Scan barcode
A review by kevin_shepherd
If This Isn't Nice, What Is? by Kurt Vonnegut
4.0
Herein lies a collection of nine commencement speeches by Kurt Vonnegut, delivered at various academic institutions between (approximately) 1994 and 2001.
“We had a memorial service for Isaac [Asimov] a few years back and at one point I said, ''Isaac is up in Heaven now.'' It was the funniest thing I could have said to a group of Humanists. I rolled them in the aisles. It was several minutes before order could be restored. And if I should ever die, God forbid, I hope you will say, ''Kurt is up in Heaven now.'' That’s my favorite joke."
When my youngest son graduated from Williams College some eight or nine years ago, we were treated to a group of commencement speakers that completely blew my mind. Among those addressing his graduating class were author/historian Stacy Schiff, singer/songwriter Annie Lennox, and tennis legend Billie Jean King.
Commencement addresses can sometimes be a crap shoot. There are those that are academically inspirational [see Stacy Schiff], those that are artistically beautiful [see Annie Lennox], and those that are incredibly fun and entertaining [see Billie Jean King]. There are also, on rare occasion, those that are all of the above [see Kurt Vonnegut].
“Being merciful, it seems to me, is the only good idea we have had so far. Perhaps we will get another good idea by and by—and then we will have two good ideas.”
I wish desperately that he were still with us, but Kurt is up in Heaven now.
(He was right, that does make me laugh
“We had a memorial service for Isaac [Asimov] a few years back and at one point I said, ''Isaac is up in Heaven now.'' It was the funniest thing I could have said to a group of Humanists. I rolled them in the aisles. It was several minutes before order could be restored. And if I should ever die, God forbid, I hope you will say, ''Kurt is up in Heaven now.'' That’s my favorite joke."
When my youngest son graduated from Williams College some eight or nine years ago, we were treated to a group of commencement speakers that completely blew my mind. Among those addressing his graduating class were author/historian Stacy Schiff, singer/songwriter Annie Lennox, and tennis legend Billie Jean King.
Commencement addresses can sometimes be a crap shoot. There are those that are academically inspirational [see Stacy Schiff], those that are artistically beautiful [see Annie Lennox], and those that are incredibly fun and entertaining [see Billie Jean King]. There are also, on rare occasion, those that are all of the above [see Kurt Vonnegut].
“Being merciful, it seems to me, is the only good idea we have had so far. Perhaps we will get another good idea by and by—and then we will have two good ideas.”
I wish desperately that he were still with us, but Kurt is up in Heaven now.
(He was right, that does make me laugh