City News

This I Believe, a collection of short essays, presents the personal philosophies of many remarkable people.  I really enjoyed reading about different people’s lives, and how their lives affected their worldviews.  It was fun to read, because each few pages was a new story that somebody wrote and many of the topics may have seemed un-interesting at first, but when you read them closer, you realize how cool they can be.  Many random things became inspirational stories and metaphors.  The really cool thing is that some people who wrote the short stories were average people with unique stories, and some of the people who wrote them were very famous, such as Albert Einstein.  Albert Eintstein's essay was especially interesting to me because it was almost like a mini biography about his life, on a topic he was really interested and passionate about.  It showed me how many people are going through life in different ways.  I found it interesting to learn more about the struggles great people have overcome in their lives, and how overcoming challenges builds character.  The lessons I learned in this book impacted the way I see the word.  Through the essay, “Always Go to the Funeral”, by Deirdre Sullivan, I came to understand that a simple action such as going to a funeral when you don’t particularly want to can make a big difference.  As Sullivan stated, people should always do the right thing, “even when you really, really don’t feel like it” .  This idea really resonated with me, as I sometimes find myself in the situation where I could do something positive or nothing at all.  While this book has many valuable lessons, a few of them were quite boring to read, so it made the reading seem very slow at times.  Many stood out to me, but sometimes the story or lesson of one did not seem interesting to me or does not really relate to me so they were not as enjoyable to read.  I would recommend reading this book, as, even though I had to read it for school summer reading, it is still a really interesting book full of insight from people full of wisdom.  

While I learned more about the world through this book, I also learned a lot about myself.  With the lessons I found particularly relevant to my life, I better understood how other people react in certain situations and compared it to how I would react.  For  example, with the situation of always going to funerals, I had not considered how making a gesture like that could make you and other people feel a lot better.  The book, overall, did not really have much about coming of age or anything like that, as it did not follow any characters and display their growth, but each essay taught me about life, and a lot of important values to live by.  Now, when I am experiencing things everyday, I think back to these short essays and stories and how I can learn from them.  

Check out This I Believe at the Newport Beach Public Library.