Ten Things I Wish I'd Known - Before I Went Out into the Real World
-
- $16.99
-
- $16.99
Publisher Description
Award-winning broadcast journalist and NBC anchor-woman Maria Shriver reveals the lessons she has learned that have guided her journey as a career woman, wife and mother.
You could call them notes from life’s trenches. Maria Shriver’s TEN THINGS I WISH I’D KNOWN—BEFORE I WENT OUT INTO THE REAL WORLD gives us her reflections, confessions, advice, memories, and, most of all, hard-earned lessons . . . all the things we wish we knew before we started out, and that few people ever honestly discuss. Here is the truth about: the price we pay for giving in to our fears, as well as the relief we feel when we finally face them; the humiliation of swallowing our ego so that we can learn from an abusive experience; the rewards of taking risks and the pain of failure; the joy of finding someone we can love and the limitations of every relationship; how it’s never too late to tap the wisdom of others, even (especially!) our own parents; and the importance of taking what we do seriously without taking ourselves seriously.
Expanded from Maria’s acclaimed College of the Holy Cross commencement address and written in the voice of a trusted and trusting best friend, TEN THINGS I WISH I’D KNOWN—BEFORE I WENT OUT INTO THE REAL WORLD is a pithy, poignant, down-to-earth, and at times laugh-out-loud book that will help people of all ages and on all roads in life.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Following the success of her 1999 bestseller What's Heaven?, in which she explained death to children, the NBC anchor woman expands on a commencement speech she delivered two years ago at Holy Cross College in Worcester, Mass., to share some of her life lessons with young people starting their careers. Although this slim gift book is positioned as a graduation gift, Shriver's natural audience is more likely to be busy working mothers like herself, and celebrity watchers who are curious about her thoughts on managing marriage, motherhood and career (Shriver and husband Arnold Schwarzenegger have four children). In lessons that are mostly about work and character, she shares simple notions that are fundamentally sound and that many adults will agree with: pursue your passion; consider no job to be beneath you; be willing to fail; realize that behavior has consequences; find a mentor. Unfortunately, the warmth and humor Shriver may have projected in person are forced on the page. Although she tries to build rapport with amusing stories of early faux pas and setbacks in her journalism career, readers may have trouble relating to her main predicament--lack of appreciation from people who might have wondered if a beautiful, rich kid actually wanted a job--as well as her idea of disappointment: not being as successful as Oprah or Diane Sawyer. Even so, Shriver's strength of character, her genuine admiration for her parents and her love for her family shine through.
