Mark Twain's Helpful Hints for Good Living: A Handbook for the Damned Human Race [Hardcover]

Mark Twain (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 18, 2004 | Series: Jumping Frogs

Irreverent, charming, eminently quotable, this handbook--an eccentric etiquette guide for the human race--contains sixty-nine aphorisms, anecdotes, whimsical suggestions, maxims, and cautionary tales from Mark Twain's private and published writings. It dispenses advice and reflections on family life and public manners; opinions on topics such as dress, health, food, and childrearing and safety; and more specialized tips, such as those for dealing with annoying salesmen and burglars. Culled from Twain's personal letters, autobiographical writings, speeches, novels, and sketches, these pieces are delightfully fresh, witty, startlingly relevant, and bursting with Twain's characteristic ebullience for life. They also remind us exactly how Mark Twain came to be the most distinctive and well-known American literary voice in the world. These texts, some of them new or out of print for decades, have been selected and meticulously prepared by the editors at the Mark Twain Project.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This wonderful book illustrates precisely why we can never have enough Twain. His humor is timeless, his wisdom about all things without equal." - Ken Burns; "If you are wrestling with how to advance stimulating dinner conversation, what to do with unwanted magazine subscriptions, how to deal with the 'odious flummery' of fashion, or whether or not to bring your dog to the next funeral, Twain is here to offer his gentle guidance." - John Boyer, Executive Director of The Mark Twain House and Museum; "A delightful display of Mark Twain's wit and humor. This is the perfect gift book for any aficionado of Mark Twain, any connoisseur of the risible, or any stuffed shirt who needs to lighten up." - Gregg Camfield, editor of The Oxford Companion to Mark Twain"

From the Inside Flap

"This wonderful book illustrates precisely why we can never have enough Twain. His humor is timeless, his wisdom about all things without equal."--Ken Burns

"Mark Twain's Helpful Hints for Good Living is a real discovery as well as a delight. It brings us fresh material from an old friend, and rediscovers great moments from the long shelves of his published writings. It's the best, most reliable collection of Mark Twain as social observer, moralist, and comic genius."--Bruce Michelson, author of Mark Twain on the Loose and Literary Wit

"A delightful display of Mark Twain's wit and humor loosely tied together under the guise of an advice book. Containing some things old, some things new, some things borrowed (in parody), but nothing blue, this charming collection of old favorites and new releases will guide you through life's exigencies in fine spirits, if not in fine form. Twain's advice occasionally touches the sublime, but only in the form of the ridiculous. This is the perfect gift book for any aficionado of Mark Twain, any connoisseur of the risible, or any stuffed-shirt who needs to lighten up."--Gregg Camfield, author of The Oxford Companion to Mark Twain

"Twain came to understand himself as 'a moralist in disguise,' and this collection reveals that truth clearly, without jettisoning any of his humor. If you are wrestling with how to advance stimulating dinner conversation, what to do with unwanted magazine subscriptions, how to deal with the 'odious flummery' of fashion, or whether or not to bring your dog to the next funeral, Twain is here to offer his gentle guidance. Old chestnuts and surprising obscurities are provided in a refreshed context through the rich and illuminating annotations of the ever brilliant editorial team at the Mark Twain Papers."--John Boyer, executive director of The Mark Twain House and Museum

This book serves up an elegant taste of Mark Twain's love for the food of the American South, spiced generously with his celebrated wit. Food lovers and humorists alike will revel in the timeless wisdom gathered here.--Nathalie Dupree, television host and author of Nathalie Dupree's Southern Memories

"This is a masterfully edited compendium that does Twain proud. It captures the note-taking, aphorism-creating, angry-letter-writing essence of Twain's brain in a way essential, I think, to understanding the man, and by extension, the history of the United States and the nature of life on Earth."--Dave Eggers, editor of McSweeney's

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 221 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (October 18, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520242459
• ISBN-13: 978-0520242456
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 6.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #351,646 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Treasure, February 10, 2007

By 

David Montgomery (Beaufort, North Carolina) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mark Twain's Helpful Hints for Good Living: A Handbook for the Damned Human Race (Hardcover)

Here are some useful living tips, advice and observations from that quintessential American literary figure Mark Twain, real name Samuel L. Clemens. This compilation contains a delightful mix of humorous writings on the mundane and sometimes very unusual occurrences that reflected his many gifts as a writer/humorist. Many of these snippets are from some of his more famous works, while others are from personal sketches and writings not as well known. The tarantulas escape, a borrowed overcoat, a lecture to a youth group, the use of foul language, a note to a burglar, and so many other little anecdotes, observations, and etc will elicit periods of laughter from the reader, as it did for me. A wonderful little treasure.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clever humor from our past, May 2, 2009

By 

Nancy E. Turner "[e-mail]" (Tucson, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Mark Twain's Helpful Hints for Good Living: A Handbook for the Damned Human Race (Hardcover)

First, it's Mark Twain - the very pseudonym a poke in the ribs - and it's full of essays on his views of life, letters to editors, milkmen and burglars. He never pokes fun at his family, much, but sees the world as a tiresome place in which to try to exist, and his fellowman as more tiresome still. It's a glimpse at a time gone by, when a note on the front door telling any future robbers that the previous pair have already taken the silverware but they're welcome to the two candlesticks in the parlor might have even made sense since the doors weren't locked.

26 of 31 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Etiquette requires us to respect the human race", February 22, 2006

By 

Shalom Freedman "Shalom Freedman" (Jerusalem,Israel) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Mark Twain's Helpful Hints for Good Living: A Handbook for the Damned Human Race (Hardcover)

Mark Twain in his writing very often surprises us and makes us laugh. His greatest gift is his humor. And the wisdom he provides on various aspects of daily living however sarcastic and cynical it may seem at times is grounded in a sane realistic view of humanity.