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Notes on Love and Courage
Records the author's personal reflections on unselfishness, love, loyalty, courage, and honesty and the problems of friendship and growth
200 pages, Paperback
First published October 18, 1977
18 people are currently reading
263 people want to read
About the author
Hugh Prather
46 books153 followersHugh Prather, Jr. was a writer, minister, and counselor, most famous for his first book, Notes to Myself. , which was first published in 1970 by Real People Press. It has sold over 5 million copies, and has been translated into ten languages.
Together with his second wife, Gayle Prather, whom he married in 1965, he wrote other books, including The Little Book of Letting Go; "I Touch the Earth, The Earth Touches Me"; How to Live in the World and Still Be Happy; I Will Never Leave You: How Couples Can Achieve The Power Of Lasting Love; Spiritual Notes to Myself: Essential Wisdom for the 21st Century; Shining Through: Switch on Your Life and Ground Yourself in Happiness; Spiritual Parenting: A Guide to Understanding and Nurturing the Heart of Your Child; Standing on My Head: Life Lessons in Contradictions; A Book of Games: A Course in Spiritual Play; Love and Courage; Notes to Each Other; A Book for Couples; The Quiet Answer; and There is a Place Where You Are Not Alone.
Born in Dallas, the younger Hugh Prather earned a bachelor's degree at Southern Methodist University in 1966 after study at Principia College and Columbia University. He studied at the University of Texas at the graduate level without taking a degree. While he could be categorized as a New Age writer, he drew on Christian language and themes and seemed comfortable conceiving of God in personal terms. His work underscored the importance of gentleness, forgiveness, and loyalty; declined to endorse dramatic claims about the power of the individual mind to effect unilateral transformations of external material circumstances; and stressed the need for the mind to let go of destructive cognitions in a manner not unlike that encouraged by the cognitive-behavioral therapy of Aaron T. Beck and the rational emotive behavior therapy commended by Albert Ellis.
Together with his second wife, Gayle Prather, whom he married in 1965, he wrote other books, including The Little Book of Letting Go; "I Touch the Earth, The Earth Touches Me"; How to Live in the World and Still Be Happy; I Will Never Leave You: How Couples Can Achieve The Power Of Lasting Love; Spiritual Notes to Myself: Essential Wisdom for the 21st Century; Shining Through: Switch on Your Life and Ground Yourself in Happiness; Spiritual Parenting: A Guide to Understanding and Nurturing the Heart of Your Child; Standing on My Head: Life Lessons in Contradictions; A Book of Games: A Course in Spiritual Play; Love and Courage; Notes to Each Other; A Book for Couples; The Quiet Answer; and There is a Place Where You Are Not Alone.
Born in Dallas, the younger Hugh Prather earned a bachelor's degree at Southern Methodist University in 1966 after study at Principia College and Columbia University. He studied at the University of Texas at the graduate level without taking a degree. While he could be categorized as a New Age writer, he drew on Christian language and themes and seemed comfortable conceiving of God in personal terms. His work underscored the importance of gentleness, forgiveness, and loyalty; declined to endorse dramatic claims about the power of the individual mind to effect unilateral transformations of external material circumstances; and stressed the need for the mind to let go of destructive cognitions in a manner not unlike that encouraged by the cognitive-behavioral therapy of Aaron T. Beck and the rational emotive behavior therapy commended by Albert Ellis.
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Displaying 1 - 29 of 29 reviews
December 19, 2013
notes on, Notes on Love and Courage
..."Coming home today I was in a five o'clock line of cars that was driving down paseo de peralta. There was a little boy sitting on an adobe wall who was having the time of his life waving at each driver that went by. I didn't see one person who could refuse him."
"Flirting is pure witchery when it works."
..."Coming home today I was in a five o'clock line of cars that was driving down paseo de peralta. There was a little boy sitting on an adobe wall who was having the time of his life waving at each driver that went by. I didn't see one person who could refuse him."
"Flirting is pure witchery when it works."
April 21, 2020
As with many books of this kind, is it true that, among all the quotes and reflections, you’ll find something that touches you. In any case, even though I feel many of his stories are quite outdated, this book made me think (even if it was against what it was saying) so I guess it completed its purpose.
But, please, I don’t know why this is under the psychology tag but it definitely isn’t psychology.
But, please, I don’t know why this is under the psychology tag but it definitely isn’t psychology.
March 5, 2017
More insightful than the two previous books. The title is not very fitting in my opinion. This is a reflection over life and experience, and life's end.
January 4, 2023
This book found me through a series of interesting and synchronous circumstances. I guess the circumstances are always interesting and synchronous looking back. As they are lived they tumble out, cascading in a manner that does not always feel so intentional or connected.
A long and wandering journey across the US had brought me there. From an abandoned career in the Midwest, a level starting block and with echoes of a past I had already grown to appreciate but ached to depart, to True West with mountains I had flirted among before but could now more intimately know. A wild call from the North—no, not the North of Lincoln or Ivy League or Great Lakes—lured me to Alaska and showed me subsistence and ruggedness and commercial fishing and boreal illuminations on cold, clear nights. I descended several rungs of latitude attempting to summit a glaciated peak. I briefly returned “home” although I no longer associated the feeling of home with the place, only the people I knew would still be there. I was now a visitor in the region that reared me, that agrarian bread basket that nourished the performances and aspirations of a nation I was citizen of first by birth then by choice much later. All the while, through a range of geographic neighborhoods and diverse biomes, at least two things were true:
1. Everywhere I went I learned there was love happening whether I was there to experience it or not.
2. An isolated archipelago pulled magnetically at some as-yet unidentified essence or mineral I suspect has accumulated deep within bones and tissues. This pull was stronger at times but ever present and unwilling to be ignored or unnoticed.
Along the way I found comfort and generosity with relatives and dear friends. I witnessed every kind of marriage, a home birth, and was first in my extended family to lay eyes and nervous hands on two—arguably three—infant additions to the tree. I served as guardian and caretaker for four of my nieces and nephews during a family emergency as if they were my own. I fell in love over and over again while I reconnected with the people that mattered, the ones who had always cared for me but had not quite known how to love me from afar. To the second truth, I became aware early on that I was being drawn to Hawai’i and I had to meander through many landscapes and relationships—I was repeatedly barging in on then slowly assimilating into family dynamics everywhere I stayed much longer than a few days—to get there. I feel now like I was being prepared or even evaluated for the emotional gamut I would be subjected to during my time on those islands.
If at this point you find yourself wondering, “will any of this so-called review judge, describe, even mention the title of the work to which four out of five stars have been given?”, to that what I would like to say is this: Notes on Love and Courage is a collection of contemplations and proverbs arrived at through a life of imperfect love, untimely loss, pervading confusion, and clarity cathartic in its arrival but taxing in its acquisition. We are all on this journey and I happen to be on a particularly trying leg of it as of late. If you can offer me your patience, I will finally explain how my reception of this work was so perfectly timed relative to the love and courage filling my life recently.
I landed on Big Island and took up residence on a quiet property in the more rural and green Hamakua Coast north of Hilo (more rural and green in stark contrast to the volcanic desert of the Kona side). The property where I found work catered to those travelers who wished to experience Hawai’i without spending life savings on accommodation at one of those pristine resorts adorning the coastline. Facilities were simple but more than sufficient. Power and water both came from the sky and this off-grid lifestyle demanded compromises which I was quite willing to accommodate. I worked a little, walked shirtless and shoeless under the sun often, and grew closer to travelers and coworkers, often one and the same. I had much time for leisure and contemplation out in that green place and I was close enough to town for convenience but not so close to suffer undue distraction. I read, I wrote, I thought. For a while, I was at peace. I found ample opportunity to slow down and frequently wound up rather invested in some emotional heart to heart with another willing and curious soul, some intimate laying bare of traumas, hopes, and personal philosophies. In the midst of one of these processions of vulnerable moments Aaron, now surely a friend and becoming one even then, abruptly pranced off to his room with an over the shoulder, “I’ll be right back!” and returned moments later with a tattered and stained copy of, you guessed it, Notes on Love and Courage by Hugh Prather. He said, “A guy I was fucking gave this to me but I don’t read like that so…” and shyly handed the book to me. “I think you might enjoy it.”
I didn’t read it for a few weeks as I was already working on several titles that had my divided but earnest attention. Emmanuel saw it on my stack, my makeshift personal travel library compiled from volumes found on free shelves, at dusty thrift stores, and from pleasant used book purveyors, and devoured it in a day. She emphasized that I had to read it. Finally, slowly and over several weeks split between that peaceful property on Big Island and the bustle and busyness of my next accommodation in Wailuku, Maui, I took in the messages of this book. They are all vaguely relatable and I consumed each with caution but every few pages a note would reach out and grip my heart. I would be made to look away, to close my eyes and exhale slowly as the poignance of the message sunk in. Not unlike horoscopes in this vaguely generic but occasionally cutting relevancy, I know that this collection is not for everyone. But I will say, if you find yourself in love or having loved and lost; if you hate ugly aspects of yourself but aspire to love these too; if you fear growing old and wish for comfort in light of lines and spots that grow without your consent; if you wish to be a better friend, then you may find wisdom between these covers. Well, my copy only had a front cover, the rear lost to much shuffling and bending and gifting over the years. As my sappy sentimentality knows no bounds I’ll tell you this struck me as softly symbolic. Only the title bearing front cover kept the thoughts within contained and hidden from me until that perfect moment when my heart was ready and moved my hands accordingly. Opening this book opened me to a reflection and appreciation of where I am and what I’ve passed through to get here. There is no end to this process until death, no back cover to close, only a quiet continuation and, I hope, a thoughtful willingness to move forward into the next chapter of my development.
A long and wandering journey across the US had brought me there. From an abandoned career in the Midwest, a level starting block and with echoes of a past I had already grown to appreciate but ached to depart, to True West with mountains I had flirted among before but could now more intimately know. A wild call from the North—no, not the North of Lincoln or Ivy League or Great Lakes—lured me to Alaska and showed me subsistence and ruggedness and commercial fishing and boreal illuminations on cold, clear nights. I descended several rungs of latitude attempting to summit a glaciated peak. I briefly returned “home” although I no longer associated the feeling of home with the place, only the people I knew would still be there. I was now a visitor in the region that reared me, that agrarian bread basket that nourished the performances and aspirations of a nation I was citizen of first by birth then by choice much later. All the while, through a range of geographic neighborhoods and diverse biomes, at least two things were true:
1. Everywhere I went I learned there was love happening whether I was there to experience it or not.
2. An isolated archipelago pulled magnetically at some as-yet unidentified essence or mineral I suspect has accumulated deep within bones and tissues. This pull was stronger at times but ever present and unwilling to be ignored or unnoticed.
Along the way I found comfort and generosity with relatives and dear friends. I witnessed every kind of marriage, a home birth, and was first in my extended family to lay eyes and nervous hands on two—arguably three—infant additions to the tree. I served as guardian and caretaker for four of my nieces and nephews during a family emergency as if they were my own. I fell in love over and over again while I reconnected with the people that mattered, the ones who had always cared for me but had not quite known how to love me from afar. To the second truth, I became aware early on that I was being drawn to Hawai’i and I had to meander through many landscapes and relationships—I was repeatedly barging in on then slowly assimilating into family dynamics everywhere I stayed much longer than a few days—to get there. I feel now like I was being prepared or even evaluated for the emotional gamut I would be subjected to during my time on those islands.
If at this point you find yourself wondering, “will any of this so-called review judge, describe, even mention the title of the work to which four out of five stars have been given?”, to that what I would like to say is this: Notes on Love and Courage is a collection of contemplations and proverbs arrived at through a life of imperfect love, untimely loss, pervading confusion, and clarity cathartic in its arrival but taxing in its acquisition. We are all on this journey and I happen to be on a particularly trying leg of it as of late. If you can offer me your patience, I will finally explain how my reception of this work was so perfectly timed relative to the love and courage filling my life recently.
I landed on Big Island and took up residence on a quiet property in the more rural and green Hamakua Coast north of Hilo (more rural and green in stark contrast to the volcanic desert of the Kona side). The property where I found work catered to those travelers who wished to experience Hawai’i without spending life savings on accommodation at one of those pristine resorts adorning the coastline. Facilities were simple but more than sufficient. Power and water both came from the sky and this off-grid lifestyle demanded compromises which I was quite willing to accommodate. I worked a little, walked shirtless and shoeless under the sun often, and grew closer to travelers and coworkers, often one and the same. I had much time for leisure and contemplation out in that green place and I was close enough to town for convenience but not so close to suffer undue distraction. I read, I wrote, I thought. For a while, I was at peace. I found ample opportunity to slow down and frequently wound up rather invested in some emotional heart to heart with another willing and curious soul, some intimate laying bare of traumas, hopes, and personal philosophies. In the midst of one of these processions of vulnerable moments Aaron, now surely a friend and becoming one even then, abruptly pranced off to his room with an over the shoulder, “I’ll be right back!” and returned moments later with a tattered and stained copy of, you guessed it, Notes on Love and Courage by Hugh Prather. He said, “A guy I was fucking gave this to me but I don’t read like that so…” and shyly handed the book to me. “I think you might enjoy it.”
I didn’t read it for a few weeks as I was already working on several titles that had my divided but earnest attention. Emmanuel saw it on my stack, my makeshift personal travel library compiled from volumes found on free shelves, at dusty thrift stores, and from pleasant used book purveyors, and devoured it in a day. She emphasized that I had to read it. Finally, slowly and over several weeks split between that peaceful property on Big Island and the bustle and busyness of my next accommodation in Wailuku, Maui, I took in the messages of this book. They are all vaguely relatable and I consumed each with caution but every few pages a note would reach out and grip my heart. I would be made to look away, to close my eyes and exhale slowly as the poignance of the message sunk in. Not unlike horoscopes in this vaguely generic but occasionally cutting relevancy, I know that this collection is not for everyone. But I will say, if you find yourself in love or having loved and lost; if you hate ugly aspects of yourself but aspire to love these too; if you fear growing old and wish for comfort in light of lines and spots that grow without your consent; if you wish to be a better friend, then you may find wisdom between these covers. Well, my copy only had a front cover, the rear lost to much shuffling and bending and gifting over the years. As my sappy sentimentality knows no bounds I’ll tell you this struck me as softly symbolic. Only the title bearing front cover kept the thoughts within contained and hidden from me until that perfect moment when my heart was ready and moved my hands accordingly. Opening this book opened me to a reflection and appreciation of where I am and what I’ve passed through to get here. There is no end to this process until death, no back cover to close, only a quiet continuation and, I hope, a thoughtful willingness to move forward into the next chapter of my development.
June 20, 2017
Even if I don't agree with absolutely everything he writes, the way it makes you thing and reflect over lots of different topics is what I liked the most. Also, loved how he very subtly changed from one subject to another, that kind of organized yet irregular way of putting something that should be a mess, a coherent compilation of thoughts.
July 9, 2022
Fairly good book! Some passages definitely stuck out more than others.
April 4, 2020
My mother gave me her copy of Notes on Love and Courage some years ago. I am not sure whether it found its way to my shelves in college or when I moved into my first real-adult apartment, but nevertheless it was there when I began social distancing for Covid-19. I am so happy it was.
This book made me think and it made me feel. It holds up. Prather's observations are just that- observations. They are so self-aware and so... well, generally aware. I'd recommend this book to anyone, and I am sure I will revisit it more than once in years to come.
This book made me think and it made me feel. It holds up. Prather's observations are just that- observations. They are so self-aware and so... well, generally aware. I'd recommend this book to anyone, and I am sure I will revisit it more than once in years to come.
Read
November 9, 2023This was weird! But also cool? Politically incorrect things were said (published in 1977, for context). I feel like I’d need to read this again to gather any particular reflections about the text itself, but I do have a few thoughts about the general structure.
The text follows a trend of becoming increasingly more profound—it goes from focusing on more arguably trivial matters to increasingly more intense, existential topics, primarily life’s meaning, and even more so, death. This structure is so fascinating to me because it reminds me of the tendency of life—we get wrapped up in all the trivial, superficial things, until we reckon with what’s truly important, perhaps oscillating back and forth between the two, as we are inevitably hurled towards death.
“The feeling is: I am becoming more like myself. That implies either a potential wholeness or a concurrent wholeness. If in some sense I am already what I am changing into, then possibly I can draw more fully upon that existing state.”
“This evening I happened to look out the window just as the sun was setting. Along with a feeling of awe there was the unmistakable sense of being carried away. For that one moment I knew it didn’t make any difference that I was going to die. This small life of mine was not important. I belonged to that beauty and everything was as it should be.”
The text follows a trend of becoming increasingly more profound—it goes from focusing on more arguably trivial matters to increasingly more intense, existential topics, primarily life’s meaning, and even more so, death. This structure is so fascinating to me because it reminds me of the tendency of life—we get wrapped up in all the trivial, superficial things, until we reckon with what’s truly important, perhaps oscillating back and forth between the two, as we are inevitably hurled towards death.
“The feeling is: I am becoming more like myself. That implies either a potential wholeness or a concurrent wholeness. If in some sense I am already what I am changing into, then possibly I can draw more fully upon that existing state.”
“This evening I happened to look out the window just as the sun was setting. Along with a feeling of awe there was the unmistakable sense of being carried away. For that one moment I knew it didn’t make any difference that I was going to die. This small life of mine was not important. I belonged to that beauty and everything was as it should be.”
July 23, 2025
A wonderful little book of excerpts on love, relationships, courage, life in many of its forms. Written in the form of little diary notes, these feel intimate in their writing and very relatable to I would assume many people who call themselves human. Highly recommend. Probably gonna read more of Hugh Prather’s work, seems like a great guy who spoke from his own, individual heart.
September 25, 2018
Hands down my favorite book.
December 19, 2019
Very enjoyable. Lot of interesting and poetical thoughts.
June 11, 2020
Reading somebody’s journal offers a unique chance to live in there life for just a little while. Getting to know Prather was an engaging experience.
March 23, 2022
I had this book almost 20 years ago as a young girl. What a wonderful influence it had on me, and my perspective.
December 26, 2022
One of the best books that I have ever read - helped to create who I am today.
March 4, 2023
So good. It’s saving my life
July 25, 2023
Another one where I remember some of the quotes after decades.
December 31, 2024
This book brought me back to myself
December 25, 2016
Poignant, thought-provoking, grounding
Want to read
December 27, 2011มันต่างจาก note to myself เพราะ นั่น เป็นเรื่องราวที่เขียนถึงตัวเอง ให้ตัวเองได้อ่าน คนที่เป็นในวิ่งที่เาเขียน ทั้งเรื่องราวที่เกิดขึ้น สิ่งแวดล้อม ของที่ชอบ สิ่งเปรียบเทียบทางความคิด เจ้าตัวเท่านั้นจึงจะเข้าใจที่มาที่ไปของความคิดนั้นลึกซึ้ง เขาพยายามเขียนและอธิบายในสิ่งที่เขาจะเป็นในอนาคต ส่วน เล่มนี้เป็นความเกลียดกลัว ที่เขารู้สึกว่าถูกคนในสังคมรุมทำร้ายเขา และไม่เคยให้ความจริงใจกลับคืนมาเลย ทั้งที่เขาให้โดยตลอด และมิหวังผลสิ่งใด แต่สิ่งที่ทุกคนมอบกลับคืนเขาล้วนคือสิ่งเลวร้าย ที่ไม่มีใครในโลกต้องการมันหรอก นี่คือสิ่งที่เขาร้องขออยจ่างนั้นหรือ หรือ มันคือความเห็นแก่ได้ ความไม่พอเพียง ที่คนไม่เคยมี เมื่อได้ 20 ต้องการ 50100 และมากขึ้น โดยไม่เคยหันมามองดูสิ่งที่ตัวตนของตัวเองนั้นสะท้อนอะไรออกมาบ้าง ในเวลาที่เขามุ่งแสวงหาทางรอด หาทางกอบโกย และ แจกจ่ายทาน เพราะกำลังทรัพย์ที่มีมาก เขาเพ่งมองไปที่ทางรอด เขาเพ่งมองไปที่ตัวเอง หาได้มองดูผู้อื่นเหมือนการให้ทานที่ให้ไป มิหนำซ้ำยังใช้ความมีมากกว่าของตนเอง สร้างเส้นทางและขีดเส้นกำกับชีวิตผู้อื่นด้วย พอเราทุกข์ เขากลับปลอบว่าเราทุกข์เพราะคาดหวัง นั่นสินะ เราคาดหวังให้เขามีทางรอด หาทางออกเจอ แต่เขาไม่ไเด้เป็นไปในทางที่เราหวังเลย สรุปว่าสิ่งที่เขารู้ เขายึดติดอยู่ก็หาใช่ปัญญาของ ผู้เขียนไำม่ เขายึดมั่นตัวเองว่าถูกแล้ว ดีแล้ว เก่งแล้ว รู้แล้ว นี่ต่างหาก ที่ทำให้เราทุกข์ เพราะเขาซ่อนเพื่อไม่ให้เรามอเห็นเขา ตรงกันข้ามยิ่งซ่อนภาพความเป็นเขาเหล่านั้นยิ่งชัดเจนในมุมมองของเรา เขากำลังฝันและหวังในสิ่งที่สวยงาม กำลังบ้า เห่อ เหิม ความสำเร็จที่ตัวเองค้นพบได้ด้วยสติปัญญามาตลอด และ บ้างเกิดความกลัวถึงคำทำนายที่เหลือต่อจากนี้ เขาทุกคนสรุปแล้วว่าพวกเขามีอยู่ครบทุกสิ่งอย่างแล้ว แถมสั่งสอนใครก็ไๆด้ด้วยภูมิความรู้ที่ตนมี แล้วเขาจะมุ่งหน้าหาเราไปเพื่ออะไร เป็นของเล่นเหมือนซ่อนหา หรือเป็นชูชีพช่วยให้รอดใช่หรือไม่ คนไม่เห็นด้วยก็เกลียดกลัวเราก็มี และยังแสดงให้เราเห็นอีกด้วย สรุปว่าผู้ที่ขาดปัญญานี้คือเราเองถูกต้องหรือไม่ ในขณะที่พวกเขาคิดตกผลึกแล้วว่าได้คำตอบที่ถูกต้องด้วยตนเองที่สุมหัวกันเองแล้ว ยังจะต้องการค้นหา...สิ่งที่ว่านั่นเพื่ออันใด แปลว่าไปได้ด้วยดีแล้ว วางใจได้แล้ว พวกแสวงหากำไร ก็ขายสินค้าทำบ้าๆบอๆลับหลัง เห็นเราเป็นตัวตลก นี่คือสิ่งที่คนปฏิบัติตอบแทนคนที่รักพวกเขาด้วยหัวใจ เขาสร้างเงื่อนไข และมองเราว่าแปลกแยกออกไป บ้างก็เอาใจด้วยกลัวบ้าง เกลียดบ้าง เราในเวลาคิดให้ถูกก็คิดได้ คิดให้ผิดก็คิดได้ แต่เราคิดให้ถูกใจไม่ได้ คำถามก็คือเมื่อเราเจ็บปวดจากสิ่งหลอกลวงเหล่านี้ หาได้มีความจริงแท้ไม่ แล้ว จะเข้าใจว่าอย่างไร นอกเสียจากวางใจและปล่อยเขาไปตามเวรกรรมของเขา ซึ่งพวกเขาคิดว่าเขารู้มาถูกต้องแล้ว ยิ่งรวมทุกชาติศาสนาก็ยิ่งถูกต้อง แล้วที่ผ่านมาก่อนพระพุทธเจ้าจะแสดงตนนั้น พวกเขาคิดถูก หรือ คิดผิด อยู่หรือ วันนี้ถึงได้บอกว่า โลกจักเปลี่ยนแปลงครั้งใหญ่...งมงาย สิ้นดี
December 19, 2014
This little book touched me. I got it for free from a book sale at my local public library because no one else had bought it and I thought it looked decently interesting. There's not much to it—it's only 160 pages and most of the pages aren't even half filled with words—but I found that all the little random musings, quotes and insights about life really touched me.
This is a book that you can passively read whenever you want. Something you can take off the bookshelf, read a few pages, and get a little insight into life or a little inspiration for the day. Or, you can pick it up and read the whole thing in one sitting too, since it's short enough to do so.
I really enjoyed it simply because it it says so much in so few words. It seems that Prather has taken some of the most wise, insightful and thought-provoking advice, thoughts, lessons, and random musings together into a little book that holds so much in its spines. I was very impressed by it and I can see myself picking this up again in the future and just reading a few pages again or reading through the whole thing again and maybe getting a different experience all together.
It really makes you think about the world and our experiences that we live. It's so alive and completely without any numbers, statistics, dry information, structure, or artificiality to it all. This is all straight from the soul of the author, and for how it is put together, I wholeheartedly have to respect the creation that Prather has put together.
This is a book that you can passively read whenever you want. Something you can take off the bookshelf, read a few pages, and get a little insight into life or a little inspiration for the day. Or, you can pick it up and read the whole thing in one sitting too, since it's short enough to do so.
I really enjoyed it simply because it it says so much in so few words. It seems that Prather has taken some of the most wise, insightful and thought-provoking advice, thoughts, lessons, and random musings together into a little book that holds so much in its spines. I was very impressed by it and I can see myself picking this up again in the future and just reading a few pages again or reading through the whole thing again and maybe getting a different experience all together.
It really makes you think about the world and our experiences that we live. It's so alive and completely without any numbers, statistics, dry information, structure, or artificiality to it all. This is all straight from the soul of the author, and for how it is put together, I wholeheartedly have to respect the creation that Prather has put together.
Currently reading
May 19, 2012Have always loved Prather's brief, somewhat random, notes to himself, presented in thin collections, about one per page. Can only read two or three at a time before I find myself writing, either expanding upon a thought that Prather raised, or teasing out an awareness that was inspired by his note. This book is no exception.
Am sorry I did not live in Santa Fe when he had his "non-church" here. So many people I've enjoyed knowing here WERE attendees.
Am amazed he was able to find a mainstream publisher. His style is so alien to what agents and acquisition editors seek. But -- this WAS the early '70s when a strong spirit of approval for experimentation prevailed throughout society. (Too bad that's gone.) And since his first "Notes to Myself" sold so many million copies, Prather had a license to invent any style of book he chose.
Am sorry I did not live in Santa Fe when he had his "non-church" here. So many people I've enjoyed knowing here WERE attendees.
Am amazed he was able to find a mainstream publisher. His style is so alien to what agents and acquisition editors seek. But -- this WAS the early '70s when a strong spirit of approval for experimentation prevailed throughout society. (Too bad that's gone.) And since his first "Notes to Myself" sold so many million copies, Prather had a license to invent any style of book he chose.
February 23, 2016
I don't know what I was thinking. This is pretty much poetry & I really don't like poetry. It harkens back to the day when my instructor, teacher, professor, who ever was torturing me at the time would say "What is the writer trying to say?" Well, how the ell am I supposed to know? I'm not in his/her head nor do I want to be. I want to be entertained. I want to be wowed by what it means to me. If an author can't speak to me he/she has lost their clout. It's like looking at the clouds & seeing different images in it. It's open to your interpretation not what some one else is thinking. So Hugh, carry on. This was important enough for you to share but I'm not into it. I'm glad you appear to have found happiness. Most people deserve to be happy.
October 30, 2015
I love Hugh PRather's books and read then as a teenager - I recently re-read Notes on Love and Courage and found it touching and totally on point for me as much as I did 40 years ago - Hugh has a special way of communicating human experiences in a totally authentic way that touches the reader deeply at the core.
February 14, 2013
A gift from a lifelong friend when i needed it. It has resurfaced again as an inspiration to my life. A welcome addition to the table by my chair. An open anywhere and read book sure to supply a moment of thought
June 15, 2008
i can pick up this book and read a passage and ponder everyday.
August 26, 2009
....same as "Notes to Myself".
Currently reading
November 11, 2009wonderful thoughts to ponder, bit by bit
Read
October 4, 2012I received this inspirational book over 30 years ago from my friend Jane for my 20th birthday. Recently started enjoying it all over again. Recommend it!
September 5, 2016
I felt lot of it was meaningless hogwash. There were few good quotes I found that I posted on Twitter. This book didn't come close to even one fourth of what 'Notes to myself' meant to me.
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