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21 Letters on Life and Its Challenges

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21 Letters on Life and Its Challenges

By: Charles Handy
Narrated by: Scott Handy
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About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Charles Handy is one of the giants of contemporary thought. His books on management – including Understanding Organizations and Gods of Management – have changed the way we view business. His work on broader issues and trends – such as Beyond Certainty and The Second Curve – has changed the way we view society.

In his new book, Handy builds on a life's work to glimpse into the future and see what challenges and opportunities the next generation faces. How will people cope with change in a world where the old certainties no longer apply? What goals will and should they set themselves? How will they find purpose and fulfilment in their lives? Clear-eyed and optimistic by turns, he sets out the questions that everyone needs to ask themselves, and points us in the direction of the answers.

©2019 Charles Handy (P)2019 Penguin Audio Career Success Ethics & Morality Leadership Management & Leadership Motivation & Self-Improvement Personal Development Personal Success Philosophy Political Science Politics & Government Society Business Career Business Ethics Management

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A book that everyone should read. Helpful guidance for all ages. I highly recommend it.

A beautiful reading of his fathers tender and wise letters.

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I loved the letters as it inspired me to think about how I will love it the rest of my life. Thought provoking.

Inspiring

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Amazing lessons for us all. Beautifully told. Thank you for writing this! It’s going to serve me and my family well.

Superb

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This is a book consisting of 21 letters that the entrepreneur Charles Handy wanted to pass on to his children and to us, to help us understand life and its challenges. He is in his eighties, and has learnt a lot. It begins with a brilliant quote: “tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?“. I love it. And these letters are like a lighthouse, there to light your way and to stop you hitting the rocks. The basic message is that life will be full of changes, and if we can adapt to them and accept them, perhaps our life will be a little easier. We can also learn more from great novels about human behaviour than we can sometimes read and learn from factual books. You are humane if you can practice five things such as respectfulness, truthfulness, intelligence and generosity. And laugh often and find pleasure in being with others. Another letter is to accept that everyone including ourselves can be wrong. Take nothing for granted, question everything, doubt the certainty of your superiors as well as yourself but sometimes keep your doubts to yourself until the time is right. There are some valuable lessons about money, love, knowing what’s important, more on change and these are often illustrated by some wonderful words of wisdom written through the years by others. And when sadness overtakes you, as it will do in one of the letters, there is advice on dealing with that also. We still have to accept that life goes on and adapt to that change too. The final lesson includes a few lines on how to lead a more fulfilling and worthwhile life. This is a nice book that shares features with Dan Rather’s book ‘what unites us’ which is also great.

Great letters with fantastic lessons for life

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I feel so much reacher and better equipped to take on life after I finish these letters. I am very grateful that I had the fortunate opportunity to stumble upon and listen to this book. It has left me with so much appreciation for the author. This is an ageless classic that everyone will enjoy and learn from.

Such a wonderful, heartwarming book

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