Synopses & Reviews
"I'm a person who listens for a living. I listen for wisdom, and
beauty, and for voices not shouting to be heard. This book chronicles
some of what I’ve learned in what has become a conversation across time
and generations, across disciplines and denominations."
Peabody Award-winning broadcaster and National Humanities Medalist
Krista Tippett has interviewed the most extraordinary voices examining
the great questions of meaning for our time. The heart of her work on
her national public radio program and podcast, On Being, has been
to shine a light on people whose insights kindle in us a sense of
wonder and courage. Scientists in a variety of fields; theologians from
an array of faiths; poets, activists, and many others have all opened
themselves up to Tippett's compassionate yet searching conversation.
In Becoming Wise,
Tippett distills the insights she has gleaned from this luminous
conversation in its many dimensions into a coherent narrative journey,
over time and from mind to mind. The book is a master class in living,
curated by Tippett and accompanied by a delightfully ecumenical dream
team of teaching faculty.
The open questions and challenges
of our time are intimate and civilizational all at once, Tippett says –
definitions of when life begins and when death happens, of the meaning
of community and family and identity, of our relationships to technology
and through technology. The wisdom we seek emerges through the raw
materials of the everyday. And the enduring question of what it means to
be human has now become inextricable from the question of who we are to
each other.
This book offers a grounded and fiercely hopeful
vision of humanity for this century – of personal growth but also
renewed public life and human spiritual evolution. It insists on the
possibility of a common life for this century marked by resilience and
redemption, with beauty as a core moral value and civility and love as
muscular practice. Krista Tippett's great gift, in her work and in Becoming Wise,
is to avoid reductive simplifications but still find the golden threads
that weave people and ideas together into a shimmering braid.
One powerful common denominator of the lessons imparted to Tippett is
the gift of presence, of the exhilaration of engagement with life for
its own sake, not as a means to an end. But presence does not mean
passivity or acceptance of the status quo. Indeed Tippett and her
teachers are people whose work meets, and often drives, powerful forces
of change alive in the world today. In the end, perhaps the greatest
blessing conveyed by the lessons of spiritual genius Tippett harvests
in Becoming Wise is the strength to meet the world where it really is, and then to make it better.
Review
"Krista Tippett's ecumenical generosity speaks both to high moral
standards and to diverse ways of conceptualizing and achieving them. Her
trade has been listening, and from that listening has emerged a deep
understanding of the mind and the heart and the curious bridges between
them. This is a book about kindness and forgiveness and the insight
that is contingent on abandoning monolithic paradigms. Becoming Wise
is an ambitious title, but in culling the wisdom of others, Tippett
achieves a distinct and lovely wisdom of her own." Andrew Solomon
Review
"Krista Tippett has tirelessly reminded us of the perennial challenge,
depth and complexity of the spiritual quest. At this pivotal moment in
history, when on all sides religion is being so flagrantly abused, this
marvellous book will inspire, excite and reinvigorate the reader." Karen
Armstrong
Review
"I am a great admirer of Krista Tippett, who has spent years using her
mind as a gentle but probing research tool into the beautiful, perilous,
mysterious realm of the human soul. With this book, she has gathered
all her years of learning and listening to create a masterpiece of
philosophical and spiritual reflection. About halfway through the book, I
stopped flagging pages and highlighting passages when I realized I was
highlighting nearly every word. This entire book is filled with things I
never want to forget. The only remedy will be to keep it near me,
always." Elizabeth Gilbert
Review
"We need Krista Tippett's voice and wisdom now more than ever. She
has elevated the art of listening and the practice of being present in a
way that is both accessible and soulful. Becoming Wise is what
I’ve been waiting for from Krista -- the opportunity to learn from her
and her experiences. This is brilliant thinking, beautiful storytelling,
and practical insight. You won't forget what you read here." Brené
Brown, Ph.D., New York Times bestselling author of Rising Strong
Review
"This is not just a selection of greatest hits. Instead, rooted in
Tippett's own keen insight, she provides an interlocking frame based on
five themes: words, the body, love, faith, and hope. With dips into
Tippett's childhood and early career, readers are embraced by her own
struggle, vulnerability, and thirst for meaning. As researcher and
TED-talk phenom Brené Brown told Tippett, ‘Hope is a function of
struggle.’ Tippett's striving here is the grist for creative genius." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
About the Author
Krista Tippett is a Peabody Award-winning broadcaster and New York Times
bestselling author. In 2014, she received the National Humanities Medal
at the White House for "thoughtfully delving into the mysteries of
human existence." She is the host of NPR's On Being.