Author: Kim Pearson

ISBN: 10: 1881849031

When our children, relatives and friends broach the subject of writing our memoirs, most of us manage to provide a broad array of negative responses from who cares about our lives to even if I wanted to write my memoirs, how would I go about it as I don't have a clue.

To help us overcome our lack of enthusiasm, Kim Pearson has come up with a most unique resource, Making History: How to remember, record, interpret and share the events of your life, which evolved from her history class that she teaches and which is based on her system of part history lesson and part memoir writing.

This very well-organized and entertaining book, complete with extensive timelines spanning the years from 1930 to 1989, as well as exercises and suggested readings, presents a  fresh look into memoir writing. To make it a delightful and interesting read, Pearson has interspersed her own personal anecdotes as well as some wonderful stories of her former students, where we are reminded why each of us plays an important part in history and why it is important to share these experiences with others.

Conveniently dividing the book into three broad sections and a conclusion, Pearson explores why tell your stories, how to tell your stories, fitting your stories into history and the meaning of life.

Commencing with the first section, Pearson examines the reasons for telling your stories which she breaks down into: connection, wisdom, inspiration and healing. As pointed out, one way or another we are all connected by our stories to each other, to the past, and to the future. It is up to us to fill in the details and connect ourselves to the events we may have experienced within a particular perspective.

No doubt living through some of these events you probably learned a thing or two. Why not pass on this knowledge to others? Moreover, you probably are one of the millions of unsung heroes who at one time or another have performed a brave deed, followed your passions or achieved your goals. Here again, why not let your descendants in on your secrets. Finally, there is probably some unfinished business where you wished you could be able to turn the clock back and apologize for what you may have done to someone. You now have the opportunity to explain why, how, to whom, the circumstances and situations. How often do we go through life wondering why our parents are not talking to a particular relative? What actually happened? 

In discussing how to tell your stories, Pearson emphasizes focusing or as she states, there is no need to write a long tome about your life. Why not limit your memoir to a vignette or short-short story. This will help you resolve the problem that we all encounter, too much information and too little time.

From here Pearson gives us the tools to explore our lives within various contexts such as economics and politics, the social fabric, wars and the international scene, technology and science, crime and disaster, arts and entertainment, lifestyle activities and the weird, trivial and hard-to-classify. Each one of these sections presents an overview of the era in relation to the particular context. For example, if we refer to economics during the time frame of 1930 through 1959, we are reminded of the Great depression, the new economic and political programs, the 1940s War Production and labor unrest. If we were alive during this era, how do we fit in either as adults or perhaps children listening to the tales of our parents?

To prod our memories, an extensive events timeline is included at the end of each section. We are free to scan these timelines and circle the events we remember, make notes in the margin, and place question marks beside the events we don't remember, cross out things we believe are wrong or misleading or do whatever else works best with us. Pearson also suggests various writing topics to consider and how to go about writing about these topics.

In addition, several helpful writing rules with their explanations are presented such as using trigger sentences, don't be polite, be specific and remember your five senses when describing and telling your stories, it is not necessary to be right, rational or logical, don't worry about the rules of grammar or spelling when writing your first drafts, and trust yourself.

The concluding chapter or as it is entitled, The Really Big Stuff, Pearson challenges her readers to become philosophical and answer the biggies as to what is the meaning of life, what are we here on earth, what is your purpose and are you fulfilling?  

I have to admit that by the end of the book I certainly concurred with Pearson when she states in her introduction: "we are actors, not just reactors." And if you are considering writing your memoirs, this is one book you don't want to be without. After all, we have all accumulated a wealth of information about success, failure, and life itself from many sources. We should not permit this information to be lost. 

The above review was contributed by:NORM GOLDMAN:  Retired Title Attorney: Editor & Publisher of Bookpleasures. Here are  Norm Goldman's Reviews