All These Wonders: True Stories About Facing The Unknown, a collection of stories from The Moth radio program, is a generous gift of a book. Through these stories, originally told in front of a live audience and now captured in written from, we come to know the storytellers intimately—and we get a better understanding of the human experience as a whole. Stories are precious because of this universal truth: through the story we get to know the teller. As Neil Gaiman puts it in the foreword, “Honesty matters. Vulnerability matters. Being open about who you were at a moment in time when you were in a difficult or an impossible place matters more than anything.”
I am thankful for this book. I am grateful to the 45 storytellers who had the courage to stand on a stage and tell their story. They come from a variety of backgrounds: artists, scientists, humanitarian workers, spies, refugees, authors, actors, and more. There are moments of real, raw emotion where I cried, and other moments where I laughed out loud.
I “met” people in these stories that I never would meet otherwise, and their experiences and viewpoints challenged me greatly. Even if I disagree with a worldview, it’s impossible to disagree with someone’s story of their experience. This book taught me to listen to others better; people that I encounter on a day-to-day basis. I learned to value stories more, and to take the time to hear them.
Having said that, I make this declaration: reading this book might just make you a better human being. Highly, highly recommended.
Please Note: This book was gifted as a part of the Blogging for Books Reviewers Program in exchange for my unbiased review of this work. This has in no way influenced my opinion or review of this work.