Best Advice from a Book

[Gail Allen]

I've read so many books which have left me wiser on one topic or another. Sometimes through the theme or morale of the book itself, sometimes through actual advice given by one of the characters to another. But it made me think, which is actually the best piece of advice I've ever gotten from a book. Or the funniest piece of advice that made me giggle when I read it because taken out of context this would be the most unlikely thing to ever be said, but in context it made perfect sense.

And I got curious: What's that for you guys? What advice have you gotten from reading books, either good or funny or anything else you would like to share.

[Fern Elliot]

My all time favorite book, I've read it four times and am trying to use it teach myself more Spanish vocabulary, is The Last Lecture. Its about a dying man reflecting upon his life in a form of a lecture to his students. It taught me life really is too short. I found the book maybe a year after my best friend died, I was quite young so you can imagine the influence of this book as such a sad tie in my life. I really think its worth the read! In case you would like visuals though, the book is actually based on his TED talk: Randy Pausch: Really achieving your childhood dreams.

[Sophia Rudel]

Two pieces of advice that have stuck with me over the years have come from the book Hogfather by Terry Pratchett. The first is: "Charity ain't giving people what you wants to give, it's giving people what they need to get". This reminds me then when helping others it is not about what type of help I think they should get but what type of help they actually need regardless of my opinion or feelings.

The other piece of advice comes from this scene between Death and his granddaughter Susan:

"You're saying humans need...fantasies to make life bearable", said Susan.
"No. Humans need fantasy to be human", Death replied
"Tooth fairies? Hogfathers?"
"Yes. As practice. You have to start out learning to believe the little lies."
"So we can believe the big ones?"
"Yes. Justice. Mercy. Duty. That sort of thing."
"They're not the same at all!"
"You think so? Then take the universe and grind it down to the finest powder and sieve it through the finest sieve and then show me one atom of justice, one molecule of mercy."
"Yes, but people have got to believe that, or what's the point?"
"My point exactly...You need to believe in things that aren't true. How else can they become?

This reminds me that humans, both collectively and individually, can do so much when we put our minds to it. If something is wrong in the world we can work together to correct it. Whether we do is a separate question. But I like holding on to the hope that we can change things, we can create new concepts and ideas and can continually work to create a better world.