Rating: 
Summary: "Tuesdays" is good reading any day of the week
Review: I read this book based on the recommendations of other members of the cadre. Seemed a little sappy in premise, but it is a book with a 'big heart' and an important message for those who might question some of the central issues in life such as love, aging, materialism and death.The eponymous character, Morrie Schwartz, is a well-loved professor of sociology at Bradeis University. He is renowned for his gentle and caring spirit, and he has touched many individual lives in a way most university professors don't. At the age of 75 he falls ill with ALS, an incurable disease which he knows will end his life slowly and painfully. Despite this condition, he maintains his positive attitude and busy schedule with classes and students and family and friends. As he starts to decline, a friend collects his aphorisms, little snippets of advice and wisdom, into a newspaper column. This column leads to an interview with Ted Koppel on NBC; this national exposure brings his former student, Mitch Albom to to his bedside. Mitch, a graduate of Brandeis and a student of Morrie's, has achieved great success at an early age. He writes a sports column in Detroit, and mingles with talented and wealthy athletes and team owners. He has an incredibly busy schedule flying to sporting events all over the country and he has acquired many of the vestiges of success. But when his unionized co-workers at the Detroit newspaper go on strike, he can't work and has the perfect opportunity to visit with Morrie and talk about life. He begins showing up every Tuesday at Morrie's home, to sit by his bedside and ask Morrie his opinion on topics such as love, marriage, forgiveness, and death. These conversations take place as Morrie declines week by week, his disease slowly creeping up his body. Morrie slowly surrenders to its grasp, becoming utterly dependent on his caregivers to feed, clothe, wash and thump him on the back so he can breathe. Mitch records this process of disintegration with pain and guilt, and is amazed that Morrie still maintains his appointments with friends and even strangers who were touched by his wisdom. Mitch carefully looks at his own life, and you can see him grow as they spend these last days together. At the end of Morrie's life Mitch is feeding him, holding his hand, and rubbing his feet, things which would have been unthinkable to him to do two months before. He is profoundly affected by this relationship. I took a lot away from this book about the mentor-mentee relationship. It started out in the formal educational system, in which Morrie was doing his job teaching Mitch in sociology classes. But it grew into a friendship both at Brandeis and after, as Morrie took the time to talk to Mitch, to have lunch, to give advice and to support. Their relationship grew as they embarked on this book, which Morrie called "their project," knowing it would find an audience and bring comfort to others. Mitch as the mentee actively sought out Morrie and steered the conversations to topics which troubled him or interested him. This contradicts what many people might think of these relationships - Morrie certainly had advice and enjoyed giving it, but he also asked questions and listened humbly throughout their many days together. Both gained, as Mitch absorbed Morries' wisdom and applied it to his own experience, and Morrie was loved and comforted in his final days. The truism I got out of this book was about the incredible importance of giving yourself to others. There are times when you would rather be alone, or you think that you don't have the energy to listen to others. But it is the kind of gift that is so easy to give and brings joy to yourself and others. Morrie gave generously of his time and elevated personal relationships to the highest level in his life. He danced every weekend, ate lunch with students and friends, took walks, always expressing his feelings freely to men, women, students and his children and wife. It was a lifetime of this giving that came back to him when he was dying. He even scheduled his own memorial service before he died, so that he could join in the remembrances. This was a wonderful book to read. At times the style is like a newspaper column, with short choppy sentences and paragraphs, but it is clear that this book has an incredible amount of heart. I of course want to know how Mitch lives his life differently because of those Tuesdays with Morrie, but I guess I will have to read his sports column to get a glimpse of his thinking.
Rating: 
Summary: Watch out so nobody sees you cry
Review: Whether you are the sentimental type--which I'm not--or just the opposite, anyone with a heart will appreciate Albom's book about his relationship during the last days with his old sociology professor, Morrie Schwartz. Written in a short, easy to plow through style, "Tuesdays with Morrie" tugs at the heart strings as we see Albom discover a new side of himself that he had ignored for the previous two decades. I like the honesty of the book as professor and old student dealt with the sensitive issue of death. I hope that I would/will be able to deal with death as Morrie did rather than deal with it by hiding under the covers, which is not the way we were meant to leave this life. One thing I would have liked to have had more insight on was Morrie's religious beliefs. Besides showing his Jewishness and referring to God several times (for instance, Morrie felt God "overdid it" when it came to the story of Job), we never really know if Morrie was atheist, agnostic, orthodox Jew, or what. Maybe Morrie was not really open about his religious views, but I think his philosophy in this area would have been very interesting to many. Otherwise, this is a fine book that can easily be read in two short sittings. I highly recommend it as it will cause you to reflect on your own mortality and the things that make this life worthwhile (i.e. relationships with other people).
Rating:
Summary: Touching Book
Review: Tuesdays With Morrie is sad yet insightful look into the world. The book is incredibly depressing, yet it shows how an old man can look death in the eye and not even blink, teaching his beliefs until his dying day. Excellent book, even better than the TV movie with Hank Azaria and Jack Lemmon.
Rating:
Summary: worth to read
Review: This is a book I read in summer school. It was a very thoughtful story. A college professor who had cancer used the last days of his life to teach his formal student the most valuable lessons, the lessons of life and death. The student in the story wrote this book himself, everything in this was very honest and it really worth people to read it.
Rating:
Summary: Good but not for me
Review: I found this book very well written and especially interesting because it is a true story. Morrie's advice should be heeded by all. The way it can relate to anyone seems almost coincidental. However, this kind of touching story is just not my cup of tea. I guess I'm just not the sentimental type. Maybe I need a little suspense.
Rating: 
Summary: Lessons from a dying man
Review: Tuesdays With Morrie is the true story of a man who rekindles a friendship with a college professor during the last days of the older man's life. I found this book to be alternately wise, trite, depressing and inspiring. Mitch Albom describes the strong bond that developed between himself and Morrie Schwartz, his sociology professor. After graduating, like most people, Mitch lost touch with his college life and concentrated on a career. He did not see Morrie for many years. Then, by chance (or fate), he saw a television program featuring his old teacher, now terminally ill with Lou Gehrig's disease. Mitch contacts Morrie and embarks upon a final "course." This turns out to be a series of lessons on life itself and what is and isn't truly important. Mitch Albom tells us that he achieved success as a sportswriter, and this is consistent with the book's style, which is more popular than literary. Although Mitch taped all of the sessions with Morrie, the book is essentially Morrie's philosophy of life as told and interpreted by Mitch (though we do actually hear --in the audiobook version-- Morrie's voice at the end). Another thing that must be said about Tuesdays With Morrie is that, apart from anything else, it is the story of a man dying a painful death from an incurable illness. No matter how insightful and courageous Morrie is in the face of this situation, there is an undeniably depressing element to the story. There are detailed descriptions of the toll the disease takes on Morrie, so sqeamish readers should be forewarned. As for the lessons themselves, it's hard to argue with most of what Morrie says --he is obviously an articulate and warmhearted teacher-- but much of it is also rather obvious. For example, there is much about society being too materialistic and love being more important than money. It is also fairly self evident (if unfortunate) that a person with little time left on Earth will appreciate life more. On the other hand, hearing these truths from a dying man may inspire the reader to appreciate his or her own life more fully. Morrie obviously conveyed a great deal to Mitch; only a small portion of this can be passed along to the reader, who has never met Morrie. One thing the book communicates is the importance of connecting with other people. I suspect the most important part of the lessons learned by Mitch were nonverbal, and required Morrie's actual presence. Unfortunately, some of life's most important lessons come off sounding like cliches when distilled into formulae. Despite this, there is enough wisdom in this book, along with some truly touching moments, to make it worthwhile. Tuesdays With Morrie reminds us that life should never be taken for granted.
Rating:
Summary: A Life Worth Living.
Review: Life is beautiful. However, we often get so caught up in mere existing that we forget that how beautiful and precious life really is. We are like the way Mitch Albom used to be, going about our day to day routines failing to think about the truly important things. Then something happens, tragedy strikes in some shape and form and we are forced to get back to living. That's what happened to Mitch Albom when his college professor and advisor, Morrie Schwartz, became stricken with Lou Gehrig's disease. After finding out about his old teacher's illness and how serious it had become, Albom began making weekly trips--on Tuesdays--from Michigan to Massachusetts to meet with Morrie and partake in the last class Morrie was ever to teach. It was a class unlike any other and Albom was the only student. The subject was both simple and profound: life. And from that, TUESDAY'S WITH MORRIE was written. TUESDAY'S WITH MORRIE, like life itself, is both simple and profound. The book is beautifully written and often reads like poetry. In less than 200 pages, Albom shares insights that are full of a lifetime of experience. This is a great book. It is a book that can change one's life and even though I don't agree with all of Morrie's lessons and beliefs, I did learn a thing or two and am a better person because of it. Well worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: The Beauty of Life
Review: The essence that Mitch Album put into this book is so full of beauty that it is to hard to put completely together. After reading the book, I began to watch the movie. As I saw him carrying his dance shoes(first scene), I began to cry. Full of sorrow for a man who I had never met. When a story can do this to you, there is nothing that will ever match up to the feelings and the jerking of tears, as will this. However sad the book may be, when you have finished, you will feel like a new person, with a new outlook on life. This is definatly, a book to have in everyone's private collection.
Rating:
Summary: There¿s a great lessen to be learned here.
Review: I read a wonderful book: Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom. The story tells of visits between a young man and his former college professor, Morrie Schwartz. The old man is dying. Morrie faces the fact of his own death with a rare courage . The young man, Mitch, learns from Morrie a sense of human mortality. The book is written with a profound wisdom and insight. The story is deeply moving. Albom's writes with a great clarity about his mentor and good friend. I enjoyed the book very much. Anyone having lost a dear one should read this book. There's a great lessen to be learned here.
Rating:
Summary: Loved this book
Review: I had to read this book for my sociology class, and I would not have picked it out to read on my own. I am so glad that my teacher thought we should read this book. It was entertaining, thoughtful, and well written. I think that this book could teach everyone something about life.
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