A homeless man who turned his life around by offering book reviews
This is a great story.  But...someone who has the intelligence and work ethic to do this probably wasn&#x27;t going to be homeless for long.<p>Honestly, there are probably millions of people who pull themselves together like this - it&#x27;s just they end up working regular jobs like maintenance work or burger flipping that aren&#x27;t as inspirational.<p>The problem with stories like this is they conflate two problems:
(1) being down on your luck (but hard-working and reasonably intelligent)
(2) being stuck in a poverty loop due to mental illness, criminal record, or countless other complex factors.<p>Problem (1) is something a lot of HN readers can relate to, especially in their early twenties.  Hence, the popularity of this article.<p>Problem (2) however is the much bigger problem.  Unfortunately, what this guy did is only marginally useful in coming up with solutions to that problem.<p>All that said, I&#x27;m sure he&#x27;s a pretty cool guy.