Life Lessons: Things I Wish I'd Learned Earlier: Pages from a Notebook by Lesley Garner

by Lesley Garner

This book draws on a lot of life experience. There is my own experience, which I distilled and filtered into three books and then there is the experience of the thousands of newspaper readers who wrote to me when I became an advice columnist on a national newspaper, the Daily Telegraph. I was offered the job as advice columnist partly because I had already written three books. The first one, “Everything I’ve Ever Done that Worked”, grew out of twenty years experience of self-exploration and journalistic research. The idea came to me during a dark night of the soul when, stumbling about in my insomnia, I tripped over a pile of my own notebooks and began to read. What I realised was that the notebooks were full of useful stuff. Wouldn’t it be a good idea, I thought, as I sat on my bedroom floor at four in the morning, to go through all these notes, take out the useful stuff and put them between two covers. I meant to make this book for myself, as a companion and aide-memoire in sleepless moments but a publishing friend thought this was a good idea too. It became a book of personal reflections, essays that I wanted to stimulate peoples’ thinking, encourage and comfort them and also give them something practical to do when they felt stuck or lost. Nothing pleases me more than when I hear from readers who treat this book as it was intended to be, as friend and companion. I so enjoyed writing this first book that I decided I would write two more. Love and relationships are fundamental to the experience of being human so I wrote “Everything I’ve Ever Learned about Love.” In rebellion against the fixation with romantic and sexual love ¬ but reflecting on that too ¬ I trawled my own life for love in every form ¬ family, place, passions, friendship, children, art and nature and sex, of course. The book was revelatory and enriching for me to write and, I hope and am told, for people who read it

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction

Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Lesley Garner has been taking notes all her life. Her thoughts and observations have been published in many newspapers and magazines, including the Sunday Times, the London Daily Telegraph, the Daily Mail, and the Evening Standard in the U.K.

She's been an art critic, book and film reviewer, as well as a columnist and social commentator. Lesley has traveled widely through Europe, Africa, and the Middle and Far East, has been a resident of Ethiopia and Afghanistan; and currently lives in London.

Reviews

[نيللي عادل · Rating 5 out of 5]

ببساطة .. مُلهِم
شريطة أن تقرأوه في مزاج لطيف لتستوعبوا هذا الكمّ العبثي الوردي من الطاقة الإيجابية والكلمات المُنمّقة ~

[Ryca Pryca · Rating 2 out of 5]

Now let me get this straight: a person, who underwent medical treatment for depression and a divorce, gives advice on how to stay sane and married? Well, nothing bad about this. But writing a letter to God - or “your higher self” - then writing the answer on your own, as well as walking in the park and talking to a tree doesn’t seem quite sane to me… (OK, I’m being nasty here!)

Furthermore, throughout the whole book, not only didn’t I really get an answer to the question how to stay married for sixty years, but neither did I get an answer to any of the questions stated in it - the book felt more like an intention to promote the author’s other two books - a great part of which is copied and pasted in this one - instead of an attempt to give certain advice.

However, I really liked and enjoyed the few parts where Garner describes nature, especially in the Beauty Way and A Touch of Grace, which were really written absolutely beautifully and enthrallingly. Therefore, and bearing in mind that the author is quite fond of changes and advice, I would allow myself to suggest that she would better try writing travel books or something similar instead and I would definitely read them with great pleasure.

[Ain Atiya Azmi · Rating 3 out of 5]

A collection of brief essays meant to be read separately. Anecdotes and musings that you can easily forget as soon as you read it. The book however does offer glimpses into some useful practicalities (which you need to discover in depth on your own) for those going through tribulations. I had a hard time keeping myself interested but some essays are worth re-pondering for they are generally well-written and stimulated something inside me. I love "The Swamp of Complaint" where it accurately describes how people get stuck in a rut of collective negativity and how it's easy to lament and remain inert and miserable when there's safety in numbers. I also love the idea of "The Samurai Partner" where two people can be accomplices in each other's self-development to keep the other in track of life's goals in an impartial but benevolent way.

[Paola · Rating 3 out of 5]

I got this book as a prize years ago during an event at school but have come round to reading it only recently. Honestly many of the issues and solutions portrayed to me are quite obvious and banal while the author makes it seem like the discovery of the century. If you're an emotionally intelligent and emphatic person most of these things come quite easily to you. Also, despite some hardships that the author has had in her life, from the amount of spiritual retreats and personal improvement courses even in countries far away the author mentions she's done throughout the book, she seems like a highly privileged individual. I presume the book has the intention to make people more optimistic but it really doesn't take social class matters and systemic societal issues into consideration, which in my view are often the main things to keep people stuck in a rut.

[Claire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy read. Lots of nice useful points. Kinda like a beginners starter guide.

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read Lesley book cover to cover (which is not how it was designed to be read I don't think) and I have to say that while quite a few of her 'Life Lessons' appealed to me they never really got me excited about life.

Although I usually like books with short chapters and tit bits of advice I found this one lacking in practicality which to me made it a book that I did enjoy reading but one that wasn't always my first choice to pick up and read.

Saying that there were many chapter that I read a few times and I had the feeling that I would pick up this book later to re-read a particular section or two. Perhaps though Lesley writing is just of the sort that my sub-conciousness brain enjoyed and has absorbed the majority of the ideas already and that my life is better for reading this book, here's hoping.

To Lesley, thank you for writing this it may be pause in life and take stock and that is always a delightful thing to do.

[Noura Higo · Rating 5 out of 5]

من أكثر الكتب اللي أثرت فيني شخصيا ....رائع بمعنى الكلمة

[Aruna Kumar Gadepalli · Rating 3 out of 5]

Easy and quick read. Those who like self-help books go for this book.