Personhood: The Art of Being Fully Human

by Leo F. Buscaglia

In his warm, inviting, and inclusive, style, bestselling author Leo Buscaglia manages to bring a vision of the world together within his warm embrace. Sharing the stories of his travels and his encounters with people all over the world, Buscaglia reminds us that we are all people who have the potential to share ourselves with ourselves as well as others. A lover of life and people, Buscaglia's insight into our hearts and souls, his reassurance as to our essential good natures, is a much-needed reminder of our connectedness to one and all.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Self Help, Spirituality, Inspirational, Love, Personal Development

160 pages, Paperback

First published August 13, 1957

About the author

known as "Dr. Love"

Dr. Felice Leonardo Buscaglia Ph.D. was a professor in the Department of Special Education at the University of Southern California. He was a graduate of Theodore Roosevelt High School (Los Angeles).

Leo Buscaglia authored a number of New York Times bestselling inspirational books on love and human reticences on the subject, including The Fall of Freddie the Leaf, Bus 9 to Paradise, Living Loving and Learning, Love and My Father. In lectures he often protested, in outrage at the comparative absence of writings on the subject, "I got the copyright for love!!!"

Reviews

[Stacy · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't get much out of this at all. It seemed to me he was talking lots of psychological gobbledly- gook.

[Gregory Downey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book while in college.
It seems I read a lot of things in college that weren't quite related to college itself.
come to think of it, I believ I got a better education from all of my extra-curricular reading than the college course material itself.
But, this book was (as all of Leo Buscaglia's books are)insightful, insrpiring, funny, and some times even somber.
This book in many ways helped me to feel validated as an individual with much to offer.

[Mohamad · Rating 5 out of 5]

كتابي زيبا از مرحوم بوسكاليا نويسنده امريكايى ايتاليايي نشر قطره ترجمه خانم گيتي خوشدل با نام ادميت ( هنر به تمامي انسان بودن ) ويژگيهاي انسان كامل را ترسيم كرده است

[Sharon · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book, Leo Buscaglia attempts to offer an historic view of the ethical principles that have guided our humanity. He believes that everyone is responsible through their own uniqueness for completing a portion of a vast universal canvas. Full actualization of the world, therefore, depends on one's self-actualization. Consequently, the greatest challenge to all people is to work at being fully human.

[Lori Frieden · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book changed my life. I read it when I was 18 and again just recently. It's simply written, not overly intellectual or indulgent. It's a short, quick read that I highly recommend.

[Erksh · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was literally one of the hardest books I've ever had to read. I'm not exactly sure why that is; I've no doubt that most of it has to do with my own self and how challenging this book is to the way my mind tends to think. But I also think that there is something....off about this book that I can't quite adequately explain. But I'll try.

To give a frame of reference, I came into reading this after loving a few key quotes from Buscaglia ever since I was a teenager. They were sometimes tragic, but always beautiful. It gave me a sense that Buscaglia knew what it felt like to be someone who feels deeply; specifically, who feels badly deeply.

But this book did not give me that impression. The hardest quote for me to read was:
"I cannot understand why, given a choice between joy and despair, people will so often choose despair. My daily experiences bring me into contact with individuals who seem totally lifeless and frighteningly apathetic. Most disturbing is their complete disrespect for their personhood."
He follows this spending a paragraph with more detail about said people, in a tone that I swear sounds almost bitter.

This was only a few pages in to the book. I was expecting understanding, not literally a quote that says "I don't understand" and an accusation that people CHOOSE despair. And I know that I'm coming at this from a perspective that may be the minority (diagnosed depression) but the tone of the book just was not one of hope. And part of that is my perfectionism; my tendency to compare myself to some golden standard which usually doesn't have words. But this book, to me, instead of being inspiring, was just that golden standard actually given words for my perfectionism to beat myself over the head with. It was not written with a tone of "this is how we experience life", it's literally written by starting many chapters off with "Fully functioning persons are ____".

But on top of that, I do want to circle back around to the depression/mental illness thing, since that's....well, me, and give a quote that was towards the end of the book:

"No one and nothing can depress us or cause us pain if we choose not to have it so."

There's no deeper meaning to this statement; Buscaglia's basic premise for most things can be summarized with the quote from How I Met Your Mother: "When I get sad, I stop being sad and be awesome instead."

So yeah, it's not my jam. I can't say it's garbage, but the sheer fact that most times I could only read a few pages before feeling emotionally and physically worse kind of necessitates me personally giving it a "no", just in general.

[Lily · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was hoping for a pleasant and humanistic little sweetie given the title, but instead I got pretty simplistic drivel about complex things, outdated explanations of world religions, and some pretty corny, cheesy stories. I did appreciate his explanation of his childhood in a loving, big, generous, generational Italian family, as I can relate. While there is a small amount of wisdom in this book, it's buried in rather silly and boring sentiments.

[Elham Taghavimehr · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspiring words, I love such books.It makes me feel fresh. Strive every day to become fully YOU---this message is quintessential Buscaglia. At his very best in "The Art of Being Fully Human," Leo will uplift and invigorate you with his heartwarming spontaneity, his challenge to follow your dreams, and his inspiration to take new risks

[Saman]

در چه بي‌شمار راه‌هايي، گسترده در ميان ستارگان
آدمي بايد خود را در جستجوي آخرين راز به دنبال كشد؟
سفر دشوار است و بي‌كران و گاه محال
امـا باز، پاري از ما را از تلاش باز نمي‌دارد
مي‌توان گفت به كاروان پيوسته‌ايم
و در نقطه‌اي خاص، تا آن‌جا كه در توان داريم سفر خواهيم كرد
امـا در يك عمر، مجال ديدن همه‌ي آن‌چه كه مي‌خواهيم
يا آموختن همه‌ي آن‌چه كه تشنه‌ي دانستنش هستيم وجود ندارد

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

مشکلم با نثر مترجم بود یا تکرار مکررات نویسنده نمیدونم، اما اینکه توی وضعیتی که خیلی از لحاظ روحی بی ثبات بودم کاملا ناگهانی با این کتاب رو به روشدم و با یاداوری یه سری چیزای ساده تونستم کمی روی وضعیت روحیم کنترل داشته باشم به نظرم اثر خودشو گذاشته. برخلاف خیلی از کتابها ادمیت از وسط به بعد مفید و مختصر و تاثیرگذار تر بود. ضمنا، به نظرم بخش جذاب کتاب نقل قول هایی که نویسنده از بقیه میاره.

[Athena · Rating 4 out of 5]

مختصر ، مفید و جامع

[Nate Fetterolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just finished this today, it was a great read. Really easy read, simply put, smoothly read, easy to get through even in one sitting maybe. Outlines various things on the topic of personhood/self-actualization/becoming and being oneself for the sake of humanity and Love. A nice primer on these sorts of things, doesn’t go into too much detail, so would need to read more to get more of it for some. Leo Buscaglia once again, great beautiful man. I put four stars because out of all that i’ve read of his, this was not as engaging and passionate as his others but still a lot to some degree. Simple and easy read like I said.

[Nathan Ramsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everyone should have to read this once ❣️

[Seemy · Rating 5 out of 5]

this was a fantastic lecture and I was lucky enough (to my knowledge) to get access to the video version of this lecture vs the audio program, nevertheless my first experience with Leo Buscaglia was breathtaking...it made you laugh, connect and desire more with his unique method of coaching which I came to laugh ...I certainly will be looking for more books and work by Leo Buscaglia as this undiscovered gem or not so mainstream media guy should be right up there in the self help field, am surprised, myself anyway haven;t heard more about him until I watched this lecture, which truly does teach us the "Art of Being Fully Human" - 5 stars+!

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[Penny · Rating 4 out of 5]

Page 21 ... Elie Wiesel tells us of a rabbi who has said that when we cease to live and go before our Creator the question asked of us will not be why we did not become a messiah, a famous leader or to answer the great mysteries of life. The question will be simply - why did you not become you, the fully active, realized person that only you had the potential of becoming?

Page 135-6 ... Our lives are original documents which we alone can create. Either we create them or they will never exist. The individual power is within each of us. It is ours to draw upon whenever we wish. It never dies. It simply lies dormant until we come to life. It is not mysterious. It is realized daily, each time we are fully aware and engaging enthusiastically and with abandon in the process of living.

[Christina Harper · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is my 1st book of Leo Buscaglia, although I have seen several quotes of his from past readings. I enjoyed the majority of the book. I skimmed the section on religions due to to the fact I already have a strong faith but I understood/understand that many religions have a common thread of acceptance and personal responsibility to change.

I thought it got wordy but he is an educator/professor so it's par for the style.

It a few great insights into parenting p.38-39, the role of doubt & uncertainty p.115-117 was my favorite, and many great purpose & accountability observations throughout book.

It was an enjoyable read with a few memeorable nuggets that I shall use in my coaching practice.

[Babarella · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book teaches you so much about human life. It's human philosophy explained the best. You start thinking about things, and reading this book makes those decisions better. It improves your communication skills in a way, you can say. You learn a lot about why people act this way or why they do things that are crazy. You also learn how to respect yourself and put yourself before others like you should. Also you learn to control yourself, in my opinion, at least I did. Plus, this book is fun to read. It's not just plain facts, it talks about religion and gives you advice, support and an advantage of knowing why people react a certain way to certain things.

[Melissa Eckstrom · Rating 4 out of 5]

At the Nix Nax Hostel in Jamaica, the bookshelves are full of inviting titles---from classic novels translated in various languages to studies of the universe. However, it was this book by Leo F. Buscaglia that caught my eye when I went to grab something to read with my morning coffee. It was a very quick read that I found refreshing and it provided a solid reminder to keep pushing to reach my goals during my lifetime. I found myself wanting to write down little snippets and enjoyed reading what a previous owner had underlined.

[Jenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has been in my library for over 14 years—passed down from my parents collections and I've just now decided maybe I'm old/mature enough to appreciate its message... Personhood is a good book to remind us of the purpose of our life at each stage and age. It reminds us that growing old is a privilege and being young an opportunity. It is an older book, but continues to be impactful in today's world and resonates with newer books I've read.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Did you ever take life-span development?? Well, in addition to the days it takes a fertilized egg to become a zygote, embryo, etc... and markers for first word, walking, etc... people - after puberty - keep developing!! Who knew?? lol. We can do the emotional work to become adult humans and even face our own mortality vs. stay in stunted adolescence!! Leo Buscaglia was smart enough to realize there ought to maybe be a college course on how. :)

[Gina · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I couldn't explain in my journey to maturity and how like scales that have fallen from my eyes I have begun to live a fully functioning life, the author explained in crystal clear sentences; he found words to say things I've been wanting to explain to others. A profound reading that was truly enjoyable.

[Nubia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Is a good description about human nature, similarities and diferences of religious believes and the author's point of view about how love can help.


Contiene una buena descripcion de la naturaleza humana. Y los puntos de vista del autor acerca de como el amor puede ayudar.

[Diane Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

It teaches the discovery of self. It helped me to understand when I was a young adult that I had a destiny and purpose. This book helped me in finding myself. Because of Dr. Buscaglia book it motivated me to write, publish and to give back what this phenomenon author has given me.

[Martine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Buscaglia shows how similar we all are in our experience in being human, and how we should support each other and grow from our experiences.

[Alex · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my all time favorite books and spiritual writers. Highly recommend it to anyone who wishes to learn about religions, spirituality and stages in life.

[Lisa Sellers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome!

[Christopher Miller]

It was very good

[Hugo Juarez]

Solo quiero leer el libro porque tengo tarea pendiente.

[Yaaresse · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think this was a read for college psychology. He was quite popular in the 80s.

[Suzanne Hess · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful.