Finished audio 7-10-12, rating 3/5, inspirational, pub. 2011

Unabridged audio 7 1/2 hours.  Read by Katie Couric and Paul Boehmer, Hillary Huber, Mirron Willis, Adenrele Ojo, Rosalyn Landor

Katie Couric was asked to give a commencement speech a few years ago and it became the inspiration for this book of advice from well-known people from all avenues of life, the only common trait being that they are successful.  Katie tells a little bit of her life in each of the sections, but this is really about the  other 114 people who contributed their two cents.

I was inspired by the do not let fear stop you crowd – and there were many (Anna Quindlen, Helen Mirren, Maria Shriver to name a few).   There were a few stand out stories to me.  Bill Cosby’s story about his first big stand-up gig was funny and with the take home lesson to always be yourself and not be intimidated.  I am not a Suze Orman fan so I didn’t really know anything about how she came to be a financial guru and I found her story so surprising.  I had no idea that a waitress could walk into a bank and get a job as a stockbroker, essentially.  And how she kept the job was even more surprising.  Oh, and Couric could have taken out Donald Trump’s advice and I would have been okay with that. Seriously, the guy may be successful but he’s a nut.

I liked the book.  As an audio book it only half worked for me.  After a few hours the entries all started to run together and kind of ruin the importance of the whole project.  I think this would work better in print where you could pick it up and read an entry or two at a time.  Katie’s warmth came through loud and clear and the other readers were fine.  It was more the nature of the book that led to my disappointment in the audio.

I think the book would be a nice gift for graduates or anyone starting a new phase in their life.  I checked out the audio from the library.