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philboid_studge's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
fast-paced
5.0
gradybell's review against another edition
3.0
If you read this book and found it too repetitive or obsolete, read A Man Without a Country, a book directly written by Kurt Vonnegut. This book (written after his death) takes the ideas that he used in his speeches, and condenses them into a semi-memoir which flows much better than the speeches. If This Isn't Happy I Don’t Know What Is on the other hand, A.) wasn't directly written by Kurt Vonnegut and B.) Feels a bit unnecessary with A Man Without a Country already being written by Vonnegut. Yet if you like reading direct speeches over more novel style books, this one's for you.
foolvia's review against another edition
hopeful
inspiring
lighthearted
relaxing
medium-paced
mary_sh's review against another edition
4.0
"Avevo uno zio di nome Alex che, nei momenti in cui la vita era più piacevole - magari anche solo per una caraffa di limonata bevuta all'ombra - diceva: "Cosa c'è di più bello di questo?"
Se mio zio non l'avesse detto così spesso, qualcosa come cinque o sei volte al mese, forse non ci saremmo soffermati a notare quanto può essere gratificante a volte la vita."
Se mio zio non l'avesse detto così spesso, qualcosa come cinque o sei volte al mese, forse non ci saremmo soffermati a notare quanto può essere gratificante a volte la vita."
kevin_shepherd's review against another edition
4.0
Herein lies a collection of nine commencement speeches by Kurt Vonnegut, delivered at various academic institutions between (approximately) 1994 and 2001.
“We had a memorial service for Isaac [Asimov] a few years back and at one point I said, ''Isaac is up in Heaven now.'' It was the funniest thing I could have said to a group of Humanists. I rolled them in the aisles. It was several minutes before order could be restored. And if I should ever die, God forbid, I hope you will say, ''Kurt is up in Heaven now.'' That’s my favorite joke."
When my youngest son graduated from Williams College some eight or nine years ago, we were treated to a group of commencement speakers that completely blew my mind. Among those addressing his graduating class were author/historian Stacy Schiff, singer/songwriter Annie Lennox, and tennis legend Billie Jean King.
Commencement addresses can sometimes be a crap shoot. There are those that are academically inspirational [see Stacy Schiff], those that are artistically beautiful [see Annie Lennox], and those that are incredibly fun and entertaining [see Billie Jean King]. There are also, on rare occasion, those that are all of the above [see Kurt Vonnegut].
“Being merciful, it seems to me, is the only good idea we have had so far. Perhaps we will get another good idea by and by—and then we will have two good ideas.”
I wish desperately that he were still with us, but Kurt is up in Heaven now.
(He was right, that does make me laugh
“We had a memorial service for Isaac [Asimov] a few years back and at one point I said, ''Isaac is up in Heaven now.'' It was the funniest thing I could have said to a group of Humanists. I rolled them in the aisles. It was several minutes before order could be restored. And if I should ever die, God forbid, I hope you will say, ''Kurt is up in Heaven now.'' That’s my favorite joke."
When my youngest son graduated from Williams College some eight or nine years ago, we were treated to a group of commencement speakers that completely blew my mind. Among those addressing his graduating class were author/historian Stacy Schiff, singer/songwriter Annie Lennox, and tennis legend Billie Jean King.
Commencement addresses can sometimes be a crap shoot. There are those that are academically inspirational [see Stacy Schiff], those that are artistically beautiful [see Annie Lennox], and those that are incredibly fun and entertaining [see Billie Jean King]. There are also, on rare occasion, those that are all of the above [see Kurt Vonnegut].
“Being merciful, it seems to me, is the only good idea we have had so far. Perhaps we will get another good idea by and by—and then we will have two good ideas.”
I wish desperately that he were still with us, but Kurt is up in Heaven now.
(He was right, that does make me laugh
mawalker1962's review against another edition
3.0
I thought these graduation addresses dated more quickly than some.
gijs's review against another edition
4.0
Gotta love Vonnegut; “a cigarette will likely kill you; a fire on one side and a fool on the other.” Or when questioned by his kids on the deplorable state of our planet; “oh shut up! I just got here myself!”.