Rating: 
Summary: Who knew I would love this book?!
Review: To the few reviewers of this book who gave it a negative rating:what's wrong with you?! You CLEARLY missed this point of this gem of a publication. I was browsing around the bookstore at the local mall just passing time while my eye glasses were being repaired. I was standing near the bestsellers section, when for no particular reason, this book's cover caught my eye. I picked up a copy, glanced at it, flipped the pages, then discarded it back on the shelf and thought, uhgg, one of those chicken-soup, pseudo-inspirational, publications; you know, a book version of a "chick flick"...ah, no thanks. Then, and maybe it was the fact that I noticed the NY Times bestseller band at the top, or maybe the sincerity of Marlo's expression -- I don't know -- but I picked it up, again flipped through the selections until I found a contributor I recognized: Matt Groening. I read his, the another, then got to Mel Brooks..BAM..I was hooked. I've got to admit, the old widsom you can't judge a book by it's cover took on a literal truth in this case. When I glanced at the back cover and saw that all of the royalties of the book go to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, I was instantly sold and proceeded to register to buy it. The idea for this book and it's ultimate objective are both obvious and genious. Bravo Marlo and Friends! This isn't literature, no, it's light reading with most entires being 3 or 4 pages; the contributions are from a diverse collection of musicians, actors, activists, entertainers, doctors, CEOs, journalists, politicians, direcors, writers, politicians, artists, and other people who are well known because of the success they've attained. But the entries from the likes of Sidney Portier, Jay Leno,
and Itzhak Perlman are golden nuggets; personal experiences
of pivitol points in these contributors lives and given up in the name of charity -- awesome! There are lessons and wisdoms in this book you can bank on. To say this book is replete with inspiration and would be an understatement. Best of all, you can read an entry in like 2 minutes! If you don't buy this book, it's your loss.
Rating:
Summary: The BEST inspirational essay collection EVER!
Review: What an INCREDIBLE accomplishment! When I first saw this book I hesitated figuring it'd be fluff or despite its hype just another celebrity book.
The Right Words At the Right Time is neither. Its skilled editor Marlo Thomas has painstakingly assembled short essays about life changing words, and life changing moments, from 100 top cultural icons, thinkers, politicos, celebrities and achievers from various fields and has created a life changing book. This is one of the BEST inspiration/life's lessons books I have ever read (and I have read all too many). Do I really feel this way? YES. I will be gifting this over the next few months to four or five (mostly young) people. Most essays are finely-honed three-page or so jewels, about what made someone famous or prominent go from Point A (where they were) to Point B (where they are now). Sometimes a negative person or negative comment inspired them to persist. Sometimes a healing word or act, or a kind comment made while they were in crisis became a turning point. Only a few essays are wastes of time and most aren't pompous (I hate to say it as a former journalist, but the pomposity factor is highest on journalists' essays here). You can't summarize 100 essays in a short review, but here are my top three favorites (and this does NOT include their whole story) to give you an accurate flavor: 1. Boxer Muhammad Ali: He reveals where he got the idea for his "I am the Greatest" schtick, and why he used it. And his essay is the GREATEST: it recounts how a teacher once told him he would never amount to anything. So after he won the Gold Medal at the 1960 Rome Olympics he went to that teacher's class, held his medal high and told her, "Remember when you said I wouldn't never be nuthing? I am the greatest in the world!" and "walked out of the classroom for the last time." 2. Today host Katie Couric: She was devastated by an elementary teacher who told her "Katie, you smile too much," but her father told her to use those words "to your advantage." She acknowledged her smiling in running for student council...and won. Later, while working for CNN, a CNN President saw her smiling on TV and said "I never want to see her on the air again." But she persisted, scored big at NBC and today she tells young people "not to take critics and their negativity to heart" because naysayers have their own issues. She learned to believe in herself and notes: "And by the way. I'm still smiling." WORTH THE PRICE OF THE BOOK!! 3. ABC's Barbara Walters: She's clearly still traumatized by her move from NBC to ABC, where she was teamed up for the nightly newscast with a highly hostile and unreceptive Harry Reasoner on the news. When the two split, she later asked him in an interview about it and he said she was simply the wrong face in the wrong place at the wrong time. Her turning point came via a telegram from tough-guy movie star John Wayne who wired her "Don't let the (deleted) get you down." Wayne's fighting words inspired her to work harder and she persisted to attain her special position, boost womens' status in broadcast journalism and get a nice salary. She learned Reasoner was wrong: "By hanging in there and working hard I could make the time and place my own." Not all are by news/media stars and their lessons are diverse. Other standouts include tennis great Bill Jean King (realizing how she helped women; actor/comedian John Leguizamo (how a high school teacher who believed in a wiseacre student steered him to comedy and acting); TV writer David Kelly (how hockey great Bobby Orr's recognizing him when he was a kid and shaking his hand changed his life); Supreme Court Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg (how her mother-in-law's wedding gift changed her personal life and helps her cope on the court); former NYC Mayor Rudolph Giuliani (911 essay stressing how surviving life is what should be constantly celebrated), and more. There is literally something for everyone: CNN Foreign correspondent Christiane Amanpour's tale of how she was literally laughed at by producers when she said she wanted to do foreign news and persisted and won; Mel Brooks, on how a Warners Bros executive's advice helped him risk being politically incorrect, thus unleashing creativity that brought him fame, honors and a historic number of Broadway Tony awards;former President Jimmy Carter, on how a teacher changed his life; Senator John McCain on what he endured in captivity; Beatle Paul McCartney on how Let It Be was created and who inspired him; singer Carly Simon, on overcoming stuttering. There are too many to list here. Get it, read it -- and gift it. The best, most solid book of its kind. It is the GREATEST.
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