This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women

I received this book as a college graduation present from my beloved English department, and they each signed my copy with a personal note. Now that I've finally gotten to it on my shelf, I have to admit I like the *idea* of a "This I Believe" essay more than the actual style of the essay. Personally, I would have liked a word count of about 1000, to further develop the story or ideas present in the essay. And when it comes to credo-type or advice-giving essays, there is no comparison to the raw honesty and radical empathy of Dear Sugar. But I did really like "Always go to the funeral" by Deidre Sullivan. ( )

Compiled in 2006, this book is a riff on the Edward R. Murrow collection from 1952. Containing some of the original essays (Leonard Berstein, Albert Einstein, Martha Graham, Oscar Hammerstein, et. al.) and mixed in with more contemporary folks, known (Bill Gates, Colin Powell, Isabel Allende) and unknown, the book captures the principles that guide people's lives. Some beliefs are religious, some are spiritual, some are civic, but all give them a foundation for their actions and the way they live their lives. Very inspiring, insightful, and would make a great graduation gift for a high school or college student. It's organized in a way that you can pick this up and put it down without needing the continuity of a straight narrative. ( )

I enjoy NPR and was really excited to read these essays, but was left a bit disappointed. It felt as if many of the individual essays were written "off-the-cuff" or rushed without the usual polish and editing normally associated with a printed work as opposed to a radio interview. A good read overall but, if you're looking for the punch of a TED talk or something similar, you could be left wishing for more. ( )

I found this to be an uplifting inspirational book. I love its concept. ( )

Based on NPR's Series this is a book about random people, written by said random people. You have to enter in to it with those things in mind. I have skimmed through the reviews to figure out why some people disliked it so much and it seems to me that they picked up the book expecting something other than what the book is.

Some writers did a better job than others at catching the attention, but over all, I enjoyed listening to everyone's essays. (I listened to the audiobook, which many make a difference in perception of the collection as a whole.) I enjoy listening to the stories of other people, I enjoy seeing different perspectives on the same theme, so I think that is why I enjoyed this look at humanity through the eyes of strangers. I wasn't aware of this project, but I will keep up with it now. ( )