What Mama Taught Me: The Seven Core Values of Life by Tony Brown





Tony - where's your editorial staff when you need them?

Published in 2003 by William Morrow

Honestly, I like Tony Brown. I enjoyed his PBS show. I used to listen to him on the radio when I could on WLS in Chicago. But, his books are not nearly as good as I know they can be!

What Mama Taught Me: The Seven Core Values of Life deals with his "Mama", a woman who took him in when he was a baby and his mother was neglecting him. She was not a blood relative, just a woman who saw a baby starving to death due to neglect. He lived with her until her death when he was 12. This book is an attempt on his part to honor her and the simple wisdom she taught him.

The Seven Core Values are:

1. Reality: The Value of Being Yourself.

2. Knowledge: The Value of understanding your purpose

3. Race: The Value of honoring your humanity (In this case, the only race his Mama was worried about was worried about was the human race)

4. History: The value of investing in the future

5. Truth: the value of being true to yourself

6. Patience: the value of "Keeping the faith"

7. Love: the value of living joyfully.
Tony Brown
As in his other book, Black Lies, White Lies: The Truth According to Tony Brown, Brown repeats himself a lot. He quotes a passage from Hamlet 3 times (part of the "to thine ownself be true" speech) as part of his multiple descriptions of his high school English teacher. He lifts two pages from his other book concerning a story about a YMCA opening in his hometown. He says the same thing, over and over, repetitively, a lot. He repeats himself. Yes, indeed, he seems to say something and then say it again. Repetitive, he is.

Like his last book ('Black Lies, White Lies), this book is in serious need of an editor. He seems to have written the chapters separately, without regard to what he had previously written. I like the sentiments and ideas expressed, but, man, it was sometimes tiring to read them.

I rate this book 2 stars out of 5.

 This book can be found on Amazon.com here: What Mama Taught Me: The Seven Core Values of Life

Reviewed in February of 2005.

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