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pyper's review against another edition
4.0
An extraordinary, artistic, romantic, funny, adventurous woman. She didn't permit society to dictate how she should live her life. She made her own choices and filled her 105years with culture, philosophy, history, love, tribulations, and triumphs.
lily_knowles's review against another edition
1.0
I bought this book years ago but only now decided to read it. There is no denying that Beatrice has led a fascinating life, but to me she came across as arrogant and bragging. I'm not saying that is how she was in life but I did not like the demeaning way she described people, and the constant name dropping without elaborating. She did offer some good advice, and it's a shame she did not follow it herself.
superdilettante's review
4.0
She shocks herself, but she only shocks you if you are a granny. Still, I'm really enjoying this book. If only life were this simple now. Have a lot of money. See a lot of wonderful places. Be scandalized by men and modern art. Have poor judgment. Lose all your money. Take up pottery and Eastern Philosophy. Initially I found myself frustrated by Beatrice's foolish attachment to manipulative men, and her rather pretentious attitude toward art and artists. But given that this is an autobiography, one cannot expect too much accuracy. I imagine that, at the age of 92 (when she first wrote the book), one remembers the past selectively. As the book progressed through the 60's and 70's, Beatrice seemed to become more settled, with her recollections becoming more concrete, more philosophical and less disjointed.
"Pottery for me is not a pursuit of glory, but a daily discipline of pursuing accuracy. In India it would be called my dharma. Life is dual. There is matter and spirit and one cannot function completely without the other. For creativity, the spirit side, to work, the matter side must be strong enough to hold the spirit side. If the form has cracks, the spirit leaks."
Beatrice Wood lived to be 105, and it sounds like she was still actively pursuing her craft until the end. I was completely heartened to read that she did not even discover her "life's work" until she was 40, and her best-remembered and most unique style until she was 90.
"Only in action do we discover what is wrong or right. Edison, the great inventor of the electric bulb, when consoled on having made ten thousand experiments, replied the time had not been wasted, because he had learned what he did not want. If the sea offers no challenge the navigator cannot learn to sail."
I never would have read this book if Jennie and I hadn't done our 3-2-2-1 project; one of her random library books was this one, and it looked interesting enough for me to pursue it. Thanks, weird zine project!
"Pottery for me is not a pursuit of glory, but a daily discipline of pursuing accuracy. In India it would be called my dharma. Life is dual. There is matter and spirit and one cannot function completely without the other. For creativity, the spirit side, to work, the matter side must be strong enough to hold the spirit side. If the form has cracks, the spirit leaks."
Beatrice Wood lived to be 105, and it sounds like she was still actively pursuing her craft until the end. I was completely heartened to read that she did not even discover her "life's work" until she was 40, and her best-remembered and most unique style until she was 90.
"Only in action do we discover what is wrong or right. Edison, the great inventor of the electric bulb, when consoled on having made ten thousand experiments, replied the time had not been wasted, because he had learned what he did not want. If the sea offers no challenge the navigator cannot learn to sail."
I never would have read this book if Jennie and I hadn't done our 3-2-2-1 project; one of her random library books was this one, and it looked interesting enough for me to pursue it. Thanks, weird zine project!
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