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kcvmoundshroud's review against another edition
5.0
This is an outstanding book. The author presents a brief anecdote for each day of the year and manages to visit each continent and encompasses the entirety of “human history.” A word of caution, however, this is not the book to read if you’re looking for daily affirmation or optimism. There is nothing “chicken-soup-for-the-soul-ish” about this book. While there are plenty of inspiring moments, the author discusses human history with all its ugliness and honesty. He has no patience for injustice (from anyone). I am so glad to have read this book, most especially because I am woefully ignorant about much of Central and South American history. Now I have lots of names to look into and events to Google!
totallytrucked's review against another edition
5.0
this is one of those books that you finish and immediately want to buy for yourself and everyone you know
salemalrushaid's review against another edition
5.0
I enjoy Galeano's humanist tone. His left leaning position, commitment and absolute resolution, that elevates the human endeavor on this lonely planet to its highest levels and equally shows the abyss of savagery that man can sink to. Poetic, yet brutally honest, using actual historical moments reminding us of the many failures and viciousness mankind has committed over the years, as well as the grand accomplishments and epic adventures mankind have achieved.
أنا أستمتع بنبرة غاليانو الإنسانية. موقفه اليساري ، و الالتزام و التصميم المطلق ، فهو يرفع المسعى الإنساني على هذا الكوكب الوحيد إلى أعلى مستوياته ، و يظهر بالتساوي الهاوية التي يمكن للإنسان أن يغرق بها. لغة الكتاب شاعرية ، و لكنها صادقة بوحشية ، يستخدم لحظات تاريخية فعلية تذكرنا بالعديد من الإخفاقات و الشرسة التي ارتكبتها البشرية على مر السنين ، و كذلك الإنجازات الكبرى والمغامرات الملحمية التي حققتها البشرية.
أنا أستمتع بنبرة غاليانو الإنسانية. موقفه اليساري ، و الالتزام و التصميم المطلق ، فهو يرفع المسعى الإنساني على هذا الكوكب الوحيد إلى أعلى مستوياته ، و يظهر بالتساوي الهاوية التي يمكن للإنسان أن يغرق بها. لغة الكتاب شاعرية ، و لكنها صادقة بوحشية ، يستخدم لحظات تاريخية فعلية تذكرنا بالعديد من الإخفاقات و الشرسة التي ارتكبتها البشرية على مر السنين ، و كذلك الإنجازات الكبرى والمغامرات الملحمية التي حققتها البشرية.
andrea_lr's review against another edition
5.0
Muy curioso e interesante, se lo recomendaría a todo el mundo.
shelgraves's review against another edition
5.0
I read this from July 23, 2016 to July 24, 2017 as a slow reading project. In it, Galeano, Sept. 3, 1940-April 13, 2015, a Uruguayan journalist, draws attention to history (people, art, sports, events), progress, and the lack thereof.
This book offers a profound daily reading experience. It brings beauty and layered meaning to each day. Every day, it provides a historical perspective and reminds the reader of a person or place from the past and an important idea. It's frequently ironic and points to the need for continued progress.
Pairs well with: A Year with Rilke: Daily Readings from the Best of Rainer Maria Rilke
Recommended for: a daily dose of inspiration, perspective and beautifully-formed thought
Quotable:
May 20: "In 1998 France passed a law that reduced the workweek to thirty-five hours. Work less, live more: Thomas More dreamed of this in Utopia, but we had to wait five centuries before a country finally dared commit such an act of common sense...Sanity did not last. When the thirty-five-hour week was ten years old, it expired."
December 21: On Enheduanna, historical figure, the first woman writer (a daughter of Sargon of Akkad, High Priestess of the goddess Inanna and the moon god Nanna in the Sumerian city-state of Ur) "...in writing she sang to the moon goddess Inanna, her protector, and she celebrated the joy of writing, which is a fiesta: like giving birth, creating life, conceiving the world."
December 31: "The word was 'Abracadabra,' which in ancient Hebrew meant and still means, 'Give your fire until the last of your days.'"
January 31: We Are Made of Wind: Today in 1908, Atahualpa Yupanqui (historical figure 1908-1992, Argentine singer and guitarist) was born. In life they were three: guitar, horse and he. Or four, counting the wind.
February 8: When in 1980, a judge ruled kisses obscene and a jailable offense in the city of Sorocaba, Brazil: "The city responded by becoming one huge kissodrome. Never had people kissed so much. Prohibition sparked desire and many were those who out of simple curiosity wanted a taste of the unsophismable kiss.
March 6: "The Florist: Georgia O’Keeffe lived and painted for nearly a century and died still painting. She raised a garden of paintings in the solitude of the desert. Georgia’s flowers—clitoris, vulva, vagina, nipple, belly button—were chalices for a thanksgiving mass for the joy of having been born a woman."
This book offers a profound daily reading experience. It brings beauty and layered meaning to each day. Every day, it provides a historical perspective and reminds the reader of a person or place from the past and an important idea. It's frequently ironic and points to the need for continued progress.
Pairs well with: A Year with Rilke: Daily Readings from the Best of Rainer Maria Rilke
Recommended for: a daily dose of inspiration, perspective and beautifully-formed thought
Quotable:
May 20: "In 1998 France passed a law that reduced the workweek to thirty-five hours. Work less, live more: Thomas More dreamed of this in Utopia, but we had to wait five centuries before a country finally dared commit such an act of common sense...Sanity did not last. When the thirty-five-hour week was ten years old, it expired."
December 21: On Enheduanna, historical figure, the first woman writer (a daughter of Sargon of Akkad, High Priestess of the goddess Inanna and the moon god Nanna in the Sumerian city-state of Ur) "...in writing she sang to the moon goddess Inanna, her protector, and she celebrated the joy of writing, which is a fiesta: like giving birth, creating life, conceiving the world."
December 31: "The word was 'Abracadabra,' which in ancient Hebrew meant and still means, 'Give your fire until the last of your days.'"
January 31: We Are Made of Wind: Today in 1908, Atahualpa Yupanqui (historical figure 1908-1992, Argentine singer and guitarist) was born. In life they were three: guitar, horse and he. Or four, counting the wind.
February 8: When in 1980, a judge ruled kisses obscene and a jailable offense in the city of Sorocaba, Brazil: "The city responded by becoming one huge kissodrome. Never had people kissed so much. Prohibition sparked desire and many were those who out of simple curiosity wanted a taste of the unsophismable kiss.
March 6: "The Florist: Georgia O’Keeffe lived and painted for nearly a century and died still painting. She raised a garden of paintings in the solitude of the desert. Georgia’s flowers—clitoris, vulva, vagina, nipple, belly button—were chalices for a thanksgiving mass for the joy of having been born a woman."
floreana's review against another edition
5.0
Agosto 30
Día de los desaparecidos
Desaparecidos: los muertos sin tumba, las tumbas sin nombre.
Y también:
los bosques nativos
las estrellas en la noche de las ciudades,
el aroma de las flores,
el sabor de las frutas,
las cartas escritas a mano,
los viejos cafés donde había tiempo para perder el tiempo,
el fútbol de la calle,
el derecho a caminar,
el derecho a respirar,
los empleos seguros,
las jubilaciones seguras,
las casas sin rejas,
las puertas sin cerradura,
el sentido comunitario
y el sentido común.
Día de los desaparecidos
Desaparecidos: los muertos sin tumba, las tumbas sin nombre.
Y también:
los bosques nativos
las estrellas en la noche de las ciudades,
el aroma de las flores,
el sabor de las frutas,
las cartas escritas a mano,
los viejos cafés donde había tiempo para perder el tiempo,
el fútbol de la calle,
el derecho a caminar,
el derecho a respirar,
los empleos seguros,
las jubilaciones seguras,
las casas sin rejas,
las puertas sin cerradura,
el sentido comunitario
y el sentido común.
kassiuz's review against another edition
5.0
Otro libro que disfrute enormemente de Galeano. La manera en que escribe le da un sentido de cotidianidad y poesía a todo.
purplehulk713's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
5.0
There’s always something to learn in here.
Eduardo Galeano writes haikus of a sort in his maravillosa intentionality. Saying so much with so little about so many things that we should know.
Every day to be reborn with small glories of wisdom.
Eduardo Galeano writes haikus of a sort in his maravillosa intentionality. Saying so much with so little about so many things that we should know.
Every day to be reborn with small glories of wisdom.
nataalia_sanchez's review against another edition
emotional
informative
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
5.0
peanutismynamo's review against another edition
4.0
If you love history, this is a great read. 365 days of remarkable happenings around the world, for the most part. What I found fascinating about this book was that it is written from a Latin-American point of view. Galeano was a much beloved Uruguayan journalist, writer and novelist.
I found his views on historical events in North America quite revealing. It was refreshing to read from a new point of view instead of the history that we all have been spoon-fed. I also enjoyed his great wit threaded throughout the book.
It's a great read with most entries not much more than a page.
I found his views on historical events in North America quite revealing. It was refreshing to read from a new point of view instead of the history that we all have been spoon-fed. I also enjoyed his great wit threaded throughout the book.
It's a great read with most entries not much more than a page.