“Happyness” and Beyond

Hello again.  Today I would like to tell you about a great new book and a wonderful experience I recently enjoyed.  It was my good fortune to attend the national convention of AARP (American Association of Retired Persons) which this year was held in Orlando, Florida.  Among numerous impressive celebrity speakers (too many to be able to hear in only 3 days), was one truly outstanding highlight:  Chris Gardner. 

You will remember Chris Gardner from his best-selling autobiographical book (and movie), The Pursuit of Happyness, in which he chronicled his difficult journey as a homeless single parent from inner-city Milwaukee to success on Wall Street.   At the AARP Convention, this amazing man spoke from the heart to a spellbound audience, providing poignant and often humorous details of his life, with eye-opening glimpses from that book and from his latest: Start Where You Are: Life Lessons in Getting from Where You Are to Where You Want to Be.  In his new book, Chris shares encouraging, uplifting, and creative advice  for handling and overcoming adversity, a subject with which he has much familiarity. 

It is interesting to note Chris Gardner’s fondness for public libraries, as indicated by his frequent references to them and his strong recommendations to his audiences that they utilize their local library to enhance every aspect of their lives.   He certainly has expressed much appreciation for the support he received from his library throughout various stages of his life.  The West Palm Beach Public Library carries both of Chris Gardner’s books and the DVD “The Pursuit of Happyness”, and all are highly recommended to anyone searching for a genuinely motivational encounter. 

Esther Fawn Van Allen, Reference Librarian