Lunchmeat & Life Lessons: Sharing a Butcher's Wisdom

By Mary B. Lucas

Book Overview

PRIME CUT ADVICE. John Bichelmeyer dispensed much more than ground beef and bacon to his customers. A man with only an eighth-grade education and father of 10 children, he offered rare wisdom and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0979123410
• ISBN13: 9780979123412
• Release Date: November 2010
• Publisher: MBL Press
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.68 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 5.9" x 8.8"

Customer Reviews

A moving cross between The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and Tuesdays With Morrie

Although Mary B. Lucas worked her way up the corporate ladder with a 25-year career in a billion dollar staffing corporation and is currently president and principal founder of a major consulting firm, she counts her B.D. as her most important accomplishment. That stands for Butcher's Daughter, for those unfamiliar with current degree programs, and Lucas says she earned it "by listening to my father's stories about how he achieved success in making deep connections with the people around him." In her new novel, Lunchmeat & Life Lessons: Sharing a Butcher's Wisdom, Lucas sets out to share the knowledge her father imparted on her with as large an audience as possible. Traversing 25 years of the author's life, the book is organized into twelve quick chapters, preceded by an informative foreword, and followed by a touching epilogue. Each chapter includes a bite of wisdom summarized into a few quotes, which are all helpfully listed in the back of the book for quick reference. These tidbits include such gems as "The first hunk of meat you sell is yourself", "If you don't like someone then they don't like you", and "It's not the pursuit of happiness, but the happiness of pursuit that inspires." Each chapter covers a section of the author's life in which she found herself struggling with a specific issue. Ranging from starting a new job to dealing with difficult clients to addressing negative feelings, Lucas finds herself having a lunchtime discussion with her father in order to resolve the situation. John Bichelmeyer, the quiet, thoughtful butcher, never fails to impress with his motivational suggestions. In the brief 101 pages, Lunchmeat & Life Lessons - a title taken from one of Lucas's nieces commenting on how she helped solve her problems: by going to her grandfather for the titular helpful treats - Lucas manages to impart her father's unique sensibility: a strong business mind crossed with superbly sympathetic people skills. Throughout the book, the reader can feel both Lucas's love and respect for her father, as well as her upbeat outlook on life and desire to help share his message with the world. In a moving cross between The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People and Tuesdays With Morrie, Lucas blends a memoir and tribute to her father with effective business management skills and self-help motivation. "I'm hoping that business owners and managers will read my book and realize that its wisdom can transform the working relationships they have with their staffs." This may seem like a tall order for a book full of simple philosophy from a humble butcher, but with Lucas's reverant writing style, and her father's ample wisdom, Lunchmeat & Life Lessons has the ability to do just that.

Huge Inspiration in a Tiny Book

I recommend this book for everyone to read. I even more so recommend it to those in any job especially if you find it difficult to stay positive about it. That is me, I have been having a really difficult time where I work with certain people and its been really hard maintaining a positive attitude when they keep bringing me down. This book has been a tremendous help to me and I think it will help to inspire others who are down about their job. It is also a very touching story about a father an daughter I know it helped me appreciate my own father more. Buy it now I promise you won't regret it.

Awesome Tribute

This is a magnificent book of life lessons. I was deeply touched by the strong relationship and respect this father and daughter have for each other. The pure respect, communication and wisdoms are rare in today's families and business organizations. I would highly recommend this book. The "Butcher's Wisdom" will truly enrich your life!!

If you liked Tuesdays With Morrie, you'll love this book!

This quick read is a must for anyone grappling with how to hit the curve balls life throws at us, and is ideal for those seeking successful careers. The author takes us on a sentimental journey from young, fresh-faced college grad, to accomplished senior executive. She credits her father with enabling her success by imparting simple, no-nonsense snippets of "Butcher's Wisdom" around the kitchen table. These ordinary principles will have you nodding your head in violent agreement as you contemplate how living by them will make a tremendous difference in your own life!!

The best advise you'll ever get!

This book has that ""home-down, small-town, well-led, hard-working, family-oriented mid-America" feel, the one we haven't really known since the 1950's, the one that baby-boomers grew up with all across America (even me here in New York) and STILL (to this day) go all teary-eyed nostalgic for. The Author conjures up a world that many of us are longing for - and makes it tangible, as though its our past reaching out to us, reminding us, reassuring us. It's a heckuva a political message, too. A work well written, worth reading and to be shared with others!