Notes to Myself

Hugh Prather

1970

November, 2024

6/10

I like the style of the book, but it was simply lacking something. Perhaps it was the fact that each entry was so short — but a jotting down of a thought — rather than a thought-out idea. For that reason, the entries often felt scattered and unfocused.

The introspective and self-expressive/analyzing nature of the book was good. But in the end, I didn't take too much away. Stoner, as an example, better accomplishes this book's purpose. Nevertheless, there were some excellent pieces such as the statement on respecting other people's feelings towards things rather than trying to impose our own and use logic.

There still were many relatable ideas, and my favorites were the following:

No one is wrong. At most someone is uninformed. If I think an individual is wrong, either I am unaware of something, or the person is. So unless I want to play a superiority game I had best find out what he or she is looking at.

and

It could be that if I were not afraid to just be myself, I would be naturally funny. It could be that a humorous response does flick through my mind, but fear of what people might think if I just blurted out my thoughts kills it.