Book Log 2017 #2: The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore

What causes two people with similar backgrounds to grow up following very different paths? That's the idea behind this book, where the author Wes Moore tries to figure out how he grew up to become a Rhodes Scholar and successful author and entrepreneur while the other Wes Moore, also born in Baltimore and raised in a single-parent household, would go on to life in prison for murder.

I'll admit to not remembering many of the details about the book (having read it 10 months ago), but there were a couple of differences that stood out to me:

1. The author Wes Moore did have his father in his life until his father died unexpectedly when Moore was three. You can argue about what amount of impact his dad was able to exert upon Moore in that short amount of time, but I do think there's a positive benefit to knowing that you had a dad who was involved and in the picture

2. When times got tough for the author, there were people there to make tough choices and stick with them. I'm thinking here primarily of Moore's mother's decision to send him to military school, and the leaders at the school who put up with Moore's initial bad behavior and gave him the chance to mature and grow.

Lack of detailed memory aside, I did like the book.