Rating: 
Summary: Delightful, interesting, encouraging
Review: I loved this gentle, episodic, and optimistic book. In his relaxed, conversational style, Noah Adams manages to convey a remarkable variety of interesting tidbits about everything from public radio to boat building and sailing to, of course, the piano. At age 35, I too am just beginning piano lessons. Unlike Noah, I already played other instruments, even majored in flute in college, which in a way makes it even harder to start anew. Noah's book gave me great delight and encouragement to carry on with my lessons, beyond the frustrations of knowing I learned faster when I was younger, or that I'll never be "really good," into the joy of being A Pianist at my own level in my own good time.
Rating:
Summary: A thoroughly human and engaging memoir
Review: I truly enjoyed this book and I can relate to the travails of the year of lessons, conflicting obligations, and discouragement described in this well-written memoir because I started piano lessons in my mid-60s. I've always loved piano music and have wanted to play since I was a youth but, with two jobs during much of my life it was impossible. I started lessons in the same month that I retired from my primary job and I have worked at it (with a great deal of pleasure) during the years since then; but the first year was not easy.In my case, (and possibly in Noah's) I don't think that a mid-life crises was involved; it was just a matter of doing something new when the necessary resources became available. I think that it is inspiring to read about someone who has chosen to spend his/her later years doing something besides watching TV re-runs. Those who criticize should re-think their priorities.
Rating: 
Summary: Long On Talk, Short On Lessons
Review: I was interested in reading the book becasue I recently returned to playing the piano after 30 years and I thought it would be fun to read someone else's experience on the trials and tribulations learning or relearning the music and buying a piano. Unfortunately, Mr. Adam's short reminisecne was short on information about actual playing and such and more about his very busy life with NPR. His book also suffers from "name dropitis" and a sometimes an elitist tone. Passages about "overfed" mall shoppers in "stonewashed" jeans -- followed by the author's refuge to an organic juice bar was plebian writing. I was most appalled by the fact that Mr. Adams purchases an incredibly expensive piano before even being able to read music! I found his struggle and his inability to "get going" and play very inaccessible to me as reader.
Rating: 
Summary: gentle musings of midlife in the guise of learning the piano
Review: I'm still wondering, is this book about piano, life and love...or male menopause? Well, it scarcely matters. It's a gentle and pleasant journey we take with Adams, who at the age of 50, finally acts on a wistful dream he's carried inside for years: To learn to play the piano. Most of his readers likely hold their own musical fantasy. But even if you're not musically inclined, you won't be disappointed. Playing the piano may be at the end of the road, but the road leads Adams in many directions. He meanders in the journey, giving us the opportunity to hear his musical influences, watch him work at National Public Radio, peek into his family life, learn about the history and structure of the piano and some about music, music performance, and the joy of growth at any age. Sure, it seemed saccharine at first, but it won me over. Hey, I wanted to say more, but read the book--I'm going to go play my piano
Rating: 
Summary: You'd rather play your computer than your STEINWAY?!
Review: Let's get one thing straight! $11,000 is not alot for a fine musical instrument - it doesn't lose half its value as it rolls out of the showroom, ok? That said, it is disturbing that someone whose livelihood depends on human contact and communication should think that he could learn to play the piano expressively using a book or computer program! (I won't even start in on the idea of practicing on a soulless electronic keyboard when you own a SteinwayŠ). Certainly Noah Adam's wonderfully intimate writing is not a product of those methods - I dare say he had several caring, lively, human teachers. I only hope that now he finds one to lead him to the pleasure of the learning process - and then writes about his second year at the piano.
Rating:
Summary: Zen and the Art of Piano Playing!
Review: Like Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance this book isn't as much about Piano Lessons as it is a life lived during a period of the author's learning music as an adult.
With a wife who is a journalist and the lessons being taken in the exciting times of the fall of communism in Europe and the Tiennanmen Square uprising in China, there is a burbling undercurrent of change against which the piano lessons, though halting, provide comfort.
This is truly a beautiful story, you will resonate with the history, and I would be surprised if you don't cry when you get to the end.
Rating:
Summary: piano playing sans piano teacher
Review: mr. adams book was a sad disappointment to this adult beginner piano player. his chapters follow the calendar year beginning with the purchase of an expensive piano. for the next 9 months he tries to learn with a computer program and audio tapes and by interviewing pianists and piano makers. perhaps he thought the latter would transmit their skills by osmosis. i wondered after finishing the book if adams, as a successful broadcast journalist, avoided a piano teacher because of the very real terror of failing every week, (so far in my first 3 months)to get anything right. the hints about practise and technique i was hoping for, were sought in vain. as i said a sad disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: piano playing sans piano teacher
Review: mr. adams book was a sad disappointment to this adult beginner piano player. his chapters follow the calendar year beginning with the purchase of an expensive piano. for the next 9 months he tries to learn with a computer program and audio tapes and by interviewing pianists and piano makers. perhaps he thought the latter would transmit their skills by osmosis. i wondered after finishing the book if adams, as a successful broadcast journalist, avoided a piano teacher because of the very real terror of failing every week, (so far in my first 3 months)to get anything right. the hints about practise and technique i was hoping for, were sought in vain. as i said a sad disappointment.
Rating:
Summary: Piano Lessons: Music, Love & True Adventures
Review: Noah Adams has captured the soul of learning to play the piano, and in so doing has answered his own question: Why does a fifty-one-year-old man suddenly decide he has to have a piano?
Once you learn to play Robert Schumann's devastatingly beautiful "Traumerei" or "Of Foreign Lands and People" you cannot bear not to play.
Rating:
Summary: Noteworthy
Review: Noah Adams is best known as a commentator on the National Public Radio network's All Things Considered. His gentle humor and thoughtful insights translate well into print form. In "Piano Lessons," Adams conveys the attraction of music, even for those of us who have little experience or talent in producing it. He details the course of a year in his life, a year when he decided to invest in a piano and learn to play it. Adams mainly used self-teaching methods, but also participated in a session with a private teacher and attended a week long music camp. Besides chronicling the routines of practicing and acquiring a greater familiarity with the instrument, Adams' book branches off to cover other aspects of his life during the time, and a sizable amount of history of the piano and of notable pianists, past and present. Those tangents are mostly interesting and enjoyable, thanks to Adams' polished prose style.
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