The memories go from heart-rending stories of losing people who were loved to the delightful laughs of those who never met a failure that they couldn't find funny.

It is more about success than it is failure. It is about learning and understanding what has happened in the past and letting it not be a failure but something that informs and generates growth, maturity, and change.

From a story by a surgeon who was taught compassion by a young girl who would not survive her seventh heart surgery, to the amusing realization of Astronaut Scott Carpenter that he was "born too long ago," each segment of the book has its own personality and its own life.

It echoes the lesson that we should all learn from our pasts, that no matter what we've done, where we have been, who has hurt us, or we have hurt, regret is the worst thing that one can suffer. We must each make peace with our past, and become better because of it. Otherwise, there doesn't seem to be much point in going on, does there?