Judges Feedback from Writers Digest: The book opens with a nice sense of expectation. We’re beautifully placed at the Dune Club and can see it, feel the breeze, smell the air. Nicely done. Author excels at creating settings for the story. We get excellent differentiation of characters in this story; author has done well to give them their own voices, and we get enjoyment from the comment of the club keeping the temperature at 6N/A degrees in case one of the old-timers ‘cashes out.’ Very crisp and memorable. Dialogue is stellar, with a nice pace in interactions, and deeper chats formatted well with a nice variation in sentence length for natural voice. We get quality logic directing them out of Jimmergan’s to the bench. We can see why they go there, and author is commended in knowing we need this direction for the focus on their chats. Never Lose a Position of Strength is a standout in insights; I was nodding as I was reading. Well done. I enjoyed the section about what makes one successful, using Poe and Wilde as examples of what truly makes one successful if their finances weren’t lofty. Very thought-provoking and again, written naturally and engagingly. Sebastian is written with a wisdom that doesn’t require a lot of words. Author has conveyed this well. And the author tugs at our hearts at the end when he says that the hardest part about the loss of Sebastian is that he didn’t get to thank him. I took from this well-written measure the lesson to thank our elders and teachers (no matter their age or wisdom) right now. Well done, very nice pace and spacing of Sebastian’s gems of insight.

5 Stars from Indie Reader

An account of one man’s lifetime of knowledge on how to lead a satisfying, successful and ultimately emotionally fulfilled life, divided into 25 essential lessons.

When author Digger has a chance meeting with Sebastian and Robbie at a retreat at a golf course, he isn’t expecting his perception of life to be dramatically altered. And yet, after spending some time with the two men, Digger begins to overhear a hard-earned trove of information about how to lead the best possible life one can. Robbie, a former 1990’s day trader, and Sebastian, an older man who spent the majority of his life working in the financial sector, met while both were working the evening shift at a local hotel and struck up a friendship.

Digger learns lessons that include never abandoning a position of strength within one’s own relationships and learning how and when to swallow one’s pride are recorded in a third-person format; early on, Digger explains that he has decided to structure the work to best illustrate the lessons, and therefore sometimes combines stories he has heard from Robbie and Sebastian in order to construct the narrative. The result is a trove of common sense derived from a lifetime of owning a business, relating with family members, and learning how to navigate the often tricky and frustrating world of customer relationships. While the advice contained within is invaluable, the work would benefit from being less of a straightforward retelling of two men’s conversation and rather a more vivid and perhaps imaginative portrayal: instead of a My Dinner With Andre format, the vivid lessons contained within might be better illustrated better with a more novelistic approach. However, the work does ultimately capture the essence and wisdom of Sebastian, creating a lasting testament to a man who was not fooled by the false goals of material possessions and wealth, but rather the deep-seated satisfaction that comes from leading a hardworking, honest life.

CONVERSATIONS ON THE BENCH provides a warm, funny, often poignant collection of a man’s lifetime of real-world wisdom designed to benefit generations to come.

Reviewed By K.C. Finn for Readers’ Favorite

Conversations on the Bench is an inspirational non-fiction book by author Digger Cartwright, subtitled: Life Lessons from the Wisest Man I Ever Knew. The man in question is a notable gentleman named Sebastian Peréy, life and soul of any occasion, and a man whom our author actually only met once in person. Sebastian’s wisdom stretches through many veins of life, from business dealings to love and social mobility, and also features his young protégé Robbie Clinger, upon whose suggestion the author constructed this book. Cartwright presents his own personal perspective on Sebastian’s life lessons in this well written tome, where different life issues are set out in different chapters.

Part biography, part memoir, and part self-help book, Conversations on the Bench takes a little while to get into in terms of the author’s casual narrative style. For me, the real strength of the book is Digger Cartwright’s portrayal of characters, particularly in the seemingly opposed figures of Sebastian Peréy and Robbie Clinger, whose opposite upbringings and political views clash wonderfully against the backdrop of the real world. I feel that the advice given within the book is fairly generic, but the stories behind how these lessons are learned made it an interesting read. I would definitely recommend this read to businessmen of Cartwright’s own ilk as I’m sure it will resonate fully with such an audience, and the wider readership is sure to enjoy the colourful memoir-style vignettes of Sebastian’s difficult upbringing and his journey through life.