This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women
An inspiring collection of the personal philosophies of a group of remarkable men and women \ Based on the National Public Radio series of the same name, This I Believe features eighty essayists-from the famous to the unknown-completing the thought that begins the book's title. Each piece compels readers to rethink not only how they have arrived at their own personal beliefs but also the extent to which they share them with others.\ Featuring a well-known list of contributors-including Isabel...
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An inspiring collection of the personal philosophies and core values of a fascinating group of AmericansPublishers WeeklyIn the 1950s, the Edward R. Murrow-hosted radio program This I Believe prompted Americans to briefly explain their most cherished beliefs, be they religious or purely pragmatic. Since the program's 2005 renaissance as a weekly NPR segment, Allison (the host) and Gediman (the executive producer) have collected some of the best essays from This I Believe then and now. "Your personal credo" is what Allison calls it in the book's introduction, noting that today's program is distinguished from the 1950s version in soliciting submissions from ordinary Americans from all walks of life. These make up some of the book's most powerful and memorable moments, from the surgeon whose illiterate mother changed his early life with faith and a library card to the English professor whose poetry helped him process a traumatic childhood event. And in one of the book's most unusual essays, a Burmese immigrant confides that he believes in feeding monkeys on his birthday because a Buddhist monk once prophesied that if he followed this ritual, his family would prosper. There are luminaries here, too, including Gloria Steinem, Warren Christopher, Helen Keller, Isabel Allende, Eleanor Roosevelt, John Updike and (most surprisingly, considering the book's more liberal bent) Newt Gingrich. This feast of ruminations is a treat for any reader. (Oct.) Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.
\ \ This I Believe\ \ \ \ \ By\ \ \ Henry Holt and Co.\ \ \ \ ISBN: 0805080872\ \ \ \ \ Foreword
ForewordStuds TerkelIntroductionJay AllisonBe Cool to the Pizza DudeSarah AdamsLeaving Identity Issues to Other FolksPhyllis AllenIn Giving I Connect with OthersIsabel AllendeRemembering All the BoysElvia BautistaThe Mountain DisappearsLeonard BernsteinHow Is It Possible to Believe in God?William F. Buckley, Jr.The Fellowship of the WorldNiven BuschThere is No Job More Important than ParentingBenjamin CarsonA Journey toward Acceptance and LoveGreg ChapmanA Shared Moment of TrustWarren ChristopherThe Hardest Work You Will Ever DoMary CookGood Can Be as Communicable as EvilNorman CorwinA Daily Walk Just to ListenSusan CosioThe Elusive Yet Holy CoreKathy DahlenMy Father's Evening StarWilliam O. DouglasAn Honest DoubterHave I Learned Anything Important Since I Was Sixteen?Elizabeth Deutsch EarleAn Ideal of Service to Our Fellow ManAlbert EinsteinThe Power and Mystery of Naming ThingsEve EnslerA Goal of Service to HumankindAnthony FauciThe God Who Embraced MeJohn W. FountainUnleashing the Power of CreativityBill GatesThe People Who Love You When No One Else WillCecile GilmerThe Willingness to Work for SolutionsNewt GingrichThe Connection between StrangersMiles GoodwinAn Athlete of GodMartha GrahamSeeing in Beautiful, Precise PicturesTemple GrandinDisrupting My Comfort ZoneBrian GrazerScience Nourishes the Mind and the SoulBrian GreeneIn Praise of the "Wobblies"Ted GupThe Power of PresenceDebbie HallA Grown-Up BarbieJane HamillHappy TalkOscar Hammerstein IINatural Links in a Long Chain of BeingVictor HansonTalking with the SunJoy HarjoA Morning Prayer in a Little ChurchHelen HayesOur Noble, Essential DecencyRobert A. HeinleinA New Birth of FreedomMaximilian HodderThe Benefits of Restlessness and Jagged EdgesKay Redfield JamisonThere Is No GodPenn JilletteA Duty to HealPius KamauLiving Life with "Grace and Elegant Treeness"Ruth KampsThe Light of a Brighter DayHelen KellerThe Bright Lights of FreedomHarold Hongju KohThe Power of Love to Transform and HealJackie LantryThe Power of MysteriesAlan LightmanLife Grows in the Soil of TimeThomas MannWhy I Close My RestaurantGeorge MardikianThe Virtues of the Quiet HeroJohn McCainThe Joy and Enthusiasm of ReadingRick MoodyThere Is Such a Thing as TruthErrol MorrisThe Rule of LawMichael MullaneGetting Angry Can Be a Good ThingCecilia MuñozMysterious Connection That Link Us TogetherAzar NafisiThe Making of PoemsGregory OrrWe Are Each Other's BusinessEboo PatelThe 50-Percent Theory of LifeSteve PorterThe America I Believe InColin PowellThe Real Consequences of JusticeFrederic ReamerThere Is More to Life than My LifeJamaica RitcherTomorrow Will Be a Better DayJosh RittenbergFree Minds and Hearts at WorkJackie RobinsonGrowth That Starts from ThinkingEleanor RooseveltThe Artistry in Hidden TalentsMel RusnovMy Fellow WormsCarl SandburgWhen Children Are WantedMargaret SangerJazz Is the Sound of God LaughingColleen ShaddoxThere Is No Such Thing as Too Much BarbecueJason SheehanThe People Have SpokenMark ShieldsEverything Potent Is DangerousWallace StegnerA Balance between Nature and NurtureGloria SteinemLife, Liberty, and the Pursuit of HappinessAndrew SullivanAlways Go to the FuneralDeirdre SullivanFinding Prosperity by Feeding MonkeysHarold TawI Agree with a PaganArnold ToynbeeTesting the Limits of What I Know and FeelJohn UpdikeHow Do You Believe in a Mystery?Loudon Wainwright IIICreative Solutions to Life's ChallengesFrank X WalkerGoodness Doesn't Just HappenRebecca WestWhen Ordinary People Achieve Extraordinary ThingsJody WilliamsAfterword: The History of This I Believe: The Power of an IdeaDan GedimanAppendix A: Introduction to the 1950s This I Believe Radio SeriesEdward R. MurrowAppendix B: How to Write Your Own This I Believe Essay Appendix C: How to Use This I Believe in Your CommunityAcknowledgments
\ From Barnes & NobleIn this thought-provoking book, which was based on an NPR series, 80 essayists use the three little title words as a jumping-off point to a discussion of their deepest personal beliefs. The list of contributors includes Colin Powell, Isabel Allende, Bill Gates, John Updike, William F. Buckley Jr., Gloria Steinem, and Penn Jillette; but it also includes relatively unknown people with everyday jobs. A stirring cross-section of beliefs.\ \ \ \ \ Library JournalBorn out of the NPR project, here edited by Jay Allison and Daniel Gediman, that allows anyone to archive an essay on their personal credo, This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of remarkable men and women collects 80 essays based on that simple yet profound prompt. Some of the pieces are by well-known figures: Albert Einstein, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Carl Sandburg. Yet many are contributed by ordinary people who have taken the time to probe their fundamental beliefs: everyone deserves flowers on their grave, a bit of outrage is a good thing, and there is a core value to creativity. Each essay ends with a short biography; the volume concludes with a history of the series, begun in the late 1940s and first hosted by Edward R. Murrow.\ (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.\ \ \ \ Publishers WeeklyAllison and Gediman's newest omnibus highlights 75 more essays from the archives of the successful NPR program, a contemporary version of Edward Murrow's classic radio show. Culled from writers both legendary and previously unfamiliar, each essayist presents what he or she believes in 500 words. From Robin Baudier's tract on "Strange Blessings," detailing her experience living in her parents' FEMA trailer after the devastation of Katrina, to Michelle Gardner-Quinn's credo for "upholding reverence for all life" (Quinn was tragically murdered after completing this essay) to Kim Phuc's essay on "Forgiveness," borne of her experience as that "girl in the picture" running naked, napalm-burnt on a road near Saigon, each micro-essay stuns with its singular beauty, lucidity and humility. Icons like Helen Prejean, Studs Terkel and Elie Wiesel find estimable company in heretofore unknown writers who distill their individual truths with affecting sincerity and admirable aptitude. (Oct.)\ Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.\ \ \ \ \ Library JournalIn an age of disinformation, spin, and lies, NPR's This I Believe comes as a source of refreshment and useful disquiet. NPR revived this 1950s radio series quite recently, and this collection (not complete at the time of review) draws transcripts from both the original series and its newer version, including some remarkable statements from the likes of dancer/choreographer Martha Graham, autistic academic Temple Grandin, writer and physicist Alan Lightman, novelist and social critic Thomas Mann, economic historian Arnold Toynbee, and feminist writer Rebecca West. Astonishing to hear and astonishing to read and reread, this work is a wonderful addition to any library. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 6/1/06.] Copyright 2006 Reed Business Information.\ \ \ \ \ From the Publisher\ “To hold this range of beliefs in the palm of your hand is as fine, as grounding, as it was hearing them first on the radio. Heartfelt, deeply cherished beliefs, doctrines for living (yet none of them doctrinaire). Ideas and ideals that nourish. You can see it in their faces, in the photos in this book. And read it in their words. I’m so proud that NPR helped carry this Edward R. Murrow tradition into a new century. And so glad to have it in print, to encounter again and again.”—Susan Stamberg, special correspondent, National Public Radio\ “My father, Edward R. Murrow, said that “fresh ideas” from others helped him confront his own challenges. This superb collection of thought-provoking This I Believe essays, both from the new program heard on NPR and from the original 1950s series, provides fresh ideas for all of us!”—Casey Murrow, Elementary education publisher\ “Reading this gives me a feeling about this country I rarely get: a very visceral sense of all the different kinds of people who are living together here, with crazily different backgrounds and experiences and dreams. Like a Norman Rockwell painting where all the people happen to be real people, and all the stories are true. It makes me feel hopeful about America, reading this. Hopeful in a way that’s in short supply lately.”—Ira Glass, Producer and Host of This American Life\ “Now, as then, when Edward R. Murrow introduced the idea of This I Believe, this forward-thinking compilation serves as a wonderful antidote to the cynicism of the age.”—Daniel Schorr, Senior News Analyst, NPR, and former colleague of Edward R. Murrow\ \
