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Wisdom

Customer Rating:
Very enjoyable book. Large book that is great fun to go thru with a best friend! Prefect for your coffee table or as a gift.

WISDOM ("make someone happy!")

Customer Rating:
Andrew Zuckerman's "WISDOM" is a big and beautiful book, offering up huge color portraits (razor-sharp for this HI-DEF age!) . . . combined with `words of wisdom' from the minds of 51 public figures, mostly from the world of arts & entertainment, but with a few `political' icons included as well.

The `cover photo' honor went to Clint Eastwood who counsels: "Take your profession seriously; don't take yourself seriously."

Jazz giant Dave Brubeck (in one of my favorite insights in the entire book) recalls the time when his late, great alto sax player Paul Desmond "covered (other musicians') mistakes."

"When we recorded with the NY Philharmonic, with Bernstein conducting, a trombonist hit a B-natural instead of a B-flat, by mistake; Paul was improvising and brought that (wrong note) right into the improvisation immediately, and it's so beautiful!

"I always say `There is no mistake . . . if you can resolve it!' Whether it's in your music or your life. Sometimes the mistake actually motivates you - elevates you, into a better circumstance."

-----

When I opened this book for the first time today, I went straight for the thoughts of one of my heroes, Desmond Tutu - the former Anglican primate of South Africa and 1984 Nobel Peace prize winner.

Perhaps better than anyone else in this book, the saintly 'Archbishop Emeritus' offers us the clearest connection between true wisdom and true happiness:

"Happiness is when I see others happy. Happiness is a shared thing. When you bring a gift to someone on their birthday and you see their face light up with joy . . . it's quite incredible what that does for you -- the giver.

"Jesus did say, actually, `It is more blessed to give than to receive.' Because in giving - (although it may not seem so at the time) - you receive.

"And for me, happiness is that feeling you get when you see someone else happy; happiness is when you are peaceful and serene.

"Serve others. The unfailing recipe for happiness and success is to want the good of others."

Andrew Zuckerman's "Wisdom" (which includes a DVD) is also a bargain (that might have cost twice as much, were it not "printed in China") that would be a pleasing surprise for the reflective people on your 2008 Christmas gift list!

Mark Blackburn
Winnipeg Canada

ABSOLUTELY STUNNING

Customer Rating:
I bought Zuckerman's Wisdom based on excerpts I read in Reader's Digest. Now that I've received the book and had a chance to read it, I am blown away. It is stunningly beautiful, both the pictures and the words. I'm only 39 so I don't have the "perspective" someone 65 or older would but I can appreciate every line, every word, every image in this book. I teach high school English, history, and humanities and I can't find a single interview in this book that I couldn't share with my students somehow. We read Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart and his interview in the Zuckerman book only adds to what he wrote in his novel. I was so moved by what Nick Nolte had to say about finding peace in ourselves and then finding that same, sacred peaceful space in others. (There's more to him than that crazy DUI mug shot.) I had to order two more copies of the book--one to keep in my classroom and one to give to friends. I will ship more at Christmas. Really, the book is filled with so many different points of view, so many perspectives, so many ways to look at life and how to live it. Each interview is thought-provoking in its own way. The 56 minute Wisdom DVD that comes with the book is icing on the cake. It's one thing to look at the (beautiful) photographs and to read the interviews that go with them, and another to watch the subjects and hear their voices. I just can't say enough about this book and how moved I am by it. I saw that a previous reviewer commented on the font/text size and layout of the book, and while I agree it would make reading a challenge, I think the layout works. One, you can't put too many words on a page. I like to think of the white space as thinking space. The words are placed for effect. This isn't meant to be a textbook and the layout of the book is artistic and adds to the overall effect. My only hesitation in recommending the book is that politically conservative readers may object to some of the interviews in the book where the subjects criticise the current political administration. (I know my mom would dismiss the book when she got to Kris Kristofferson's comments about the wars, for example.) Having said that, the value of seeing things from another person's point of view is a great exercise in thinking and considering another viewpoint. Buy the book!

Wisdom....never enough or too much

Customer Rating:
I have not personally yet viewed this book. I purchased it as a gift to a Zuckerman lover and am convinced it is a MUST for anyone appreciating his years of wise words, photos and works. The receiver of my gift called me in tears of happiness at my choice of presents. Now I want one for myself! This is a book that will keep on giving for years to come and can only increase in value and joy.

What A Disappointment!

Customer Rating:
I just received my copy yesterday, eagerly tore the wrappings off and started on it. The book is WONDERFUL! The photos are FABULOUS! The insights are AMAZING! Here's the DISAPPOINTMENT; the text, as important as it is, is set in light weight, small type, impossible for people the same age as those represented therein, to read comfortably or at all, without a magnifying glass.

What on earth would possess the lay-out people to do such a thing? Is there anybody out there in the publishing world wise enough to realize that older people don't buy books that are an uncomfortable strain to read? I had intended this to become my Christmas gift for at least 5 other seniors in my circle of friends. No chance of that happening now that I've seen it. What a shame!