his recounting of the events surrounding the rise and fall of his dream and recognising his own flaws that contributed towards the latter, with hints of humour you would expect from the man responsible for writing several Veggie Tales scripts. Vischer also shares how the experiences he had changed his perception and relationship with God, making some points that I found particularly meaningful and relevant. show less