Life: A User's Manual: Great Minds on the Big Questions [Hardcover]

John Miller (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 21, 1998

Ranging from a letter by Georgia O'Keeffe describing a walk under the New Mexico sky to Marcel Proust's ruminations on the famous cup of tea that triggered his remembrances, "Life" provides a rich, expansive look at the search for meaning, embracing the paradoxical and contradictory nature of existence.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Believers in synchronicity train themselves to recognize moments when a certain turn of phrase, a particular quote, or a brief paragraph can trigger a life-altering insight. Life: A User's Manual is a collection of these kinds of inspirational quotes, poems, and short essays by the world's most respected thinkers and spiritual leaders. Anthologist John Miller (Legends: Women Who Have Changed the World Through the Eyes of Great Women Writers) has organized Life, A User's Manual into five parts: "Search," "Love," "Faith," "Meditation," and "Death." Some excerpts and quotes ring familiar, such as that passage from Isabel Allende's book about the death of her daughter Paula or the excerpt from Anne Morrow Lindbergh's Gift from the Sea. Nonetheless, packaged within this clean, tight anthology, each quote and essay sounds fresh and resonates with life-altering potential. --Gail Hudson

From Library Journal

In these short selections, 25 well-known authors, e.g., Diane Ackerman, Martin Luther King, Thich Nhat Hahn, Albert Einstein, and Isabel Allende, search for the meaning of life, love, faith, meditation, and death. Very brief biographical information about each author is included at the end. While excellent passages, such as Harold Kushner's "When All You Ever Wanted Isn't Enough" and Mother Teresa's "Silence," are very moving, the overall collection is random and limited in nature. A hospital, church, or public library might possibly use it as a basis for therapy, inspiration, or discussion, but the lack of explanatory or supportive material makes this a marginal purchase.?Nancy Shires, East Carolina Univ., Greenville, NC
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: New World Library; 1st edition (July 21, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1577310675
• ISBN-13: 978-1577310679
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,810,081 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars For when you feel reflective...., September 23, 1998

By 

Ed SantaVicca (Phoenix, AZ) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Life: A User's Manual: Great Minds on the Big Questions (Hardcover)

Some of the excerpts included in this book will be familiar to many a reader. Most of the authors have instant name recognition. What makes the book readable however is neither the familarity of the content nor the writer. It is the assemblage of thought brought together under five general rubrics: search, faith, love, meditation, death--all wonderfully provocative concepts that lend themselves to reflection. And most of us have thought about these at some point in our lives. Here the entries are brief enough for us to do a quick read (and a quick re-read if necessary), and still have time to ponder--all within a 10 to 15-minute time frame. My recommendation is to read an entry a day, and spend the rest of the day pondering the content. From Deepak Chopra to Isabel Allende, from Mother Teresa to Maya Angelou, each of the twenty-five authors shares a bit of insight, one facet of a larger jewel that we come to recognize as our self. For its inspirational aspect, this is the sort of book you might want to share with a friend going through difficult times.