I Got a Better Idea shares a deeper reflection of Dr. Charlie Burry’s forty-five-year career in public education. Since his initial foray into the writing and self-publishing business, Dr. Burry has recalled other stories of light bulb moments from his life and career, people who influenced him, and more life lessons that he thought might be fun to write about and enjoyable for others to read.
To begin, Dr. Burry has written about learning experiences in his life that range from the time he was a high school student himself until he walked the halls of his alma mater as principal of the school. A second section recounts his time teaching at a juvenile corrections school, and how that experience impacted his philosophy of education, personally and professionally. The next section tells stories of his thirty-one-year coaching career, from his time learning as a rookie football coach, to his sideline antics as a basketball coach, and finally as a tennis coach who won a championship by knowing enough to just drive the bus. Another section of the book recalls the summer jobs he worked while he was in high school and college, bucket list experiences that included shooting baskets on the parquet floor of the old Boston Garden, and his first trans-Atlantic flight to London. His exploits as a practical joker while accompanied by two of the best friends of his life are safely revealed (the statute of limitations having expired) in another section. In a sixth section, Dr. Burry introduces readers to people who made him a better person simply with their friendship and the way they lived their lives. The final section offers bits of better advice gleaned from his own life experiences in parenting, coaching, leading a school, and riding a unicycle.
This book of light bulb moments, stories, and life lessons comes from the mind of a man who believes that people should never stop learning. Those life lessons - taught through victory and defeat, heartache and humor, good fortune and fate, friendship and forgiveness - are the things which make us better people. Reading is one good way to learn, and maybe to have the thought cross one’s mind occasionally that I got a better idea. For Dr. Burry, knowing that his career in education may be contributing in a different manner to people’s lives has been most rewarding.
