A Lifetime of Secrets (edit title)

• Rated 5 stars

“Powerful, beautiful, honest...”

• Rated 5 stars

“This amazes me.”

• Rated 5 stars

“I love postcards, I love secrets. Can't go wrong here.

I'm seeing him in Januaryyyyy! :D :D :D ”

• Rated 5 stars

“No matter who I show this book to, they're always impressed and want to read more. It tends to put people into a strange position; finding out that there are others in the world who have hopes and dreams, and pasts they can't forget. This book takes you, within a single postcard per person, deep into the most intimate parts of a person's life, and into things they've never shared, even with those close to them.”

• Rated 5 stars

“see post secret”

• Rated 5 stars

“Auntie Nanuuq said: 5 stars
This book evolved out of an art installation...Frank would hand out postcards during talks and ask people to write their secrets on them. Then they would pass them around and volunteer to read the one that had come their way.

The secrets people shared made me think, believe, remember, feel, empathize, cry, and Thank Creator for my life.

There is no explanation, you have to read this for yourself....it just might change your life.

Excerpts:

**"I am editor for a large online atheist newsletter....and I believe in God"

** "I am looking for a Dare-to-Be-Great situation. (i really hope i find it. i NEED to find it)"

** "When i was 18, I baptized my dog in my living room"

**"In order to function in society I have to be kept sedated ...like some kind of wild animal"

** "I leave encouraging notes in open lockers"

** "I LIED it never came out negative I just didn't want both of us worrying"

** "YOU ARE WHAT I NEVER KNEW I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR"

** "STOP TELLING PEOPLE YOU 'BUILD' YOUR OWN FURNITURE! YOU BUY. Then Assemble. There's NO building!"

** "I skip class to drive around my old neighborhood and pretend I still live there and that I'm happy"

** WHENEVER I MAKE YOU A CD ILL HIDE 1 SONG THAT SAYS HOW I REALLY FEEL ABOUT YOU"

** "It's taken over 20 years but I finally figured it out.... I'm really cute & I deserve someone who sees that... & it was worth the wait"

** "I wish I could interview your ex-wife and find out why she left. And see if they are the same reasons why I have considered leaving"

** "I'm finally on my way to becoming everything I've always wanted to be, especially MYSELF!"

I hope you'll consider reading this book.....
”

• Rated 5 stars

“I was so entranced by the review in the "non-tags" section, I knew I had to read this. I am so glad I did, and Grateful to the person who reviewed it.

This book evolved out of an art installation...Frank would hand out postcards during talks and ask people to write their secrets on them. Then they would pass them around and volunteer to read the one that had come their way.

The secrets people shared made me think, believe, remember, feel, empathize, cry, and Thank Creator for my life.

There is no explanation, you have to read this for yourself....it just might change your life.

Excerpts:

**"I am editor for a large online atheist newsletter....and I believe in God"

** "I am looking for a Dare-to-Be-Great situation. (i really hope i find it. i NEED to find it)"

** "When i was 18, I baptized my dog in my living room"

**"In order to function in society I have to be kept sedated ...like some kind of wild animal"

** "I leave encouraging notes in open lockers"

** "I LIED it never came out negative I just didn't want both of us worrying"

** "YOU ARE WHAT I NEVER KNEW I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR"

** "STOP TELLING PEOPLE YOU 'BUILD' YOUR OWN FURNITURE! YOU BUY. Then Assemble. There's NO building!"

** "I skip class to drive around my old neighborhood and pretend I still live there and that I'm happy"

** WHENEVER I MAKE YOU A CD ILL HIDE 1 SONG THAT SAYS HOW I REALLY FEEL ABOUT YOU"

** "It's taken over 20 years but I finally figured it out.... I'm really cute & I deserve someone who sees that... & it was worth the wait"

** "I wish I could interview your ex-wife and find out why she left. And see if they are the same reasons why I have considered leaving"

** "I'm finally on my way to becoming everything I've always wanted to be, especially MYSELF!"

I hope you'll consider reading this book.....
”

• Rated 5 stars

“Part of this review is copied from my review of another PostSecret book, because they are so similar that the same comments apply to both. But by their nature, each is also unique - in fact, every one of the postcards is completely unique. So I am never bored by them, in fact, I can't get enough of them! I visit the website every Sunday to see the new ones.

Is there anyone on the planet who hasn't yet heard of the PostSecret phenomenon? It has taken the world by storm! PostSecret is an ongoing community art project in which everyone is invited to decorate a postcard and write on it a secret that they've never told anyone before, and then to send it in to Frank Warren, who conceived and coordinates the project. Warren selects and posts 20 postcards on the website every Sunday. (postsecret.blogspot.com)

I try to check the website every week to see the new cards. They are just fascinating, and I always wish there were more. In this book, I got my wish - it reproduces approximately 500 postcards.

The cards are amazing in their diversity and their ability to move us. Some are simple, many are amateurish, others are complex, and a few are true works of art. But every one is unique and highly creative. And the secrets themselves are equally diverse. Some are inspiring, many are poignant, others are funny, and a few will haunt you. There are even some that are gross! And some are sexually explicit. Together they all demonstrate both our shared humanity and the uniqueness of every individual.

It is both sad and reassuring (that it is normal and practically universal) that a great many - perhaps the majority - of the cards are about grief for a lost love.

In this, the fourth PostSecret book, all of the cards are in English. The book is organized according to the "lifetime" theme: it begins with secrets about childhood, or ones from children, and progresses through the stages of life to old age. I like this - it gives structure to the book and makes it easier to look up a favorite card. Sometimes other themes are also included among the groupings, such as a centerfold display featuring cards about music.

I'll give some examples of the secrets in this book, but you miss out on a lot when you can't see the art that goes along with them:

"I hide my vulnerability behind meanness. - Sorry"

"I save every card, note, letter, picture, drawing, and email my friends send me so that when I am old & alone I will remember how much I was loved."

"The day I turned eleven, I waited all day for the letter written in emerald-green ink telling me I had been accepted to Hogwarts." (written in green ink)

"When I see old people working here I am afraid of my future" (on a photo of Wal-Mart)

"I want to go home . . . but I am home."

"I would rather suffer and die during an adventure than be happy in ordinary life"

"I saved stamps all year long so i could make my grandmother a real crafty christmas present. she didn't make it that long. i can't stop saving them."

"Dear Birthmother - I have great parents. I've found love. Im happy."

"I don't believe in satan, but once I prayed to him and offered my soul if he would make me pretty."

"i am often sad that i don't have a gag reflex"

"it didn't get lost in the mail . . . I kept it!" (written on Christmas wrapping paper)

"I love my TV more than people"

"TV lied to me about how life would be."

"I'm in a wonderful, loving marriage & we are still virgins and that's okay w/ me"

"I'm scared that my surfing days are over."

"Sometimes I miss prison."

"Everyone thinks I drink coffee. I hate coffee. It's really Grape Kool-Aid."

"There is a stranger living my life . . . and she's ME."

"My firm forges client signatures on documents."

"When I've had a bad day at work, I come home and lie in a huge cardboard box. It makes me remember when I was a kid and felt safe. I'm 44 years old and I'm my own therapist."

"I hope it turns out to be cancer, so I'll finally have an excuse to slow down."

"No one here needs me anymore." (on a photo of the earth)

"I have been planning my husband's funeral for 24 years."

"I was married at 19, a virgin. I believed in fidelity and have been faithful to my husband. But now, at 75, I can't bear the thought that I will die without ever having a sexual experience with another man."

"It all passed so quickly" (on a photo of aged hands holding an old photo of a little girl)

. . . and my favorite: "Retirement: The great thing about getting out of bed, . . . you get to go back in."

(unpaginated - 200 pages?)”

• Rated 5 stars

“This is a good book to just pass the time with and makes some people realize how easy their life is.”

• Rated 5 stars

“a gift from the friend who knows me best :] this book will know you too and you'll know all of them”