The Promise of a Pencil: How an Ordinary Person Can Create Extraordinary Change

Adam Braun came from a family that believed in giving back and descended from Holocaust survivors. Adam was determined to make his fortune and then find a calling for philanthropy. However, through several backpacking excursions and an eventful Semester at Sea during his college years he found his purpose to be building and maintaining schools in rural poverty stricken areas. He went to work for a prestigious consulting firm and temporarily got sidetracked into the good life. But when his inner need for a purposeful life resurfaced he gave his life fully to the endeavor. The book chronicle his successes and failures; his personal growth and his organizational development. Above all it outlines the use of grassroots and social media to show more build support and fund raise based on the dedication of the individual. An inspiring story. show less

So, this book was not what I was hoping it would be. I'd heard such great things about it! I find these kinds of stories about walking away from a lucrative career to pursue a dream to better the world, so compelling. I personally know many people who have done something similar on a smaller scale.

Let me say that the advice Adam Braun gives I found to be mostly solid. Each chapter has a practical lessons with the story of that chapter bearing it out. I loved the start - the caution not to settle for normal, to get out of your comfort zone, to do small things that make others feel big, to embrace lightning moments.

Loved the insight into how the author was brought up and his parents' instilled values, loved that he bootstrapped the show more Promise of a Pencil organization with $25. Except...

The author was brought up affluent. His birthday parties, which were no small affairs, became fundraisers. He graduated from an Ivy league school, so he is surrounded by access to money and influence. His brother was (is?) Justin Bieber's manager, and he had more than a little help from Bieber and his celebrity friends. I mean it would have been harder not for him to succeed and he had no shortage of safety nets and soft landings had he failed. I guess from a privileged world, he is a rare bird to leave security, but I feel like there's a million like him who don't have the resources or network he has. How do we inspire them and tap their potential to make a difference?

What I really wanted was insight on how to bootstrap a non-profit, how to serve in a part of the world while navigating foreign laws and customs...something more like a playbook. And what I got was essentially a well-written and inspiring informercial in book form for Braun's organization.

It's a good cause and worth supporting, but it seemed an opportunity missed. I would have liked either it to be more instructional on how to change the world with nothing more than $25 OR to have more information on how to get involved with Braun's Promise of a Pencil foundation. Instead, I got something else and while it wasn't bad, neither was it provocative in the way I'd hoped. show less

ARC provided by NetGalley

Adam Braun seemed to have it all. At 16 working summers at hedge funds, a job with Bain & Company after graduation, and well on his way to a successful Wall Street Career. But everything changed that day in college that he met a young boy in India who wanted nothing more than...a pencil. After leaving his job Adam founded an organization called “Pencils of Promise” that has since its founding built over two hundred schools around the globe. In this book Braun shares his journey on finding his true calling. And discusses how each person can ignite their own passion and potential to make reality happen.

This is one of those books that is difficult to review, given that Adam is writing about his own life, his show more own successes, and trying to explain how others can use this same path to achieve their goals. Which isn’t a bad thing, but...the book isn’t quite the game changer that the book description makes it to be. In part, because Adam came from an extremely privileged life. This isn’t to discount what he’s been able to accomplish, but it does put him ahead of others because he had experiences that they don’t (or never will in some cases) have. And these experiences gave him the knowledge of how to navigate some of the complex worlds around him, like businesses and asking for donations. He also gets a bit self congratulatory at times which is a bit of a turn off for me.

While Adam has a great deal to offer, I almost feel like the book would have been more balanced if he had worked with someone else to write it. Perhaps as he matures his writing style will as well. I give the book 3.5 out of 5 stars. show less

Adam Braun began working summers at hedge funds when he was just sixteen years old, sprinting down the path to a successful Wall Street career. But while traveling he met a young boy begging on the streets of India, who after being asked what he wanted most in the world, simply answered, “A pencil.” This small request led to a staggering series of events that took Braun backpacking through dozens of countries before eventually leaving one of the world’s most prestigious jobs to found Pencils of Promise, the organization he started with just $25 that has since built more than 200 schools around the world.

Read this book! What a wonderful autobiography Adam has written with 30 mantras that the self-directed learner can use. This is one to be read by teenagers. It is the story of a high principled young person achieving his dream to build schools in developing countries. For us as teacher librarians, it is a case study that will teach us how to recognize and nurture this kind of kid as they try to think their way through how to make a difference in the world…to reach out beyond just filling assignments. Adam is a fascinating storyteller as he leads you through the jungle of drams, mistakes, recovering, danger, persistence, and integrity. I can’t say enough good about this important read. Book talk it over and over and over. Invite show more these kinds of kids to be on your iTeams; love them to death; and, just imagine what good your mentoring can do! Best book I have read all year. show less

It's probably been said a million times, but the only way to describe this book is with one word: inspirational.

I was so inspired, and so in awe of Adam's drive, determination and passion, that somewhere in the middle of the book I looked up his website and donated.

I admire what he has accomplished, and I don't have that same passion in me, so I admire it in others and do my little bit to support great causes like this one. What can be better than providing education to someone who would otherwise not get that opportunity?

The Promise of a Pencil is about a young entrepreneur who decides to give up his life on Wall Street and dedicate his life to building schools in developing. The book is all about the challenges that Braun faced as he was started to start Pencils of Promise.