Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of A Man Who Rescued A Million Yiddish Books

Rating:
Summary: An Inspirational Story
Review: Aaron Lanskys' "Outwitting History: The Amazing Adventures of a Man Who Rescued A Million Yiddish Books" is one teriffic read and utterly compelling.
Aaron Lansky tells wonderful stories and tells them with humor and affection. I enjoyed reading the Yiddish words I grew up with, and seeing the words in print for the first time. Words such as Rakhmones and mentsh (and others) was so much fun and a delight to read!
Bravo, Aaron Lansky for a great read. I loved this book! I highly recommend this book - it's a keeper!





Rating:
Summary: Amazing true story; Fabulous book!
Review: I got this book just yesterday and am almost finished with it already -- it's that compelling. You'll laugh, you'll cry, you'll meet truly unforgettable characters. You might even end up yearning to learn Yiddish! Most of all, you will feel immense gratitude for the hugely important, but at the time undervalued, work started by this young man back in 1980 to rescue the writings, the vital lifeblood, of an incredibly rich, but dying, culture. I am not Jewish, but I do recommend this book to Jewish people who want to see close up what is being done to recapture missing parts of their history. I also recommend it to anyone else who, like myself, feels enriched by the contributions of the Yiddish culture to our lives, and who wants to read an entertaining saga of how that culture, through the efforts of Lansky and his friends and benefactors, will now never be forgotten. And it was a near thing.

Even for those who are already familiar with and excited by Mr. Lansky's project, which after all has received a fair amount of publicity over the years, I still highly recommend this book to fill in the details and bring you even greater appreciation of his efforts. And for those who know nothing about it, and even for those who could care less what has been achieved, it is still a book worth reading, simply as a testament to the immense power of an ordinary person's single-minded passion, dogged persistence and sheer hard work, when it is lived out year after year after year. It's incredibly inspiring to see the magnitude of what this young man and his friends achieved against all odds, and it decisively slams the door on that strength-sapping thought, "But what good can the efforts of one person do?" So read! Enjoy!

Rating:
Summary: Jealous of such passion!
Review: I know it wasn't easy. I know Lansky had to endure financial problems, over-zealous book donors, doubts (of himself and others), and aching muscles, in his quest to save Yiddish literature. This book tells his fascinating story in wonderful, anecdotal style accessible to all. I envy Lansky and those friends of his who found this endeavor to be a passion. Everyone should have the luck to find a similar endeavor at a young age and to have to opportunity to devote themselves to it! Read the book and be inspired to search for your own!

Rating:
Summary: wonderful story
Review: I love this book. Even though I knew very little about yiddish and less about rare book collecting, I found this story impossible to put down. Lansky is a wonderful story teller and the tales of his midnight rescue missions are funny and dramatic.

Rating:
Summary: Fun and inspiring.
Review: This book is quite compelling, and I had a hard time putting it down. Mr. Lansky does an excellent job of combining his own story with those of the many people he has met, and at the same time giving the reader a nice outline of Yiddish literature and East European Jewish history. I have real admiration for the work he has done collecting and distributing Yiddish books. The book will definitely make you want to learn Yiddish, or at least read some of the Yiddish authors he discusses. Highly recommended.