Moments to Ponder
A Collection of Inspirational, Humorous and General Wellbeing Quotes and Phrases to Make Your Day
Wisdom collected across a lifetime is shared in this brief and personal title.
Robert Gesmundo’s entertaining and personal Moments to Ponder collects inspirational and humorous quotations.
Compiled quotations, mostly from unknown authors, that have been a source of inspiration throughout Gesmundo’s long and varied career are shared here for a wider audience. Some of these are familiar; others are more regional and less generally known. Some are only a few lines long, others are longer; some are serious, others are quite funny; some relate to life, others relate to work.
Together, these quotes deliver a large dose of wisdom on a wide variety of topics—everything from cultivating imagination to tips for success to the meanings of faith, courage, and hope. There is quite a bit of wit involved and certainly much to ponder. Even when they are brief, the quotes are meaningful and thought-provoking: “Why not go out on a limb: / Isn’t that where the fruit is?”
The book begins with a brief but adequate introduction explaining how and why the collection came to be that is reinforced by Gesmundo’s occasional personal observations on the quotes, which demonstrate how they impacted his life. For example, after “Forget what hurt you in the past, but / Never forget what it taught you,” Gesmundo talks about losing money in one business and then subsequently establishing another, more successful business: he reflects, “That gave us security, family unity and allowed us to develop many new and strong friendships. I never looked back.”
These personal insights, which are worthwhile if not substantive, distinguish the quotation book among others of its kind, though there are not enough such asides to clarify how these ideas can make a meaningful impact for others. Gesmundo’s paragraphs are conversational and informal, and they contain distracting grammatical errors.
The work is random to excess. Other than the section “In a Lighter Vein,” which focuses on humorous quotations, there is no clear rhyme or reason to the material’s organization—no chapters, no sections that separate or identify different types of quotations, and no index. Life advice is unhelpfully mixed with quotes related specifically to business; the result is haphazard. The work feels more like a personal collection than one designed with the public in mind.
The book is quite short, and it can easily be scanned or read in one sitting. Quotations are set apart from one another with slight space, and the first words of each appear in bold type to clarify where new thoughts begin. The format is clear but not spacious.
Moments to Ponder is a disorganized compilation of snippets of wisdom collected across a lifetime.
Reviewed by
Barry Silverstein
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
