Book Review: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future By: Michael J. Fox

I grew up with Michael J. Fox and with his most popular on-screen character. I laughed at the capitalist absurdity of Alex P. Keaton being born to two ex-hippies and I rooted for Marty McFly as he fought off his mom in the past, who was a little too happy to see the son she didn’t know she had in the present (or something like that). The point is that like many kids of the 80s, Fox has a special place in my heart.

This was the reason that I asked to review his newest book, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future. While I usually will pass up nonfiction titles, I wanted to read this because he wrote it. I wasn’t sure that I knew what to expect. Fox writing it was enough for me. Little did I know, I would be pleasantly surprised and thoroughly entertained the whole time.

One thing I didn’t know about Fox was that he was not a high school graduate. He eventually got a GED and has more than one honorary doctorate from different schools, but the traditional route was not for Fox. Of course, that mattered little with the talent and success he had, coupled with the fact that he was smart enough to figure things out for himself. Not all people are that lucky. Fox recognizes this and the part that luck and good timing played in his success. Ass a result, he does not recommend the path that he took. For most, school is going to be the right path. For others need to go out and make their own way, educating themselves on their path, through life.

The idea for A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future came when Fox was asked to give a commencement speech at a graduation. This caused him to reflect on what education truly means and what he was going to tell this eager graduating class that was ready to enter the workforce. What he learned and what he teaches throughout this book is that education is relative. We all learn certain life lessons. It’s just that college allows you to get this education at a pricier end point and with an easier method of trial and error. Without college you still learn many of these lessons, it’s just different in the way that you are forced to learn these lessons in harder ways, most of the time.

Fox sets out to teach this fact with sections on Economics, Comparative Literature, Physics, Political Science, and Geography. In each section he explains the lessons that life taught him when he was a struggling actor and then when he was succeeding beyond his wildest dreams. No punches are held back when he offers an honest candor about discovering his early onset Parkinson’s, his innate need to ignore and deny it, and his eventual acceptance of the disease that has changed his life in a number of ways.

Now that I am done with A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future I have decided to hand it over to my mom to read. She normally doesn’t read books, but I am certain that she will not only read this book, but that she will like it, too. It’s just long enough to tell the story how it needs to be told. This makes it perfect for people that normally pass up books (though Fox recommends that people read more) because it’s not so long that they feel like they are reading as a hobby, something non-readers apparently wish to avoid for whatever reason.

Nonfiction fans and fans of Fox will certainly enjoy this, as well. If you read strictly for fictional reasons, this might not be your cup of tea. However, after reading it and watching the pages pass by with ease, I like to think that A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Future has at least one or two elements that everyone can relate to and enjoy. Of course, the choice is yours to decide if that rings true for you. As for me, this comes highly recommended.

Happy Reading!

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Written by Ashtyn Evans - Visit Website
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Ashtyn is in her early 30s. She is a mother, writer, college student, and music lover. Ashtyn has had a successful career as a writer since 2003. She turned to blogging in 2005. Ashtyn attends Wright State where she is getting a degree in Psychology. She has extensive knowledge in SEO and Social Media Development.