Not by bread alone
Hinckley, Bryant Stringham. 1955. Not by bread alone. Bookcraft.
Rating:
4
Summary:
Collection of one page thoughts on life, the universe, and everything.
The format of this book is not conducive to summary, so I will forego doing that. The book is made up of about 120 one page thoughts on subjects ranging from education to success to politics to religion.
Review:
The thoughts don’t seem to be in any particular order. Most of the thoughts are a combination of a quote from a writer or philosopher and Hinckley’s comments on the thought. As a result, most of the ‘profound’ thoughts aren’t actually contributed by Mr. Hinckley.
Along with the format problems are the problems with the actual content. Many of the ‘wisdoms’ are suggestions for success but actually trying to live up to all of the suggestions would result in a nervous breakdown.
There are also a lot of quotes about how superior the United States is to other countries (very ethnocentric) and a lot of the language gives the imagery of conquest and the pursuit of perfection – goals I found more psychologically damaging than spiritually uplifting.
As the advice and thoughts jump from topic to topic, there are some resultant contradictions, but surprisingly not many. It was actually kind of refreshing, however, to hear a Mormon quote someone other than Mormons. Many of the quotes are by non-Mormon writers and philosophers.
Overall, the book seems to be the final thoughts of an aged, mildly educated, and somewhat well-read individual. You get the impression that his children went through all of these thoughts with him as he lay dying in his death bed. I don’t know that I can necessarily recommend something that you should read instead. But, this one probably isn’t worth reading.