Rating: 
Summary: A Gift for Sons as well as Fathers
Review: "The essays on issues like manhood, work, possessions, love, fatherhood, and giving resonate with truths that deserve to be shared by all fathers and all sons. Nerburn's insights are both powerful and enlightening. This could be a very meaningful gift for young men making life transitions like graduation, marriage, or fatherhood." - The Readers Edge
Rating:
Summary: For anyone that is, will be or loves a man
Review: A teacher shared a few chapters of this book with my class and we were all inspired by it. I borrowed it from him and spent a wonderfully intimate afternoon sharing it with my boyfriend of the time. I have bought a copy of this book for my son and a friend and recommend it to absolutely anyone. It can be amazingly helpful for men trying to understand themselves, but more than that, it is the only book I'd recommend to women trying to understand men better. It puts men in a human, beautiful light that we just don't see them in enough these days.
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Summary: a new father's best gift
Review: I am 26 and I just became a father. I still feel like a kid myself. Someone gave me this book for a birthday present. I read it to see if these were letters I would send my son. They are not really letters but more like essays or thoughts. This man says so many things I wish I could say. He helps me understand what is important in my life, what is important to teach my boy when he gets old enough. I don't always agree with Kent Nerburn's thinking. But I think he is very wise. I wish my dad was like him. I hope I can be a dad like him. He knows what is important in life. He doesn't just preach or lecture. He unfolds his thinking with stories from his own life. Sometimes he made mistakes and he tells us. He learned. Now he is teaching me so I can teach my son.
Thanks, Kent Nerburn. You tell a good truth.
Rating: 
Summary: Well-packaged Paternal Advice
Review: I first came across this book because I saw an email with the chapter on "Partners and Marriage" circulating on the Web. That chapter was one of the highlights of this book. It was falsely attributed, but a quick search of the Internet revealed its true author.Its chapters share Nerburn's accumulated insights on life and matters that concern males across generations. The male instinct does not encourage the sharing of many private matters - many fathers are unwilling, or perhaps unable, to discuss these topics with their male heirs. Yet these questions rise up again and again to trouble generation after generation of men. Nerburn has done us all a favour by addressing this book to all men, young and old. He speaks of matters you wished your father had shared with you. Somewhere inside, there are gems of wisdom that can change your outlook in life. Like any fatherly advice, some parts do not go down easy. They may sound like words from another era, of someone who's not quite in touch with your generation. But on deeper reflection, they echo a timeless truth, and speak of eternal principles that guide our lives. A book well-worth your money and time.
Rating:
Summary: Well-packaged Paternal Advice
Review: I first came across this book because I saw an email with the chapter on "Partners and Marriage" circulating on the Web. That chapter was one of the highlights of this book. It was falsely attributed, but a quick search of the Internet revealed its true author. Its chapters share Nerburn's accumulated insights on life and matters that concern males across generations. The male instinct does not encourage the sharing of many private matters - many fathers are unwilling, or perhaps unable, to discuss these topics with their male heirs. Yet these questions rise up again and again to trouble generation after generation of men. Nerburn has done us all a favour by addressing this book to all men, young and old. He speaks of matters you wished your father had shared with you. Somewhere inside, there are gems of wisdom that can change your outlook in life. Like any fatherly advice, some parts do not go down easy. They may sound like words from another era, of someone who's not quite in touch with your generation. But on deeper reflection, they echo a timeless truth, and speak of eternal principles that guide our lives. A book well-worth your money and time.
Rating:
Summary: The best and most honest Fathering book I've read.
Review: I first read this book in 1993. My own son was ten and I was grappling with the issues all fathers face when raising a son. I read alot,but this was the first fathering book, the first parenting book whose words leaped off the page and seized me. The author was honest, his words resonated with the integrity of life lived and hard lessons won. Upon finishing the book, I felt liberated and genuinely empowered about being a father. This is not the only book available on fathering a son, but it's the best I've ever come across and I can't recommend it highly enough. And Letters to My Son is not just a book for fathers, like many great books with an abundance of insight and inspiration, readers will find many simple truths on faith, travel, love, sex, aging, God and dying.
Rating:
Summary: still the best book on fatherhood ever written
Review: I have over a hundred books on fatherhood and raising a son. Some are good. Some are cute. Some are scholarly. Only Letters to my Son is profound. It's hard being a dad. This book tells me why it's worth the struggle. Fatherhood is the biggest responsibility of all. This book will help you do it right. Thanks, Mr. Nerburn. After five years I still return to this book for guidance.
Rating:
Summary: still the best book on fatherhood ever written
Review: I have over a hundred books on fatherhood and raising a son. Some are good. Some are cute. Some are scholarly. Only Letters to my Son is profound. It's hard being a dad. This book tells me why it's worth the struggle. Fatherhood is the biggest responsibility of all. This book will help you do it right. Thanks, Mr. Nerburn. After five years I still return to this book for guidance.
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Summary: kent is a an artist using words
Review: I love this man's writing. It soothes me and inspires me in ways that I can't put into words. (I am sure he could, though) I am the author of Teen Love: on Relationships and co-auth of the Chicken Soup for Teenagers books and I have used his excerpts in both books. He is the kind of writer that you read and you wish you could say things so eloquently..however his grace is such that you are happy he can... I highly recommend this book to all teens and adults
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Summary: Tough to Take
Review: I purchased this book for the main purpose of having a gift idea for my son's father. The book is written from the heart and after reading it I received a lot of new perspective. However, I would not consider this is an appropriate book for someone that is struggling with their identity as a father, rather a book that will add some enlightenment and comfort to someone fairly grounded. I didn't agree with all of the themes. As an example, under the chapter of religon, I gather that although Mr. Nerburn considers himself a spiritual person, the purpose of God in his life is more of a mystical being providing comfort and direction. The chapter on sex was very well put together. His letter encourages alot of reflection about the feeling behind the act and adds a lot of perspective to the pitfalls waiting for those that don't understand and/or respect the act and especially the person whom you've chose to share this wtih. This is an area so often overlooked in books which try to encourage parents. I highly recommend this book, but like any book of this kind, filter the information as it applies to your life.
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