Learning to Fall: The Blessings of an Imperfect Life - Hardcover

Simmons, Philip

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0553802666 ISBN 13: 9780553802665

Publisher: Bantam Dell Pub Group, 2002

Synopsis

Diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's disease in 1993, the author, a devoted family man who found himself confronted with death, shares his unexpected lesson in living, where he finds answers to life's deepest questions, from turtle behavior to Buddhist philosophy, and introduces us to the inhabitants of his small New England town, proving that we can learn to live with compassion, joy, and courage no matter what life throws our way.

About this title

About the Author

Philip Simmons is associate professor of English at Lake Forest College in Illinois, where he taught literature and creative writing for nine years before being disabled. His literary scholarship has been published widely and his short fiction has appeared in Playboy, TriQuarterly, Ploughshares, and the Massachusetts Review, among other magazines. He lives in New Hampshire with his wife and two children.

From the Inside Flap

find myself in late August, with the nights cool and the crickets thick in the fields. Already the first blighted leaves glow scarlet on the red maples. It s a season of fullness and sweet longings made sweeter now by the fact that I can t be sure I ll see this time of the year again....
from Learning to Fall

Philip Simmons was just thirty-five years old in 1993 when he learned that he had ALS, or Lou Gehrig s disease, and was told he had less than five years to live. As a young husband and father, and at the start of a promising literary career, he suddenly had to learn the art of dying. Nine years later, he has succeeded, against the odds, in learning the art of living.

Now, in this surprisingly joyous and spirit-renewing book, he chronicles his search for peace and his deepening relationship with the mystery of everyday life.

Set amid the rugged New Hampshire mountains he once climbed, and filled with t

Edition details

• Publisher: Bantam Dell Pub Group
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0553802666
• ISBN 13: 9780553802665
• Binding: Hardcover
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 157