Nine Essential Things I've Learned About Life

Starred review from August 31, 2015
As he enters his eighth decade, Kushner (When Bad Things Happen to Good People) offers a capstone volume to his decades as a congregational rabbi and popular writer. In sharply intelligent yet friendly prose, Kushner provides a thoughtful living guide for doubters and the faithful alike. There are pointed but gracious admonitions for those claiming that a self-developed religion is all they need. Your daily paper, spring flowers, and gratitude are not enough, Kushner says: when facing serious illness or other disasters, you need the support of a faith tradition and a community that has "learned to find God in the shadows as readily as in the sunshine." Kushner braids together stories from his professional and personal lifeâlongtime readers will remember that his son died at age 14 of a rare rapid-aging diseaseâalongside wisdom from biblical and theological texts and commentary on events related to science, culture, and literature. This book is a provocation and a balm for the skeptical and the religious, offering persuasive evidence that belief, forgiveness, hope, altruism, and joy are all possible, even in the face of death.

November 1, 2015

Kushner is best known as the author of the best-selling When Bad Things Happen to Good People, which addressed his discussion of the issue of theodicy (a defense of God's goodness in the existence of evil) in light of his child's death from a rare disease called progeria (rapid-aging disorder). In fact, Kushner has written over ten additional books, and his most recent one deals with nine lessons he has learned through his role as a Rabbi and from a lifetime of experience. Each chapter provides detail on one of his lessons or insights into life. Chapter titles include "God Is Not a Man Who Lives in the Sky," "Forgiveness Is a Favor You Do Yourself," and "Religion Is What You Do, Not What You Believe." The author utilizes stories from his own life and also from the accounts of others to support his knowledge; this approach makes the book an absorbing read and easy to comprehend. VERDICT Those interested in the Jewish faith and in practical theology will find this book helpful.--John Jaeger, Dallas Baptist Univ. Lib.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.