What Would You Do If You Had No Fear? Living Your Dreams While Quakin' in Your Boots [Paperback]

Diane Conway (Author), Anne Lamott (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 9, 2004

For this book, author Diane Conway approached a police officer, a waitress, a politician, a lawyer, a cab driver, and many others, and asked them each the same question: "What would you do if you had no fear?" The results, chronicled in this book, were both surprising and enlightening. Her respondents told her their secrets, their long-hidden dreams, and their fears. Their dreams included quitting mind-numbing jobs, applying to medical school, buying tickets to South America, finding true love, quitting drinking, or having an affair. The distance between dreaming and doing, according to Conway, is surprisingly short. In What Would You Do If You Had No Fear? her fresh voice and "Studs Terkel in drag persona" challenge readers to stop, open their hearts, and truly live. Included are self-tests, quizzes, growth exercises, and inspiring quotes for realizing one's fear-free potential.

Editorial Reviews

Review

This question, and this book, will cause you to shift your focus from risk to reward, and remind you to take serious action with your dreams on a daily basis. --SARK, author/artist of Make Your Creative Dreams REAL

What a perfect question! It encourages my heart and jumpstarts my imagination. With such a fabulous book, I enjoin you: Read it and reap! --B. J. Gallagher, author of Everything I Need to Know I Learned from Other Women

These are stories of women and men who have moved beyond their fears in order to change, to soar, even to fail, whose adventures and humanity can t help but inspire the rest of us. --Anne Lamott, author of Bird by Bird and Traveling Mercies --This text refers to the Audio Cassette edition.

From the Author

"What would you do if you had no fear?" is the question I’ve been asking for years, first in my workshops and retreats. When I saw the profound effect it had on people, I started asking people everywhere I went. I had to overcome the fear that people would think that I’m: a) delusional or b) trying to pick them up for kinky sex.

The answers stunned and amazed both myself and the people I asked. Women and men opened up, told me stories and dreams they had never revealed before. I could literally see an awakening as they talked about long buried aspirations they had not let themselves entertain. I spoke to ordinary people who have done extraordinary things. Heroes who think they aren’t. I talked to FBI agents and a man who runs a butterfly farm in the Virgin Islands. Others like:

• Jan, who went to Paris alone in the winter on her 40th birthday, met the man of her dreams and now lives one block from the Arc de Triomphe.
• Eleanor, who escaped from the Nazi death march by rolling in a ditch to save her life.
• Don, who spent half his life in San Quentin and now walks across the US relishing freedom and making friends.

My prayer is that you join in this journey with me as your slightly neurotic, frequently shaky guide, and that you declare your dreams. The magic happens the moment you do!

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: New World Library (November 9, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1930722427
• ISBN-13: 978-1930722422
• Product Dimensions: 7 x 5.8 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #606,349 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

55 of 56 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Inspiration: yes; Substance: no, June 30, 2005

By 

GreenEggs-N-Ham (Plano, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: What Would You Do If You Had No Fear? Living Your Dreams While Quakin' in Your Boots (Paperback)

A magazine article prompted me to buy this book. Conway's humor's engaging, and the anecdotes are inspiring. But the book stops there.

Each section is headed with an aspect of the title's question:

*What would you do [if you had no fear]?
*Who would you be [if you had no fear]?
*Where would you go [if you had no fear]?

Your answers are likely to be:
...I would do/make/be/write/create ____, if I had ____.
...I would go to ____, except that I don't have _____.
...I would be a ____, if I'd ever gotten to ____ like I wanted to, all those years ago before ____.

And you are left hanging with your answers. Conway does inspire you to rekindle your desires, but she doesn't help you deal with the rationalizations standing in your way.

[For that, honestly, I'd suggest Laura Berman Fortgang's "Living Your Best Life."]

Conway often alludes to what occurs in her seminars. So the reader (or at least this reader) is left to wonder whether the seminars have the same content as the book, or whether they have more meat to them--and if so, why isn't that in this book?

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Inspirational!, December 11, 2004

By 

Vikki "four eyes" (San Francisco) - See all my reviews

This review is from: What Would You Do If You Had No Fear? Living Your Dreams While Quakin' in Your Boots (Paperback)

This book gives hope and inspiration to many who wish to change or break through a fear. I enjoyed every story and could in some way relate to them all. Ms. Conway has a refreshing and witty way of writing and look forward to her next book!! I recommend this as a gift to someone that needs a little boost.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Take the NO FEAR challenge, November 19, 2004

By 

Mark Kerr "Avid Reader" (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: What Would You Do If You Had No Fear? Living Your Dreams While Quakin' in Your Boots (Paperback)

Love this book! You'll find amazing stories between the covers of this book: deliciously funny, inspiring, and challenging, all wrapped up by Diane's witty storytelling. If more of us took the "NO FEAR" challenge, and lived our lives without fear, there's no telling how we could change the world for good.