Review: 25 Lies Twenty Somethings Need to Stop Believing

Author: Paul Angone

In this book, Paul takes us through a journey of 25 'lies' faced in our 20's, offering practical advice on how to tackle them; he brings it to life with real-world examples from the lives of well-known (and somewhat unassuming) characters, along with examples from his own life too.

The title of the book defines the target audience within a certain age bracket, and I find Paul naturally levels with me as a 25-year-old reader, offering an informed perspective of understanding rather than judgement.

I was fond of the encouragements revealed through psychological concepts, for example, challenging the 'bi-stander effect', i.e. 'what does is matter if I do something? If I don't someone else will'.

A fair section of the book focused on tackling modern-day issues such as the impact of social media, comparison disorder and social isolation.

Whilst that all sounds a fairly common topic for discussion, one challenge that I haven't seen advice for is that often, 20-somethings end up in mundane jobs and situations; it's rare for the 'dream job' to land in your lap. I was therefore pleasantly surprised with the way Paul navigated the topic of 'success'. He suggested an adjustment of perspective to 'perfecting your craft' - encouraging us to find ways to use mundane situations, jobs etc. as opportunities to improve and prepare ourselves for the future.

I particularly liked the advice on "Alternative ways to say I love you" in relationships with family, friends and partners. This section provides you with 5 alternative phrases, e.g. 'I trust you', 'I want to spend time with you' etc. The point being, if you can't truthfully say these things about a relationship, it would be healthy to evaluate it and put in-place healthy limitations etc. Paul is intentional to point us to the 'right thing to do' rather than chasing happiness.

So why 3-stars? This book is clearly advertised as a Christian book, however, whilst Paul points to God and prayer on occasion, he only points to scripture once throughout the whole book, about two thirds of the way through (Psalm 23). The writer clearly has a close connection with God and his viewpoints align with Christian morality. Yet, for me personally, I would have loved to see how these perspectives/concepts were connected through the Bible. I feel that the lessons discussed in this book fell short of providing the opportunity to help others get to know Jesus; which is core to the Christian calling. For example, when discussing how to focus on 'perfecting your craft' he could have talked about Joseph learning diplomacy and humility before being able to become second most powerful man in Egypt. Or he could have talked about Apostle Paul making tents whilst also pursuing his passion for preaching the Gospel. This is not a book about ministry or a 'young leader' which is nice, and so could easily be read by anyone and building scripture in can only help us younger readers in a secular world.

Overall, I found some good snippets of advice from Paul's book that, I'm sure, I will carry with me throughout the rest of my 20's and beyond - this made it a triumph. A little more linking to 'The Book' and it would have been even better.

Just a note for those who struggle to find time to read, this available as an audiobook, which I listened to myself. Great for car journeys, walks, trips to the gym etc.

Thank you to Netgally, Paul Angone and RB Media for copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Thanks for Reading!

Click here to buy the book, or click here the buy the audiobook.