“Tuesdays with Morrie” by Mitch Albom – Finding All the Answers to Life

Most of us are lucky enough to have had someone in our lives who served as a guide, as a teacher who showed us how life is to be navigated. For some people, that person was a grandparent, a parent, a teacher, or perhaps even a peer.

In nearly every case, it is someone older and wiser who knows what he or she is really talking about. For celebrated author Mitch Albom, that person was Morrie Schwartz, his college professor from more than twenty years ago.

Unfortunately, Mitch had lost touch with him, and consequently, his teachings. The advice he once received from him now felt cold, weightless and distant… the wisdom he once cultivated has faded away, and he no longer had a mentor to guide him through life.

Fortunately, Mitch Albom had a second chance very few of us could dream of; to reconnect with his mentor, who he knew was dying. He started visiting him consistently once a week and brought back to life this special relationship, relishing the chance to ask his mentor his most pressing questions. The result of his visits and discussions paved the way for Tuesdays with Morrie, one of Mitch Albom’s most celebrated books.

Before getting into this book, what you need to understand is that it revolves around a largely personal experience, and even though the many things Albom comes to learn can indeed be applied to virtually anyone’s everyday life, the advice was meant for him.

As such, you shouldn't look at this book as a guide on how to live… only the author can do that. Rather, you ought to perceive this book as a good source of knowledge of what life can possibly throw at you, and what reactions would be to your advantage.

It is a thought-provoking piece designed to make you reflect on your own life to find your own answers, rather than hand them to you on a silver platter.

From a technical point of view, Tuesdays with Morrie doesn’t falter in the slightest. Every single piece of dialog between the two is sharp and full of meaning; neither of them likes to mince words or stray off-topic.

In addition to that, we also get to read about what’s happening in the author’s head from time to time as he offers his own, personal analysis as to what he just talked about with Morrie.

In the end, it seems that what Morrie is really trying to teach Albom is the fact that human relationships and one’s health are more important than all the wealth and objects in the world, and that we can find happiness if we don’t get hung up on life’s many trivialities.

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to those who are looking for advice in their search for happiness.

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Mitchell David "Mitch" Albom Personal site Most know Mitch Albom through his most famous books, The Five People You Meet in Heaven and Tuesdays with Morrie, but the man born all the way back in 1958 has had a long and diverse career as a journalist, screenwriter, broadcaster, musician, dramatist, and radio show host.