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Joe Moran
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If You Should Fail: A Book of Solace Kindle Edition

by Joe Moran (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 41 ratings
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'There is an honesty and a clarity in Joe Moran's book If You Should Fail that normalises and softens the usual blows of life that enables us to accept and live with them rather than be diminished/wounded by them' Julia Samuel, author of Grief Works and This Too Shall Pass

'Full of wise insight and honesty. Moran manages to be funny, erudite and kindly: a rare - and compelling - combination. This is the essential antidote to a culture obsessed with success. Read it' Madeleine Bunting

Failure is the small print in life's terms and conditions.

Covering everything from examination dreams to fourth-placed Olympians, If You Should Fail is about how modern life, in a world of self-advertised success, makes us feel like failures, frauds and imposters. Widely acclaimed observer of daily life Joe Moran is here not to tell you that everything will be all right in the end, but to reassure you that failure is an occupational hazard of being human.

As Moran shows, even the supremely gifted Leonardo da Vinci could be seen as a failure. Most artists, writers, sports stars and business people face failure. We all will, and can learn how to live with it. To echo Virginia Woolf, beauty "is only got by the failure to get it . . . by facing what must be humiliation - the things one can't do."

Combining philosophy, psychology, history and literature, Moran's ultimately upbeat reflections on being human, and his critique of how we live now, offers comfort, hope - and solace. For we need to see that not every failure can be made into a success - and that's OK.

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  1. Print length
    169 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  4. Publisher
    Penguin
  5. Publication date
    September 24, 2020
  6. File size
    1270 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"A beautifully written meditation on life's inevitable setbacks and what he sardonically terms "the failing well movement". Moran encourages us to accept our impostor syndromes, to avoid becoming a "sporting masochist" for whom winning is everything, and to admire the history of West End musicals that were instant, notorious flops."  ― Guardian Books of the Year

"There is an honesty and a clarity in Joe Moran's book If You Should Fail that normalises and softens the usual blows of life that enables us to accept and live with them rather than be diminished/wounded by them." —Julia Samuel, author of Grief Works and This Too Shall Pass

"A ­calming antidote to the world of ­professionally failing... What Moran has created is a slim, lyrical and blessedly cool-headed reflection on failure as a universally shared human trial... What he provides, instead of the mechanical business strategies laid out in some popular failure titles, is a selection of fascinating and often moving lives, characterised in some way by their failure." ― New Statesman

“ Humane and witty . . . At the calm heart of Moran’s rhetorically affable book is an idea of adroit aplomb. . . . As a primer in generous and lively writing, First You Write a Sentence is blithe and convincing.” —The New York Times Book Review on First You Write a Sentence

"His encyclopedic sensibility recalls the expansive musings of Thomas Browne."—Wall Street Journal on Shrinking Violets

“Wonderful, . . . a sweeping work of history and anthropology and sociology. . . . Moran, in his book, has summoned insights from the ancients to their successors.”—Atlantic on Shrinking Violets
 

About the Author

Joe Moran is Professor of English and Cultural History at Liverpool John Moores University and is the author of seven books, including Queuing for Beginners: The Story of Daily Life from Breakfast to Bedtime,Armchair Nation: An Intimate History of Britain in Front of the TV, Shrinking Violets: The Secret Life of Shyness and First You Write a Sentence. He writes for, among others, the Guardian, the New Statesman and the Times Literary Supplement.

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B084H6P9T2
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Penguin (September 24, 2020)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 24, 2020
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1270 KB
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 169 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 41 ratings

About the author

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Joe Moran

Joe Moran

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
41 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

T. D. Bjornsson
5.0 out of 5 stars A delight to read
Reviewed in the United States on April 20, 2021
Verified Purchase
Overall a wonderful read, some of the chapters are truly a pleasure to read, such as “None of Us Is Proust”. Others like “Life Is Hell, But at Least There Are Prizes” and “The Examination Dream” are just a wonderful description of human beings.
One person found this helpful
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Noah
5.0 out of 5 stars Great
Reviewed in the United States on July 2, 2021
Verified Purchase
Well written.absorbing humours observant perpective.Well researched.
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Lens to humanity
Reviewed in India on March 20, 2021
Verified Purchase
A book that has to be read several times.
It made me to recognize a human in me.
Must read.
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Amazonian Customer
4.0 out of 5 stars Definitely not a failure
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 7, 2022
Verified Purchase
If You Should Fail is Joe Moran's personal guide to failure.
Using examples and anecdotes from a variety of subjects, he explains why to fail does not make a person a failure and how every failure is not necessarily a stepping stone to success. He ranges far and wide, from fourth placed Olympians to musicals via workplace award ceremonies, to make his points.
Erudite and entertaining, his mix of philosophy and psychology is an entertaining and thoughtful read.
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