re
SELF-HELP
,
MY STROKE
OF LUCK
OH, THE THINGS I K_IVOW LA GUIDE TO
SUCCESS, OR, FAILING THAT HAPPINESS
By Kirk Douglas
(William Morrow; 196 pp.; $22.95)
By Al Franken
(E.P. Dutton; 128 pp.; $19.95)
Kirk Douglas richly deserves his status as a
Hollywood icon. Not content with his many
achievements in the movies, Douglas turned to
writing and, at the age of 72, he published his best-
selling autobiogra-
phy, The Ragman's
Son. He has since
written seven other
books, including My
Al Franken dedicated his new advice book, Oh, The
Stroke of Luck.
In one sense, this
latest book is a con-
tinuation of
Douglas' autobiog-
raphy. It tells the
story of his life
since 1996 when,
suddenly, without
warning, he "felt a
peculiar sensation"
KIRK DOLTGI,
in his right cheek.
He lost the power
of speech and was
rushed to the hospital, where he was told that he
had had a stroke.
What happened as he began the long process of
rehabilitation is narrated in this forthright account.
At first, Douglas was so depressed that he contem-
plated suicide. But, supported by his family, espe-
cially his wife, he began a course of physical and
speech therapy.
He made sufficient progress during the first year
that he was able to walk on the stage and accept a
special Oscar for his "50 years as a creative and
moral force in the motion picture community." He
went on to play the lead in a new movie, Diamonds.
And in 1999, at the age of 83, had a second bar
mitzvah at Sinai Temple in Westwood, Calif
Eight years earlier, after surviving a helicopter
crash in which two people were killed, Douglas
began to study Torah; he has become more and
more immersed in the "spiritual side" of Judaism.
Although, he says, "the rituals of Judaism don't
interest me," he prays in his own way and urges
everyone to "pray, it will help you."
Toward the end of the book, Douglas tells of his
recent trip to the Middle East where he dedicated
playgrounds in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
Finally, he presents his "Operator's Manual," a
series of six precepts that were first designed to help
people recover from strokes but which he now
believes are applicable to the total way in which we
lead our lives.
This well-written, inspirational volume is filled
with wit and humor. It is a surprisingly light-heart-
ed guide for those striving to overcome any kind of
handicap.
- Morton I. Teicher
Lelli's of
Auburn Hills
welcomes you to ,1,\
experience Detroit'sq
Annual Rollback. \X,
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1992...
One Decade Ago!
Things I Know! A Guide to Success, or, Failing That,
Happiness, to Oprah Winfrey.
Yes, it was a blatant attempt to curry favor, hoping
beyond hope that she'd pick the book as a selection
of the Oprah Book Club. But it didn't work.
-Just about the time Franken's self-help tome was coming
off the presses, Oprah decided to cancel the book club.
Even in retrospect, though, Franken does not feel silly.
"I'm just angry that she evidently stopped read-
ing," he said in a telephone interview from his apart-
ment in New York.
Ironically, the book certainly merited a selection if
only for its honesty. "I don't sugar-coat anything just to
sell you -a book the way the Dali Llama does," he writes.
Consider, for example, Franken's advice to new
college graduates about marriage, taken from the
-
author's own experi-
ence. Franken and
his
wife never go to
Ph.D. (Hon.)
bed
angry. They just
Oh, the Things I Know!
stay up and fight.
Moreover, the
brief tome was writ-
ten by the perfect
self-help book
author - at least
according to this
self-help book's
author.
"I'm right in the
middle of success.',
A GuuDE TO SUCCESS,
There's no point in
OR, FAILING THAT, HAPPINESS
getting advice from
hopeless failures,"
he notes.
"I once wasted a day reading billionaire Paul
Allen's book about whether the seats on his private
jet should all face forward or face each other. The
perfect person [to write self-help books] is me. I'm
successful yet fly commercial - albeit first class."
Franken's only regret is that this kind of book was
not available to guide him when he got out college
(Harvard '73). It would have changed his life.
"I probably would have done Saturday Night Live,"
he said. "Wait. I did do Saturday Night Live."
He paused briefly to reflect, and then adds: "I
probably would not have fooled myself quite as much
on things like thinking that failure was a good thing.
'All the advice books tell you that failure is a good
teacher. So each failure you have, you say, 'Hey, this
is good.' But it isn't. I would have understood my
failures for what they were: failures."
Still, Franken sees a relationship between the faith
of his fathers and his chosen profession. "I do think
that Jews value humor, or at least a lot of them do.
Comedian is a respected position in Jewish culture."
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6/28
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75