You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
170 reviews for:
Letters of Note: An Eclectic Collection of Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience
Shaun Usher
4.29 AVERAGE
170 reviews for:
Letters of Note: An Eclectic Collection of Correspondence Deserving of a Wider Audience
Shaun Usher
4.29 AVERAGE
Really good. There's some incredible and very interesting letters in here. Well worth reading or just flicking through.
emotional
funny
informative
inspiring
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
sad
medium-paced
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.
emotional
funny
sad
slow-paced
Fascinating with a wide-range of interests covered!
When this book first came into the bookshop I was strongly tempted to buy it. Oh for more disposable income! So I put it onto my library list instead.
What a fabulous book – the reader is given the opportunity to read letters written by (or to) famous people, letters intended, for the most part, to be private, but now offered to us for the insights we can get from them. I found each fascinating - from the Chinese form letter of 856AD apologising for drunkenness, to the letter describing an operation performed under anaesthetic (by the woman it was performed upon), to a letter in Braille from a 13-year-old boy to a U.S. President. Every letter has an introduction by the compiler, which each time adds just enough information to set the scene. On top of this the book is beautifully presented.
Hmmm, I worked an extra day last week. I wonder if I can justify spending a large portion of that on a copy of my own…
What a fabulous book – the reader is given the opportunity to read letters written by (or to) famous people, letters intended, for the most part, to be private, but now offered to us for the insights we can get from them. I found each fascinating - from the Chinese form letter of 856AD apologising for drunkenness, to the letter describing an operation performed under anaesthetic (by the woman it was performed upon), to a letter in Braille from a 13-year-old boy to a U.S. President. Every letter has an introduction by the compiler, which each time adds just enough information to set the scene. On top of this the book is beautifully presented.
Hmmm, I worked an extra day last week. I wonder if I can justify spending a large portion of that on a copy of my own…
This is one of those books you just pick up when you are bored and don't have anything else to do. The letters are interesting!
Amazing collection of letters! Some of my favorites were the letter from a former slave to his former master, a NASA scientist's eloquent and relevant response to an inquiry about the value of the space program from a nun in Africa, and Queen Elizabeth's personal recipe for scones sent to President Eisenhower. This is the perfect coffee table book. There is something for everyone in this treasure.
This collection of letters was really interesting and touching. It made me wish that people still wrote letters - I know, I know, this is an old person thing to say - but there is something really magical and moving about these handwritten or typed and printed out letters. Some of them were really sad, like Mary Stuart's letter that was written when she knew she was about to be executed, or the South Pole explorer whose series of letters written as supplies were running out and death getting nearer were addressed "To my widow." Some letters were chilling, like the cable sent from a sinking Titanic or the memo that was prepared in the event that the moon landing was a failure and the president would have to make a statement that Armstrong and Aldrin were being left in space. Some made me want to stand up and applaud, like letters from former slaves to the former masters or the one from Francis Crick to his son at boarding school right after he discovered the double helix shape of DNA. There were letters that made me cry in their sweetness and choke up in their sadness. And a lot of them made me laugh out loud - like Steve Martin's wacky form letter he sent to fans where he filled in the blanks with strange and random things and the one from Dorothy Parker complaining about how annoyed she was with her stay in the hospital as she was being treated for exhaustion. She complains about an annoying kid who runs down the hallway jangling keys and a nurse who keeps mispronouncing things and says "see you anon" when she leaves the room. Dorothy Parker writes, "I have not shot her yet. Maybe Monday."
There are so many other gems in this book. A few of the letters got a little long and tedious, or were about people I wasn't really interested in. But for the most part, the letters are short and poignant and really enjoyable to read. I recommend this one to all.
There are so many other gems in this book. A few of the letters got a little long and tedious, or were about people I wasn't really interested in. But for the most part, the letters are short and poignant and really enjoyable to read. I recommend this one to all.