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171 reviews for:
Letters of Note: An Eclectic Collection of Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience
Shaun Usher
4.29 AVERAGE
171 reviews for:
Letters of Note: An Eclectic Collection of Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience
Shaun Usher
4.29 AVERAGE
This is an eclectic and yet incredible collection of actual letters (some photographed so that you can see the handwriting or stationery upon which the letter was written). Some of these letters were written by authors, some by politicians, others were written by famous or notable individuals, such as Albert Einstein.
Each of these letters holds unique significance, either because it provides insight into the mind of the writer or to an event/ time in history. For example, Queen Elizabeth shared a recipe with President Eisenhower, showing the level of friendship between these two leaders. Jack Kerouac wrote to Marlon Brando asking him to star in the movie version of On The Road (Brando never wrote back, by the way).
I'm not sure how these letters were curated, but this is a very fun read for people who like history or literature.
Each of these letters holds unique significance, either because it provides insight into the mind of the writer or to an event/ time in history. For example, Queen Elizabeth shared a recipe with President Eisenhower, showing the level of friendship between these two leaders. Jack Kerouac wrote to Marlon Brando asking him to star in the movie version of On The Road (Brando never wrote back, by the way).
I'm not sure how these letters were curated, but this is a very fun read for people who like history or literature.
Overall a really enjoyable read with an array of different letters. Honestly it reminded me how letter writing is a lost art, even if the letters are not meant to be world changing, they can be very impactful and often show a person's true self.
My favorites were:
#10 Virginia Woolf's suicide letter to her husband
#60 JFK's note on a coconut while stranded on the Solomon Islands during WWII
#62 1969 Presidential Speech written in case astronauts were stranded on the moon
#64 Letter regarding dams built by beavers that the government claimed the land owner was building.
#65 Why explore space? A rebuttal to a nun claiming it was a waste of money.
#76 Letter from an Uncle to his nieces and nephews after their dog passed away.
#95 Rebecca West to HG Wells, a very emotional letter about Wells leaving her.
#101 Ronald Reagan marriage advice to his son.
#116 Letter to Albert Einstein from a school child regarding whether scientists believe in god.
My favorites were:
#10 Virginia Woolf's suicide letter to her husband
#60 JFK's note on a coconut while stranded on the Solomon Islands during WWII
#62 1969 Presidential Speech written in case astronauts were stranded on the moon
#64 Letter regarding dams built by beavers that the government claimed the land owner was building.
#65 Why explore space? A rebuttal to a nun claiming it was a waste of money.
#76 Letter from an Uncle to his nieces and nephews after their dog passed away.
#95 Rebecca West to HG Wells, a very emotional letter about Wells leaving her.
#101 Ronald Reagan marriage advice to his son.
#116 Letter to Albert Einstein from a school child regarding whether scientists believe in god.
Excellent coffee table book, and excellent resource to look into the lives and thoughts (and handwriting) of people talking to others. Letters written before death, after a birth, military and political upheaval, events great and small. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.
I don’t know when I’ve had a better time browsing through a book. It’s a collection of the most interesting letters ever written. It includes some classics (Little Virginia’s letter to Santa Claus! A new poet’s inquisitive letter to Rilke!) and some that were new-to-me, but, if you are like me, you won’t skip over many. It’s a must-read, folks!
When they say eclectic, they really do mean that. There were some real gems here, such as the young boy who waited 50 years to get a reply from the Australian space agency when he sent them his design for a national rocket, but then on the other end of the spectrum, the letter from John Lennon's killer referring to his collection of signed memorabilia was rather creepy. Took a while to read because I kept it by the side of the bed and dipped in to it, but I found it really engrossing and a beautiful object in its own right.
Remarkable, quotable, engrossing, fantastic book. The US edition won't be released for a few more months, but you can get the hardcover version from Amazon UK.
There are a lot of interesting letters quoted here. To me, the best ones are those that are not intended for a wider audience. All letters carry an introduction by the editor, e.g. this one:
And Virginia Woolf's heartbreaking final letter:
There are some letters which are a bit drab, very American in nature—i.e. that display how the editor is an American, by which I mean that he's inward-looking, more than taking in many letters from many cultures—but overall, an interesting book.
Letter No. 006 BILL HICKS ON FREEDOM OF SPEECH BILL HICKS to A PRIEST June 8th, 1993 As an outspoken stand-up comedian with strong, unbending views on the most divisive of subjects, the late Bill Hicks was no stranger to controversy during his all-too-brief career. In May 1993, less than a year before he succumbed to pancreatic cancer at the age of 32, a live recording of Hicks’s Revelations show was broadcast on television in the UK. Shortly afterwards, deeply offended by its “blasphemous” content, a priest wrote to the broadcaster, Channel 4, and complained about the recent screening. After reading the complaint, Hicks, never one to avoid a discussion, replied to the priest directly by letter.
8 June 1993
Dear Sir, After reading your letter expressing your concerns regarding my special ‘Revelations’, I felt duty-bound to respond to you myself in hopes of clarifying my position on the points you brought up, and perhaps enlighten you as to who I really am. Where I come from — America — there exists this wacky concept called ‘freedom of speech’, which many people feel is one of the paramount achievements in mankind’s mental development. I myself am a strong supporter of the ‘Right of freedom of speech’, as I’m sure most people would be if they truly understood the concept. ‘Freedom of speech’ means you support the right of people to say exactly those ideas which you do not agree with. (Otherwise, you don’t believe in ‘freedom of speech’, but rather only those ideas which you believe to be acceptably stated.)
Seeing as how there are so many different beliefs in the world, and as it would be virtually impossible for all of us to agree on any one belief, you may begin to realize just how important an idea like ‘freedom of speech’ really is. The idea basically states ‘while I don’t agree or care for what you are saying, I do support your right to say it, for herein lies true freedom’. You say you found my material ‘offensive’ and ‘blasphemous’. I find it interesting that you feel your beliefs are denigrated or threatened when I’d be willing to bet you’ve never received a single letter complaining about your beliefs, or asking why they are allowed to be. (If you have received such a letter, it definitely did not come from me.)
Furthermore, I imagine a quick perusal of an average week of television programming would reveal many more shows of a religious nature, than one of my shows — which are called ‘specials’ by virtue of the fact that they are very rarely on. All I’m doing in ‘Revelations’ is giving my point of view in my language based on my experiences — much the same way religious broadcasters might organize their programs. While I’ve found many of the religious shows I’ve viewed over the years not to be to my liking, or in line with my own beliefs, I’ve never considered it my place to exert any greater type of censorship than changing the channel, or better yet — turning off the TV completely.
Now, for the part of your letter I found most disturbing. In support of your position of outrage, you posit the hypothetical scenario regarding the possibly ‘angry’ reaction of Muslims to material they might find similarly offensive. Here is my question to you: Are you tacitly condoning the violent terrorism of a handful of thugs to whom the idea of ‘freedom of speech’ and tolerance is perhaps as foreign as Christ’s message itself? If you are somehow implying that their intolerance to contrary beliefs is justifiable, admirable, or perhaps even preferable to one of acceptance and forgiveness, then I wonder what your true beliefs really are. If you had watched my entire show, you would have noticed in my summation of my beliefs the fervent plea to the governments of the world to spend less money on the machinery of war, and more on feeding, clothing, and educating the poor and needy of the world … A not-so-unchristian sentiment at that!
Ultimately, the message in my material is a call for understanding rather than ignorance, peace rather than war, forgiveness rather than condemnation, and love rather than fear. While this message may have understandably been lost on your ears (due to my presentation), I assure you the thousands of people I played to in my tours of the United Kingdom got it. I hope I helped answer some of your questions. Also, I hope you consider this an invitation to keep open the lines of communication. Please feel free to contact me personally with comments, thoughts, or questions, if you so choose. If not, I invite you to enjoy my two upcoming specials entitled ‘Mohammed the TWIT’ and ‘Buddha, you fat PIG’. (JOKE)
Sincerely,
Bill Hicks
And Virginia Woolf's heartbreaking final letter:
Letter No. 010
I CAN’T FIGHT ANY LONGER
VIRGINIA WOOLF to LEONARD WOOLF
March, 1941 By the age of just 22, influential novelist Virginia Woolf had already suffered two nervous breakdowns – brought on, it’s believed, by the deaths of her mother and half-sister in quick succession, and then her father some years later. Unfortunately, the struggle didn’t end there for Virginia and she fought off numerous bouts of depression throughout her lifetime, until the very end. One evening in March 1941, Virginia attempted to end her life by jumping into a river; however, she failed and simply returned home, sodden. Sadly, she persisted, and a few days later, on March 28th 1941, she tried again and this time succeeded in escaping a lifetime of mental illness. On the day of her death, unaware of her whereabouts, Virginia’s husband, Leonard, discovered this heartbreaking letter on their mantelpiece. Her body was found weeks later in the River Ouse, the pockets of her coat filled with heavy rocks.
Tuesday.
Dearest, I feel certain that I am going mad again. I feel we can’t go through another of those terrible times. And I shan’t recover this time. I begin to hear voices, and I can’t concentrate. So I am doing what seems the best thing to do. You have given me the greatest possible happiness. You have been in every way all that anyone could be. I don’t think two people could have been happier till this terrible disease came. I can’t fight any longer. I know that I am spoiling your life, that without me you could work. And you will I know. You see I can’t even write this properly. I can’t read. What I want to say is I owe all the happiness of my life to you. You have been entirely patient with me and incredibly good. I want to say that – everybody knows it. If anybody could have saved me it would have been you. Everything has gone from me but the certainty of your goodness. I can’t go on spoiling your life any longer. I don’t think two people could have been happier than we have been.
V.
There are some letters which are a bit drab, very American in nature—i.e. that display how the editor is an American, by which I mean that he's inward-looking, more than taking in many letters from many cultures—but overall, an interesting book.
When I was looking at this, someone had asked if I wanted it as a coffee table book. No. Believe me - if I'm buying a collection of famous letters, you bet your boots I'm going to read it. If anything, it made me miss letter writing. Sign of the childhood era, I guess! I used to write to friends. One moved to Glasgow and it seemed like the furthest away place so we'd write letters when we were 6 or 7.
There are letters that you've heard of - Einstein's self-proclaimed 'greatest mistake of his life', or one of them - but then there's the others, those who've just escaped execution, love letters, ones steeped in history, from the alternate speech for the Apollo mission, to a warning about the Challenger disaster. There's the nephew of Hitler on the obvious problems with joining the army, Elvis and his weird badge collection; there's F. Scott Fitzgerald getting serious critique, and Steve Martin's letter for fans (I did particularly enjoy that).
Then there's the cute and quirky - the children writing to Roald Dahl and sending a dream in a bottle, to Abraham Lincoln suggesting he should grow a beard; there's Wil Wheaton replying to a fanclub member two decades later when their pack went missing.
I suppose the thing about letters that I like is they're not meant, in most cases, to be read by more than one or two people, which seems ironic given that this is 125 of them bound in a pretty book. The point is you learn bits about people that you wouldn't otherwise know, the bits they reserve just for the situation at hand, or the people they're dealing with.
I do also enjoy looking at people's handwriting. There's some lovely ones in there. And I'm particularly pleased that Roald Dahl's response was just a delight. Letters rule.
There are letters that you've heard of - Einstein's self-proclaimed 'greatest mistake of his life', or one of them - but then there's the others, those who've just escaped execution, love letters, ones steeped in history, from the alternate speech for the Apollo mission, to a warning about the Challenger disaster. There's the nephew of Hitler on the obvious problems with joining the army, Elvis and his weird badge collection; there's F. Scott Fitzgerald getting serious critique, and Steve Martin's letter for fans (I did particularly enjoy that).
Then there's the cute and quirky - the children writing to Roald Dahl and sending a dream in a bottle, to Abraham Lincoln suggesting he should grow a beard; there's Wil Wheaton replying to a fanclub member two decades later when their pack went missing.
I suppose the thing about letters that I like is they're not meant, in most cases, to be read by more than one or two people, which seems ironic given that this is 125 of them bound in a pretty book. The point is you learn bits about people that you wouldn't otherwise know, the bits they reserve just for the situation at hand, or the people they're dealing with.
I do also enjoy looking at people's handwriting. There's some lovely ones in there. And I'm particularly pleased that Roald Dahl's response was just a delight. Letters rule.
inspiring
lighthearted
reflective
relaxing
medium-paced
Wil Wheaton, you made me cry in front of my family. Ugh, this book is so cool.