PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives

A compelling book of the confessions and secrets from the PostSecret website - the project that captured a nation's imagination.
The instructions were simple, but the results were extraordinary. 'You are invited to anonymously contribute a secret to a group art project. Your secret can be a regret, fear, betrayal, desire, confession or childhood humiliation. Reveal anything - as long as it is true and you have never shared it with anyone before. Be brief. Be legible. Be creative.'
It all began with an idea Frank Warren had for a community art project. He handed out postcards, asking people to write down a secret and post it to him, anonymously. The response was overwhelming. In under a year, Frank had over 10,000 cards which he posted on show more the website. show less

No one wants to drown in her sorrows or enjoy others' torments, but there is a wonderous, small lifting of loneliness when we discover that perfect strangers share our deceptively unique fears and hidden truths. POST SECRET stings you with the little messages scattered throughout its pages of anonymous postcards sent to Frank Warren, the man who put together this book.

I'm obviously not referring to the postcard from a man stating he survived 9/11 and never told his family or friends. Nor am I thinking of the Starbucks employee who gives decaf coffee to the customers who tick him off.

The postcards that resonate with many readers are the heart-breaking pleas, rants against the self or the endearingly honest confessions of childhood show more memories they cannot let go of easily.

The simplest ones, accompanied with beautifully constructed drawings or collages, hit home the hardest. One POST SECRET contributor, for instance, sent in a picture of her dog, along with the words, "I'm afraid no one will ever love me as much as my dog does."

POST SECRET reminds us that sometimes we can see ourselves in strangers more than we can in our friends or families. It's a scary thought, but it's also a strangely comforting one. show less

This book may not be for everyone. I read some of the entries to my husband and he was quite uncomfortable.

I, on the other hand, found a wonderful freedom about this book. To read about other people's secrets, secrets that were funny or sad or guilty or vengeful etc etc, made me more comfortable about my own secrets. And we all have them - things that we did or had done to us or things we thought or wished for, things we could never tell anybody else because WHAT WOULD PEOPLE THINK OF ME?

I guarantee that you will identify with at least a few people in this book and there is something nice about knowing you aren't the only one who feels that way.

I am an intensely private person who has devoted much of my adult life to letting go of the fears, the guilt, the insecurities and the "secretiveness" that defined the first thirty of my sixty-two years on the Planet. I'm not easily shocked, or surprised, by any aspect of the human condition. That having been said, I was pleased to find that the raw, naked and often painful introspection found on the (amazing!) pages of this book left me with a sense of understanding, insight and hmmmm, camaraderie? The smiles, chuckles and acquiescing :nods: were there as well. All-in-all, I found Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives to be . . extraordinary!

[b:PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives|87640|PostSecret show more Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives|Frank Warren|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1171104579s/87640.jpg|84604] show less

I read this book the day that my girlfriend had to surrender her dog to the animal shelter. She was crying, and I drove her home, hugged her, and dropped her off. I felt like I should have done more for her, but I didn't know what to do. I curled up on my couch with my cat and this book. I read each secret from a stranger like it was a gift of guilt, silence, shame, and hope. I was grateful for each shared moment. I still feel like a bad partner, but I feel like I am not the only one.

This is a weird book a sibling brought home one day years ago, and I read through it. Some of the secrets are relatively normal, but plenty of them come across as super-weird and you pray to god that person isn't your neighbor. It certainly led to an interesting conversation between said sibling and myself.

The project that captured a nation’s imagination.

The instructions were simple, but the results were extraordinary.

You are invited to anonymously contribute a secret to a group art project.

Your secret can be a regret, fear, betrayal, desire, confession, or childhood humiliation. Reveal anything — as long as it is true and you have never shared it with anyone before. Be brief. Be legible. Be creative.
It all began with an idea Frank Warren had for a community art project. He began handing out postcards to strangers and leaving them in public places — asking people to write down a secret they had never told anyone and mail it to him, anonymously.

The response was overwhelming. The secrets were both provocative and profound, and the show more cards themselves were works of art — carefully and creatively constructed by hand. Addictively compelling, the cards reveal our deepest fears, desires, regrets, and obsessions. Frank calls them “graphic haiku,” beautiful, elegant, and small in structure but powerfully emotional.

As Frank began posting the cards on his website, PostSecret took on a life of its own, becoming much more than a simple art project. It has grown into a global phenomenon, exposing our individual aspirations, fantasies, and frailties — our common humanity.

Every day dozens of postcards still make their way to Frank, with postmarks from around the world, touching on every aspect of human experience. This extraordinary collection brings together the most powerful, personal, and beautifully intimate secrets Frank Warren has received — and brilliantly illuminates that human emotions can be unique and universal at the same time.

MY BOOK REVIEW:

I must confess, that I picked up this book solely on its cover. I had no idea what I was getting into until I sat down and started to read.
The experience is both intense and at times, horrifying. I did laugh at some of the entries and thought OMG at others. The whole concept of this book is brilliant and unique, imaginative and very eye-opening. The idea that so many different people from around the world sent anonymous postcards revealing their deepest and sometimes darkest secrets is amazing and unbelievable.

When reading the postcards, you begin to realize that we live in a complicated and vast world filled with so much regret and pain, that you wonder the current priorities of our race. Somewhere along the way, society got lost in discovering the value of life. This book’s postcards show a lot of pain in many, some were silly and fun but the reality of others hits hard to home.

The book format is hardcover, with an extraordinary book jacket. It’s stamped and addressed like a post card. There’s 276 pages of art, humor and an interesting insight into so many lives. Warren is still receiving more postcards, and I imagine he always will. There’s a sequel to this book, I believe, filled with an equal number of postcard secrets.

This is an excellent coffee table book that would provide a lot of discussion. It’s full of reality and quality. I highly recommend it. show less