Life Coaching Book Reviews | Star Rating System

At Coach22, we read and review every coaching book we sell. We weed out less useful offerings and the many books with "coaching" in the title that aren't really written from the coaching perspective. If a book or CD is on this site, it's because we believe it is a great choice and will really help you be a better coach.

I like to read book reviews that objectively point out why I might be interested in a book and why I might or might not buy it, instead ones that just try to sell the book. I'm also a tough grader in my ratings. So that's the kind of book reviews I write. Here's the way our rating system works:

Superior
A top-notch product that stands above the rest in a certain genre. As the crème de la crème of what's out there, almost every Christian coach working in that area will find this book an essential resource. We will generally only rate one or at most a few products in a category with five stars.

Excellent
An great book or CD that will be an important asset to most coaches. Often these are works with great content that just fall short of being a top-rated product. An excellent buy.

Good
A genuinely useful resource that will be particularly helpful to coaches in particular niches or certain situations. The book reviews try to point out who will benefit most from these resources that are definitely worthwhile but to a more limited audience.

Poor
This may be a resource that doesn't meet our reviewer's standards, or a legitimately good or even great book that just doesn't fit the needs of working coaches. A lot of "coaching" books using a sports or mentoring metaphor instead of a true coaching model fall under this category. No two-star products appear on Coach22.

Unusable
A product we feel is fundamentally flawed, or unsuitable for the Christian coaching market. I'm pretty open-minded about drawing from secular sources, but there are some coaching books that promote unethical business practices or come from such a consistently self-focused view of life that they have little appeal. No one-star rated products appear on Coach22.

 

Review Criteria

It might help for you to understand my personal bias as a book reviewer (we're all biased, so we might as well admit it!). I'm looking for resources with the following characteristics (in order of importance):

 

• Great Content
  Original ideas or great presentations of key coaching concepts, based on real experience or by leaders in the field. I'm less interested in inspirational or theoretical works, resources that are light on content or books that just rehash what is already out there.
• Practicality
  I'm looking for tools, exercises, models, and practical principles that are immediately applicable to make you a better coach. You'll find things you can use today on Coach22, not just fluff.
• Genuine Coaching Model
  Many of the titles out there with the word "coaching" in them are really about mentoring or discipling or sports coaching (I know—-I've bought a bunch of them!) We only carry resources that are really applicable for genuine Christian coaching.
• Readability
  It's always a little disappointing to find that a book you've looked forward to diving into is a pain to read. Better-written material gets rated higher.
• By Coaches
  I'm always excited to find great materials by lesser-known authors that I can help promote in the marketplace.

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