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The Priority List: A Teacher's Final Quest to Discover Life's Greatest Lessons Paperback – April 4, 2020

by David Menasche (Author)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 322 ratings
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In this “beautiful, heartfelt, and ultimately important story about love, kinship, gratitude, and miracles” (Elizabeth Gilbert, #1 New York Times bestselling author), a beloved high school English teacher with terminal brain cancer undertakes a cross-country journey to reunite with his former students in order to find out if he made a difference and discovers what is truly important in life along the way.

David Menasche lived for his work as a high school English teacher. His passion inspired his students, and between lessons on Shakespeare and sentence structure, he forged a unique bond with his kids, buoying them through personal struggles while sharing valuable life lessons.

When brain cancer ultimately stole David’s vision, memory, mobility, and—most tragically of all—his ability to continue teaching, he was devastated by the thought that he would no longer have the chance to impact his students’ lives each day.

But teaching was something Menasche just couldn’t give up. Undaunted by the difficult road ahead of him, he decided to end his treatments and make life his classroom. He turned to Facebook with an audacious plan: a journey across America—by bus, by train, by red-tipped cane—in hopes of seeing firsthand how his kids were faring in life. Had he made a difference? Within forty-eight hours of posting, former students in more than fifty cities replied with offers of support and shelter.

Traveling more than eight thousand miles from Miami to New York, and visiting hundreds of his students, David’s fearless journey explores the things we all want and need out of life—family, security, independence, love, adventure—and forces us to stop to consider what truly matters in life. Evocative, moving, and inspirational, Priority List “is a rousing testimony to the ways in which, in the face of death, living fully in the present moment becomes possible” (Publishers Weekly).
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  1. Print length
    240 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publication date
    April 4, 2020
  4. Dimensions
    5.13 x 0.6 x 7 inches
  5. ISBN-10
    1982158123
  6. ISBN-13
    978-1982158125
  7. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David Menasche (1973–2014) grew up a skate punk with a love for literature and a lack of direction. He taught English at Miami’s magnet school, Coral Reef Senior High School, for fifteen years. In 2012, he was awarded Teacher of the Year by his region. He lived in New Orleans.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Atria (April 4, 2020)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1982158123
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1982158125
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 7.7 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.13 x 0.6 x 7 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 322 ratings

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  1. David Menasche

    David Menasche

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  2. Jodi Lipper

    Jodi Lipper

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    Jodi Lipper is a New York Times bestselling ghost writer, book doctor, and editorial consultant who works with high profile experts and celebrities to garner major publishing deals and translate their experiences and expertise into highly effective and marketable books. Jodi has co-written several notable memoirs as well as prescriptive books about diet and fitness, business, relationships, and parenting.

    Before becoming a full time writer, Jodi edited fiction at Atria Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, where she worked with numerous #1 New York Times best sellers such as Jodi Picoult, Brad Thor, Dan Brown, and the late Vince Flynn. This experience coupled with her work as an author on her own trio of best sellers has given Jodi unique insight into the entire publishing process. She knows how to write the type of proposals and manuscripts that editors respond to in a highly versatile style that captures each author's unique voice. This is one reason the industry's top publishers and agents repeatedly hire Jodi to collaborate on their books.

    Jodi thrives when collaborating creatively with passionate authors who have an amazing story or unique advice that can help change readers' lives. She lives in NJ with her husband and two young daughters. Read more about Jodi and her latest projects at: http://www.jodilipper.com/

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Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
322 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Hazel
5.0 out of 5 stars blown away
Reviewed in the United States on March 31, 2014
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Having gone to Coral Reef whilest he still taught there I was never lucky enough to have had him as my teacher but my closest friends had. Not once was that classroom door shut during any lunch or break. Any word that came out of someone's mouth about this man was not negative but inquisitive and loving and positive. I never had the chance to personally meet him (maybe it was my own fear of also becoming addicted to his presence) but having read this book has opened my eyes an made me cry more than I would like to admit. What a fantastic idol yes idol what is said in this book is so true and there are so many more inspiring stories from so many other students/ staff members who's lives he has touched that it would fill bookshelves. This is a man with pride and great candor and this book was fantastically written to reflect it. I can't help but be reminded of the Last Lecture except it makes me so incredibly excited to know he is still here among us and is still accessible to any who want to reach him. This book was just outstanding
3 people found this helpful
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Traci M.
5.0 out of 5 stars Don't Believe the Negs
Reviewed in the United States on February 7, 2014
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I was shocked to read someone call the author narcissistic and bombastic in his mannerisms. Ugh. Why? Envy? A lack of understanding? The author talks about his relationship with his students and how he takes cancer, something that took my mother, and faced it head on. He takes a fear, a real fear, and travels from South Florida to California with merely the clothes on his back and the invitations from his former students. Wow! He must have made an impression because he had a boatload of invites and never slept on a bench! He has lots to be proud of. I don't call that narcissistic in the least.

Books like this aren't my type. I tend to shun away from them but this one was read from cover to cover. I couldn't help but finish it because I felt like I was traveling with the author. I felt like his student and I'm older than he is! As a teacher myself, our job IS NOT EASY. It takes a lot to love it with the vivaciousness this man did. He cared for his students and their innumerable testimonies prove that! Just go to his Facebook page and look at the support. It is touching and eye-opening.

Teachers, students, cancer patients/survivors, human beings...EVERYONE needs to read this book. It will touch your heart and inspire you. I'm proud I not only share a state with him (well, not anymore) but a passion of teaching. I plan to follow this man's life from now on. I bet you will too.
19 people found this helpful
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0xAA55
5.0 out of 5 stars Lighting the way
Reviewed in the United States on January 30, 2014
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I found this book from an opinion article about not being afraid of dying, authored by Menasche, that may or may not have been largely a plug for his book. I figured, "who cares if it is, because as he approaches the end of his life, what does he have to gain from money?" And for that matter, it was awfully gracious of him to write a book in his limited moments, so I felt it was worth a read, and I liked the premise.

I wanted to connect with someone who was confronting death head on. I recently lost my Grandmother very abruptly to complications from cancer. It is the first (and only) death I have ever witnessed up close and personally. I was given the privilege and pain of watching the entire process from her bedside without interruption. It was heart-wrenching and terrifying, the clinical way which it occurred and the jagged emptiness it filled me with to imagine that the end of my own life could be similarly awful has haunted me ever since. I wanted to find someone who could bravely stare death in the face and have an answer, because I couldn't. To that end, I am very grateful for this book.

I'll start my review by saying, this book wasn't exactly what I expected, and from a literary stand point, it's nothing spectacular. From a human standpoint, it's everything, and it changed my life in the subtle way that I think Menasche sets out to. As I began reading, there were many times where Menasche would point out some of the teaching techniques he would try, and the impact it would have, and I found myself rolling my eyes a bit - like he would say how he would respect his students, and in return they respected him, and as a maxim that works just fine, but the way he gets from a to b without any points in between was a bit ridiculous, as I've seen teachers who have tried to take the same route with their students and not even get a tenth of the traction. However, in time, I found myself excusing this, because surely this is not a book written to describe his teaching methods in depth (which, would actually make for a great sequel), and as he met with his students in the latter-half of the book, specific stories helped change the "I did this, then, MAGIC HAPPENED!" impression of his generalizations into something more understandable.

My problem was that I wanted him to be superhuman, someone I could idolize, someone who had these epic words of wisdom that nobody else could offer me who didn't walk in his shoes. He does not represent that ideal. I think he wishes he did - but I do not believe he thinks it of himself either. Rather, once my expectations were appropriately re-calibrated, I grew from liking this book to loving it. It is in his inescapable humanity that his story becomes believable. He isn't trying to be anybody but himself, and he's just trying to get the word out on his experiences before he can't any longer. At least, that's my impression.

I find solace in his unedited honesty. His book may in part be to prove his worth to himself, to apologize to his wife, and to establish a legacy where others who were not his students can see him through ideal eyes. I can't blame him for any of these things, and are the exact things I would want to do if I were in his position. He doesn't hide it, he doesn't mince words - I don't think there's time to; this book is what it is, and that is what makes it beautiful. I can feel him reflecting on himself, I can feel the tug of him drawing on his prior students to build himself up inside as his cancer drags him down. I am enamored with a man who both figuratively and literally runs from the reaper, denies and ignores it in a sense, while embracing that some day, he will no longer be able to have any control over his fate and will eventually, willingly or not, submit. This isn't a heavily refined autobiography, this is a blog in paperback format, the necessarily hastily edited thoughts of a dying man who has little time to weigh each word and just wants to go out knowing he made a difference. Don't we all.

I read this book in several hours one early morning when anxiety and insomnia kept me from my dreams. I cried nearly the entire way through, from watching a disease destroy a wonderful life, to watching a man refuse to be defined by that disease, to seeing the outpouring of love and support toward him, to watching him slowly and (albeit with documented difficulty) graciously lose a strong measure of control over his life and faculties. I wish I could have found the easy answers in this book to my consternation regarding death, but, I think with hard problems come only the hard answers - the ones we don't want to accept or the ones that only fit the person giving the answer. There is no right way to go about dying, but watching one man confront the issues of a fading life with honesty gives me a sort of strength and hope and also re-illustrates the importance of living the life I want to grow into right now, this day. I wish this book could have been longer and spent more time delving into the intimate details of each interaction he had, but I am happy with the glimpses I've got.

I tip my hat to Mr. Menasche. It is with great courage that he stopped his treatment and accepted his fate and the adventure that would govern his final days. I hope I too can find my own path to self fulfillment, for whatever it is worth when a fate becomes imminent and inevitable.

If you ever read this Mr. Menasche, thank you for sharing your story, and know that you've made a connection and impact upon yet another stranger whose path you'll likely never cross. You're a great teacher indeed and I wish I could have been one of your students, at a minimum just to see what it was all about. But, in a way, I guess that now I am.
24 people found this helpful
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H. Salmon
4.0 out of 5 stars good read
Reviewed in the United States on May 20, 2014
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Really interesting, really good read. I would recommend this to teachers and non teachers alike. I couldn't put it down and the book was well written and flowed very well.
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Paula Natalia
5.0 out of 5 stars Speechless, but so much to say.
Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2014
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I am a former student of Menasche and while I have intentionally tried to forget much of my high school years, it's hard to forget a teacher who taught more than just the curriculum. He gave us life lessons, but not in the scrutinizing, don't bring shame upon this family, parental type of way. He taught us how to recognize who we were through our own words and the words of various authors. The missteps we made were okay, as long as we learned something from it. Like the time, I tried to slyly slip a late assignment under his classroom door. I expected him to reprimand me, but he didn't. He knew I had already tortured myself with anxiety about it and that was enough. I learned lessons from Menasche back in 11th grade and amazingly he's still able to inspire and teach me today, 16 years later.

While I read the book, I couldn't help but laugh, cry, and feel inspired almost simultaneously. I recommend this book to not only all of Menasche's former students, but also to anyone who can thank a teacher for changing their life for the better. I look forward to reading this book over and over again and to some day passing it on to my own children in hopes that they will also take something valuable from it.
7 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Darran Teneycke
5.0 out of 5 stars Awesome read
Reviewed in Canada on July 14, 2015
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Awesome read! Very inspirational.
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Amazon Customer
1.0 out of 5 stars One Star
Reviewed in India on March 19, 2015
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Poor the pages were as if cut with a scissor and finish was poor
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Grannysebooks
5.0 out of 5 stars inspirational!
Reviewed in Australia on May 27, 2014
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This man lived his life giving students and colleges alike an insight into his passion. It is a passion that motivates, guides, supports and encourages growth of the individual. Everyone can learn from David menasche's story and so much more than just English literature. Put it at the forefront of your 'must read' list.
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Doug MacLean
3.0 out of 5 stars As a former teacher with 40 years of experience teaching ...
Reviewed in Canada on September 13, 2014
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As a former teacher with 40 years of experience teaching students 12 to 19 years old, I feel I'm quite familiar with Denis Menasche's working environment. There was only a hint of what most of us have to deal with on a daily basis and this came from one of the student notes found at the end of each chapter. How do you deal with the "less than enthusiastic" student placed in your classroom? Denis dealt with this problem by kicking him out. That's when he lost me. There are many ways to handle this situation which we all face at one time or another. He chose the most facile. Why, to make a point with the rest of the class? Exactly what point does this form of bullying make to the rest of the class? That might is right? This is a lesson that most students have grown up with, in and out of school. As a teacher I have the opportunity to show the class another way to deal with the problem. Menasche missed it by trying to show the class how tough he was. Sorry, but this juvenile approach leaves me cold.
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William Bickerton
4.0 out of 5 stars Inspirational
Reviewed in Australia on June 5, 2014
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Quite a good read - not the type of book that I normally read so I found it a bit hard going. There is no doubt that it would be of great interest to someone who has a problem and is looking for inspiration.
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