Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World by Bill Clinton Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Giving: How Each of Us Can Change the World
Book Review: This book is FANTASTIC...Clinton is SMART and Genuine.
Summary: 5 Stars
If you ever thought you wanted to helpsome sort of charity or give something of yourself; this is the book...Bill Clinton genuinely cares about the world, and he shows this bywhat actions he takes; this guy is incredible....This book will show you the different types of charities there are and what they stand for, also how myou can contribute, even a small amount. This book gets you to thinking that there is a lot of people that can help with the smallest of contribution (time, money, or talent)....This book will open your eyes. I purchased four of them and gave them to my friends.Book Review: Giving
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the most inspiring book I've read in years. Seeing all the things regular people are doing to help the global community is terrific. Plus, Clinton gives hundreds of ideas of things people can do to help and explains the effectiveness of many foundations helping.Book Review: It Does Take a Village...Starting with One Person
Summary: 4 Stars
The life of an ex-U.S. President must be supremely challenging to the ego given one has to pass the torch of leader of the free world to someone else as a necessary consequence of our democratic process. The limelight eventually subsides, but a certain level of media scrutiny remains constant. With that, all the former chief executives have responded to government unemployment with varying responses. Richard Nixon spent a lot of time trying to rehabilitate his post-Watergate image. Gerald Ford counseled successor Jimmy Carter frequently. Carter himself looks to be building a post-Presidential legacy as a humanitarian arguably more enduring than his one-term administration. This has also been Bill Clinton's cue to his legacy and one that has inspired him to write this eminently readable book.
Besides being the husband of the current frontrunner for the 2008 Democratic nomination, Clinton has maintained a high profile since leaving office in 2000, by staying focused on his charitable causes. Beginning in 2005, his Clinton Global Initiative - a conference that draws the best minds from around the world - has raised more than $10 billion for globe-spanning issues such as HIV/AIDS treatment (especially in Africa), climate change and how to combat poverty. He partnered with his former adversary George H.W. Bush on leading rebuilding efforts in the aftermath of Katrina and the Indian Ocean earthquake. His unavoidable charisma and media savvy have a lot to do with his success in this area, but with this book, he conveys how anyone is capable of giving back on his or her own terms.
For example, he discusses Dr. Paul Farmer, who made the breakthrough discovery of technology-driven anti-retroviral medicines can be used to treat the HIV-infected in impoverished settings. Beginning with several patients in Haiti, he proved that the poor, when motivated by sustaining health, would adhere to even complicated drug regimens and in turn, their infection would respond favorably to the treatment. From there, government-backed institutions dedicated to this field like the Global Fund brought forth Farmer's work on a worldwide scale. Clinton's concept of giving is not so exclusive as to denigrate efforts on a deliberately smaller scale. In fact, he celebrates successful charitable programs that can be viewed as model strategies for others. A heartwarming example he provides is a Maryland hairdresser named Diane Stevens, who raised money to send a motley crew of similar hairstylists to Sierra Leone with the purpose of teaching women there to become beauty specialists.
Clinton smartly organizes the book into six ways that he sees philanthropy can be realized - giving time, giving things, giving skills, giving good ideas, giving gifts that keep on giving, and most interestingly, giving gifts of reconciliation and new beginnings. Diane Stevens' case illustrates this last category, a passing of knowledge and skills also illustrated by PeacePlayers International, a group that sets up basketball leagues in the Middle East. It is truly powerful to see the Internet as the key tool to encourage the globalization of compassion. Several of Clinton's examples highlight the use of Web sites to allow Americans to help non-Americans. On the downside, the years of government inaction have taken their toll on such humanitarian efforts. Clinton treads this lapse lightly given that he has to take some accountability for the current malaise in the public sector as does every U.S. President since Nixon. Regardless, the book serves its purpose to inspire those who may feel powerless to help change the world otherwise.
Book Review: Chicken Soup for an ex-president's soul?
Summary: 1 Stars
Does anyone really need an entire book just to tell them that the world would be a better place if we all helped each other out?
I was looking for some world-changing ideas here, but this book reads like a long ghost-written feel-good press release and while the "giving" sentiment is a good one, I think the Bible already covered "do unto others" quite nicely.
I suppose an author can't very well go on a worldwide book tour without having a book first, so this one was obviously quickly produced as an excuse to hit the talk show circuit.
But most people will be able to grasp the book's entire message just from hearing interviews about the book and seeing the title. Actually reading the book is unnecessary.
Book Review: GIVING: The lies just keep on coming
Summary: 1 Stars
Before you contribute your hard-earned money to the Clinton treasury, I would STRONGLY urge you to head on over to Google video and spend a couple hours of your time viewing the documentary, "Bill Clinton: His Life."
This isn't about political affiliations, it's about people with an insatiable hunger for greed and power. This well-researched documentary exposes both Bill and Hillary for the despicable despots that they really are. It brings to light a side of their lives and business dealings that they have gone to extreme lengths (including murder - LOTS of murder) to keep hidden from public view.
Don't believe me?. Go check it out for yourself and arrive at your own conclusions. And this goes for all of you 4 and 5-star raters who have hailed and fauned over this collection of disgusting tripe.
WAKE UP, PEOPLE!!