“I have to say that _What It Takes_ has been a tremendous help in getting through this last terrible couple of months (the election, etc). With faith in humanity on the wane this year, big time, this series is like a vitamin boost of optimism. The excerpt of Sydney Poitier's speech at the beginning of his episode is so touching, John Irving talking about his odd technique of always having that last line written before he even really gets into writing a novel, Oprah's amazing surmounting of traumas from her childhood, Willie Mays talking about "the catch", Bannister and the 4-minute mile....all just wonderful. The first one I listened to was Doris Kearns Goodwin and I was hooked.
The next two were Frank Gehry and Johnny Cash. What I liked about those two in succession was that one tells a story of a teacher who didn't understand the potential of a great architect and who gave terrible advice that we are lucky Mr. Gehry ignored, and the other is of a sage and prescient teacher who understood the potential of the student and took pains not to interfere, though there certainly must have been temptation to do so.
The backlog of interviews is a national treasure and the labor of condensing and annotating these great life stories into pristine 30-60 minute segments comes off as effortless, which it most certainly is not! Alice Winkler, Maggie Jones, Emily Lawyer and the whole team are doing yeoman's work here and really giving you something I assure you you need.
I actually cannot seem to stop annoying people about how they must listen. Nor will I. Do yourself a favor and carve out some time for this one!!”Read full review »
vapaamies via Apple Podcasts ·
United States of America ·
12/16/16