Customer Reviews

To Our Children's Children: Preserving Family Histories for Generations to Come

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this book for my Father in November for a Christmas gift but gave it to him as soon as I received it. and he got busy right away on his computer and wrote a 13 page history of his life. He passed away December 29th. My gift for him turned into a gift for me, my siblings and others.I can't express my appreciation for this book!

This is a great book with wonderful, thought provoking questions, but beware, there is no space in this book to write responses. Ideal if you will be writing in a separate journal or tape recording answers. I was disappointed with the layout, as I wanted the receipient to be able to write directly into the book.

If you are really serious about writing your own story about your life and are willing to answer the questions in an honest and direct way this book is for you! My Dad and I are both using this book to write a two generation family life story. The questions in this book bring back many memories, some good and some painful but it helps to write it all out. I have not found a book that is as easy to work with. I highly recommend this book to anyone that is interested in remembering the past and preserving it for their children and future family members.

I really think every parent should take the time and find this book or any other like it and answer the questions for their children! This book helps your children get to know who you are, what your hopes, dreams, rememories of childhood homes, friends and places before they where born!

I bought a copy for my Mother and I was surprised to find out she wanted to be a teacher, not a secretary. It also gave me a chance to see my Mother as a child and things through her eyes that I never would have known!

It seems like a very thick book, but if you take 1 page a day or just a few you'll be amazed at the memories you remember and also the knowledge that your children will get to know things about you that they might not have known other wise! Definately a family treasure!

This is a great little book for jumpstarting your brain. It asks thought-provoking questions that helped me journal about my life, for my children. As you read through the questions, there will be some that really spark a memory for you, and those are the ones I chose to answer. This would also be a good tool for the scrapbooker who wanted to do more than just record events with photos. I would recommend it.

I tell everyone I see, that is interested in preserving their family history to BUY this book. I like structure and a helping hand. To me, this is the greatest book to help a person, tell their story. I am still working my way through Bob Greene's book and typing in the answers in my computer. I call my results a "Work in Progress." I wish I would have had this guide when some of my relatives were still alive. Once again, this book is great guide, to fill out "your story" and the story of your relatives. I have give my "Work in Progress", to my two daughters, and they both cried. I was surprised by their response. Their response encourages me to continue "My Work in Progress."

I have had this book for years. I use it whenever we visit a relative that is getting up in years. I wish I had it before I lost some relatives. I pick out a chapter and write down the questions I want to ask. Then video tape with the questions as my guideline. Everyone should have this on their bookshelf and remember to use it. A friend wants to borrow mine, I am going to buy her a copy.

Having done genealogy research and finding dates, places and names I wanted more information. I discovered this book filled with questions that helped me ask questions of my family members. The questions in the book jogged my memories and family member memories and now I am filling in the gaps of my geneaolgy research. I would reccomend this book to all who have an interest in their past.

Not only is this a thoughtfully written and organized book, but this is also a handy little book. It's small size easily fits into a backpack or overnight bag. I put the book and a really good gel pen and a pad of paper into a gallon-sized Ziplock-type baggie so that I can write anytime, anywhere. I always take it with me to the beach and often take it with me on overnight trips, too, finishing one question per trip. I randomly open the book, choose an appropriate question, close the book and start writing whatever comes to mind about the subject.
It is surprising how the questions in the book really make one think back. One time I took my 18-year-old son to the beach with me. I showed him the book, we each chose a question and wrote for over an hour, sitting amongst the grasses in the sun and wind. I discovered he was definitely not too young to write down his history! Yes, I hand-write the entries and then transcribe them later with a word processor. A workbook or journal would be too space-restricting for me, and no way can I do a question per day!
I'm okay with not answering all the questions in the book. It is nice to know that even if I don't get very far in the book, my three children and my siblings will know me a lot better than if I never answered one. If I had no children, I would write anyway because you just never know who would be touched by your life. This is a must-have book for anyone wanting to pass some history down because it makes it so much easier to do. This book made it easy enough for me, the single mom with two jobs, to start a personal history!

If you have ever thought about preserving your memories or the memories of a loved one, this is the way to go.