Love Does by Bob Goff

Love Does: Discover a Secretly Incredible Life in an Ordinary World by Bob Goff
Narrator: Bob Goff
Published by Thomas Nelson on May 7, 2012
Source: Library
Genres: Christian Life
Length: 5 hrs 35 mins
Format: Audiobook
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As a college student he spent 16 days in the Pacific Ocean with five guys and a crate of canned meat. As a father he took his kids on a world tour to eat ice cream with heads of state. He made friends in Uganda, and they liked him so much he became the Ugandan consul. He pursued his wife for three years before she agreed to date him. His grades weren't good enough to get into law school, so he sat on a bench outside the Dean's office for seven days until they finally let him enroll.

Bob Goff has become something of a legend, and his friends consider him the world's best-kept secret. Those same friends have long insisted he write a book. What follows are paradigm shifts, musings, and stories from one of the world's most delightfully engaging and winsome people. What fuels his impact? Love. But it's not the kind of love that stops at thoughts and feelings. Bob's love takes action. Bob believes Love Does.

When Love Does, life gets interesting. Each day turns into a hilarious, whimsical, meaningful chance that makes faith simple and real. Each chapter is a story that forms a book, a life. And this is one life you don't want to miss.

Light and fun, unique and profound, the lessons drawn from Bob's life and attitude just might inspire you to be secretly incredible, too.

I picked up Love Does on the recommendation of a friend. On the one hand, I can see why she liked it, on the other hand I expected more from it.

Love Does is about getting out there and doing things, not just talking about them or wishing them. It’s about going big. To illustrate this, Goff uses a story from his life – and man does he have some stories, and connecting it to a Biblical truth. Sometimes those connections are stretching a little and some of his stories are not necessarily as amusing or relatable as he seems to think. I am glad i listened to the audio, which is narrated by Goff. It’s like he’s telling you the stories himself. In print some of them may have come off as bragging, but from his voice he seems honest and like a truly good guy who takes advantage of any and all opportunities life gives him and makes his own. Mind you, he must have a lot of money. Apparently, being a construction defect attorney is fairly lucrative.

The parts I found annoying were the equating whimsy with love. They are not the same and I know he realizes that, but in the book it seems like whims are always guided by love and they just aren’t. A capricious thought can be doesn’t have to come from love, a “caper” like breaking into a movie set or having your friend charged $400 for room services has nothing to do with love, even if you can tie it into a Biblical theme. They’re good stories and amusing but I’m not sure they’re really examples of “love does.” Most of the stories fit into his theme well, just not all of them. He likes the words “whimsy” and “caper” a little too much.

I do think Love Does is inspiring. Even you don’t have money to take off to London at the last minute, there are other ways to do love, to be active in your caring for others and in the ways you want to see the world change.