How I Learned to Live a Better Story - A Million Miles in a Thousand Years

I just finished this book and it is wonderfully compelling. It is classic Miller. The author wanders all over the place spinning humor and digressions into a coherent story of how he got to a place where life is fulfilling. This is a road map to life that is not liquored up with distractions, amusements, and wishful thinking. Miller explains how post-post modern people can find meaning without sentimentality, and how the difficulty of the journey makes the results sweeter.

When I think about the most memorable people I have met over the years, it makes sense that their lives are telling a story. We are all naturally drawn to stories. What holds my interest is why we always think someone else's story is more interesting or significant than our own. Don Miller's story makes me reexamine how I go through each day and helps me live my story with purpose.

I enjoyed this book considerably. I found it to be interesting and thought provoking. I didn't want to put it down. I found myself in the paradox of agreeing and not agreeing with the author at the same time. It has continued to cause me to think and to assess my life in light of his thoughts. I found it to be very helpful in navigating my own story and life journey.

I really enjoy Donald Miller's writing style. It just feels very free to me; he can be surprisingly open with his life and struggles in such a way that allows the reader to reflect on his own life. This is one of my favorite books of all time; excellent read.

Using the idea of the 'stories' which describe and energize the meaningful parts of our lives, Don Miller made me excited about my own life and the purpose it might serve. He uses words in a way which help me see old truths in new and deeper ways. The book gives me hope for the world. And it's just plain fun to read (listen to). There aren't many non-fiction books which hold my attention, but this one surely did. My 18 year old son told me about the book and said, "Dad, you love this kind of stuff." Now I know how smart my son is. And he too has a better idea of how to hang on to his story as his life unfolds. He's excited to see where his future will be important to our world.

This book is one part memoir, two parts writing manual, and five parts how to live. He teaches us how to make yourself a better character with a more interesting story arc and the courage to change. But it's far more entertaining than didactic. I get the sense that he wants everybody not to write a better story, but to truly live one. Amazing.

This is a fantastic book that will change the way you think about your life.

I liked Blue Like Jazz a lot (also by Donald Miller), but I thought he was a one-hit wonder. Searching for God Knows What and Miller's other work seemed like he was stretching for material.

But this book really recaptures that humble, honest, conversational style of Blue Like Jazz, and the content is truly inspired and inspiring.

Read it.

I love everything I've read from Don Miller. His books are always a challenge to review your thinking and behavior in the context of how well we are loving ourselves and others according to 1 Cor 13. And did I mention? It's really fun reading!

Was required to read this book for a class....ended up loving it and applying it to my own personal life. Highly recommend you buy and read this book! It just might change the way you see life and hopefully spark a desire in you to live a better story. :)

Fine revelation - be sure you are (or an Inspired Mind) is writing your story. Insights that connect and make sense. Well written anecdotes that progress your awareness of your own journey. An author's thoughts worth getting to know.

I adore Donald Miller. I read this book and completely fell in love with Mr. Miller's writing style. I love that it is a book on how to improve your life - but it is NOT a self help manual. I bought it for my kindle originally, then had to have a paper copy too.

I read this at least every 2-3 months just as a refresher course and a reminder that it is entirely possible to change your own story.

He helped me "turn the light back on." This book redirected my life after it seemed like everything was falling apart this summer. I haven't known this kind of happiness since I was elementary school, and its thanks to Miller's wonderful book. Please read. Even my atheist and agnostic friends enjoyed it. It has kind of become required reading within my friend group.

This is a phenomenal book that really explores the art and components to story through the author's own stories. This book has so many hidden gems to storytelling in the traditional sense and stories our lives tell. Highly recommended read.

I went to college and studied journalism and thought I knew all there was about story, until I read this book. The idea of viewing my own life as a story I'm writing was something I had never thought of before. I read this at a time in my life where I was fresh out of college and wondering what life is supposed to look like. I stood frozen in fear of making a wrong decision, but A Million Miles in a Thousand Years offered me some much needed perspective. My favorite part about Miller's writing style is that he shares his experiences and faith without a dose of what I like to call "christianese" language. I'm grateful to Don for sharing his story with us.

Someone mentioned this book in passing and, after a quick search, I found it--but the subtitle “What I learned while editing my life” was what spoke to my heart. It didn’t take me past reading the author’s introduction to decide I needed the Kindle edition delivered post haste to my reader

The book goes like this.

Miller gained some fame after his first book Blue Like Jazz, and there was interest in a film based on the memoir, even though since writing Blue, he was stuck and had no motivation for much of anything but watching TV. And as Miller and the film makers began writing the screen play, they broke it to him not-so-gently: his life was too boring to be a film. While Miller himself wanted his life to be an “easy story … [he knew that] nobody really remembers easy stories. Characters have to face their greatest fears with courage. That’s what makes a story good.” Artistic license was necessary to make the memoir appeal to filmgoers who would want that good story—in the same way, Miller himself begins to re-write his own reality to follow more closely “the essence of a story”. Try putting these on your Life’s “To Do” list: reunites with a long-lost father, ask the girl out, hike to Machu Picchu, cycle across country. Life got interesting real fast.

This is a journey that, at its heart, is spiritual—but with a small “s”. While Miller is a Christian, there’s nothing holier-than-thou here, which is refreshing. But what an incredible vision of God he has here:
If I have a hope, it’s that God sat over the dark nothing and wrote you and me, specifically, into the story, and put us in with the sunset and the rainstorm as though to say, Enjoy your place in my story, and you can create within it even as I have created you.
And this:
There is a knowing I feel that guides me toward better stories, toward being a better character. I believe there is a writer outside ourselves, plotting a better story for us, interacting with us, even, and whispering a better story into our consciousness.

While much of the book is focused on the author’s own transformation, he also introduces us to other “characters” he has met who epitomize living a good story. Talk about inspiration, dear reader! My only reservation is that I found myself most moved by the first two or three sections of the book-- the ones where Miller confronts that his tendency to let life happen to him; as he checks off his “To Do” list, the narrative becomes less compelling.

I think Miller’s story metaphor will especially resonate with readers, but is a great read for anyone who wants to live more deliberately.

Donald Miller is dry in his delivery and is gifted with the ability to make you laugh out loud and think deeply within the same paragraph. A Million Miles in a Thousand Years will inspire you to live better stories and invite others to do the same. I very much enjoyed this book and will continue to recommend it to others.

Although the beginning 2/3 was much slower than the last 1/3 - it was like a different book almost. I read about this on the Enjoying the Small Things blog (Kelle Hampton wrote a book about having a child with Downs Syndrome) so it was interesting to read with that in mind.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Miller's story about "editing his life." His sense of humor makes the book delightful to read. (His suggestion to a friend about how to answer the question "What's a movie with a car chase?" was hysterical.) But the larger point - how to have a life that is a story worth reading - is what makes this book so good. As you read his story, you realize you have the same challenge as he had. I've given my copy to a friend, and since I only had one copy, I'll simply recommend it to everyone else.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Miller's story about "editing his life." His sense of humor makes the book delightful to read. (His suggestion to a friend about how to answer the question "What's a movie with a car chase?" was hysterical.) But the larger point - how to have a life that is a story worth reading - is what makes this book so good. As you read his story, you realize you have the same challenge as he had. I've given my copy to a friend, and since I only had one copy, I'll simply recommend it to everyone else.

I can hardly put into words how beautiful this book is. It's one of my new favorites and I'm hoping my book club will read it soon. It has some really stunning insights and will leave you feeling inspired and motivated. I can't wait to read more of Miller's work.

I think that the biggest criticism one could make against Donald Miller's books is that they lack structure. Many of his books feel like reading through the ramblings of someone's private journal. However, in this latest book Miller really tries to structure chapters so that each one flows into the other, and so that at the end the book the reader is left with something meaningful and structurally fluid.

In all of Miller's books he interweaves personal stories and events into meaningful lessons. It is his forte. But after so many books, that structure begins to seem contrived and, frankly, annoying.

In this book he continues on to write about his life, specifically his attempt to edit his life in light of the success he had with his previous books. He writes that his life was dull and lacking direction after his initial success. As a result, he decides to change course. He does this by engaging in a series of "initiating events," which are events that someone undertakes in order to change the trajectory of that person's life. Thus, he treks up the Inca trail to Machu Picchu and he rides his bike across the United States. He concludes that life doesn't happen to people who just sit on the couch and wait for it to happen, that instead it is the people engaging life that are truly living.

In summary, the book was interesting and a lot more structured than his previous books. As a reader, I walked away understanding his message. However, I don't think that more books should be written about his life - that is, about his friend Steve or his other friend James or about a movie he watched or a book he read. Let's change the subject.

This book has really sparked a new perspective on life and I find myself re-reading my favorite chapters. This is my 5th purchase of this book that I have given to other people going through a difficult time. I highly recommend this book!