Editor: Peter Mukherjee
Publication: November 10th 2020 by Amersham Publishing Limited
Genre: Nonfiction, Inspirational
Find it on: Amazon | Book Depository | Waterstones
Rating: 4/5★
A down-to-earth and essential read for anyone who aspires to find success and fulfilment in life. A Few Wise Words is the perfect guide for any young person, young adult (and older adults too). It describes in detail how to prepare for, and then how to navigate with confidence and purpose, our own personal journey towards success…
This book shows us how to become the best version of ourselves, throughout our journey, and to know exactly what we need to do to excel and move up, at each stage of our careers.
A Few Wise Words is for parents too – helping us to understand the essential role that we can play to inspire our children to prepare themselves fundamentally for their futures…
“What a wonderful book. What a great treasury of wisdom. A must read for every young person.” The Rt. Hon. Gordon Brown
“Wisdom does not only belong to the ages… and run likes a thread through this book” The Rt. Hon. Sir John Major KG CH
“A wonderful book and very timely. It will help people of all ages “ Clare Balding OBE
A Few Wise Words presents a collection of stories of extraordinary success from 22 high-profile contributors, each of whom have their own chapter in the book. They explain directly what they did in their own lives to find success, while offering a wealth of inspirational advice on what we can do to find success in ours.
Contributors to the book include:
Sir Ben Ainslie CBE
Frank Arnesen
Zak Brown
Ursula Burns
Sir Roger Carr
Sherry Coutu CBE
Pablo Ettinger
Mikhail Fridman
Stephen Fry
Dame Katherine Grainger DBE
Tanni Baroness Grey-Thompson DBE
Anya Hindmarch CBE
Declan Kelly
Martha Baroness Lane-Fox CBE
Joanna Lumley OBE
Dame Carolyn McCall DBE
Sir Keith Mills GBE DL
Vin Murria OBE
Danielle de Niese
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks
Shriti Vadera
Sir Clive Woodward OBE
I would say with pleasure that A Few Wise Words isn’t just for young people and young adults or parents, although this would be a very good book for them as well. But I found it to be a very inspirational and thought-provoking read for myself too at 29 years old. I loved how this book had a very diverse cast of contributors talking about how they found success in their lives and how they define success, which was very different for each person in it. It really gave me a sense of belief and optimism.
Now that I have finished the book I really wish I had annotated it because there are so many quotes and passages that were simply amazing and definitely something I want to remember. I know that reading those quote every now and then would be good for me personally and other people too. So maybe a reread will happen in the future where I will absolutely do this.
Some of the contributers stood out more than others and I just want to highlight them here too:
Sir Ben Ainslie, British competitive sailor
Frank Arnesen, Danish (former) soccer player
Dame Katherine Grainger, British (former) rower
Tanni, Baroness Grey-Thompson, Welsh (former) wheelchair racer
Vinodka “Vin” Murria, British businesswoman
Danielle de Niese, Australian-American lyric soprano
Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, British Orthodox rabbi
Overall, A Few Wise Words by Peter Mukherjee was a superb and very inspirational read that I would recommend to young and old. I’m looking forward to volume two!
Sounds like a well delivered inspirational book, and I love that it applies to adults too. Cheers to another volume soon!
I really like the variety of different contributors – it shows a whole range of stories for people to relate to.
This sounds like a book anyone would enjoy and be inspired by. I know some days I personally need to hear advice from others?
We all need advice sometimes!
Wow, this looks like a little gem. Stephen Fry caught my eye first, but then I liked your choices too. Thanks, will look this up
This sounds really interesting! I’ve gone off inspirational self-help type books recently but love the idea of this being more of an anthology of inspirational stories from public figures. Definitely one I’m going to consider reading in the future. 🙂 Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
I would highly recommend it, Hayley!
Oo, I don’t often read nonfiction but this sounds really interesting! I love inspirational / self-help style books, I may have to check this one out. Thanks for sharing x
I’ve gotten really into these kinda books because they do help me 🙂
I love books like this, and yes sometimes you just wish you had annotated to remember special quotes or whatever!
Next time I will do it for sure!
I don’t really read books like this, so it was nice to see your thoughts on it. I am glad you could still find it inspiring even if it isn’t for you age audience, and that there were some that stood out to you more than others!
I’ve gotten really into books like this so you might see more of them 😉
I felt the same way when I finished this! Really wished I had annotated it, but I ended up going back though and adding bookmarks, there are so many good quotes haha.
I’m gonna do it for sure when I read volume two!
I love the idea that there are multiple contributors who all have their own idea of success. Sounds inspirational and uplifting!
It was super uplifting!!
I love inspirational books like these! We definitely need more of them right now. The story of the wheelchair racer has my interest piqued! Thanks for sharing this one. 🙂
Such an inspiration! I was surpirsed by how many of the sports people I was moved by.