Ponder: It Takes Two: Our Story

Biographies are not my favorite genre for reading but occasionally there is someone who piques my curiosity. While heavily engaged in home improvement shows, a sequence of remodeling and renovating shows featuring Jonathon and Drew Scott, as the Property Brothers amused me because of the banter and antics between the twin brothers. It Takes Two: Our Story by Jonathon and Drew Scott ©September 2017 was light reading that gave more background into their personal lives and family. It is an amusing read about their antics and entrepreneurial endeavors and it is presented in a non-braggadocio tone.

Per Amazon it got a rating of 4.7 out of 5 but that was with only 350 ratings. Should I conclude that TV watchers are not book readers?

The table of contents of the book shows how the chapters alternate between Jonathon telling the story with comments by Drew and Drew telling the story with comments by Jonathon. The comments earn several chuckles in their own right and are worth the distractions from the main text.

One anecdotal story from the book's forward will whet your appetite. Minutes after Jonathon was born, the nurse said, "Doctor, I think there is another baby.” Drew was a complete surprise. The twins were born within four minutes of each other. That may be hard to believe but the year of their birth was 1978. My own three children were born in 1980, 1983, and 1986, and even in the late eighties, I did not know their genders until each appeared. And I never experienced an ultrasound with any of them in that era. (Yee, gads! Referring to that time in my life as an "era" makes me sound old.) The book continues with more "telling" tales and concludes with a satisfying chapter addressing the issue of what is real and what is staged on these so called “reality” shows. I enjoyed this book.

 

I have also read two other biographical type books about the stars of a different home improvement show, Fixer Upper featuring Chip and Joanna Gaines and their four kids. The Magnolia Story was authored by Joanna (reviewed in my 10/30/17 post) while Chip wrote Capital Gaines (reviewed in my post for 11/9/17). Of these three biographies of icons in of the HGTV home improvement series I liked It Takes Two: Our Story best. I would rank The Magnolia Story second and Capital Gaines third, although I did give both of them four stars in my reviews. To be consistent, I rate It Takes Two: Our Story four stars translating to "Really good; maybe only one weak aspect or limited audience". 

Because my interest in home improvement television series is waning, I could, with 20/20 hindsight reconsider rating all three of these books as three stars instead of four, but I won't. My daughter-in-law enjoyed The Magnolia Story. My husband is currently reading It Takes Two: Our Story and so far liking it. I mailed a copy of It Takes Two: Our Story to my son who is in construction management and who once toyed with the idea becoming an entrepreneur with an architectural business of his own. With this much of audience engaged, the book has got to be pretty interesting, right? Let the four star rating stand among those in the audience who remain interested in this particular topic and curious about these particular celebrities of the field.