MWSA Review
John McClarren has taken the lessons he learned in life and has penned an interesting memoir of his experiences in his new book Taking Risks Defining Life.  The author allows us to see into many of the decisions he made in life and the results that evolved from them.  As might be expected, and as McClarren readily admits, many of his early decisions were made more on bravado than common sense.  Some, in hindsight, are humorous and others not, but they all played a part in making him the person he is today.
The author’s life included time in the army which sent him to combat and near death experiences in Vietnam and to tense situations in South Korea.  Readers who have served in combat or in Korea will certainly appreciate the impact these tours of duty had on the author.

Post military, the author held a variety of jobs, bounced around the country, and had a difficult family move from California to Michigan while he was between jobs.  The extreme differences in weather and life styles led to an interesting series of family adventures that the author portrays to the reader in a manner that has you laughing with him while at the same time feeling the hardship the family was going through.  

Taking Risks Defining Life is an easy read book that I recommend to readers of all genre.

MWSA Reviewer: Bob Doerr
 

Author's Synopsis
John McClarren (LTC, US Army, retired) relates to his readers how circumstances in his own life naturally led him into taking what many would consider unnecessary risks in order to reach his goals, and how this risk-taking became a primary routine in his life, all of which ultimately resulted in total fulfillment. This book is for anyone who is always trying to assess the need to take risks in accomplishing goals, and there are very few who are not in that category. We all take risks from time to time. We just need to figure out if the decisions to take risks are worth the possible consequences of failure, because that too is part of life. Can we handle failures and still be successful? John will take you on a journey through his life, much of which is really funny, much of which will make you wonder how he ever made it this far alive and well, and much that you will be able to identify with perfectly and compare it with a good deal of your own life. Many of those experiences are from his military life, and many are far from that life.