Review
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“If you measure the worth of a book by the volume of
scribbles you pen in the margins, the stars emphatically drawn,
and the sentences underlined, Krista Tippett’s Becoming Wise: An
Inquiry into the Mystery and Art of Living— a compendium of
wisdom, at once and expansive—stands a serious of
emerging both splattered and cherished. Tippett, the Peabody
Award-winning radio host and National Humanities Medalist, is a
master of what she terms ‘generous listening,’ an act ‘powered by
curiosity,’ and a ‘willingness to be surprised, to let go of
assumptions and take in ambiguity.’” —Chicago Tribune
“Most of us can only dream of the dinner parties Krista Tippett
could put together. We're lucky, then, that her new book is the
next best thing to an invitation to sit down, make ourselves at
home and prepare for a mind-expanding exploration of what it
means to be human... Not light reading, but inspiring reading,
for those willing to pull up a chair.”—Minneapolis Star Tribune
“ ‘Becoming Wise’ challenges all forms of dogma, in science,
politics and philosophy as well as religion, and it affirms the
holiness of the body and the glory of the inquiring mind. While
our dominant media suggest that humans are incorrigibly selfish
and greedy and cruel, Tippett and her conversation partners
demonstrate that the longing to lead a good life, a moral life,
remains powerful and pervasive in our day….”—Washington Post
“This is not just a selection of greatest hits. Instead, rooted
in Tippett's own keen in, she provides an interlocking frame
based on five themes: words, the body, love, faith, and hope.
With dips into Tippett's childhood and early career, readers are
embraced by her own struggle, vulnerability, and thirst for
meaning. As researcher and TED-talk phenom Brené Brown told
Tippett, ‘Hope is a function of struggle.’ Tippett's striving
here is the grist for creative genius.” —Publishers Weekly
(starred review)
“A thoughtful examination of what it means to be fully human and
aware, open eyed in the face of “the darkness that is woven
ineluctably into the light of life.” — Shepherd Express
“We need Krista Tippett’s voice and wisdom now more than ever.
She has elevated the art of listening and the practice of being
present in a way that is both accessible and soulful. Becoming
Wise is what I’ve been waiting for from Krista - the rtunity
to learn from her and her experiences. This is brilliant
thinking, beautiful storytelling, and practical in. You
won’t forget what you read here.” -Brené Brown, Ph.D., New York
Times bestselling author of Rising Strong
“Krista Tippett’s ecumenical generosity speaks both to high
moral standards and to diverse ways of conceptualizing and
achieving them. Her trade has been listening, and from that
listening has emerged a deep understanding of the mind and the
heart and the curious bridges between them. This is a book about
kindness and forgiveness and the in that is contingent on
abandoning monolithic paradigms. Becoming Wise is an ambitious
title, but in culling the wisdom of others, Tippett achieves a
distinct and lovely wisdom of her own.”- Andrew Solomon
“A thoughtful chronicle of spiritual discovery. A hopeful
consideration of the human potential for enlightenment.”—Kirkus
Reviews
“I am a great admirer of Krista Tippett, who has spent years
using her mind as a gentle but probing research tool into the
beautiful, perilous, mysterious realm of the human soul. With
this book, she has gathered all her years of learning and
listening to create a masterpiece of philosophical and spiritual
reflection. About halfway through the book, I stopped ging
pages and highlighting passages when I realized I was
highlighting nearly every word. This entire book is filled with
things I never want to forget. The only remedy will be to keep it
near me, always.”—Elizabeth Gilbert
“After over a decade doing in-depth interviews and accumulating
spiritual knowledge on her popular podcast On Being, Tippett
pulls from that well of conversations to reconstruct her trail of
investigation into the nature of wisdom. She tells her own life
journey—her Oklahoma upbringing, her wide-eyed years in divided
Cold War Germany, her decision to attend Yale divinity
school—alongside the spiritual evolution that came while hosting
the podcast. Pulling together and going beyond the accumulated
knowledge of her interviews, Tippett's book is an incantatory
trip into the paradoxical and profound.”—Publishers Weekly (staff
pick)
“Krista Tippett has tirelessly reminded us of the perennial
challenge, depth and complexity of the spiritual quest. At this
pivotal moment in history, when on all sides religion is being so
rantly abused, this marvellous book will inspire, excite and
reinvigorate the reader.”—Karen Armstrong
“Krista Tippett is one of America’s ablest listeners, and in
this book she assembles many of the people she has listened to
and uses their example, and her own, to show us how many
surprising and idiosyncratic paths still remain towards what even
the most secular among us can agree should still be called
enlightenment.”—Adam Gopnik
“When President Obama gave Krista Tippett the coveted National
Humanities Medal, he praised her for ‘thoughtfully delving into
the mysteries of human existence.’ This book is yet another piece
of evidence of the truth behind those words. Grounded in
Tippett’s ‘life of conversation,’ the book offers more, much more
than a chronicle of her award-winning public radio program, On
Being. In Becoming Wise, Tippett not only gives us the voices of
the remarkable people with whom she’s conversed on-air. She
speaks her own voice as well, a voice informed by her lifelong
search for truth and meaning. Wisdom is a communal creation.
Tippett is rare in her ability to host a far-flung community of
luminaries, listeners and readers, who together uncover the
wisdom that lies within and between us.”—Parker J. Palmer, author
of Healing the Heart of Democracy, The Courage to Teach, A Hidden
Wholeness, and Let Your Life Speak
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About the Author
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Krista Tippett is a Peabody Award-winning broadcaster and
New York Times bestselling author. In 2014, she received the
National Humanities Medal at the White House for "thoughtfully
delving into the mysteries of human existence." She is the host
of the public radio program and podcast On Being and Curator of
the Civil Conversations Project (civilconversationsproject.org).
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