Think, learn, pray, plan, dream. These are the words of a mysterious drifter who has a way of emotionally affecting those around him.

No one really knows who he is or where he is from, but with the power of words, this man gives people a whole new perspective on life. And even more important, gives them the seeds with which to share their newfound wisdom.

In the novel "The Noticer," the author places a younger version of himself as one of the characters who interacts with the story's title protagonist. The story begins with Andy as a young man going through a tough time in his life. His parents are gone and he has no one else to turn to, so he lives under a dock in a town on the Gulf Coast while trying to do odd jobs for money.

Out of nowhere he meets Jones, who introduces himself to Andy as a "noticer," someone who has a gift for seeing what others miss.

"All it takes is a little perspective," he tells Andy, and he teaches the young man about how to turn his life around. This is the first of several encounters that Jones has with the people of that town, as he helps guide people through their personal struggles and give them new insight into their daily lives.

Andrews is the author of several motivational stories, and what is nice about "The Noticer" is that it does not deal a heavy-handed message or try to preach to readers about what we do wrong. It is an amusing narrative, and readers will be able to identify with at least one or two of the characters.

As Jones states, "everyone is always in a crisis, coming out of a crisis or heading into a crisis." He meets people who are dealing with some of the most basic problems of relationships; some have trouble connecting with their family, their spouses, their co-workers and ultimately themselves. The author does not always confirm if these people will end up with a happy resolve, but for the moment the people who Jones helps have hope and a goal toward a better future.

One thing this novel got me thinking about is the nature of how we not only offer help, but how often we accept help from those around us. Jones is described as a white-haired old man wearing a ragged T-shirt and jeans and not seeming to have any stable living place or job. How many people nowadays would honestly even talk to a person like this, let alone seriously consider counsel from him? In that aspect, the novel does ask us to suspend our belief that the people, bitter because of the emotional pain that they are enduring, would openly allow a drifter to start giving them advice.

But Jones has a "magical" quality allowing him to draw people in; the people he helps are going against their self-protective instincts to allow this man to get to know them - although he seems to already "know" everyone he talks to very well.

Perhaps it is that magic quality - being able to dispel feelings of despair for even just a moment in someone's life - that is the most touching aspect of this story. We all like to think there is something out there with answers for us, and maybe we need to be ready for it to come from the most unlikely source. While "The Noticer," both the character and the novel, does not always give us direct answers, it reminds us of the simplest actions to improve our lives: Think, learn, pray, plan, dream.

Alison Reeger Cook is a Gainesville resident whose Off the Shelves book review runs every other week in Sunday Life. Know of a good book to review? E-mail her to tell her about it.