Philosophy
![Anna Quindlen - [object Object] author](https://res.cloudinary.com/readsomnia/image/upload/authors/a_B000AQ4WW6.jpg)
A Short Guide to a Happy Life
From the New York Times bestselling author of Alternate Side, Anna Quindlen's classic reflection on a meaningful life makes a perfect gift for any occasion.
"Life is made of moments, small pieces of silver amidst long stretches of tedium. It would be wonderful if they came to us unsummoned, but particularly in lives as busy as the ones most of us lead now, that won't happen. We have to teach ourselves now to live, really live . . . to love the journey, not the destination."
In this treasure of a book, Anna Quindlen, the bestselling novelist and columnist, reflects on what it takes to "get a life"-to live deeply every day and from your own unique self, rather than merely to exist through your days. "Knowledge of our own mortality is the greatest gift God ever gives us," Quindlen writes, "because unless you know the clock is ticking, it is so easy to waste our days, our lives." Her mother died when Quindlen was nineteen: "It was the dividing line between seeing the world in black and white, and in Technicolor. The lights came on for the darkest possible reason. . . . I learned something enduring, in a very short period of time, about life. And that was that it was glorious, and that you had no business taking it for granted." But how to live from that perspective, to fully engage in our days? In A Short Guide to a Happy Life, Quindlen guides us with an understanding that comes from knowing how to see the view, the richness in living.
"Life is made of moments, small pieces of silver amidst long stretches of tedium. It would be wonderful if they came to us unsummoned, but particularly in lives as busy as the ones most of us lead now, that won't happen. We have to teach ourselves now to live, really live . . . to love the journey, not the destination."
In this treasure of a book, Anna Quindlen, the bestselling novelist and columnist, reflects on what it takes to "get a life"-to live deeply every day and from your own unique self, rather than merely to exist through your days. "Knowledge of our own mortality is the greatest gift God ever gives us," Quindlen writes, "because unless you know the clock is ticking, it is so easy to waste our days, our lives." Her mother died when Quindlen was nineteen: "It was the dividing line between seeing the world in black and white, and in Technicolor. The lights came on for the darkest possible reason. . . . I learned something enduring, in a very short period of time, about life. And that was that it was glorious, and that you had no business taking it for granted." But how to live from that perspective, to fully engage in our days? In A Short Guide to a Happy Life, Quindlen guides us with an understanding that comes from knowing how to see the view, the richness in living.
Readers Top Reviews
IshBoolovebooksandcr
Book was as advertised. Shipping was crazy fast, u couldn't believe it! I'm very glad I gave this seller a shot
annmiller57Karen Bri
This might be a fine little gift book. I made the mistake of purchasing on my Kindle and what a mistake it was! Amazon, if you are going to offer this book in the Kindle library, at least list the number of pages (less than 30) and a better description. Or post the most helpful Kindle reviews first. Lesson learned on my part.
Joel L. Gandelman
Anna Quindlen's A Short Guide to a Happy Life has a WONDEFUL message: Get a life. She means a full life, where it's fully understood that the "clock" is ticking. Live and appreciate the beauties of the present...now..rather than having to be jarred into this realization. "One day you were walking around worryng about whether you had anything to wear to a party and reminding yourself to buy Kitty Litter or toilet paper," she writes. "And then you were in the shower lathering up, or you were lying on a doctor's table or the phone rang. And your world suddenly divided, as my world did many years ago. It divided into 'before' and 'after.'" The problem is this: that quote is a decent part of the book. This book is shockingly short. It's almost like an expanded newspaper column (if you're a fast reader it'll take 5 to 10 minutes to read this). And as thin as it is, some whole pages (in some cases two whole pages) are covered with beautiful photos. So as good as the MESSAGE is -- it IS a good one and wonderfully expressed -- this book can DISAPPOINT because it is shockingly thin in content, even for a thin small book. If you're after a good, QUICK pick-me-up that you can read quickly when times look bleak of you think you're losing yours sense of prorities, this is for you. If you expect a content-heavy book that's more than an expanded newspaper column it is not.
L. HolewczynskiBookg
This book was a disappointment. It was very short with large print and pages with pictures, very little content. I do not recommend.
MonivaL. Holewczynsk
This is an excellent little book. I got it as a gift for another, but quickly read it, and loved it. There are nice photos in it, for reflection, and the thoughts and musings are worthwhile. As she quotes Pail Tsongas No one on his deathbed ever said, I wish I had spent more time on my business. This book is an admonishment, though a light one, to remember to live each moment, to realize each moment, as the gift that it is, and that moments are just that, momentary. Here and then gone. Don't waste them. But said in a way that is charming and poignant, painted in reflection with the lovely photos which punctuate the book.
Short Excerpt Teaser
I'm not particularly qualified by profession or education to give advice and counsel. It's widely known in a small circle that I make a mean tomato sauce, and I know many inventive ways to hold a baby while nursing, although I haven't had the opportunity to use any of them in years. I have a good eye for a nice swatch and a surprising paint chip, and I have had a checkered but occasionally successful sideline in matchmaking.
But I've never earned a doctorate, or even a master's degree. I'm not an ethicist, or a philosopher, or an expert in any particular field. Each time I give a commencement speech I feel like a bit of a fraud. Yogi Berra's advice seems as good as any: When you come to a fork in the road, take it!
I can't talk about the economy, or the universe, or academe, as academicians like to call where they work when they're feeling kind of grand. I'm a novelist. My work is human nature. Real life is really all I know.
Don't ever confuse the two, your life and your work. That's what I have to say. The second is only a part of the first. Don't ever forget what a friend once wrote to Senator Paul Tsongas when the senator had decided not to run for reelection because he'd been diagnosed with cancer: "No man ever said on his deathbed I wish I had spent more time at the office."
Don't ever forget the words on a postcard that my father sent me last year: "If you win the rat race, you're still a rat."
Or what John Lennon wrote before he was gunned down in the driveway of the Dakota: "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
That's the only advice I can give. After all, when you look at the faces of a class of graduating seniors, you realize that each student has only one thing that no one else has. When you leave college, there are thousands of people out there with the same degree you have; when you get a job, there will be thousands of people doing what you want to do for a living.
But you are the only person alive who has sole custody of your life. Your particular life. Your entire life. Not just your life at a desk, or your life on the bus, or in the car, or at the computer. Not just the life of your mind, but the life of your heart. Not just your bank account, but your soul.
But I've never earned a doctorate, or even a master's degree. I'm not an ethicist, or a philosopher, or an expert in any particular field. Each time I give a commencement speech I feel like a bit of a fraud. Yogi Berra's advice seems as good as any: When you come to a fork in the road, take it!
I can't talk about the economy, or the universe, or academe, as academicians like to call where they work when they're feeling kind of grand. I'm a novelist. My work is human nature. Real life is really all I know.
Don't ever confuse the two, your life and your work. That's what I have to say. The second is only a part of the first. Don't ever forget what a friend once wrote to Senator Paul Tsongas when the senator had decided not to run for reelection because he'd been diagnosed with cancer: "No man ever said on his deathbed I wish I had spent more time at the office."
Don't ever forget the words on a postcard that my father sent me last year: "If you win the rat race, you're still a rat."
Or what John Lennon wrote before he was gunned down in the driveway of the Dakota: "Life is what happens to you while you're busy making other plans."
That's the only advice I can give. After all, when you look at the faces of a class of graduating seniors, you realize that each student has only one thing that no one else has. When you leave college, there are thousands of people out there with the same degree you have; when you get a job, there will be thousands of people doing what you want to do for a living.
But you are the only person alive who has sole custody of your life. Your particular life. Your entire life. Not just your life at a desk, or your life on the bus, or in the car, or at the computer. Not just the life of your mind, but the life of your heart. Not just your bank account, but your soul.
