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Kelly's review

An Autobiography or The Story of My Experiments with Truth
by Mahatma Gandhi

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/112803.An_Autobiography_or_The_Story_of_My_Experiments_with_Truth?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="An Autobiography or The Story of My Experiments with Truth" border="0" src="http://s3.amazonaws.com/photo.goodreads.com/books/1171662503m/112803.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/112803.An_Autobiography_or_The_Story_of_My_Experiments_with_Truth?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">An Autobiography or The Story of My Experiments with Truth</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/57637.Mahatma_Gandhi">Mahatma Gandhi</a><br/><br/>
  <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/12112182?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
  rating: 2 of 5 stars<br/>  I was expecting to be totally wowed by this.  I mean it’s Gandhi after all but it just didn’t quite do it for me.  I’m not sure if it was my lack of knowledge about a lot of the people he was talking about, or the history at that time (truth be told I thought Gandhi was born a whole lot latter than he really was, his birth was in 1869), or the use of Sanskrit and other Indian-language terms that I couldn’t look up since I read the book on the beach in Jamaica and Internet cost $7.50 for 15 minutes, but it just didn’t hold up to my expectations.  I also thought he would go into the stuff he did that I was more familiar with but he ends it in 1921 stating that his life has become so public that their is no need for him to continue writing an autobiography. oh but, uh, wait I wanted to hear the rest....  
<br/>   It still gets 2 stars because he makes some great points and had some really interesting insight.  I kept thinking I wanted to become a vegetarian (well this and the planet earth seem to be having that effect on me).  I loved his ideas about human nature, service, ahimsa, government, poverty, exercise, diet and truth, and although I didn’t agree with everything he said, there was a lot to ponder and reflect on.  I was able to add two pages of notes to my quote book after reading this.  Among my favorite additions: “My experience has shown me that we win justice quickest by rendering justice to the other party” (p. 182), “...it is only when one sees one’s mistakes with a convex lens, and does just the reverse in the case of others, that one is able to arrive at a just relative estimate of the two...” (p. 469)
<br/>  It was also cool learning a little more about his early life and some of the things he did that he regretted.  He had such amazing ideals and was able to ignite people in a powerful and peaceful way.  He has really high expectations for people and himself and while being LDS, I find I have a lot of that in common with him, I think on some counts he almost takes things a step too far, like saying that service that is done out of fear or for show is meaningless (p. 175).  I don’t really agree.  While the best form would be this ideal form, I still think something can be gained from service that is forced upon someone.  I think it often brings about change in the person engaging in it.  I found myself curious to read the thoughts of his own family about him.  I wonder what the life of his wife was like and his sons.  He required that they live and do as he did and, in the case of his sons, he didn’t really educate them because he was busy changing the world and didn’t want them in the formal education system for reasons he goes into in the text.  This had to have placed them at some kind of disadvantage and I wonder if they resented that at all.
<br/>Anyway, just my thoughts...       
<br/>
  <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/183479?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Kelly's review
rating:

I was expecting to be totally wowed by this. I mean it’s Gandhi after all but it just didn’t quite do it for me. I’m not sure if it was my lack of knowledge about a lot of the people he was talking about, or the history at that time (truth be told I thought Gandhi was born a whole lot latter than he really was, his birth was in 1869), or the use of Sanskrit and other Indian-language terms that I couldn’t look up since I read the book on the beach in Jamaica and Internet cost $7.50 for 15 minutes, but it just didn’t hold up to my expectations. I also thought he would go into the stuff he did that I was more familiar with but he ends it in 1921 stating that his life has become so public that their is no need for him to continue writing an autobiography. oh but, uh, wait I wanted to hear the rest....
It still gets 2 stars because he makes some great points and had some really interesting insight. I kept thinking I wanted to become a vegetarian (well this and the plan...more I was expecting to be totally wowed by this. I mean it’s Gandhi after all but it just didn’t quite do it for me. I’m not sure if it was my lack of knowledge about a lot of the people he was talking about, or the history at that time (truth be told I thought Gandhi was born a whole lot latter than he really was, his birth was in 1869), or the use of Sanskrit and other Indian-language terms that I couldn’t look up since I read the book on the beach in Jamaica and Internet cost $7.50 for 15 minutes, but it just didn’t hold up to my expectations. I also thought he would go into the stuff he did that I was more familiar with but he ends it in 1921 stating that his life has become so public that their is no need for him to continue writing an autobiography. oh but, uh, wait I wanted to hear the rest....
It still gets 2 stars because he makes some great points and had some really interesting insight. I kept thinking I wanted to become a vegetarian (well this and the planet earth seem to be having that effect on me). I loved his ideas about human nature, service, ahimsa, government, poverty, exercise, diet and truth, and although I didn’t agree with everything he said, there was a lot to ponder and reflect on. I was able to add two pages of notes to my quote book after reading this. Among my favorite additions: “My experience has shown me that we win justice quickest by rendering justice to the other party” (p. 182), “...it is only when one sees one’s mistakes with a convex lens, and does just the reverse in the case of others, that one is able to arrive at a just relative estimate of the two...” (p. 469)
It was also cool learning a little more about his early life and some of the things he did that he regretted. He had such amazing ideals and was able to ignite people in a powerful and peaceful way. He has really high expectations for people and himself and while being LDS, I find I have a lot of that in common with him, I think on some counts he almost takes things a step too far, like saying that service that is done out of fear or for show is meaningless (p. 175). I don’t really agree. While the best form would be this ideal form, I still think something can be gained from service that is forced upon someone. I think it often brings about change in the person engaging in it. I found myself curious to read the thoughts of his own family about him. I wonder what the life of his wife was like and his sons. He required that they live and do as he did and, in the case of his sons, he didn’t really educate them because he was busy changing the world and didn’t want them in the formal education system for reasons he goes into in the text. This had to have placed them at some kind of disadvantage and I wonder if they resented that at all.
Anyway, just my thoughts...
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message 1: by Siddharth

05/23/2008 05:55AM

I just finished reading the book myself. I am also curious about the effect of all this on his family. A movie titled "Gandhi: My Father" was released last year. I am planning to watch it sometime soon.