Customer Reviews

The Day I Became an Autodidact

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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."

I was hooked on this book from the first page. I heard Kendall interviewed by Carol Hemingway (radio) and was captivated by this young woman's insight, humor, intelligence ... and personality. She was blessed with an exceptional childhood, given her incredible parents .. but nevertheless, is such an individual .. and has enormous courage. I had the privledge of meeting her, and she is more delightful than I could have ever imagined .. she's also a good actress (saw her in one of her mother's plays). Wish she would write more books.

I got this book when I was about 12 years old and I have read it until it was completely in tatters. Kendall was such an inspiration to me while I was growing up... I wish I had had the wherewithal to step outside the system as she did. She has such a great eye for hilarious and telling little moments and her journal is so lively, funny, and charged... how many of us have the ability to even know what our own (true) interests and passions ARE, let alone are able to pursue them as guilessly and energetically as Kendall does? I have often wondered where she is now and searched for her name on the internet, but it doesn't come up. If anyone knows what she is doing today please let me know! And if anyone is still wondering whether or not they should buy this book, take it from me, DO. It could change your life.

Yes, this is a somewhat preciously precocious book ... but that's precisely what makes it so endearing & so much fun. I'm sure the author might well look back on these pages & wince a little at times, as any of us would upon revisiting our teenaged years, when our own personalities & worldviews were still in a formative state of flux.

That said, this remains an enormously enjoyable story, one I return to every few years. Young Kendall is bright, curious, and always a pleasure to follow as she tries on slightly premature adulthood in her quest for self-education. Anyone who never quite fit in as a teenager, who had Higher Aspirations (the capitals are absolutely de rigueur), who simply couldn't wait to grow up & be taken seriously -- and we all know who we are! -- will have no trouble identifying with her.

Like a previous reviewer, I sometimes wonder where life took Kendall. I'd love to see a follow-up volume someday! But until then, these familiar pages await another re-reading soon. Definitely in need of reprinting, and most cheerfully recommended!

In her first (and oddly, only) book, Kendall Hailey, daughter of the author of "A Woman of Independent Means," shares the diary entries she made while living and learning at home after an early graduation from high school. Always a warm and witty guide, Hailey shuttles quirkily through both her reading list--stretching from Plato to the Mitfords--and the world of a happily creative family. This book is wonderfully smart and sensitive, touching and hilarious.

I just finished this book ... warm, witty, dry, just all round super. I'm enormously curious about Kendall; has she written anything else, what's she up to now?

Andy Levy-Stevenson

What a wonderful book this is, and how hard to find! I treasure my paperback copy, but wish that it were easier to give this book as a gift. Certainly everyone who has read it has fallen for Kendall and wonders whatever happened to this bright, funny, fascinating young woman. I understand that her father, playwright Oliver Hailey, died in 1993. Her sister, Brooke Hailey, is an actress and screenwriter who appeared in the film version of A Woman of Independent Means. Wherever you are, Kendall, I hope that you are still devouring books with gusto and continuing to write about them. Your fans do miss you.

Every thinking, caring person knows our educational system is broken, right down to its roots. Ask a teacher, a parent, an educator, or a politician how to fix it, and you'll get as many useful answers. But how to implement those suggestions, and what are the current communities of students to do in the meantime? Here is the story of one intelligent, self-directed young woman who, with the encouragement of her parents, left the path most traveled and struck out on her own. My conclusion: the American educational system is not only superfluous for those who wish to learn, it is an active deterrent to learning for some students, and their only hope for getting the education they want and need is to go out and get it themselves. I've recommended this (and Teenage Liberation Handbook) to dozens, maybe hundreds, of people since I read this book. For students who don't need to be told what to do, what to learn, where to sit, when to be quiet, and who to believe, Ms. Hailey is a charming and experienced guide to striking out on your own when you come to know you've outgrown what School has to offer.

I had the great pleasure of meeting Ms. Hailey (and her novelist mother) at a bookseller's convention just after her book was published. As we were introduced I proclaimed to her, "I. Love. Your. Book!" Still do. If more Americans learned, as students, what it is to take charge of one's life instead of allowing the authorities to do so, we'd be living in a better, more mature America.