cover image Wake Up Happy: The Dream Big, Win Big Guide to Transforming Your Life

Wake Up Happy: The Dream Big, Win Big Guide to Transforming Your Life

Michael Strahan, with Veronica Chambers. Atria, $26.99 (224p) ISBN 978-1-4767-7568-5

Former New York Giants football star and current TV host Strahan, with support from writer Chambers, goes beyond psychobabble in this practical pep talk about creating a winning attitude to solve “the puzzle of life” and achieve any goal. Strahan, the youngest of six children, was raised on a German army base, where he learned his family’s values of pride, hard work, and problem solving. He employed these effectively to stand out from the football squad at Texas Southern University before being drafted by the Giants in 1993. His upbeat message sounds a bit familiar, but he throws off the celebrity image when he praises fatherhood, responsibility, achievement, paying attention to detail, mental toughness, and “just showing up for life.” Strahan, a truly nice guy, never dishes the dirt on his former teammates, cohost Kelly Ripa, or his ex-wives, avoiding anything resembling “tabloid fodder.” His comments about motivation are not the stale Dale Carnegie variety, but instead new and updated streamlined solutions for a hectic modern world. Agent: Eric Simonoff, WME. (Oct.)