Rating: 
Summary: A thought-provoking book
Review: This book changed the way I speak. This book has taught me the damage that can be done by words and words alone. It has taught me that words need to be considered before they are spoken. Because of this book, I have examined the way I speak to friends, relatives, my children and complete strangers on the street. Written in an easy style, Rabbi Telushkin shows by example, how important it is that we monitor our speech to avoid unnecesarily hurting others. I heartily recommend this book to anyone who has any concern for the way their words affect others.
Rating:
Summary: A thought-provoking book
Review: This book changed the way I speak. This book has taught me the damage that can be done by words and words alone. It has taught me that words need to be considered before they are spoken. Because of this book, I have examined the way I speak to friends, relatives, my children and complete strangers on the street. Written in an easy style, Rabbi Telushkin shows by example, how important it is that we monitor our speech to avoid unnecesarily hurting others. I heartily recommend this book to anyone who has any concern for the way their words affect others.
Rating:
Summary: Heart-Warming and Spiritually Uplifting
Review: This book is for anyone who believes in their heart, that the following statement is not true, "Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me".
The author, Rabbi Telushkin, states that the words we choose in our everyday conversations are not simply a monotone stream of noise for exchanging information. Rather, words possess tremendous power to shape or break relationships. They can humiliate and destroy reputations, careers, friendships, and marriages and thus leave deep, emotional scars and irrevocable damage.
And, unfortunately, in our society, it seems as though the only verbal exchanges that most(but not all) people are not uncomfortable with, and secretly relish, whether they publicly admit so or not, are the ones that appeal to the weak side of human nature, such as spreading malicious gossip and rumors, constantly criticizing and finding faults in others, and making prejudicial and ugly comments about various racial, ethnic, and religious groups.
Thus by creating a toxic environment, we should not be surprised that there is a small minority, who refuses to take part in this nauseating verbal incivility, and therefore finds themselves isolated, emotionally paralyzed, and unable to wholeheartedly live life to the fullest.
This is where Rabbi Telushkin eloquently offers soothing advice to this often ignored and unspoken pain.
He states that if people were more self-aware and acutely conscious to the inflammatory power of words and its devastating consequences, rather than denying that they exist, they can learn to refrain from(think before you speak!)making inappropriate and negative comments and lead a richer and emotionally deeper life.
If we constantly remind ourselves to stop speaking with an evil tongue and refine our communication skills, new meaningful relationships based on trust can be formed, and people would become less hostile, deceitful, and hypocritical and more open, friendly, and receptive to others.
Thank you, arigato(Japanese), toda(Hebrew), gratias(Interlingua), Rabbi Telushkin for setting a HIGH STANDARD for ethical, moral, and spiritual decency!
Rating:
Summary: Amazing...it really changed my life!
Review: This book is very effective; it's simply written yet deeply transformative at the same time. It's really amazing how little effort it takes to change your verbal habits. I read the book, recognized myself in so many of the examples, and started making a subconscious effort to change how and when I used certain words. First, I began to notice all the situations I was in on a daily basis in which words were abused. I started to merely refrain from joining in gossip, insulting and other hurtful talk when I was around it, and it felt wonderful. It never occured to me that my (in)action could affect others, until a good friend told me after a few weeks of this that he'd noticed it, and was really moved. Just goes to show how one person really can make a difference. Get it, read it, live it! It's so easy, and so meaningful!
Rating:
Summary: A life changing book
Review: This book will open your eyes to the power of things you say that you may find insignificant. Once you read this book you will never feel the same about how you speak to others. You will find yourself carefully choosing your words before you say them.
Rating:
Summary: A Question for Rabbi Telushkin
Review: This is a praiseworthy book, for it is apt to elevate those who read it to a higher ethical plane! But some of the key principles discussed in the book are evocative of questions and reservations; and I ask Rabbi Telushkin whether strict prohibitions against "evil-tongued speech" (lashon harah) permit balanced biographies of living persons to be written. I am reading a biography of a living scientist at the moment, and by any conventional standard, the biography is excellent. In fact, its excellence derives in part from its balanced discussion of this scientist's personality profile, which is characterized, of course, by both positive and negative features (and the negatives are pretty repugnant).
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