Dave Pelzer is an extraordinary man, and this is an extraordinary book. It is a life changing book. It is written with compassion and with complete direct honesty - it hits home. It enables the reader to view his/her problems differently, he encourages the reader to really see how to help him/herself. This book is inspirational and challenging, making the reader question everything, the past, the present and the future. In the book Dave Pelzer takles subjects such as positive self-talk and escaping negative environments and using his own background as evidence he shows how to break free of a troubled background and how to move on in your life. Reading this book is almost like having a one-to-one conversation with Dave, whilst reading it I truly listened to him and felt that through his writing he was able to inspire me and give me strength. I have read a great many self-help books and this is the only one I would thoroughly recommend, because it does exactly what it says on the cover, it helps you find hope, courage and happiness yourself. I finished reading it and immediately began reading it again and after I had finished it the second time I put pen to paper and wrote to Dave Pelzer himself to give him my thanks to him for writing this book. If there is one self-help book that can truly inspire and offer guidance and wit and be thoughtfully written and be clear and easy to understand - this is it.