Customer Reviews

Self-Reliance

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The first time I read "Self-Reliance," I didn't. It was assigned summer reading before my senior year AP English class and I was too busy golfing and playing pick-up basketball to waste my summer on a book written by a dead guy with weird sideburns. At age 23, I read it the second time, printing out a public domain edition using a temp job's laser printer then plowing through it on my lunch break. This week was my third time to read it and by far the most valuable thanks to the Domino Project's beautiful new special edition.

Stunning design by my friend Alex Miles Younger places all of Emerson's original text on the right side of the page in this slim 73 page volume, with notable pull-quotes from the book as well as complementary and supplementary quotes from famous people on the left side. OK, fine, it's a bit ironic that a book that preaches you needing to think for yourself highlights the lines that you SHOULD think are the most important. Except for the fact, those ARE the most important lines. They were to me at least.

I somewhat always dismissed and ignored Emerson because I thought he was like his friend Thoreau, who I kind of hate. But, whether it was because of my age or this special edition, "Self-Reliance"--finally!--resonated with me on this third read like few books have ever before. (It could be a fitting companion to my beloved Meditations (Modern Library) even.)

"Self-Reliance" is truly a book about artistic confidence and belief in one's own genius: "To believe your own thoughts, to believe what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, that is genius." It's a book about not sitting around waiting for someone else, someone anointed, to say the things you want to say: "Else, tomorrow a stranger will say with masterly sense what we have thought and felt all time, and we shall be forced to take with shame our own opinion from another." Devastating, and often so sadly true.

"Self-Reliance" preaches that one force himself to reject the conformity around him if he truly wants to live: "...for he who does not postpone his life, but lives already." It wonders why we're scared to bring our deepest, most private thoughts out into the real world: "These are the voices which we hear in solitude, but they grow faint and inaudible as we enter into the world."

You're betraying yourself when you're not letting your voice be heard and I'm reminded of both poet Alexander Pope and pimp Iceberg Slim.

Alexander Pope who said: "Whatever is, is right."

Iceberg Slim who said: "Chumps prefer a beautiful lie to an ugly truth."

Don't be a chump. Quit lying to yourself. We all lie to ourselves and to the public far too often. We need to stop doing that. We need to believe in ourselves, worship at our own altar, be our own philosopher. No one can do a better job of teaching you to be you...than YOU.

"Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles."

This book could have been written yesterday.

Get ready for a different reading experience. I mean, actually thinking while you're reading, because you'll see different kinds of words and they'll be in a strange order than what you're used to. This book wasn't written yesterday. You're in a different time and place when you read this one.

And that's what makes it so much more meaningful. You're reading poetry (what else would you expect from Emerson?) which means that every word was carefully chosen, and each sentence has a deep meaning. You'll feel different after reading this book, as if you've been traveling through time and finding treasures of wisdom that have been preserved for us today.

I appreciate the layout of this book where each left page (as the book is open faced) contains large red print of a key quote that is also highlighted in red on the right page where it is placed among the rest of the text. This actually helped me read it and glean the main points.

The other reading help from the publisher (The Domino Project) was a quote on every other page from a variety of notable individuals that correlated somewhat with the message Emerson was conveying, except it was in language easier to digest. This helped clarify the message and made it sink in better for me.

I shouldn't start quoting the book because I could go on and on, but here's one to give you a taste:
"Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life's cultivation; but of the adopted talent of another, you have only an extemporaneous, half possession."

By just typing that sentence, I understood it better. Every sentence is like that.

It's not a long book, 73 pages, and half of those contain the Emerson text. The other half are the highlights and quotes from others I mentioned. But it will take you a lot longer to read this book than others because you will need to read slowly and repeat many sentences as you go in order to discover the meaning. Well, that was my experience anyway. And even though it may have been difficult, it was one of those good kinds of pain where you get more out of it because of the effort involved. You can do it. It's good for you.

Good luck! And enjoy learning "Self-Reliance".

The Domino Project also seems to believe that Emerson's words are just as relevant today if they are constantly interrupted with moments of "self-reflection." I picked this edition up when it was being given away for free, and I'd hate to see someone spend money on it if they didn't know that the core text is incessantly halted by these snippets (it would also help if the authors of said snippets were identified and contextualized). I'd be more willing to give these self-reflective moments a fair shake if they were included in an appendix, but the current format makes the Emerson unreadable. If you can get through the interruptions, that's great, but for me this was an example of how not to "curate" the work of a favorite author. I'm not even anti "remix" or heavily-revised / annotated editions, but the few intrusions sounded like a mix between fortune cookie self-help and the left's answer to the rhetoric of Ayn Rand (I should also note that I despise Rand and have room in my heart for "self-help" / motivational narratives; the latter is what attracted me to Emerson in the first place).

Self-Reliance is the kind of book I avoid when I'm passive and timid. It's also transforms that passivity and timidity into something useful... something true. Even if you fundamentally disagree with Emerson, I dare you to not be galvanized to action in response. This one's worth your time.

This is such a beautiful release for a long-loved book!

My favorite parts of this book -- the cover, which is stunning and makes the book itself a covetable collectable, and the way the text is laid out inside. Emerson's essay is interspersed with experiential quotes from many familiar names (Steven Pressfield, Henry Ford, Chris Guillebeau, Pace and Kyeli Smith, Pam Slim, Mark Frauenfelder, dozens more names you'll know by heart). What a remarkable way to present this piece!

This is a book you'll want to keep by your bed -- or gift to someone important to you.

For far too long Emerson's "Self-Reliance" has been on my reading list, and finally I got to read it thanks to this new Kindle edition. The short book (72 pages in the print edition) justly deserved its reputation as one of the most inspiring and intellectually thoughtful essays ever written. Almost each one of its sentences resonates with deep ideas carefully wrought out. The ideal of self-reliance is not uniquely American, but it is in America that it has achieved its purest form in the ideals on which this republic was founded, as well as throughout all of its subsequent history. Not meddling in other people's affairs, as well as relying on yourself and your abilities to get ahead in life are quintessential American values. On the surface of it is hard to imagine how could anyone be opposed to them. However, "Self-Reliance" also hints at what happens when these values are taken too far. Emerson for instance denounces abolitionists as being concerned with people too far away from their daily lives. He is also very skeptical of all things foreign. The first one these attitudes has contributed to the continuation of slavery in the United States for far longer than it should have persisted. The other one underlies the isolationisms and xenophobia that from time to time rear their ugly heads in American body politic. No one is accusing Emerson himself of these ideological vices, although I am not sure what his full attitude was. However, it is undeniable that as the ideas go self-reliance can be a two-edged sword.

This is not an easy book, and it should be read carefully. It should be also re-read as often as the circumstances allow, because there are very few treatise written in English language that can match it in terms of the depth and the economy of arguments, as well as masterful use of language.

This particular edition of "Self-Reliance" has been arranged by "The Domino Project." I have not been familiar with this project prior to this book. Their aim seems to be to make classics relevant and accessible to the modern readers. In particular, this book is interspersed with short quotations from several modern luminaries. The quotations are supposedly linked to the text, although at several instances I felt the connection was vague at best. The quotations also interrupt the flow of the book, which I found to be rather annoying. They also tend to trivialize Emerson's thoughts, reducing them to nice-sounding clichés. Overall, if you have the option I'd recommend reading a different edition of "Self-Reliance."

I have been a devotee of Ralph Waldo Emerson's writing all of my adult life. I've read "Self Reliance" countless times over the past three decades and it never fails to inspire.

But why would I or anyone else want to buy a new version of this classic work that was originally written in the 1800's? Because Seth Godin and his Domino Project visionaries have elevated Emerson's original words by including the perspectives of 21st Century achievers/thinkers and highlighted the turn of each page with a key passage from the text.

The layout of this new book is elegant, engaging and user-friendly. This format breathes new life into Emerson's manifesto, which I never imagined could be improved upon. Much to my surprise and delight, the publishers have managed to present "Self Reliance" in a way that illuminates Emerson's profound thoughts in an ultra-modern style.

This version of "Self Reliance" takes Emerson's timeless wisdom and amplifies it for our time.

I highly recommend it.

Part of what lands a work in the canons of literature is a message that transcends the ages. Reading Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Self-Reliance" is like flicking on the THINK switch. An anthem for individuality and anti-conformity, this re-work Domino Project gem is a journey back in time to the origins of outta the box thinking.

While the text sometimes needs a double-read to digest the mid-1800's heady language structure, it's power packed with transcendental principles that still ring true in our modern culture. I love how in this new version, contemporary maverick thinkers are threaded throughout the book sharing their thoughts and grounding them in 2011 newness. Free thinking never grows old.

I laud Seth Godin, Amazon, and the whole Domino Project for giving Emerson another go. Pick up a copy and unleash your own self-reliance.

Leigh

Were it not for the fact that this book came from the Domino Project, I probably wouldn't have read it.
Which is a shame...it hit me at a perfect time in my life and I feel like it has super-charged my self-confidence as well as my sense of purpose. The encouragement to be true to yourself (he basically says that imitation is outsourcing your creative thinking) hit me hard and was super-relevant.

I found the writing to be profound, having to put the book down after a few pages to digest it.

I also loved the quotes by more contemporary thinkers about Emerson. It added to the overall experience. I've blogged about this book on my own [...] and already convinced 3 people to buy it.

So glad that I took the time to read it.

Disclosure: I did receive a copy for free as a member of the Domino Street Team.

I bought this wonderful book as a gift for our oldest daughter because I sensed it was time. She's on her own now and more than ever she needs to rely on herself and her abilities. I believe this little treasure of a book will help guide her through any self doubt when Mom is not around.