Customer Reviews

Guiding Lights: The People Who Lead Us Toward Our Purpose in Life

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This is one of the finest, most beautifully written books I have read in years. As someone who has just completed the jump from always being the protege to being both mentor and protege, I am amazed by how the stories of teaching and learning in all walks for professional life--from the boardroom to the streets to the stage to the classroom--are relevant to me. Liu's admonishment at the beginning of the book not to just read the stories that seem directly relevant was well placed. I strongly encourage everyone who is concerned about the selfishness in our society and in our professional environments to read this book. Liu's lessons will help you understand who influenced you and why--and will challenge you to pass on what you have learned to those around you. And he will give you concrete tools for doing so in a way that empowers both student and teacher. This is a book for everyone and could not have been published at a more necessary time in American history. I expect it to be (deservedly) a best seller. Liu's prose is brilliantly descriptive and evocative. You will enjoy this book very much. If you enjoy it as much as I did, then you should buy a second copy and pass it along to a friend who would benefit, and challenge them to do the same. Together, we can start a movement in this country of one-on-one life-changing transformation.

This is a beautiful book that explores learning and mentorship in the broadest human and existential context, and draws fresh insights from this approach. Liu investigates the interaction between great teachers and their pupils not only from the standpoint of their particular craft, but the broader story of how teacher and pupil find themselves brought together, change each other as human beings, and eventually go their separate ways. It shows us how teaching can be not just a 9 to 5 gig, but perhaps the activity that shows our distinct human-ness better than any other. Anyone with interests in education and mentorship, or who has been touched by a teacher of the past, would see in this book a reflection of themselves.

This engaging book is about falling in love with learning and moving learning into living.  Author Eric Liu writes, "All thinking is analogy-making.  All learning is analogy-finding.  All teaching is analogy-showing."  His book is filled with analogies drawn from his own fascinating life and from the mentors he spent two years observing and working with as he experienced their processes of teach ing and empowering.  These experiences took him to hundreds of locations including schools, a baseball training camp, dance and music studios, corporate offices, a prison, a gangland "hood" and an Ivy League college.  Liu has woven a richly colored and textured tapestry of learning from a variety of cultures and occupations, as well as failings and strivings and successes that mark contemporary life in the United States.  Every teacher and learner should own this book.  

Recommendation Eric Liu is a gifted, practiced writer whose prose shines, particularly when he writes about his life. This book chronicles his quest to learn what makes someone a great mentor. Quest genre sagas share lessons learned along the course of the journey, and usually culminate with some variation of Judy Garland's parting words in 'The Wizard of Oz': "...if I ever go looking for my heart's desire again, I won't look any further than my own back yard. Because if it isn't there, I never really lost it to begin with!" Liu's verbal gifts and originality enable him to avoid most, but not all, of this New Age genre's pitfalls. Liu discovers the five characteristics of great teachers, as personified by the 15 delightfully diverse mentors he interviewed: a sought-after Hollywood acting instructor, a major league pitching coach, a forensics teacher, a corporate motivational speaker and more. Liu approaches each mentor with reverent inspection, as if each unknowingly possesses a clue to the puzzle of what makes a teacher extraordinary. While the book's business relevance may be somewhat limited, Liu's essay-stories are consistently original, thoughtful and engaging. That's why we give this book a strong recommendation, particularly for coaches and trainers.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book. There were a variety of stories that were entertaining. The sections on the acting coach and the baseball pitcher werre especially good. My only complaint was that some of the stories went on for awhile with only a limited attempt to summarize an overall point. At times I wanted the author to "wrap up" a little more obviously.

Great stories... the kind that keep me thinking about how and why I mentor as a home- school mom. I like that the stories are from spaces way different than my mentoring environment to keep my "box" as big as possible from which to inspire and relate to my kids/students.

Eric Liu clearly rights more for himself than for the reader. While the selection of teachers from various walks of life is interesting, if not inspired, Liu draws draws pedantic and commonplace lessons. If he's trying to be a teacher, he had better go back to class.