31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Who knew I would love this book?!, January 25, 2004
By A Customer
To the few reviewers of this book who gave it a negative rating:
what's wrong with you?! You CLEARLY missed this point of this gem of a publication.
I was browsing around the bookstore at the local mall just passing time while my eye glasses were being repaired. I was standing near the bestsellers section, when for no particular reason, this book's cover caught my eye. I picked up a copy, glanced at it, flipped the pages, then discarded it back on the shelf and thought, uhgg, one of those chicken-soup, pseudo-inspirational, publications; you know, a book version of a "chick flick"...ah, no thanks. Then, and maybe it was the fact that I noticed the NY Times bestseller band at the top, or maybe the sincerity of Marlo's expression -- I don't know -- but I picked it up, again flipped through the selections until I found a contributor I recognized: Matt Groening. I read his, the another, then got to Mel Brooks..BAM..I was hooked. I've got to admit, the old widsom you can't judge a book by it's cover took on a literal truth in this case. When I glanced at the back cover and saw that all of the royalties of the book go to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, I was instantly sold and proceeded to register to buy it.
The idea for this book and it's ultimate objective are both obvious and genious. Bravo Marlo and Friends!
This isn't literature, no, it's light reading with most entires being 3 or 4 pages; the contributions are from a diverse collection of musicians, actors, activists, entertainers, doctors, CEOs, journalists, politicians, direcors, writers, politicians, artists, and other people who are well known because of the success they've attained.
But the entries from the likes of Sidney Portier, Jay Leno,
and Itzhak Perlman are golden nuggets; personal experiences
of pivitol points in these contributors lives and given up in the name of charity -- awesome!
There are lessons and wisdoms in this book you can bank on. To say this book is replete with inspiration and would be an understatement. Best of all, you can read an entry in like 2 minutes!
If you don't buy this book, it's your loss.
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25 of 27 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is a Ten Star book......, June 8, 2002
Marlo Thomas has a home run with this one of a kind book that will hold the attention of readers of a variety of age groups. Because I come from a family of many men I was really impressed with the men who share their thoughts on words that have changed their lives so profoundly. From Tom Brokaw who admits he was a screw up and who had a professor tell him he needed to get his act together, to Jay Leno who had a school tell him in front of his parents that school wasn't for everybody.
And Mohammed Ali who was told by a teacher that he wouldn't ever amount to anything and how he won a Gold Metal at the Olympics and came back to school and placed the medal on the teachers desk and said the teacher was wrong. Very wrong.
Willie Nelson who while at law school (yes law school) was once again reminded that no one ever encouraged him, but the hymn Amazing Grace did and does to this day. And is the song he includes in every performance he does. And Paul McCartney who shared that his Mom had died when he was a teen and one night she came to him in a dream and told him to let it be....... that all would be ok. Her name was Mary and all these years most listeners of the Beatles song Let It Be have assumed it was the mother of Jesus, Mary whom the song speaks of, but it isn't. It was his Mother.
It was so surprising, yet refreshing that Marlo who is a well known feminist would go out of her way to ask conservative women/men to share their stories of words that changed their lives. Like Barbara Bush whose advise came from her parent and had to do with being a good example and listening well to ones children. And Laura Bush whose words came from her parent and involved laying on a blanket and looking up at the sky and being told that science was important even for a girl.
Or how about the actor Al Pachino whose words had to do with his alcoholism and how it was a good friend who said the right words at a time when he was drinking to much? Rather than words of condemnation and shame words that made him literally think about how often he lifted the glass of alcohol to his lips.
This is book that I am giving as a graduation present as well as a [present to a friend in a mid-life crisis since the stories are so varied and prove that words can either build a person up or tear them down. That thinking before you speak and speaking wisely, can be like lighting a candle in a dark world. The book literally left me in awe and even made me think about words that have changed my life. Words that were so positive and came from my parents.
Oh and ALL the proceeds of the book go to St Judes Hospital which cares for children whether their parents can afford it or not.
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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Right Book at the Right Time, May 29, 2002
I really, really liked this book. In fact, as soon as I finished it I wanted to share it so I sent it (priority mail - no less!) to my friend in California.
I remember my dad saying "If something is worth doing, it's worth doing well" and that's in the book. Obviously those were words that came at the "right time" for me.
There's a lot in the book to think about. It's not a celebrity book by any means - its a people book. Words are very powerful and sometimes at the most unexpected times, they have such an impact on your life you never forget them. The same goes for this book.
It's to be enjoyed and then shared and remembered. Marlo Thomas has always gone for quality, not quantity. This one can sit proudly beside "Free to Be" - unless you send it to a friend.
Don't pass it by.
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