Customer Reviews

Lifelines: The Black Book of Proverbs

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This little book is incredible. I keep a copy on my coffee table at home, on a small side table in my waiting area at work for patients to browse through and in my brief case to share with girls that I work with through a small non-profit agency I am committed to. I am consistently pleased with the provocative discussions I have with children about these proverbs and feel inspired when I come across one that resonates with me on any given day. I have purchased several of these and plan to give them as Christmas and Kwaanza gifts this year. This is a must have!!!

A friend of mine gave me this book and I realized in the first 15 minutes of reading that it is a real gem. It's one of those books that belongs on your coffee table or bedside. The section on Childhood is one of my favorites along with Ethics and Values. Just makes the perfect gift for your book club companions, for a person who loves language or just have in the bathroom for short inspirational read. And, Archbishp Tutu's foreword is a blessed endorsement. Proverbs on everyday life...something for everyone.

This book is a reminder of how oral traditions have carried us through since the beginning of time. It teaches us how simple words of wisdom can shape us in our present, while providing us with the strength, courage, and peace to reach towards the future. The beauty and magic of this book is how the proverbs can literally jump off the pages and into your life, as if they were already there waiting to be unlocked from our ancient memories.

Thank you all for this work and we will keep this treasure in our family for generations to come. Peace and Many Blessings.

Here are some of my favorites from this book -

They who possess much wisdom, have it in their ears; they who possess little wisdom, have it on their lips. (Uganda)

"This is how it is usually done" doesn't make people progress. (Ewe)

The tortoise adorns himself with hard shells but his neck is bare so that relatives might touch him. (Idoma, Nigeria)

Those who eat eggs don't know whether the chicken suffered. (Martinique)

I love this book - it's one of those volumes you can return to again and again. It's nicely divided into sections - Love, Marriage, Death, Ethics and Values, for example - and each section begins with a short piece of the authors' personal reflrctions and stories that we all can relate to. While Lifelines is a book that will appeal to all, it is, for those of us of African descent in this part of the world, of special interest. Proverbs from Africa, the Caribbean, North & South America...Great. Highly recommended.

Askhari Johnson Hodari and Yvonne McCalla Sobers have penned a very enlightening book about proverbs and sayings from Africa, the West Indies, as well as South Carolina. They start with birth and continue on to death, and hit every stage of human existence in between. The proverbs are short and easy to understand partially because at the beginning of each chapter, Sobers gives a portion of her life to help with the understanding of the sayings. She starts with her story of going to Ghana as a young bride in 1960 and progresses from there, about how each set of proverbs means something to her. In her section of Ethics and Values, she gives Ghana's view of money, which is "Pray for life, not for money", which should touch many in the United States, where money seems to be everything these days. From Ethiopia comes, "What one hopes for is always better than what one has". I was especially touched by the saying "He who waits for a dead man's shoes will go barefoot a long time".

This book brings the wisdom of Africa in a startling way, especially to me, because we have been taught in the United States that we are nothing and yet we have the world's knowledge in our hands. It dispels myths about the ignorance of the slaves and those who came after them. It is extremely enlightening and very uplifting. The foreword by Archbishop Desmond Tutu was also very good. I would suggest this book be read by everyone.

Reviewed by Alice Holman
of The RAWSISTAZ(tm) Reviewers

I am amazed by the research, collaboration, time and effort that the authors obviously put into crafting this gem of a collection of amazing African proverbs! The book's regal cover design, and soft hue of the fonts, inspires a feeling of old-world charm and elegance. The intriguing vignettes that introduce the reader to each group or "life cycle" of proverbs, along with the enchanting sepia toned illustrations, distinguishes this venerable collection from the other books of proverbs and quotations that are out there.

I shared this book with my daughter who is a freshman in college and she has already adopted for her post on her Face Book page, one of the proverbs from the "Adolescence, Initiation and Rites of Passage" life-cycle--"A tree that does not know how to dance will be taught by the wind."

Lifelines, the Black Book of Proverbs should be a part of every home's library to inspire, encourage, motivate and celebrate the human condition and life experiences of the families that dwell within its walls.

I would say that this book is a great coffee table book, but that might suggest that it isn't one to pick up every single day. "Lifelines" offers words of wisdom for every area of life, some are almost riddles, others are complete plain-speak, but all of the proverbs in this book can serve as reminders about how to be and how to live. And, the guidance comes from all over the African Diaspora, that includes your grandmother's kitchen table, wherever it may be. This is a wonderful gift, but you'll definitely want to make sure you have a copy, too.

This book is excellent! It offers proverbial wisdom that helps us make since of varied life experiences. Since it is arranged by theme, it provides an opportunity for tangible growth and self-help counsel. I also appreciate the diverse regions where the proverbs originate, illustrating a our collective wisdom around the world. I am truly loving Lifelines!!!

Kudos to Yvonne McCalla Sobers and Askhari Johnson Hodari for a scintillating collection of proverbs from Africa and across the African diaspora. An veritable treasure house of timeless wisdom, that can be used not only for leisurely reading, but also as a teaching or academic tool. A must-have for those interested not only in the proverbs themselves, but in the cultural contexts from which they spring.