A week has gone by since I eagerly placed the order for The Wisdom Book on Amazon. To tell you the truth, I can’t remember the last time I’ve been this amped to get a book in the mail. When it got here this morning, I was genuinely excited. The box is massive (because the book is), and opening it felt deliberate and ceremonious – like the size and weight of the book was symbolic. I’ve been flipping through it for a half hour and I’m grinning. I normally don’t get worked up about binding, design and photography the way I am right now – I generally read happily on whatever surface, wherever the words happen to be – but I feel some empathy for true bibliophiles today. The book is gorgeous.
My hat goes off to Andrew Zuckerman who interviewed, photographed and filmed the 51 writers, actors, artists, designers, politicians, musicians and religious and business leaders who contributed to the project. Holding this book, it’s obvious how much hard work and care went into its production and delivery. I’m actually a bit surprised that Andrew was the first to take a crack at something like this. It seems intuitive that we should always look to our elders (first) for guidance and inspiration on life’s most important lessons. Hopefully, this won’t be the first project of it’s kind.
If you’re now curious about the book, here’s a quick synopsis. The format of the book is simple – seven questions to each subject, who are all over 65 years of age. The responses are candid and authentic and, in many cases, inspirational. And there’s no B.S. or puffery. You only hear about what they’ve learned along the way – it all feels very human and humble. I found the contributions of Robert Redford, John Hume, Andrew Wyeth and Clint Eastwood particularly notable.I can also attest to the fact that the trailers are representative of the quality of the final product. Considering the book comes with a 60 minute DVD of clips from the interviews, it’s a steal for $30 new on amazon. Interested? Check these out…