Gunn's Golden Rules: Life's Little Lessons For Making It Work (2010) - Plot & Excerpts
I love Tim Gunn. I respect his talent. More especially, I have been impressed by his ability to comfort and motivate the volatile artists who compete on Project Runway. The world needs more people like Tim Gunn. So I am disappointed to write that “Gun’s Golden Rules: Life’s Little Lessons for Making It Work” isn’t very good.“Gun’s Golden Rules” is a poorly constructed book that doesn’t seem to know what it wants to be. Is it a catty celebrity tell-all memoir or a motivational self-help book? It is both of the above and neither of the above all at the same time. It’s a rambling mess.The book’s title and structure implies that it is intended as a self-help book. Unfortunately the examples used in each chapter often fail to support or divert from the chapter’s “Golden Rule.” Furthermore, some of the examples given throughout the book undermine some of the golden rules he is trying to teach. For example, in the book Gunn exposes several celebrities and family he has observed behaving badly. How is dishing on them taking the high road (Rule 3)? How does that build good karma (Rule 6)? How is that a nicety (Rule 7)? How is that understanding of all sides of a story (Rule 9)? How is gossiping about your host or other guests after an event being a good guest (Rule 10)? To the contrary, it would seem that these petty anecdotes are examples of what he should have taken to the grave (Rule 13).This book’s saving grace is Tim Gunn (thus 2 rather than 1 star rating). The prose is very clearly Tim Gunn’s voice and many of the stories are positive, motivating and interesting. I blame the book’s logical and organizational failures to the publisher, whoever edited it and the co-author. I can easily believe the publisher demanding more celebrity gossip to help sales. Or maybe they wanted to refashion a memoir into a self-help book. The editor should have corrected the obvious logical flaws. And the co-author, who I assume transcribed recordings or interviews of Tim dictating his stories and insights, failed to add structure to rambling orations. Of course, I’m speculating here, but whatever happened these literary professionals should have known better. They failed him. I picked this up at the library on a whim. I'd watched a couple seasons of Project Runway and thought Tim seemed as if he would have some interesting stories to tell.Well, I must be very jaded but I was NOT expecting Tim to be such a genuinely nice person! I love how he continually exhorts us to take the high road, be kind, and consider the other person. It truly is refreshing to hear this from someone in his position.I wish the producers of the show would include more of Mr. Gunn interacting with the designers. Good read!
What do You think about Gunn's Golden Rules: Life's Little Lessons For Making It Work (2010)?
I absolutely loved this book. It is a sassy, personal, humorous take on universal life lessons.
—papillon53
A fun book. If you're a fan of Tim Gunn, this book is a must read!
—jaydeebear
Not just the true star of the show, also a genuinely nice guy.
—bpr27
