All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten

Rating:
Summary: A common man attempting to be Plato or Socrates,
Review: I admit, the kindergarten analogy is quite well though of. But the title of the book only refers to three pages of the longest 196 page book one will ever read. Robert Fulghum searched for so much meaning in the simplest things it is unreal. There are few brilliant philosophical points this man makes. you can really sense his reaching for meaning in every thing. He is a noncomformist because it fits the book. He says that we shouldn't shovel snow or rake leaves, because God wouldn't want it that way. Every sotry is about his life and had he written a biography, I may have understood some parts to his story. There are points in the book where I really though he was going to flash so genius and then he just cuts out and goes flat. Fulghum is no philosopher, if you want to read this book for some reason, go to library, save yourself the money.

Rating:
Summary: Over-rated
Review: For some reasons this book was recomended by mass media in Hong Kong. I read and found it very disappointing.

Rating:
Summary: Bathos
Review: This book was recommended to me before I began law school. I guess it was an well-intentioned attempt to save my soul before I entered three years of cynicism and greed or whatever. So I read the book, and thought the beginning was kind of clever and light-hearted, but in a matter of pages, the book's tone got on my nerves. You could almost hear the author sing-songing tired old platitudes about his brand of la dolce vita to point of escapism. The descriptions of his life - the object of his lessons - aren't too bad if you're reading lazily in the middle of summer (but he's no Shakespeare). It's the quasi-sermonizing and the self-conscious, wide-eyed innocence (bordering on annoyingly wispy wonderment) at the end of each passage that can make the average realist wonder in impatience if Fulghum should consider writing for Hallmark greeting cards - I never knew 196 pages of mush could seem so long. I guess "stop and smell the roses (and the daisies, orchids, gasoline, laundry, and chicken-fried steak)" is more marketable than "wake up and smell the coffee." But, if one is inclined to drown out their burnouts through (what I consider) constant denial and flaky feel-good prattle, then to each his/her own. No mistake, there are a few interesting points that you can pick up...but it's like a middle-aged man putting his literary finger-paintings on the fridge for everyone to see. If you are the kind of person to have your daily affirmations/spiritual walk while on the toilet, this would be the perfect bathroom book - I won't say that it should be used as toilet paper though (it's not THAT bad). I think that pretty much sums up my sourpuss opinion.