The Day I Became an Autodidact [Hardcover]

Kendall Hailey (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 278 pages
• Publisher: Delacorte Press; 1st Edition, 1st Printing edition (February 1, 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0385296363
• ISBN-13: 978-0385296366
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,490,878 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

63 of 67 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting but adolescent, May 16, 2005

By 

UCLAgirl "UCLAgirl" (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Day I Became an Autodidact (Paperback)

Kendall Hailey was clearly a well-read, articulate, thoughtful teenager. Reading this book also highlights that she was, primarily, a teenager. She dismisses college out of hand--throughout history, and across the board. She flits from career goal to career goal, but all of them remain within the sphere of her parents' connections. She comes from privilege, and is in a particular position to do what she does--yet no awareness of her unusual financial status is evident.

Most importantly, she utterly fails to note that the vast majority of the other autodidacts she lauds did not sit in their parents' houses reading books. Instead, they forged their own paths in the world. Gauguin may have been self-educated, but he also went to the South Pacific. Mark Twain worked on steamboats. Benjamin Franklin ran away from home and did everything. Kendall Hailey sat in her room, except when her parents took her to London and Hawaii, and read books.

I'm not criticizing her intellect or her aspirations, but I think this book could be looked at more critically. People seem to fawn over it, but I think the age of the writer defines the book's weaknesses as well as its strengths. Kendall Hailey's self-motivation is worthwhile. Her narrowness of vision, based on her own lack of experience, is worth discussion as well.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A must read for every intelligent & artistic teen., May 2, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Day I Became an Autodidact (Hardcover)

Kendall Hailey graduates early from high school so that she can begin "real life" sooner. Real life for her is reading the classics (in chronological order), writing (a play, a mystery, a novel, this journal), and living with her somewhat crazy but loving and supportive family. I enjoyed this book very much as someone who also considers herself an autodidact. This and Grace Llewellyn's Teenage Liberation Handbook should be given to every person on his or her fifteenth birthday.

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book changed my life, December 22, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Day I Became an Autodidact (Hardcover)

My ninth grade geography teacher gave me this book, I believe, in attempt to assure me that there are other people in the world who love learning things just to know them. I am forever indebted to her for giving me the gift of acceptance... as Kendall Hailey herself said in this book: "To read of emotions that reflect our own is the only proof we have that we are not mad."