First thing: the dust cover on this book is truly ugly. It has far too much text on the front, and not even in any good typeface, just big, bold Ariel. It's also yellow and blue, which I suppose is designed to get attention and "fire" the reader up, but instead is just irritating. But no matter. First order of business: remove the dust jacket and toss it aside.

Now to the guts of the book. No Opportunity Wasted, or N.O.W., is a book about living life to the fullest right now, as opposed to waiting for that "someday," be it retirement or a lottery win or whatever. The fundamental idea here is that if you keep putting life off, you're never going to live it. Someday never comes. All you really have is today.

With that in mind Keoghan sets out to strip the reader of all the excuses and mental roadblocks that keep people from achieving their most heartfelt goals. The book's chapters read as a step-by-step: Chapter 1: "Getting Rid of Excuses" (like not having the time or money), Chapter 2: "Face Your Fear" (like flying--if that's holding you back from your dream of world travel), and so on. Keoghan requests that the reader make a list of things he or she would like to do or achieve so that by the end of the book one is equipped to meet any challenges that might arise on the way to meeting one's goal.

Keoghan has, certainly, a larger focus on physical activity (you may know him as the host of CBS's The Amazing Race, and he also did a show on Discovery called Adventure Crazy). Many of his examples for achieving goals come from stories of scuba diving, hiking, mountain climbing, etc. For readers whose goals are a little bit "softer," it may at times become harder to relate to Keoghan's guidance. (As a personal example, I often found myself thinking, Fine, but what if I just want to write and publish a novel?)

Many of the elements in N.O.W. seem like common sense, but much of it falls under the category of, "I knew that, I just needed to hear it from someone else." In other words, a lot of the book is affirmation, encouragement and support. The chapters are filled with shaded boxes that serve as examples, checklists, and guidelines. In some cases, a reader might do just as well reading only the boxes as opposed to the entire chapter, since the boxes seemed to be simply condensed versions of the text as a whole.

N.O.W. is the kind of book to read, well, now, at the threshold of a new year. It's the kind of book to light a fire under you and get you moving. While not all the scenarios in N.O.W. may apply to every reader, the book as a whole is inspiring. A reader may discover hidden wishes buried deep within himself, things he never realized he wanted to do. . . until N.O.W.