All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten : reconsidered, revised & expanded with twenty-five new essays

The kind of warm-hearted musings on life that I really enjoy. The man is an expert word-weaver.

Simple truths. A good book to read when life is overwhelming.

A book you keep in the bathroom to read your favorite little stories over and over again.

I have no idea why I bought this book. It was.... an impulse buy, I guess. It was 10cents at a thrift store and I added it to my pile of books without really thinking.

I put off reading it for a long time. It just didn't jump out at me. I flipped through the pages, read a few paragraphs, and always

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seemed to come to the same conclusion: "meh".

The thing is, I think this is one of those books that *seems* so cliched and annoyingly simple and maybe even stupid, that so many people (including myself) don't want to admit it's underlying awesomeness.

Because that's what it really is. Awesomeness. Pure and simple. I'm not going to say that my life was changed by this book, but I do know for sure that it's lifted my spirits on more then one occasion. Made me think about simpler things, even if only for a minute. Made me realize the little truths that seem so obvious. It's not an end all be all book, and I don't know if I'm any better of a person for reading it. But it put a smile on my face and hope in my heart, and that is more then enough for me.

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All of Robert Fulgham's books are hilarious! His stories are well told and easy to read and follow.

I recently reread this book and found it as wonderful as I remembered. Fulghum is funny and smart and his remarks can be touching and endearing. I agree with so much of his philosophy of life and, like him, would treasure having one day, even one hour, of my childhood back. His memory of riding in

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a pickup truck with an elderly dog for company is priceless.

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Short thoughtful and humorous essays about life, love and happiness from a former Unitarian minister.

These short tidbits of knowledge may seem trite and trivial, but they can be useful never the less. Everyone can benefit from a reminder of the the basics now and then and this book distills complicated adult issues to a handful of basic truths, principles most of us learned in childhood. Probably

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over-simplistic, but worth a minute or two of time out once in a while.

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It's funny how this book came into my possesion. Me and my father were browsing Goodwill's book collection, and then All the really need to know i learned in Kindergarten. We decided to get this book, instead of the book my father was looking for. (I think it was a Tom Clancey book) Anyways, we

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both read the book and it was delightful. I can say this book is one of my favorites. It made me see a different perspective in life, and consider the simplicity in everything. Fulghum is brilliant!
I highly recomend this book.

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A cynical view of the world through an older man's eyes. Interesting to read, nothing really to stand by. Quick read.

All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten was a book written by Robert Fulghum. It has been in print more than 15 years now and undergone reissuing and editing for the past years, and its last publishing has added 25 new essays. This book is actually a compilation of the ordinary things,

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people and events happened and encountered by Fulghum, which he viewed in a wider and more meaningful and prolific perspective, thus, this book actually represented an attitude- a way of looking things. He mentioned that he has learned values, morals, and learning in kindergarten not on his higher level oh his studies in the graduate school.
Some of his essays were about his encounters with different kinds of people who have done nothing extraordinary yet he viewed these encounters differently such as Charles Boyers who showed his genuine love to his wife until his wife’s death. Larry Walters, a thirty-three-year old truck driver, Elias Schwartz who is said to be the 145th reincarnation of Haiho Lama, Donnie, a rake boy who graduated in horticulture- all have a humbled life yet peculiar and unique in his eyes. He was also inspired with the story of Hong Doc, a Vietnamese who looked look like a wise man during Halloween, the guy next door namely the black Mr. Washington and the Indian dancer that despite of being ugly have rocked the world of many people, including his grandfather who taught him that miracles do really happen for as along as there was faith and the taxi driver who said that there was not enough money in this universe and believed that it was safe for her to just stay in New York away from hazards. He also mentioned that sometimes we are just like the good and bad Samaritans, sometimes we tend to help and sometimes not, and he firmly say that in this world there are many angels we just can not see and recognized them in the presence of our neighbor. More so, he was very much motivated to follow the footsteps of Mother Theresa of Calcutta who can do no great things but only small things with great love and who has a caring heart and compassionate soul to the uncared and unloved in the society and with the success of Beethoven despite of his disabilities in life.
He was also fascinated with ordinary things such as the chicken-fried steak in which he was enlightened to the needs of many people and his responsibilities towards them. The stuff, vacuums, detergent box and medicine cabinet all made him realized that speed and efficiency do not always spend the quality of life, a simple life is still the best ever, and that he hoped that experts would come up with something which will clean the mind and soul of every person, and he made the conclusion that if you want to know the truth about people, the bathrooms is the place to go and consider. The water, puddle, clucky-lucky, gummy lump, pick-up truck, mushrooms, cuckoo clock, moths and the dandelions all taught him that ordinary things become extraordinary due to their sentimental values and association with them and that all things exist only if something else was cleared out of the path to make way and that one should always practice what he preach and that in life there are truly impossible things in life that are to good to be true. His essays about hair, raccoon, where the snow goes and third aid stated that life has its end and, real meaning of genuine love and that sometimes we do good things without knowing about them and that if you know something isn’t necessary or good for you do not do it.
Fulghum also included in his book some events that took place in his life wherein he learned a lot such as the bar story, summer job, wiser Idaho, bible story, and kindergarten. This stories educated him that real education comes in unexpected place and we were what we do not just what we think and all of us have our own mess. His accounts about help, pass it on, hide and seek and testing taught him the real value of helping and being generous and nothing causes m ore grief in life than our ignorance and ineptitude. And according to him, life is a dead-end, a near death-experience, and a big test and that people do not like to think about death.
His experiences in San Diego Zoo, Valentine Christmas Tree, Christmas in August, Secret Anniversaries, mid -winter, HS reunion made him realized that love is about loving the world and seeing her as our living room, and that anytime can be Christmas as long as there is hope and unexamined life is not worth living.
Finally, his accounts about the third aid, star gazing, crayolas, stick polishing and census made him realized what was really meant to be happy and that in accordance to him, in life it does not matter what you say you believe- it only matter what you do, and when we do right things we were actually polishing our own sticks and that every person passing through this life will unknowingly leave something and take something away.

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Very entertaining. I found myself laughing out loud at times. Mr Fulghum's life lessons should lead other people to change their attitudes.

Feel-good, easy reading.

This book offers so much wisdom. Seeing life through Mr. Fulghum's eyes has the potential to turn your own life upside down. This is definitely one to make you stop and think.

This is another book I picked up in the "for free" basket at the library bookstore. All you really need to read of this book is on pages 4 and 5. That is where the list of what the author learned in kindergarten is placed. The rest of the book is filled with little anecdotes from the author's life

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that carry some supposedly interesting message that may or may not be related to the things he learned in kindergarten. The subtitle of this book is: Uncommon Thoughts on Common Things, so I suppose the rest of the book (after pages 4-5) are those uncommon thoughts. The author is not a horrible writer, his stories remind me of the short, half-humorous, half-philosophic anecdotes that are strewn between articles and stories in Reader's Digest. As a book, however, I found myself getting really irritated with his style and frankly, quite bored. I began reading only the first sentence of each paragraph, and then just the first sentence of each section. The more I read, the duller the anecdotes and his style of writing became. Back in the donate pile it goes.

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I get a kick outta reading "uncommon thoughts on common things" from different people's perspectives. Fulghum's thoughts were about silly things AND deep stuff, and usually with a great deal of humor. His goal in writing this book didn't seem to be profound wisdom or anything so self-helpy: I

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appreciated that. His voice was very down to earth and conversational. While I enjoyed most of the essays, the collection was just okay for me. Yet I did find a few bits I want to remember and, someday, possibly throw my own uncommon thoughts on the same or related topics into the mix.

3.5 stars

"It's the spirit here that counts. The time may be long, the vehicle may be strange or unexpected. But if the dream is held close to the heart, and imagination is applied to what there is close at hand, everything is still possible (139)."

"Innate skepticism or innate stupidity? I confess I do not know. A psychiatrist friend tells me it's a sample of an unconscious need to deny--that everyone wants the road or The Way to continue on instead of ending. So you drive as far as you can, even when you can clearly read the sign. You want to think you are exempt, that it doesn't apply to you. But it does (161-62)."

"Murphy's Law does not always hold, says Grandfather Sam. Every once in a while the fundamental laws of the universe seem to be momentarily suspended, and not only does everything go right, nothing seems to be able to keep it from going right. It's not always something as dramatic as the long bomb or the slam-dunk that wins ball games (178)." He goes on to list examples like dropping a glass in the sink, it bounces a gazillion times, and not only does not break but doesn't even chip. A near-miss at an intersection. Jumping in the right lane (the one that's moving) in a traffic jam.

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Highly recommended

warm hearted hokeyness.

I thought it was rather humourous

Good observations on good life practices.

Rated: A+
1st in his series of little reflections about life; easy reading; makes you laugh and cry from story to story

Fulghum’s book retains the potency of a common though no less relevant piece of wisdom: that the most basic aspects of life bear its most important opportunities.

Here Fulghum engages us with musings on life, death, love, pain, joy, sorrow, and the best chicken-fried steak in the continental

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United States. The little seed in the Styrofoam cup offers a reminder about our own mortality and the delicate nature of life .

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