Thursday, August 15, 2013

This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women (on CD)

This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women
by Jay Allison [Compact Disc 170.44 All]

I don't listen to anywhere near enough NPR, in my own opinion. Especially considering that I missed all of these wonderful audio essays as they've aired over the years. I was familiar with the This I Believe project back in the 1950s and 1960s, hosted by Edward R. Murrow. I'd even seen a couple of books compiling some of those classic essays in print form. But I was unaware of the more recent revival of that series on today's National Public Radio. This I Believe (both eras) was an attempt to summarize the personal beliefs of not only significant (i.e. "famous") members of society, but also everyday people. Contributors were asked to provide a short written essay beginning with the declarative statement "This I Believe". Those essays were then recorded for sharing over the radio airwaves.. This 5-CD set compiles 8 of those audio essays, a mixture of both the 1950s recordings and those which were recorded and aired in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Most of the audio recordings are by the writers of the original essays. The themes and tones of the essays can touch on religious, political, social and historical issues, but can also be highly personal. The necessity of brevity forces the essayists to distill their thoughts down to the absolutely essential points. I found these recordings very thought-provoking, and many of them were quite moving. -- recommended by Scott C. - Bennett Martin Public Library [ Scott's reviewer profile | Scott's past reviews on BookGuide | Subscribe to Scott's monthly library newsletter -- It's All Geek to Me! ]

[ official This I Believe web site - an ongoing project ]


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