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Very Good Lives: The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination
In 2008, J.K. Rowling delivered a deeply affecting commencement speech at Harvard University. Now published for the first time in book form, VERY GOOD LIVES presents J.K. Rowling's words of wisdom for anyone at a turning point in life. How can we embrace failure? And how can we use our imagination to better both ourselves and others?
Drawing from stories of her own post-graduate years, the world famous author addresses some of life's most important questions with acuity and emotional force.
Drawing from stories of her own post-graduate years, the world famous author addresses some of life's most important questions with acuity and emotional force.
74 pages, Hardcover
First published April 14, 2015
About the author
J.K. Rowling
778 books221k followersSee also: Robert Galbraith
Although she writes under the pen name J.K. Rowling, pronounced like rolling, her name when her first Harry Potter book was published was simply Joanne Rowling. Anticipating that the target audience of young boys might not want to read a book written by a woman, her publishers demanded that she use two initials, rather than her full name. As she had no middle name, she chose K as the second initial of her pen name, from her paternal grandmother Kathleen Ada Bulgen Rowling. She calls herself Jo and has said, "No one ever called me 'Joanne' when I was young, unless they were angry." Following her marriage, she has sometimes used the name Joanne Murray when conducting personal business. During the Leveson Inquiry she gave evidence under the name of Joanne Kathleen Rowling. In a 2012 interview, Rowling noted that she no longer cared that people pronounced her name incorrectly.
Rowling was born to Peter James Rowling, a Rolls-Royce aircraft engineer, and Anne Rowling (née Volant), on 31 July 1965 in Yate, Gloucestershire, England, 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Bristol. Her mother Anne was half-French and half-Scottish. Her parents first met on a train departing from King's Cross Station bound for Arbroath in 1964. They married on 14 March 1965. Her mother's maternal grandfather, Dugald Campbell, was born in Lamlash on the Isle of Arran. Her mother's paternal grandfather, Louis Volant, was awarded the Croix de Guerre for exceptional bravery in defending the village of Courcelles-le-Comte during the First World War.
Rowling's sister Dianne was born at their home when Rowling was 23 months old. The family moved to the nearby village Winterbourne when Rowling was four. She attended St Michael's Primary School, a school founded by abolitionist William Wilberforce and education reformer Hannah More. Her headmaster at St Michael's, Alfred Dunn, has been suggested as the inspiration for the Harry Potter headmaster Albus Dumbledore.
As a child, Rowling often wrote fantasy stories, which she would usually then read to her sister. She recalls that: "I can still remember me telling her a story in which she fell down a rabbit hole and was fed strawberries by the rabbit family inside it. Certainly the first story I ever wrote down (when I was five or six) was about a rabbit called Rabbit. He got the measles and was visited by his friends, including a giant bee called Miss Bee." At the age of nine, Rowling moved to Church Cottage in the Gloucestershire village of Tutshill, close to Chepstow, Wales. When she was a young teenager, her great aunt, who Rowling said "taught classics and approved of a thirst for knowledge, even of a questionable kind," gave her a very old copy of Jessica Mitford's autobiography, Hons and Rebels. Mitford became Rowling's heroine, and Rowling subsequently read all of her books.
Rowling has said of her teenage years, in an interview with The New Yorker, "I wasn’t particularly happy. I think it’s a dreadful time of life." She had a difficult homelife; her mother was ill and she had a difficult relationship with her father (she is no longer on speaking terms with him). She attended secondary school at Wyedean School and College, where her mother had worked as a technician in the science department. Rowling said of her adolescence, "Hermione [a bookish, know-it-all Harry Potter character] is loosely based on me. She's a caricature of me when I was eleven, which I'm not particularly proud of." Steve Eddy, who taught Rowling English when she first arrived, remembers her as "not exceptional" but "one of a group of girls who were bright, and quite good at English." Sean Harris, her best friend in the Upper Sixth owned a turquoise Ford Anglia, which she says inspired the one in her books.
Although she writes under the pen name J.K. Rowling, pronounced like rolling, her name when her first Harry Potter book was published was simply Joanne Rowling. Anticipating that the target audience of young boys might not want to read a book written by a woman, her publishers demanded that she use two initials, rather than her full name. As she had no middle name, she chose K as the second initial of her pen name, from her paternal grandmother Kathleen Ada Bulgen Rowling. She calls herself Jo and has said, "No one ever called me 'Joanne' when I was young, unless they were angry." Following her marriage, she has sometimes used the name Joanne Murray when conducting personal business. During the Leveson Inquiry she gave evidence under the name of Joanne Kathleen Rowling. In a 2012 interview, Rowling noted that she no longer cared that people pronounced her name incorrectly.
Rowling was born to Peter James Rowling, a Rolls-Royce aircraft engineer, and Anne Rowling (née Volant), on 31 July 1965 in Yate, Gloucestershire, England, 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Bristol. Her mother Anne was half-French and half-Scottish. Her parents first met on a train departing from King's Cross Station bound for Arbroath in 1964. They married on 14 March 1965. Her mother's maternal grandfather, Dugald Campbell, was born in Lamlash on the Isle of Arran. Her mother's paternal grandfather, Louis Volant, was awarded the Croix de Guerre for exceptional bravery in defending the village of Courcelles-le-Comte during the First World War.
Rowling's sister Dianne was born at their home when Rowling was 23 months old. The family moved to the nearby village Winterbourne when Rowling was four. She attended St Michael's Primary School, a school founded by abolitionist William Wilberforce and education reformer Hannah More. Her headmaster at St Michael's, Alfred Dunn, has been suggested as the inspiration for the Harry Potter headmaster Albus Dumbledore.
As a child, Rowling often wrote fantasy stories, which she would usually then read to her sister. She recalls that: "I can still remember me telling her a story in which she fell down a rabbit hole and was fed strawberries by the rabbit family inside it. Certainly the first story I ever wrote down (when I was five or six) was about a rabbit called Rabbit. He got the measles and was visited by his friends, including a giant bee called Miss Bee." At the age of nine, Rowling moved to Church Cottage in the Gloucestershire village of Tutshill, close to Chepstow, Wales. When she was a young teenager, her great aunt, who Rowling said "taught classics and approved of a thirst for knowledge, even of a questionable kind," gave her a very old copy of Jessica Mitford's autobiography, Hons and Rebels. Mitford became Rowling's heroine, and Rowling subsequently read all of her books.
Rowling has said of her teenage years, in an interview with The New Yorker, "I wasn’t particularly happy. I think it’s a dreadful time of life." She had a difficult homelife; her mother was ill and she had a difficult relationship with her father (she is no longer on speaking terms with him). She attended secondary school at Wyedean School and College, where her mother had worked as a technician in the science department. Rowling said of her adolescence, "Hermione [a bookish, know-it-all Harry Potter character] is loosely based on me. She's a caricature of me when I was eleven, which I'm not particularly proud of." Steve Eddy, who taught Rowling English when she first arrived, remembers her as "not exceptional" but "one of a group of girls who were bright, and quite good at English." Sean Harris, her best friend in the Upper Sixth owned a turquoise Ford Anglia, which she says inspired the one in her books.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 3,205 reviews
July 11, 2020
(B+) 78% | Good
Notes: Her advice isn't especially deep or revelatory or new, but it's presented well and reading it just makes you feel better.
Notes: Her advice isn't especially deep or revelatory or new, but it's presented well and reading it just makes you feel better.
July 13, 2015
simply inspiring.
Read
June 1, 2020“We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.”
So let's imagine a world where trans lives matter to authors that advocate for love, fairness and equality.
So let's imagine a world where trans lives matter to authors that advocate for love, fairness and equality.
August 18, 2019
I enjoyed and admire Rowling’s speech to Harvard graduates (class of 2008). If it is not quite the equal of the greatest commencement addresses of this century—David Foster Wallace at Kenyon (2005), George Saunders at Syracuse (2013)—it is still memorable. It speaks to the nature of its audience, gives good advice both on how to profit from adversity and also how to discern what is valuable, and—as a bonus—it illustrates its points with revealing glimpses into the heart of one of the most successful writers of our times.
Rowling breaks the ice with these practically life-long Harry Potter fans (seven years old when the first book came out) with jokes about Gryffindor and gay wizards, but she soon begins to speak of fear of failure, making it clear she realizes these particular Potter fans are very privileged Potter fans indeed. “[T]he fact that you are graduating from Harvard suggests that you are not very well-acquainted with failure. You might be driven by a fear of failure quite as much as a desire for success. Indeed, your conception of failure might not be too far from the average person’s idea of success, so high have you already flown.”
She assures these graduates—perhaps too accustomed to success—that failure is inevitable. “It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default." She uses herself, in pre-Potter days, as an example: a divorced, jobless, single mother, “as poor as it is possible to be in modern Britain, without being homeless.” But the failure she experienced was worth it, for it brought self-knowledge. “You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it is painfully won.”” It was valuable to her “because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me.” The work that mattered of course was writing, and she still, even after all the failure, “had an old typewriter and a big idea.”
From here she passes on to her second subject, the importance of the imagination. Surprisingly, she hasn't much to say about wizardry in particular or even story-telling in general, but instead speaks briefly of technological and social innovation before concentrating on imagination’s great gift: “the power that enables us to empathise with humans whose experiences we have never shared.” So that her listeners may empathize, Rowling shares with them a few stories from one of her earliest jobs as a worker for Amnesty International. She tells of meeting torture victims and other political prisoners, heroically risking much to speak out against the crimes of their governments.
After her praise of empathy, she begins her conclusion with the following words:
The great majority of you belong to the world’s only remaining superpower. The way you vote, the way you live, the way you protest, the pressure you bring to bear on your government, has an impact way beyond your borders. That is your privilege, and your burden.
If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only with the powerful, but with the powerless; if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages, then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence, but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped change. We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.
March 26, 2017
قد تعتقد أن تقييمي للكتاب بسبب شغفي بالمؤلفة فحسب
فدعونا نتفق أن تقرأ 'خطبة' من تلك الخطب التي تلقي علي الطلبة يوم تخرجهم هو أمر ليس مشجعا علي اﻷطلاق..حتي إن كان الكتاب شكله جذابا
بل والخطبة هي عن أهمية وفوائد الفشل....تخيل؟
وبالفعل تعترف جوان رولينج في بداية خطبتها أنها نفسها لم تعد تتذكر الخطبة التي سمعتها يوم تخرجها بعد أيام قليلة من التخرج، بالرغم من اهمية وقوة من ألقت هذه الخطبة..بالرغم من أهمية يوم التخرج نفسه، تخرجنا للحياة الحقيقية,الواسعة
ولكن أعتقد أن بقراءتي للخطبة ، وبهذا التصميم الجذاب المريح للعين سيجعلني أفكر فيما قرأت لوقت طويل..وأعتقد أني قد أتذكرها لعشرون عاما أيضا
هي ليست خطبة تنمية بشرية تقليدية فارغة ولا شغل كيف تخرج من الفشل للنجاح أو جمال الفقر والنبل الذي به
وبالتأكيد ليست -كما أكدت المؤلفة- حافز لك لتحاول تغيير مسار مهنتك وحياتك لتصبح ساحر غريب اﻷطوار
هي عن فائدة الفشل، وحافز الخروج منه، و أهمية الخوف منه، وعن أهمية التجربة نفسها
لا تخف من الفشل
بل استغله
هي لا تقنعك ان الفقر ليس عيبا، ولكنها تقنعك عن أهمية المحاولة للخروج منه
واﻷهم من هذا ، هي عن أهمية التخيل
ليس مجرد الخيال الذي نحققه بقراءة رواية خيالية ، هذا ليس كتاب أخر عن هاري بوتر
ولكنه عن أهمية ان تتخيل حال اﻷخرين...تضع نفسك مكانهم وتشعر بهم
أن تحاول بإمكانيات بسيطة محاولة مساعدة اﻷخر..ولو بأن تكون صوت لهم
ربما تتميز الفئة التي تخاطبهم بأنهم خريجو جامعة هارفرد، وفي دولة عظمي.. ولكن يمكن تطبيقها في الحياة عاما حتي هنا
لمن نجح في حياته، عليه ألا ينس الآخرين
حسنا، هو ليس مجرد كتاب أخر عن هاري بوتر... ولكنه عن تيمة هامة كانت في هاري بوتر..وروايات المؤلفة اﻷخري
عن المسئولية...والخروج من عباءة الفشل
لا تنس أن المؤلفة نفسها نالت حظا من التعثر والفشل لكن الامر تحول 180 درجة بالفعل
وأعتقد أن قصة نجاح سلسلة هاري بوتر أدبيا وتجاريا أمرا مفروغ منه ولم يأتي من قبيل الصدفة
ونجحت في توصيل رسائلها للقارئين من كل الأعمار
How J.K.Rowling made a Turning Point for her and The new Literature
وكعادة كتبها الصغيرة الحجم ارباح الكتاب كلها موجهة لمشروعها الخيري لتعليم الأطفال في الدول الفقيرة
كما فعلت في قصص "حكايات الشاعر بيدل" في 2008
هل مازلت تعتقد أنها لا تصلح لأن تقرأ لها جزء من حكمتها في الحياة ونقاط تحولها؟
وكيف أن تستغل أي فشل لتحويله لنجاح , وأن تستطيع أن تجعل نجاحك شيئا مؤثرا في كل من حولك
حسنا , يبدو أنه ليس كتابا فعلا عن هاري بوتر...ولكنه عن الروح والسمة العامة بتلك الروايات
كتاب صغير يدفعك لحياة أجمل
بالتأكيد سيؤثر بك ولو جزء منه
عسي حايتنا تكون كلها نجاح..وتكون حياة جيدة جدا إن شاء الله
محمد العربي
في 10 مايو 2015
فدعونا نتفق أن تقرأ 'خطبة' من تلك الخطب التي تلقي علي الطلبة يوم تخرجهم هو أمر ليس مشجعا علي اﻷطلاق..حتي إن كان الكتاب شكله جذابا
بل والخطبة هي عن أهمية وفوائد الفشل....تخيل؟
وبالفعل تعترف جوان رولينج في بداية خطبتها أنها نفسها لم تعد تتذكر الخطبة التي سمعتها يوم تخرجها بعد أيام قليلة من التخرج، بالرغم من اهمية وقوة من ألقت هذه الخطبة..بالرغم من أهمية يوم التخرج نفسه، تخرجنا للحياة الحقيقية,الواسعة
ولكن أعتقد أن بقراءتي للخطبة ، وبهذا التصميم الجذاب المريح للعين سيجعلني أفكر فيما قرأت لوقت طويل..وأعتقد أني قد أتذكرها لعشرون عاما أيضا
هي ليست خطبة تنمية بشرية تقليدية فارغة ولا شغل كيف تخرج من الفشل للنجاح أو جمال الفقر والنبل الذي به
وبالتأكيد ليست -كما أكدت المؤلفة- حافز لك لتحاول تغيير مسار مهنتك وحياتك لتصبح ساحر غريب اﻷطوار
هي عن فائدة الفشل، وحافز الخروج منه، و أهمية الخوف منه، وعن أهمية التجربة نفسها
لا تخف من الفشل
بل استغله
هي لا تقنعك ان الفقر ليس عيبا، ولكنها تقنعك عن أهمية المحاولة للخروج منه
واﻷهم من هذا ، هي عن أهمية التخيل
ليس مجرد الخيال الذي نحققه بقراءة رواية خيالية ، هذا ليس كتاب أخر عن هاري بوتر
ولكنه عن أهمية ان تتخيل حال اﻷخرين...تضع نفسك مكانهم وتشعر بهم
أن تحاول بإمكانيات بسيطة محاولة مساعدة اﻷخر..ولو بأن تكون صوت لهم
ربما تتميز الفئة التي تخاطبهم بأنهم خريجو جامعة هارفرد، وفي دولة عظمي.. ولكن يمكن تطبيقها في الحياة عاما حتي هنا
لمن نجح في حياته، عليه ألا ينس الآخرين
حسنا، هو ليس مجرد كتاب أخر عن هاري بوتر... ولكنه عن تيمة هامة كانت في هاري بوتر..وروايات المؤلفة اﻷخري
عن المسئولية...والخروج من عباءة الفشل
لا تنس أن المؤلفة نفسها نالت حظا من التعثر والفشل لكن الامر تحول 180 درجة بالفعل
وأعتقد أن قصة نجاح سلسلة هاري بوتر أدبيا وتجاريا أمرا مفروغ منه ولم يأتي من قبيل الصدفة
ونجحت في توصيل رسائلها للقارئين من كل الأعمار
How J.K.Rowling made a Turning Point for her and The new Literature
وكعادة كتبها الصغيرة الحجم ارباح الكتاب كلها موجهة لمشروعها الخيري لتعليم الأطفال في الدول الفقيرة
كما فعلت في قصص "حكايات الشاعر بيدل" في 2008
هل مازلت تعتقد أنها لا تصلح لأن تقرأ لها جزء من حكمتها في الحياة ونقاط تحولها؟
وكيف أن تستغل أي فشل لتحويله لنجاح , وأن تستطيع أن تجعل نجاحك شيئا مؤثرا في كل من حولك
حسنا , يبدو أنه ليس كتابا فعلا عن هاري بوتر...ولكنه عن الروح والسمة العامة بتلك الروايات
كتاب صغير يدفعك لحياة أجمل
بالتأكيد سيؤثر بك ولو جزء منه
عسي حايتنا تكون كلها نجاح..وتكون حياة جيدة جدا إن شاء الله
محمد العربي
في 10 مايو 2015
March 30, 2016
The reason I gave this book 4.5 stars instead of 5 is because it was so short. This is the published form of J K Rowling's commencement address to Harvard graduates in 2008. Her words of wisdom ring true to all, and she even managed to sneak in a few Potter references. I finished in about 15 minutes, and am wishful to think that J K can publish a longer book of essays, which I am sure many of us would be happy to read.
September 23, 2017
“As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.”
Very inspiring! JK Rowling has a magical way with words. Love it!
March 19, 2017
“So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had been realised, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.”
“You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all - in which case, you fail by default.”
“There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you.”
The Queen has spoken! :D i adored this book so much. Powerful speech from the best author of all times.
“You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all - in which case, you fail by default.”
“There is an expiry date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you.”
The Queen has spoken! :D i adored this book so much. Powerful speech from the best author of all times.
March 3, 2018
Life's good.
You know, that life is 90 percent what happens to you and 10 percent how you react to it.
Rightly so, we are all defined by the choices that we make. JKR amalgamates humor with emotions exhibiting the knowledge that accrues with time.
There's a quote from this book that found its place onto my bedroom wall.
Poverty is romanticized only by the fools.
Richness comes in various currencies. Friends, money, career, society.
Make sure you are #1 in each and every one of them.
You know, that life is 90 percent what happens to you and 10 percent how you react to it.
Rightly so, we are all defined by the choices that we make. JKR amalgamates humor with emotions exhibiting the knowledge that accrues with time.
There's a quote from this book that found its place onto my bedroom wall.
Poverty is romanticized only by the fools.
Richness comes in various currencies. Friends, money, career, society.
Make sure you are #1 in each and every one of them.
May 7, 2015
Never was a more true word spoken. A gifted speech from a gifted author. Definitely worth then 20 minutes to finish it!
June 14, 2016
"And rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life."
All the people in J.K Rowling's life must feel so incredibly blessed.
I would.
As a die-hard Harry Potter fan, I have read a lot about J.K and her fascinating life before all the Harry Potter craziness. Very Good Lives does a great job of showing some of the wisdom she gained from this time.
This 'book' is actually just a commencement speech she made at Harvard, years ago, and published so that the funds would go to her Lumos Foundation. It talks about failure, how terrifying it may be, but also how necessary it is.
Reading it was amazing, but I highly suggest watching her speech or reading the comic version, which I adore. It's so powerful and it made me love her even more. Plus it's reaaally short, which is why I read it (reading slump still going strong kms).
"It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all—in which case, you fail by default."
All the people in J.K Rowling's life must feel so incredibly blessed.
I would.
As a die-hard Harry Potter fan, I have read a lot about J.K and her fascinating life before all the Harry Potter craziness. Very Good Lives does a great job of showing some of the wisdom she gained from this time.
This 'book' is actually just a commencement speech she made at Harvard, years ago, and published so that the funds would go to her Lumos Foundation. It talks about failure, how terrifying it may be, but also how necessary it is.
Reading it was amazing, but I highly suggest watching her speech or reading the comic version, which I adore. It's so powerful and it made me love her even more. Plus it's reaaally short, which is why I read it (reading slump still going strong kms).
"It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all—in which case, you fail by default."
April 29, 2015
Amazing. Inspirational. Wonderful. Read it!
August 12, 2018
ABSOLUTAMENTE TODO EL MUNDO NECESITA ESTE LIBRO EN SU VIDA.
Es curioso, todo el mundo cree que odio a J.K. Rowling porque nunca he leído (o visto) nada de Harry Potter y decidí no hacerlo por lo menos en unos 10 años más (gracias al algunos fans que no me dejan en paz con el tema y me hicieron cogerle fobia); pero la realidad es que conocía la historia de vida de J.K. Rowling y siempre admiré su carrera: salir del fondo no es fácil y ella no solo lo superó, si no que brilló al final... Y leer sobre su filosofía de vida es enriquecedor.
El libro es un discurso que ofreció Rowling para los graduados de Harvard generación 2008. Ella admite lo nerviosa que estaba al pensar sobre qué proclamar en sus palabras, y al final decidió hablar sobre las cosas que más han marcado su vida: el fracaso y la imaginación.
El fracaso para superarnos como humanos y la imaginación para no olvidarnos qué significa ser humanos. Es una maestra...
Es como si la vida me hubiese puesto este libro en mi camino para superar mi peor miedo y para dejar de condicionar mi vida a él. Y por eso será una lectura que haré cada vez que lo necesite. Es media hora de lectura que te dará eternidades de coraje. Y la edición la hace aún más inspiradora.
5 estrellas y si algún día quieren hacer una gran inversión en su vida, este libro vale completamente la pena.
Es curioso, todo el mundo cree que odio a J.K. Rowling porque nunca he leído (o visto) nada de Harry Potter y decidí no hacerlo por lo menos en unos 10 años más (gracias al algunos fans que no me dejan en paz con el tema y me hicieron cogerle fobia); pero la realidad es que conocía la historia de vida de J.K. Rowling y siempre admiré su carrera: salir del fondo no es fácil y ella no solo lo superó, si no que brilló al final... Y leer sobre su filosofía de vida es enriquecedor.
El libro es un discurso que ofreció Rowling para los graduados de Harvard generación 2008. Ella admite lo nerviosa que estaba al pensar sobre qué proclamar en sus palabras, y al final decidió hablar sobre las cosas que más han marcado su vida: el fracaso y la imaginación.
El fracaso para superarnos como humanos y la imaginación para no olvidarnos qué significa ser humanos. Es una maestra...
Es como si la vida me hubiese puesto este libro en mi camino para superar mi peor miedo y para dejar de condicionar mi vida a él. Y por eso será una lectura que haré cada vez que lo necesite. Es media hora de lectura que te dará eternidades de coraje. Y la edición la hace aún más inspiradora.
5 estrellas y si algún día quieren hacer una gran inversión en su vida, este libro vale completamente la pena.
Want to read
December 6, 2014While we wait, it's worth checking out this other adaptation of her speech by ZEN PENCILS:
(The rest is linked in the image)
Oh, and here, have a link to the video of the full speech.
(The rest is linked in the image)
Oh, and here, have a link to the video of the full speech.
April 15, 2015
In 2008, J.K. Rowling delivered a commencement speech at Harvard University. Years after her visit to Harvard, people still talk about it and because of the impact it has made the speech was published today, April 14th, in book form. The sales of Very Good Lives will benefit Lumos, a non-profit international children’s organization founded by J.K. Rowling, which works to end the institutionalization of children around the world.
J.K. Rowling said about the charity:
“Lumos is a spell I created in Harry Potter that brings light to a desperately dark and frightening place. At Lumos this is just what we do: we reveal the hidden children locked away behind closed doors in institutions and forgotten by the world, so that everyone first of all understands the problem and then works together to fix it. It is my dream that within our lifetime, the very idea of institutionalising children will seem to belong to a cruel fictional world."
I urge everyone to read this.
J.K. Rowling said about the charity:
“Lumos is a spell I created in Harry Potter that brings light to a desperately dark and frightening place. At Lumos this is just what we do: we reveal the hidden children locked away behind closed doors in institutions and forgotten by the world, so that everyone first of all understands the problem and then works together to fix it. It is my dream that within our lifetime, the very idea of institutionalising children will seem to belong to a cruel fictional world."
I urge everyone to read this.
April 15, 2018
Vorab das Buch ist wunderschön aufgemacht, es sind viele süße Illustrationen drin und auch das Buch selbst (ohne Schutzumschlag) ist super schön.
Die Rede die Rowling hier gehalten hat, war auch sehr schön und inspirierend, nur bin ich mir nicht sicher, ob es wirklich notwenig war, diese zu drucken. Kriege den Gedanken der puren Geldmacherei nicht ganz aus meinem Kopf 😜
Die Rede die Rowling hier gehalten hat, war auch sehr schön und inspirierend, nur bin ich mir nicht sicher, ob es wirklich notwenig war, diese zu drucken. Kriege den Gedanken der puren Geldmacherei nicht ganz aus meinem Kopf 😜
June 1, 2019
"It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default."
J.K. Rowling gave the commencement speech at Harvard in 2008 and the result was a mini-masterpiece about life, the power of imagination, and failure.
Though we all know now what a mammoth success she would go on to be, at one time, she was experiencing failure and poverty.
"Now, I am not going to stand here and tell you that failure is fun. That period of my life was a dark one, and I had no idea that there was going to be what the press has since represented as a kind of fairy tale resolution."
I've had my own handful of rock bottom moments and, she's right, it is no fun. But I too have found resilience and creativity that emerged from that darkness. It's strange, when you're pushed to your limits, you suddenly discover that there's more to yourself than you ever realized.
"One of the many things I learned at the end of that Classics corridor down which I ventured at the age of 18, in search of something I could not then define, was this, written by the Greek author Plutarch: What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality."
Like Rowling, I studied the Classics because something about it spoke to me. When I told my dad that I was adding that course of study to my degree, he laughed and said, "Well, at least it will look impressive on your resume." Even though I knew he was right in that there were very few jobs where I could use it, having a background in the Classics has taught me a lot about modern life.
I learned that people in antiquity, though they lacked the technology and lifestyle we enjoy today, still had the intensity of emotions and civilizations struggles that persist in the modern era. There were those who had and those who had not. There were crimes of passion, acts of kindness, politicians both corrupt and extraordinary.
Struggle, stress and failure is not something mankind invented when we produced the first smart phone. Classics gives you a long view on humanity and how far, or not far, we've come since.
We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.
Brilliant. I recommend this small book as a graduation gift or for anyone who is having a bad day. It can act as a reminder that anyone can succeed at whatever their heart tells them is their path, despite any evidence to the contrary. And don't be afraid of failure. Everyone will experience it at one time or another, but what matters most is what you chose to do next.
J.K. Rowling gave the commencement speech at Harvard in 2008 and the result was a mini-masterpiece about life, the power of imagination, and failure.
Though we all know now what a mammoth success she would go on to be, at one time, she was experiencing failure and poverty.
"Now, I am not going to stand here and tell you that failure is fun. That period of my life was a dark one, and I had no idea that there was going to be what the press has since represented as a kind of fairy tale resolution."
I've had my own handful of rock bottom moments and, she's right, it is no fun. But I too have found resilience and creativity that emerged from that darkness. It's strange, when you're pushed to your limits, you suddenly discover that there's more to yourself than you ever realized.
"One of the many things I learned at the end of that Classics corridor down which I ventured at the age of 18, in search of something I could not then define, was this, written by the Greek author Plutarch: What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality."
Like Rowling, I studied the Classics because something about it spoke to me. When I told my dad that I was adding that course of study to my degree, he laughed and said, "Well, at least it will look impressive on your resume." Even though I knew he was right in that there were very few jobs where I could use it, having a background in the Classics has taught me a lot about modern life.
I learned that people in antiquity, though they lacked the technology and lifestyle we enjoy today, still had the intensity of emotions and civilizations struggles that persist in the modern era. There were those who had and those who had not. There were crimes of passion, acts of kindness, politicians both corrupt and extraordinary.
Struggle, stress and failure is not something mankind invented when we produced the first smart phone. Classics gives you a long view on humanity and how far, or not far, we've come since.
We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.
Brilliant. I recommend this small book as a graduation gift or for anyone who is having a bad day. It can act as a reminder that anyone can succeed at whatever their heart tells them is their path, despite any evidence to the contrary. And don't be afraid of failure. Everyone will experience it at one time or another, but what matters most is what you chose to do next.
February 28, 2018
“And many prefer not to exercise their imaginations at all. They choose to remain comfortably within the bounds of their own experience, never troubling to wonder how it would feel to have been born other than they are. They can refuse to hear screams or to peer inside cages; they can close their minds and hearts to any suffering that does not touch them personally; they can refuse to know.”
I can tell you right now that this is the only graduation speech I will ever read. Unless J.K.Rowling will have another one then I would read that one as well.
“I would like to make it clear, in parenthesis, that I do not blame my parents for their point of view. There is an expiration date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you.”
I can tell you right now that this is the only graduation speech I will ever read. Unless J.K.Rowling will have another one then I would read that one as well.
“I would like to make it clear, in parenthesis, that I do not blame my parents for their point of view. There is an expiration date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you.”
June 24, 2018
"Tal vez nunca fracaséis de una forma tan estrepitosa como yo, pero en la vida es inevitable fracasar alguna vez. Es imposible vivir sin fracasar en algo, a menos que seas tan prudente que no se pueda decir que hayas vivido, y en ese caso fracasas por omisión".
Sólo a Queen J. K. Rowling le permito que me dé un discurso sobre la importancia del fracaso en la vida, de levantarse y aprender de los errores y, sobre todo, de usar la creatividad para imaginarnos soluciones y ponernos en la piel del otro, pues sólo así, dice, nos convertimos en mejores personas.
Sólo a Queen J. K. Rowling le permito que me dé un discurso sobre la importancia del fracaso en la vida, de levantarse y aprender de los errores y, sobre todo, de usar la creatividad para imaginarnos soluciones y ponernos en la piel del otro, pues sólo así, dice, nos convertimos en mejores personas.
January 9, 2018
Well worth the fifteen (okay, ten) minutes it takes to read.
In addition, if you want a starting point to have a conversation with your middle or high school age kid, read this together. Listen to what your kid says. Rinse. Lather. Repeat. Just an idea.
In addition, if you want a starting point to have a conversation with your middle or high school age kid, read this together. Listen to what your kid says. Rinse. Lather. Repeat. Just an idea.
December 2, 2017
“We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.”Gran discurso de Rowling. Me gustó mucho. Algunas ideas tratadas ya estaban sobreexplotadas hasta el punto de ser casi tópicos, pero recato las partes del rol de la imaginación y su relación con la empatía y cómo el fracaso nos revela lo que realmente debemos seguir, como una especie de filtro.
Perfecto para ocupar unos minutos libres, puesto que es breve y vale muchísimo la pena. Cada vez admiro más a esta mujer.
February 21, 2018
“As is a tale, so is life: not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.
I wish you all very good lives.”
― J.K. Rowling, Very Good Lives: The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination
Well written, as anything by this author would be, I found the ideas presented very valuable and well put, but her speech wasn't that inspirational to me.
I wish you all very good lives.”
― J.K. Rowling, Very Good Lives: The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination
Well written, as anything by this author would be, I found the ideas presented very valuable and well put, but her speech wasn't that inspirational to me.
December 27, 2018
This was so touching and powerful that now I have to own this little nugget. I do believe in the power of imagination and the importance of stories. That is part of the reason I spend so much time reading to my niece and nephew. Imagination gives us the power to change our view of the world and what is more important than that power.
She also speaks to failure. Who hasn’t failed at something in this world. It has the power to be a great teacher. I love the story of Thomas Edison and his lightbulb. A reporter asked him what it feels like to fail 50,000 times. Thomas said, I didn’t fail 50,000 times, I now know 50,000 ways not to make a lightbulb. Interesting right. It’s a paradigm shift. That speaks to me who was a little perfectionist growing up and failure was terrible. I still work at it, but failure is a teacher if we are willing to learn from it. It takes humility to learn from failure because we have to be able to move past it.
This speech is brilliant in what she shares and how she goes about it. The woman is such a gifted author. She writes from the heart and to me that is the most powerful kind of writing. Her imagination has in small ways changed the planet.
The quoted Plutarch, “What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.”
I haven’t heard this before. It rings true for the medicine we practice. When our boss is terrible or our life is difficult, the only thing we can change is what’s inside us. We can’t change other people and have them be different. We can change inside and it’s amazing how often that will bring a change about in the other person.
She ends with the quote by Seneca; “As is a tale, so is life; not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.”
This is about a 20 minute speech and in that 20 minutes she spins gold and packs a punch. (hows that for mixed metaphors) Finding that strength of knowing who you are inside and what you have to offer, there is a power in that. The people who find it, they are often the ones we hear about. They don’t depend on others for who they are, they know and no one can take that from them.
Powerful; if you read this with an open heart, change can happen here.
She also speaks to failure. Who hasn’t failed at something in this world. It has the power to be a great teacher. I love the story of Thomas Edison and his lightbulb. A reporter asked him what it feels like to fail 50,000 times. Thomas said, I didn’t fail 50,000 times, I now know 50,000 ways not to make a lightbulb. Interesting right. It’s a paradigm shift. That speaks to me who was a little perfectionist growing up and failure was terrible. I still work at it, but failure is a teacher if we are willing to learn from it. It takes humility to learn from failure because we have to be able to move past it.
This speech is brilliant in what she shares and how she goes about it. The woman is such a gifted author. She writes from the heart and to me that is the most powerful kind of writing. Her imagination has in small ways changed the planet.
The quoted Plutarch, “What we achieve inwardly will change outer reality.”
I haven’t heard this before. It rings true for the medicine we practice. When our boss is terrible or our life is difficult, the only thing we can change is what’s inside us. We can’t change other people and have them be different. We can change inside and it’s amazing how often that will bring a change about in the other person.
She ends with the quote by Seneca; “As is a tale, so is life; not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters.”
This is about a 20 minute speech and in that 20 minutes she spins gold and packs a punch. (hows that for mixed metaphors) Finding that strength of knowing who you are inside and what you have to offer, there is a power in that. The people who find it, they are often the ones we hear about. They don’t depend on others for who they are, they know and no one can take that from them.
Powerful; if you read this with an open heart, change can happen here.
May 25, 2015
Un discurso increíble en una edición simplemente espectacular. Rowling consigue emocionar narrando experiencias de su pasado que le han formado como personas, tratando de transmitirle al lector que la vida es mucho más que un trabajo. La vida es una experiencia continua que hay que vivir, y la cual hay que afrontar con inteligencia e imaginación. Hay pasajes de su vida complicados, duros y llenos de tristeza, pero ella consigue resumirlos en algo similar a las cenizas del ave Fénix: destruido momentáneamente para ser más tarde un grito de esperanza. Te llena con sus palabras y enseña mucho en muy poco.
Gracias, Rowling, por hacernos pensar.
Gracias, Rowling, por hacernos pensar.
November 8, 2022
In Very Good Lives, J.K. Rowling shares the benefits of failures in one's life and why it is a necessity to overcome fears. I was browsing JKR's interview videos and stumbled upon this. At that moment, something changed inside me.
It's like you read a book and you know it has altered you in a good way, but you can't put it in words until you go do some retrospection.
When I happened to know it was a commencement speech, I didn't know what does that word even mean!
Commencement: a new start, beginning.
So was it. For me. For things around me. This speech proved to be a turning point in my life and how I looked and faced every situation. All in all, I can say is that I'm grateful to J.K. Rowling that she decided to become a writer and shared her wisdom and experiences through such a strong and everlasting technique.
It's like you read a book and you know it has altered you in a good way, but you can't put it in words until you go do some retrospection.
When I happened to know it was a commencement speech, I didn't know what does that word even mean!
Commencement: a new start, beginning.
So was it. For me. For things around me. This speech proved to be a turning point in my life and how I looked and faced every situation. All in all, I can say is that I'm grateful to J.K. Rowling that she decided to become a writer and shared her wisdom and experiences through such a strong and everlasting technique.
November 8, 2018
Es justo lo que esperas al saber de que trata; un discurso motivacional sobre ser empáticos, aprender de nuestros fracasos y creer en aquello que nos apasiona.
Las ilustraciones son muy lindas, es el tipo de libro que puede ser gran obsequio para fanáticos de la autora o recién graduados. No es mi discurso de graduación favorito (para eso prefiero el de Neil Gaiman que he visto el video original más no lo he leído en texto) pero el mensaje es lindo y acertado.
Las ilustraciones son muy lindas, es el tipo de libro que puede ser gran obsequio para fanáticos de la autora o recién graduados. No es mi discurso de graduación favorito (para eso prefiero el de Neil Gaiman que he visto el video original más no lo he leído en texto) pero el mensaje es lindo y acertado.
January 2, 2018
JK parla dritta al mio cuore oggi come 20 anni fa, quando lessi il primo capitolo di Harry Potter.
April 16, 2015
I may be in the minority here, but I had never heard or read Very Good Lived before now. It is JK Rowling's commencement speech at Harvard in 2008. I picked up the book because the proceeds of its sales go to JK's Lumos charity and also because it's JK Freaking Rowling. The book is small, as it is a speech, but it is beautifully written and put together. Alongside JK's inspiring and thought-provoking words there are illustrations and doodles that add so much to the reading experience. I absolutely recommend picking this one up!
March 22, 2017
Everything about this book is beautiful. Jo has a such a way with words.
Not only is this book inspirational but it's also really funny.
I loved the way the book was put together. The little doodles and art was really cool.
And even though this book is short (80 pages but it's a speech) and maybe a little expensive for only 80 pages, it's totally worth it. Plus, the proceeds of its sales go to Jo's Lumos charity.
Not only is this book inspirational but it's also really funny.
I loved the way the book was put together. The little doodles and art was really cool.
And even though this book is short (80 pages but it's a speech) and maybe a little expensive for only 80 pages, it's totally worth it. Plus, the proceeds of its sales go to Jo's Lumos charity.
July 10, 2016
Of, course it's a 5 star rating. Short, sweet and impactful. This was just beautiful. One that I'll probably be rereading every so often.
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