Customer Reviews

Wisdom of Our Fathers: Lessons and Letters from Daughters and Sons

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1 star:		(7)

 

 

The book is 297 pages & is divided into 21 chapters. The most crucial ones for me were "Honor, Being There, Forgiveness, Missing Dads, The Protector, Discipline, & 75 Reasons."

What was so refreshing about this book was the theme of basic normalcy & decency that most people seem to have. This book should appeal to most people, but it is not only or truly a book about a "father-son relationship." It came across more as a memoir of intimate vignettes, some of which are negative. One of a son whose father missed out being a a dad because of his drug addiction which eventually killed him.

Two of the more positive stories were when a father comforted his son after he told his dad that he was gay, & Kerry a girl who grew up with a stutter, whose dad held her hand & told her "it's ok". There are many life lessons in these stories that are very applicable to people regardless of their own individual backgrounds, beliefs, & experiences. All in all a very inspirational & intimate read.

Ok a book like this may seem sappy, but trust me there are enough stories and variety to speak to everyone. Personally I loved his chapters on fathers titled Forgiveness, The Protector, Baseball, Mr. Mom and Daddy's Girl.

Reminded me a great deal of Tom Brokaws book from people who wrote him after his excellent book The Greatest Generation which is also a must read book in my opinion.

Mr. Russert is such a gifted writer. The kind that you pray will write another book, and then another. There are enough stories of such a wide variety that the book will appeal to males as much as it will to females.

Great gift for Dads as well as their kids. Though provoking and so much wisdom that one comes away a wiser person. A wiser parent.

Mr. Russert and his wife Maureen have one son but having read Big Russ and Me: Father and Son--Lessons of Life and then this book, one comes away wishing a dozen more had been dropped on their porch.

This book by "The Grand Inquisitor" of Meet the Press, is largely what you would expect - a variety of touching vignettes from sons and daughters throughout America written about both big and little moments with their fathers that became big life lessons for them. Most of them are largely positive - a father telling his daughter that he would marry her if he could to help her get over a break-up with her boyfriend, the touching response of another father to his son telling him that he was gay, one son even using memories of learning to shave with his dad as a child to get over the post-traumatic stress of being a crime victim - specifically the scars from the attack that he saw on his face each morning as he was shaving. However, don't let that make you shy away from this book even if your father was not a great person. There are other letters where the writer has had a terrible role model, such as one man whose father was largely absent from his life due to his chronic drug addiction who ultimately died in a hotel room of an overdose when the man was still a child. The lesson that this son got from his father - "My father missed out on getting to know a terrific son". Thus, there really is something in this book for everyone no matter what your relationship with your father is or was. I highly recommend it, especially if you liked Russert's book about his relationship with his own father - "Big Russ and Me", since it was the publishing of that book that caused all of the people with stories in this book to write to Russert describing their own experiences with their fathers.

Regardless of what one thinks of Tim Russert (I happen to think he is a quality journalist and very simply, a good man), WISDOM OF OUR FATHERS is an incredibly touching, diverse, and fulfilling book. Russert's previous effort, BIG RUSS AND ME, was superb also.

Russert fields and publishes the letters he received as a result of those reading BIG RUSS. These letters are personal, intimate portraits of readers' relationships with their fathers. Whether it was what your father told you, the lessons learned, a touching moment, or just the great times, the outpouring of emotion and storytelling from readers of BIG RUSS is moving.

Russert has indicated in many of his interviews that readers saw BIG RUSS as an invitation to tell the story of their dad, and the avalanche of those telling those stories was daunting. This abundance of interest was what pushed Russert to publish the letters in an effort to share these moving, sad, and funny stories.

This book is not just for fathers, it is for all to read and enjoy. There are a number of lessons applicable to all in all walks of life. I am not going to share any of the stories in this review because I cannot do the letters justice. I would strongly suggest this book as a gift for most anyone, but more than that, I would suggest that everyone get a copy of this book and read it. I rarely recommend a book this strongly, but I certainly do recommend this one.

Tim Russert, the best in the biz when it comes to political interviewing, has shown his softer side again with this book. The book will draw out all emotions from the reader. Happiness, sadness, nostalgia, and much more are just some of the things you'll experience when you read this one.

Russert stays out of the way for most of the book, but his introduction is brilliant. Tim loves his dad and his son. It's evident from this book.

I guarantee, you'll find your dad in this book.

In fact, have 2!

The book is an easy read. Every story makes a great point to be shared for generations. I'm sure it wasn't easy for Mr. Russert to select from the 60,000 letters/emails. Only another man with great character could recognize stories with great lessons.

This is a great gift not only for Father's Day but for anyone that needs a little comfort that they are doing ok as a father. I purchased the book for a friend, a young father, with equal integrity and character. A gift to let him know that he can stop worrying if he is being a good father. He and his wife are great parents and are good enough to be in that book. I used the intro page to let him know just that!

Great idea Mr. Russert ... great book.

Take the choicest moment in your life with your dad, a scene or words spoken that truly personify all that is your own father, multiply that by a thousand, and you have "Wisdom of Our Father's".
The book is broken up into chapters based on various life lessons and each chapter is simply made up of letters written by people sharing their most choice moment with their fathers. Each letter is no longer than a page and the book is so easily read it takes care to go slowly and savor each and every letter so as not to miss out on each particular moment. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you will find yourself saying "Damn Right!" out loud, and you'll inevitably find yourself being humbled by the fathers described in this book, somehow hoping that you will somehow have the opportunity at some time to have anywhere near the wisdom exhibited by these dads in your lifetime.
There are not too many books written that can unequivocably be recommended to anyone who can read but this is one of them. And if I could say that the PERFECT recipient of a gift of this book would be anyone who is about to begin raising children or who is in the act of raising small children, this is it. That way a budding dad will have the ability to soak up a lifetime of lessons and gain the collective "Wisdom of Our Fathers" for his own use. However, ANYONE and EVERYONE should read this book just so you can recognize for yourself what true wisdom looks and sounds like.
Tim Russert - YOU NEED TO COME OUT WITH "More Wisdom!"

I've often thought that Fathers don't get enough respect in the media. I bought this book to read in honor of my father who died in 1993 at the age of 90, and whom I will forever miss. Wisdom of our fathers is a compilation of memories submitted to Russert by readers of his memoir about his father, "Big Russ and Me". Each chapter celebrates a different kind of dad.
Like the woman in the "Daddy's Girl" chapter who still has coffee with her deceased father, I often visit with mine, re-reading the notes and letters he wrote to me when I was away from him. I have just finished the book, and the memories recorded in it have caused me to tear up several times, so many of them evoke memories of Papa. Our beloved Italian father, who was the father of daughters, wrote us notes. One that we found after he passed said, "My Babies, I will love you forever after." We know he does.
This book is about fathers rich and poor, educated and uneducated of every ethnicity who have left indelible imprints on the hearts of their children. Many remind us to express our love much and often. One of the fathers tells his daughter a story about the immigrant father who gave his graduating son a ring inscribed "FUF". When the son asked what the letters meant (they were not the son's initials), the father replied, "From-a-you fadder."
The selflessness of many of the fathers, their hard work, sense of humor, sacrifices and love will bring tears of recognition to many an eye. The fathers who were characters will make you smile. Even the absent fathers left a mark.
This book makes a great companion on my bookshelf to Michelle Slung's two "Momilies" books, which I re-read right around Mothers' Day each year. Everyone should read this book.

I have long admired Tim Russert's "on camera" abilities, and his writing skills have only increased my admiration for him, his wife Maureen, and their son Luke. WISDOM OF OUR FATHERS is a gift from the hearts of many people to Russert in response to his first work BIG RUSS AND ME.

In turn, Tim Russert has shared the gift given to him from more than 60,000 people with the world in this short, but powerful volume.

I read the entire book in less than one evening. I just couldn't put it down. It was that captivating and inspiring.

Since my father abandoned me when I was very young, and has since dropped in and out of my life sporadically, this book was a real treasure for me. These letters and anecdotes have convinced me that not every father is the "scoundrel" that mine was.

This book covers all the important topics: Baseball, Daddy's girl, Forgiveness, Security, and some terrific one-liners at the end.

Will make a terrific gift for any man.

In 2004, Tim Russert wrote his first book (about him and his hard working dad, and the amazing example that he set for Tim everyday) and it struck a chord with so many people. He then was inundated with emails about their own dads from people who were touched by that book. Tim has compiled some of the emails and letters together to make this bok (60,000 were received).
Some of the common threads in these letters were that these fathers were not superheros, but normal people and the number one gift they gave all their kids was their time. It's all about the small moments, encouragement and simple things that to kids, is better than all the money they could have been given.
One funny example is a guy writing in about his dad who was diagnosed with prostate cancer and would not do any treatments for it, but wanted to stay around and 'romance' his wife. Over 8 years later, the father is sending his son the obituary for the oncologist who diagnosed him in the first place.
A girl called Kerry grew up with a stutter, and all it would take for her to stop was her dad just taking her hand and telling her it's OK and that was all she needed.
There are so many heartwarming and fun and moving stories in here that make you appreciate what you have (or had) and if you have a strained relationship with your dad, this might give you a chance to correct what needs to be fixed. This is such a great book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I think everyone can gain something from reading this. It also will make a great gift to your dad, husband or son for Fathers Day.