Burn Zones: Playing Life’s Bad Hand by Jorge P. Newbery

Burn Zones: Playing Life’s Bad Hand is a first-person narration by Jorge P. Newbery. The writer is a reliable source of information because the book is non-fiction and details the narrator’s autobiography. The fact that the narrator is a regular contributor to Huffington Post and other publications and has an upcoming non-fiction book titled Debt Cleanse: How to settle your debts for pennies on the Dollar (and not pay some at all), extraordinary leads, credence to his story. The book is set between 1973 through 2014. The main locations are Los Angeles, South Dakota, Louisiana, Kansas City, Indiana, Columbus city, Cincinnati and Chicago. The setting influences the plot immensely. The theme of the book is exploring physical and mental limits in entrepreneurial assignments and surviving burn zones. Burn zones are described as short periods of extra ordinary effort which tests the limits of the writer’s body and mind in his quest for new challenges.

In the book, Jorge P. Newbery portrays himself as someone eager to learn in the real world, repeatedly takes chances and works tirelessly to turn visions into reality while surviving burn zones. He particularly enjoys comeback stories where people overcome adversity and against all odds achieve what they seek. He is always rooting for the underdog. For him, the greater the challenge, the more he likes the story. However, he could not fathom that one day, he would be the fallen one trying to claw his way back.

The writer proclaims to be a serial entrepreneur. This proclamation is demonstrated through his zeal, bravery, determination and sheer enthusiasm for work at the age of 7 years when he created his first business by chasing a newspaper delivery person’s car and asked for work as a newspaper delivery boy. He lived a straight edge life hence eschewed any trappings of luxurious lifestyle. This enabled him to save most of his earnings for other business ventures including selling ice creams using an ice cream tricycle, landing regulars jobs as a busboy, working at a sports shop and owning a record company. Unbeknownst to him, the continuous pedaling of the ice cream using a tricycle would later develop his muscles at an early age and prepare him for an even greater challenge ahead -being a bike racer athlete with the Olympics as inspiration. In his attempts to explore his physical and mental limits, a trend emerged where he needed to prove he could excel at something and, once he did, he lost interest and needed a new challenge. For example at age 24, he took on his next challenge of applying his extraordinary determination, focus, and work ethic to real estate in order to succeed. He would later use his earnings to buy rental units and acquire numerous neglected properties and successfully renovate them, turning them into productive and profitable assets, propelling him to a real estate mogul. However one particular real estate investment in Columbus, Ohio, would prove to be a burn zone with no end and which he was not able to survive. He contemplated filing for bankruptcy.

I was concerned by the writer’s portrayal of his transitions from one challenge to the next as burn zones when it could easily be construed as passion, opportunity or chance. For instance, whereas working in the music business was a common dream of many teenagers at an early age, transitioning from a busboy to owning a record company would be deemed as being thoughtful and creative. The same applies to transitioning to a bike racer athlete after early years of muscle development through continuous pedaling of an ice cream tricycle. However, transitioning to a real estate mogul or founder of a socially responsible hedge fund cannot being be classified as being innovative. For instance, would his life have taken a different trajectory had he not met Cynthia Hertz and made inquiries about her career in real estate? Or received a call from her longtime friend, Emily Gomez, whose house was facing foreclosure, ultimately giving him ideas about hedge fund? Can the two instances be construed as turning visions into reality while surviving burn zones or chance, considering that the writer had no prior experience in real estate, no college degree, just a GED?

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Nonetheless, I liked the writer’s cohesion, clarity, flow of the text, and use of precise words. Each chapter has subtopics with an easy logical flow. The book is a great read and the plot has an unexpected twist. The writer uses vivid language, figures of speech and humor for emphasis. For instance he likens his futile desperate attempts to salvage his investment in Columbus, Ohio to that of a desperate dad pulling his young drowned child out of the back yard pool and keeps performing CPR long after the child’s soul had slipped away. He also references hilarious movie scenarios by various actors to nuance description of his circumstances.

I would definitely read more by the author and encourage others to read the book particularly upcoming entrepreneurs. The writer’s final comment that ‘you are your own magic bullet’ meaning that there are no external solutions to problems except oneself, is motivating, inspiring and underscores his belief of people overcoming adversity against all odds to achieve what they seek. The book is well-edited with minor errors and the use of profanity. I rate this book 3 out of 4 stars.