1, 000 Marbles: A Little Something About Precious Time

by Jeffrey Davis

How do we spend our time on the planet' Do we fill it with mindless activity or do we consider it a precious gift' In 1,000 Marbles, author Jeff Davis shares a modern parable about discovering and appreciating life's finite nature. At age 55, a man realizes his life expectancy is about 75 years of age and calculates that he has about 1,000 Saturdays left to enjoy. He buys a thousand marbles and marks the passing of each Saturday by removing one marble from a jar. When he removes the last marble on his 75th birthday, he considers each subsequent weekend to be bonus time.And that's only the introduction to this incredible, inspirational list book. 1,000 Marbles offers a thousand thought-provoking ideas for what to do on your Saturdays. Load the family into the car and take a drive into the country. It's always better if you try to get lost on such a trip! Go fishing. Remember, a bad day of fishing beats a good day of working, anytime. Have you ever taken a ride in a hot-air balloon' I haven't yet, but I plan to spend a marble doing just that one day. On a warm summer day, I like to spread a blanket on the ground and take a nap. There's nothing like sleeping outside.

256 pages, Paperback

First published June 5, 2001

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Reviews

[SHR · Rating 3 out of 5]

This introduction to this is a parable about discovering and appreciating life's finite nature. At age 55, a man realizes his life expectancy is about 75 years of age and calculates that he has about 1,000 Saturdays left to enjoy. He buys a thousand marbles and marks the passing of each Saturday by removing one marble from a jar. Once he removes the last marble, he recognizes each subsequent weekend as a gift of precious time. He also resolves not to waste any of his marbles.

The book has a list of 1,000 suggestions for filling up those Saturdays. The suggestions basically fall into four categories –
Doing something for yourself (have a pj day and read, watch all your favourite movies, get a massage, sleep in),
Be kind to others (if you are mowing your own lawn, mow your neighbours too, bake something for someone else, visit a nursing home, make your partner breakfast in bed),
Get your life into order (check your insurance policies, get some financial advice, write a will), and Experience based (go ice fishing, go roller skating, go to a fun fair).

[Daniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just buy the book and read the book. Time is a factor where we sometimes think it might just come back. It doesn't work that way. It just goes away and never come back. Then, we have less time ahead of us. What do you want to do with what's left? Just buy the book and you will know, at least get an idea what you should do.

[Maurean · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thoroughly enjoyed the 'reminder' that life is short and you should take advantage of allll the marbles you have left! Truly a "feel good" book; some of the passages brought back good memories, while others made me think 'I gotta DO that!"

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

great book