Rating: 
Summary: We are all Falling
Review: Phil provides us with a new perspective on life as he opens our eyes to the world around us through the eyes of someone that cherishes each moment of that wonderful gift of life. He is dying of Lou Gehrig's disease yet, through his insight, this gentle man now sees that as a blessing. Phil takes us on a journey of the soul and leaves us in thoughtful reflection with his uplifting antidotes grounded in his love for New Hampshire.
Rating:
Summary: A Spiritual Gift
Review: Phil's book is best read without anticiptation or preparation. Like life itself, like the disease which is slowly claiming Phil's abilities, it is the imperfection of our vulnerabity that opens us to the ephiphanies that surround us. If you are seeking to open yourself to a wider reality, if you are able to be blessed by the path others have trod, Phil's book has much to offer. You might come to the book to learn how Phil has dealt with his disability, but you will come away from it with deeper insights into how to deal with your own. This is not so much a book to be enjoyed as it is to savored and keep close at hand.
Rating:
Summary: Eclectic, intelligent, and wise without being ponderous.
Review: Simmons' book is not only a guide to facing grief and loss: it shows us how personal tragedy can awaken us to the sacredness and the joy of life. The book is never sentimental, never maudlin, and Simmons wears his learning lightly.
Rating:
Summary: A Painful, Exceptable Fall
Review: There are no coincidences in life! I found this book by accident at a time when I was wondering why I was living and if I should continue. I read this book and realized that suffering is what life is about and once we come to accept and internalize it, it's not so bad. Philip truly made me humble before him and I thank him for sharing his deepest thoughts with the world at a most difficult time. He took his pain and turned it around to help others - there is nothing better! He writes with humor and with sensitivity about a subject none of us wants to face but a subject we will all confront eventually. I am a Hospice Volunteer and realize how fleeting life can be. Philip showed me that my work is what makes sense of the suffering. This is an inspirational, uplifting piece of literature without being too "GOD" oriented. If you're questioning life, this book is for you.
Rating:
Summary: A Painful, Exceptable Fall
Review: There are no coincidences in life! I found this book by accident at a time when I was wondering why I was living and if I should continue. I read this book and realized that suffering is what life is about and once we come to accept and internalize it, it's not so bad. Philip truly made me humble before him and I thank him for sharing his deepest thoughts with the world at a most difficult time. He took his pain and turned it around to help others - there is nothing better! He writes with humor and with sensitivity about a subject none of us wants to face but a subject we will all confront eventually. I am a Hospice Volunteer and realize how fleeting life can be. Philip showed me that my work is what makes sense of the suffering. This is an inspirational, uplifting piece of literature without being too "GOD" oriented. If you're questioning life, this book is for you.
Rating:
Summary: Writers are like bears...
Review: These short essays are gems of style and content. Phillip Simmons was not an existentialist railing against his suffering, but a Stoic/Buddhist personality that loved his family and loved to climb mountains. He died in 2002.
I think the first essay, "Learning to Fall" is one of the wisest things I've read - full of a love of life and an acceptance for the limitations of being human.
"...any writer worth his salt is on some level thinking, This is good material. Writers like bears will feed on almost anything." - from "Learning to Fall"
Rating:
Summary: Learning to Fall -- Spiritual Handbook for Mortals
Review: This book is what every post-modern spiritual seeker is after -- a humane, down-to-earth exploration of the essence of soul, as seen from inside a full, thoughtful, suffering and joyful life. There are lots of references to spiritual "authorities," from Buddha to Emerson, but these just serve to ground the stories and insights. The author himself speaks with such gentle and frank authority that really nothing from outside is needed.What is special about this book is Simmons' own experience of illness -- he has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease -- and how he has found his way through despair to redemption. Without resorting to any religious "teaching," Simmons still manages to achieve what he calls the chief function of religion: to explore "the harrowing business of rescuing joy from heartbreak."
Rating:
Summary: A gift
Review: This book moves us to recognize that all of life, in particular those moments in which we experience falling, offers us an opportunity for transcendence if we allow it.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Refocus after WTC Disaster
Review: This is an extremely thoughtful book, powerful medicine for the depressed and an easy read. A solid humanist, Simmons puts things in a way that cannot be ignored and get to the heart of his extraordinary optimism.
Needs to be read by anyone who's disturbed by life's unpredictable viscissitudes.
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