Book Description
In an attempt to gather what wisdom he could to guide his son into adulthood, Kent Nerburn published a powerful collection of essays that touched the hearts of parents and children everywhere. In this beautiful revised edition, Nerburn refines his advice and expands his thoughts.
Customer Reviews:
Best book I've ever read of things that should be said........2007-02-04
In my 61 years of male life experiences, this is my favorite book, for it puts to words human ideals that are so beneficial for people of all ages to understand.
I found this book by chance in a used book store and bought it to read, to reflect on my experiences with my two sons and two step-children. Immediately I realized that Kent had put to words the things I had wanted to say to my children, but didn't know how to express it.
I then bought 30 copies, giving them to my children and friends with children. I read it again, this time calling Kent and thanking him for writing his thoughts for me to share with others whom I love.
I'm here at Amazon again, sending a link to Kent's Letters to a friend, who's husband has died, leaving their teenage son so alone. I'm constantly recommending this book, as well as quoting from it to share thoughts with others. When my brother-in-law died a couple months ago, Kent's thoughts on Tragedy and Suffering were most comforting to my sister and her in-laws. I know Kent's thoughts on Falling In Love I've shared with others has mended many a broken hearts.
Kent's dedication page statement - "We are born male. We must learn to be men." implies it's a book for guys to read, but I know many gals who have found it a valuable read.
I was just on a lengthy trip, with a number of extended layovers. Knowing this, of all I could have chosen to bring to read to make that time most worthwhile, I brought Letters to my Son. And I'll read it again and again.
For years I've thought that too often people read one book after another, searching for something very meaningful to be made know to them. Here is a book I believe, if read a number of times in a thoughtful way, and taken to heart, it will be the most satisfying read ever. I've become certain that it's good enough to last my lifetime.
Father to Son to..............2006-02-28
I gave this book to my husband to give to our older son.
My husband liked it so much that he asked that I get
another for our younger son.
All seem to enjoy it very much.
Rae
a new father's best gift.......2004-11-17
I am 26 and I just became a father. I still feel like a kid myself. Someone gave me this book for a birthday present. I read it to see if these were letters I would send my son. They are not really letters but more like essays or thoughts. This man says so many things I wish I could say. He helps me understand what is important in my life, what is important to teach my boy when he gets old enough. I don't always agree with Kent Nerburn's thinking. But I think he is very wise. I wish my dad was like him. I hope I can be a dad like him. He knows what is important in life. He doesn't just preach or lecture. He unfolds his thinking with stories from his own life. Sometimes he made mistakes and he tells us. He learned. Now he is teaching me so I can teach my son.
Thanks, Kent Nerburn. You tell a good truth.
Disappointed.......2004-10-18
This book is nice, sweet, and somewhat insightful. But I wanted a book that spoke more of the relationship between a father and a son. The vast majority of essays/chapters in this book could have been written by anyone for anyone. For example, Nerburn warns of the dangers of drugs and alcohol, and extols the virtues of giving. But those lessons could have been taught by a mother to her daughter, a priest to a parishioner, or an uncle to a nephew. Many other essays in the book are similar in that they contain no unique perspective on the father-son relationship. (What does the "Power of Art" have to do with fatherhood?) This book reads like Chicken Soup for the Soul. In my opinion, the other reviews overrate this book.
The perfect gift.......2004-07-24
Over the years I have had read numerous books of this nature, but always find myself returning to read a section, a paragraph or a few pages. A wonderful book that I have had the opportunity to share with numerous friends. I think I have purchased at least 20 copies a gifts.
A must read.
Average customer rating:
- A Note From the Author
- Exactly what we need in a childrens book
- Youngest children may not "get" this without help
- Great for teachers
- Magic of Childhood
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Dear Mr. Leprechaun: Letters from My First Friendship
Martin Nelson Burton
Manufacturer: London Town Press
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Fooling the Tooth Fairy
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Leprechaun's Never Lie
ASIN: 0966649001 |
Book Description
The first friend I ever had was a leprechaun. We used to write to each other. I would leave notes for him at bedtime. In the morning, I would find his answer. So begins this true account of an enchanting correspondence that would last for seven years, and a friendship that would last a lifetime. The original childhood notes of Martin Nelson Burton and the warm, fatherly replies of Mr. Leprechaun spring to life in Clint Hansen’s breathtaking paper sculpture world.
Customer Reviews:
A Note From the Author.......2005-10-17
I greatly appreciate the kind words of the reviews below. I do want to make it clear that in my book, I do not state that my father is the one who wrote the leprechaun's notes to me. True, some people think the leprechaun was my father. But many others - especially children - strongly believe that the leprechaun wrote to me himself. I respect both sides, and included the actual notes in the book so the reader could decide. I am satisfied the story can be fully enjoyed either way.
Exactly what we need in a childrens book.......2004-03-23
Recently came across after reading a nice review on it and let me tell you it is everything you would hope for in a childrens book and so much more! It's a classic!
Mr. Burton does a nice job in telling his story and the art is different-something that gets the childs notice-but in a nice way. The story does not speak down to the child but rather treats them with intelligence (and my grandkids love that) and it makes them put things together (rather than force feeding the kids what the author wants them to believe). It's a heart warming tale of love between father and son (we also need more of that).
I bought my first copy last week for my youngest grandson, and 3 more are on the way for my others. Great book, I highly recommend!
Youngest children may not "get" this without help.......2003-09-13
One would think this was a work of fiction, since leprechauns do not actually exist (here in the US, anyway). However, the Library of Congress has cataloged it as nonfiction under the topic of Love--and rightly so. This book is a beautifully illustrated collection of letters between a boy and a supposed leprechaun, who is actually the boy's very patient and creative father.
Toward the end of the book, the narrator says he never saw a photograph of the leprechaun. On the next page, the illustration is of the narrator looking at a framed photo, the back of which is to the reader. To the adult reader, the companion text makes it obvious that the narrator knows that his father was the leprechaun and that perhaps the father has died. But it would be quite a leap for the book's 4- to 8-year old audience to make those connections.
It really is a charming book, but plan on reading it with younger children so they are not left confused or unsatisfied with the story.
Great for teachers.......2003-03-25
This charming tale has much usefulness for a classroom setting. It ties in with the themes of writing, friendship, families, imagination, St. Patrick's Day and Leprechauns. A book with this many possibilities for curriculum tie-in is worth the expenditure for school and public libraries.
Magic of Childhood.......2003-03-20
I have never seen a leprechaun, but author Martin N. Burton made me feel as if I was experiencing the magic of the leprechaun who was his childhood friend. The well written story is the reason why I loved this book and why I loved reading it to my own children. The writing style is fun for young readers and for their parents who may find themselves reading out loud in an unintentional Irish brogue.
Mr. Burton captures the gentle magic of childhood that is enhanced by loving parents and lasts a lifetime. The friendship and love revealed between the child and his father makes this a perfect story for Father's Day. If your children believe in fairies, Santa, and other magical beings, they will find irresistible the possibility that they can have their own leprechaun friend.
Dear Mr. Leprechaun discretely encourages children to write their own letters so they too can discover what might happen. The illustrations are beautiful and convey the magical world of childhood.
Book Description
The story has its origins in the sixties, when Mehta by chance finds his father weeping uncontrollably on his mother’s shoulder during a New York dinner party. As a result, the son begins to unravel a family mystery that takes him on a painful and revealing voyage into his father’s British past in Simla, the magical hill station. Step-by-step, he is forced to confront his father’s passionate clandestine affair with Rasil, an exquisite beauty who in her teens was abducted from her poor family and raped. She was subsequently rescued by a Hindu philanthropist, only to end up trapped in an abusive marriage to a rich businessman. Mehta’s exploration of his father’s love affair proves painful, as the son realizes that the entanglement, a passing episode in sixty-one years of a loving marriage, had shattering psychological side effects on his mother—a close friend of Rasil’s—and also on his own life. The Red Letters is Mehta’s masterpiece, a work of extraordinary intensity that perfectly re-creates the exotic, closed world of British India.
Customer Reviews:
Yet another wonderful book by Ved Mehta.......2005-10-30
Warning: If The Red Letters is your first Ved Mehta book, it is only the beginning. Reading a book by Mehta is like trying to eat just one bite of Swiss chocolate. It's not enough. You'll have to read another, and then another, till they're all read. And by the way, don't be surprised if you find yourself booking a trip to India before you're finished, for your curiosity about that intriguing country will be severely provoked.
Don't worry if you read the other books in Mehta's autobiographical series in mixed order. Many characters appear and reappear like old friends woven into the simple and complex stories of Mehta's life. It is a life both ordinary and extraordinary, described with uncommon vulnerability, and I can't think of a writer who uses language better, with a simple style and great narrative skill.
Ved Mehta claims that The Red Letters is the last of the eleven autobiographical books in his Continent of Exile series. I hope not. Changing one's mind is perfectly acceptable.
A Father, A Son, And Mother Memory.......2005-10-23
About a fourth of the way into this graceful memoir, and just before he starts to unfold the tale-within-a-tale concerning the eponymous 'red letters', author-narrator Ved Mehta admits to a moment of agonizing self-doubt:
"In writing a series of books about myself and my family, among other things, with the title Continents of Exile, I have often been torn between loyalty to my family and loyalty to my craft, to which any kind of censorship is anathema. My father, who served as a source for some of the material, knew all too well how such conflicts tormented me."
Mehta is especially troubled by the material at hand in the current book. While all the eleven volumes of his long autobiographical series have been immensely revealing about his family and himself, the revelations in question have been more of an intellectual and cultural nature, concerning themselves more with the impact of a lifetime spent abroad (in exile, as he calls it) upon a writer's mind and relationships.
The series to date, as anyone who has been following it even occasionally since the first volumes, Daddyji and Mummyji, were published decades ago, are gentle, self-probing intellectual studies that are as much observational records of their place and time as literary autobiography.
But in The Red Letters, he is about to introduce an unxpected 'twist' in the tale. Mehta's father, a genial public health official with unfulfilled literary ambitions ("I may still surprise you, son, by writing a bestseller one of these days"), comes to New York with his wife for their daughter's confinement, and behaves peculiarly at a party hosted by the author.
After his return to India, the father makes good his literary threat, and begins to send Mehta chapters of a "novel" he claims to be writing. He later reveals that the "novel" is nothing more than a thinly-disguised memoir of a certain period in his life, dating back forty years.
As Mehta reads on, and then agrees to collaborate with his father in this joint act of turning remembered history into literary fiction, he learns with growing unease that his father is really confessing to a secret extramarital love affair from that period. To make matters worse, rather than wallowing in guilt or self-remose, his father seems quite unabashed about revealing the more intimate details of the matter. "Sex, as you would call it today."
In the end, Mehta agrees to proceed with the work because as he puts it in one of the quietly eloquent passages which mark his work, "he, like me, sensed, even as he was confiding in me, that the story had a larger significance, something neither of us could yet verbalize, but which we imagine would far transcend his life--and maybe mine too."
What follows is a fascinating narrative, like one of the Russian dolls-within-dolls-within-dolls that so fascinated Mehta during his childhood. Unpeeling the onion of the past in carefully revealing layers, he proceeds to give us his father's transparently autobiographical 'novel' fragments, alternating with the real events described in those fragments, then his own reactions to these revelations.
This being Ved Mehta, the gentle "uncleji" of contemporary Indian novelists, there is nothing sordid or truly shocking about the revelations. With painful grace and elegance, he winds his way through past and present, mind and body, real and perceived, to weave an enticing tale. In the end, the real relationship being explored and studied is not really that of his father and the 'other woman'; it is Ved and his father themselves. Completing--and often revising--the first novel of the Continents of Exile series, Daddyji, Mehta produces a deceptively simple, impressively artful book, one that manages to fulfil its aspiration to transcend mere autobiography and achieve the status of literature.
Interestingly, the red letters of the title don't exist. They are a fictional device suggested by his father to Ved as a means of conveying the details and passion of his remembered liaision. After all, as Daddyji points out, Mehta has frequently altered important details such as names, places, and some events, to make the material of life more suitable for purposes of literary recreation.
And in any case, this particular story, by Mehta's choice, will only be published after all parties concerned have passed away and are far removed from any potential hurt which such revelations or alterations may cause. It's a significant reminder to all vicarious readers and over-zealous critics that the final work exists as a literary entity unto itself, not merely as a bare documentary record of real people and events. The best autobiography, as this book is, transcends itself to become a tale of the human condition.
Mehta may not have achieved the heights of his self-declared literary aspirations, Proust and Joyce, but he has produced a valuable insight into the Indian diaspora that deserves a place on our shelves, alongside the best work of Naipaul and Rushdie. In a chapter at the end of The Red Letters, Mehta provides a brief synopsis of the themes covered by the previous ten volumes, and readers who may have missed entries in this long roman fleuve, running into some two thousand pages, flowing through the disparate lands of India, England and America, covering events from the late 19th century to the early 21st (though not in strictly chronological order), would do well to start at the beginning and work their way through to this very satisfying and illuminatory work.
Rarely does an author get to write 'The End' not only to a long series of novels but in effect, to his own life story. With The Red Letters, Mehta performs that miraculous literary act.
Customer Reviews:
Parents this is a must read for your sons!.......1998-12-30
Kent Nerburn has a gift of communicating what you would like to share with your son about life but didn't know how. It is easy reading, not intimidating and sends the right messages.
touches quite elouquently a fathers teaching to his son.......1998-10-05
I have been sending a chapter at a time to my son who is now in college. In many ways, the thoughtful and insightful writing by Kent triggered responses that I never would have conferred with my son otherwise.
I found it helpful to write my own thoughts about a particular subject in the margins. I have no idea what my son has thought about these chapters that he receives about every other week. I'd like to think though that it helps him ponder every day life and will be of service in helping judge right from wrong
Customer Reviews:
I Had No Father But God.......2006-07-01
In "I Had No Father But God," Paul F. Crouch is writing the book as a letter to his two sons to share with them the trials and victories of starting and expanding his television station TBN (Trinity Broadcast Network).
Mr. Crouch's advice to his sons is advice any reader can use about how to live with, get along with, and forgive those whom God has put in your life. Most important, readers will learn how to hear God's voice and follow His perfect will for their lives.
Paul Crouch did a wonderful job of putting this book together. Of course, the book has God's fingerprints all over it. It flows smoothly and keeps you turning pages as you read about those who helped and hindered Paul and Jan in their journey to bring 24-hour Christian programming to television. I couldn't put the book down and finished it in two days. An added bonus is that the book includes over 50 photos!
Thanks, Paul, for sharing your story not only with your sons, but with the rest of us as well. God's blessings on TBN!
J. Taylor Ludwig, author "It Was Never About Books"
Average customer rating:
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The Flip Side of Soul: Letters to My Son
Bob Teague
Manufacturer: Quill
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0688094201 |
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Love Letters/my Fans
Jackie Parker
Manufacturer: Bantam
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Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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ASIN: 0553257250
Release Date: 1986-07-01 |
Book Description
A collection of short letters, most centering on a powerful story from the author's life, that convey core values and attitudes from a father to his child. Topics addressed include death, right and wrong, thinking about God, cheating, failure, popularity, studying, sex, self-esteem, prayer, family relationships, materialism, and marriage.
One typical letter addresses the question of how to be a friend to unpopular kids at school and tells the moving story of the time the author was told he should ask the girl with polio to dance.
Many of these letters are rooted in childhood and adolescence, others in youth and early marriage. They speak honestly and engagingly to both the young and to those who are trying, the best they can, to raise them.
Read these stories with your children or by yourself and smile in recognition as you remember your own struggles to understand the world and your place in it. Then, as the afterward suggests, tell a few stories of your own.
* Tony Compolo: "A touching book every father should read. Puts into words so much I wish I'd said to my own boy growing up."
* Ben Patterson: "Wonderful! Without sentimentality makes you laugh and cry—painlessly instructing you in the art of being not just a parent but a person."
* Author Stuart Briscoe: "Wit and wisdom are well-worn words—there's a wealth of both here. Kids and parents alike will benefit from this book."
Customer Reviews:
Filled with Truth.......2000-02-24
Taylor is a gifted story teller. He uses stories to pass on wisdom and encouragement to his children. But you don't have to be a child to benefit from his stories. They are valuable for anyone.
Structured in relatively short chapters that each answer one of his child's questions, this book is perfect for being read alone in multiple sittings or outloud to your spouse/friend/or child. Taylor's wisdom is evident, but so is his sense of humor. Don't miss this book.
Customer Reviews:
Creative account of a true story of childhood sexual abuse........2005-03-11
A compelling story of survival. This small but powerful book chronicles the author's journey from victim of rape and incest by her father, to a strong, independent, and healing survivor. The book is written informally via a series of letters to her father, her perpetrator, through the voice of a child. She begins at age five, taking the reader with her as she recounts her experiences of abuse through childhood, adolescence, and into adulthood. I could not put it down. An easy read, Ms. Sowels offers a pragmatic approach to understanding the effects of childhood sexual abuse, which is a much appreciated liferaft in a sea of psychologically and academically befuddling commentary. If you want to know how to be wealthy, talk to the wealthy. If you want to know about surviving sex abuse, read Daddy Don't by Holly Sowels.
Book Description
For some sixty years, the Nuremberg trials have demonstrated the resolve of the United States and its fellow Allied victors of the Second World War to uphold the principles of dispassionate justice and the rule of law even when cries of vengeance threatened to carry the day. In the summer of 1945, soon after the unconditional surrender of Nazi Germany, Thomas J. Dodd, the father of U.S. Senator Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, traveled to the devastated city of Nuremberg to serve as a staff lawyer in this unprecedented trial for crimes against humanity. Thanks to his agile legal mind and especially to his skills at interrogating the defendants—including such notorious figures as Hermann Göring, Alfred Rosenberg, Albert Speer, Joachim von Ribbentrop, and Rudolf Hess—he quickly rose to become the number two prosecutor in the U.S. contingent.
Over the course of fifteen months, Dodd described his efforts and his impressions of the proceedings in nightly letters to his wife, Grace. The letters remained in the Dodd family archives, unexamined, for decades. When Christopher Dodd, who followed his father’s path to the Senate, sat down to read the letters, he was overwhelmed by their intimacy, by the love story they unveil, by their power to paint vivid portraits of the accused war criminals, and by their insights into the historical importance of the trials.
Along with Christopher Dodd’s reflections on his father’s life and career, and on the inspiration that good people across the world have long taken from the event that unfolded in the courtroom at Nuremberg, where justice proved to be stronger than the most unspeakable evil, these letters give us a fresh, personal, and often unique perspective on a true turning point in the history of our time. In today’s world, with new global threats once again put-ting our ideals to the test, Letters from Nuremberg reminds us that fear and retribution are not the only bases for confrontation. As Christopher Dodd says here, “Now, as in the era of Nuremberg, this nation should never tailor its eternal principles to the conflict of the moment, for if we do so, we will be shadowing those we seek to overcome.”
Customer Reviews:
LETTERS FROM NUREMBERG.......2007-10-19
ASIN:0307381161 Letters from Nuremberg: My Father's Narrative of a Quest for Justice]
A COMPELLING DAY-TO-DAY ACCOUNT OF A LANDMARK TRIAL IN COLLABERATION WITH OUR ALLIES FOLLOWING WORLD WAR 2 . THIS JOURNAL GIVES AN INSIGHT INTO THE SOMETIMES PAINFUL AND FRUSTRATING SEARCH FOR FINAL JUSTICE WITHIN THE GUIDELINES OF THE LAW.
Not exactly what I expected.......2007-10-17
I enjoyed this book, but it was more about Dodd's relationship with his wife and with his associates on the prosecution team than it was about the actual trial. That being said it was a good read.
Non-Fiction.......2007-10-09
If you are looking for information on the Nuremberg Trials you will not get it from this book. The historical information contained within this book and the atrocities committed during WW II.
There is also good insight into the inter-relationships of the people who were involved in the trial itself. One of the most surprising parts is concerning the great love this man portrays for his wife and children.
Also how he felt being away from home during this period of time. He lets us know what a great country we live in and not to forget the evil that still lurks in other parts of the world.
An exceptional book about an exceptional man.......2007-09-20
Senator Dodd reminds us all, through the letters of his father, of our need to maintain a steady moral compass as we negotiate a difficult balance between the security of our nation and the civil rights that are the backbone our country was built upon.
At a recent book signing at "Politics and Prose" in Washington, DC, Senator Dodd was asked if his father's career influenced his decision to become a public servant. He told the story of his father, interviewed weeks before his death, being asked if he knew how his political career would end (censure and then failing to win re-election)would he do it again. Senator Thomas Dodd answered (and I am paraphrasing) "A lawyer can help only so many clients in his career - a doctor only so many patients but as a public servant one is able to help millions of people. I would do it again without hesitation." This book offers facinating insite into the dedication of this honorable man to his country, to his family and to the rule of law that makes us great.
(And as an aside, I-Man is wrong. Chris Dodd is not riding the coattails of his father. Anyone taking the time to familiarize themselves with the work that he has done in his 30 plus years as a public servant would know that he is exceptionally qualified to be the President of the United States.)
Excellent Reading.......2007-09-17
I really enjoyed this book. It's a collection of letters from the number 2 prosecuter of the Nuremberg trials. Not only is it from his point of view, it also shows the lovingness that existed between him and his wife, that these letters were writen to.
It's a shame that someone can not critique a book on only it's content with out putting his/her opinion, let alone a political opinion.
Books:
- Libby Holman: Body and Soul
- Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela
- Love's Unending Legacy/Love's Unfolding Dream/Love Takes Wing/Love Finds a Home (Love Comes Softly Series 5-8)
- Mark of the Lion : A Voice in the Wind, An Echo in the Darkness, As Sure As the Dawn (Vol 1-3)
- Martha Stewart's Homekeeping Handbook: The Essential Guide to Caring for Everything in Your Home
- Mastering Unreal Technology: The Art of Level Design
- My Blue Heaven: Life and Politics in the Working-Class Suburbs of Los Angeles, 1920-1965 (Historical Studies of Urban America)
- My Woman His Wife
- Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave
- Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave: Written by Himself (Penguin Classics)
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