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Six-Word Memoirs
It All Changed in an Instant: More Six-Word Memoirs by Writers Famous & Obscure
“A perfect distraction and inspiration, and a collection that begs to be shared. Be warned, though. If you plan to lend out your copy, start out with two. Once it leaves your hands you’ll never see it again.”—Denver Post (on Not Quite What I Was Planning)
The editors of the New York Times bestseller Not Quite What I Was Planning are back with its much-anticipated sequel, It All Changed in an Instant. With contributions from acclaimed authorslike Malcolm Gladwell, Frank McCourt, Wally Lamb, Isabel Allende,Junot Diaz, Amy Tan, and James Frey, and celebritieslike Sarah Silverman, Suze Orman, Marlee Matlin,Neil Patrick Harris,Ann Coulter, and Chelsea Handler, It All Changed in an Instant presents a thousand more glimpses of humanity. . .six words at a time. In the vein of the popular Post Secret books, It All Changed in an Instant, in the words of Vanity Fair, “will thrill minimalists and inspire maximalists.�
The editors of the New York Times bestseller Not Quite What I Was Planning are back with its much-anticipated sequel, It All Changed in an Instant. With contributions from acclaimed authorslike Malcolm Gladwell, Frank McCourt, Wally Lamb, Isabel Allende,Junot Diaz, Amy Tan, and James Frey, and celebritieslike Sarah Silverman, Suze Orman, Marlee Matlin,Neil Patrick Harris,Ann Coulter, and Chelsea Handler, It All Changed in an Instant presents a thousand more glimpses of humanity. . .six words at a time. In the vein of the popular Post Secret books, It All Changed in an Instant, in the words of Vanity Fair, “will thrill minimalists and inspire maximalists.�
274 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 29, 2009
44 people are currently reading
774 people want to read
About the author
Larry Smith
135books58followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the ŷ database with this name.
Larry Smith is the founder of The Six-Word Memoir® Project, a bestselling series of nine books, board game, live event program, and a global phenomenon found in classrooms, conferences, and corporate settings alike.
Larry speaks on the power of personal storytelling across the world. He has been invited to work with teams at Twitter, Levi’s, JPMorgan Chase, Snapchat, Dell, Yelp, Shutterfly, ESPN and Google; nonprofits including the Zen Hospice Project and Dress For Success, as well as foundations, philanthropies, and schools. He’s a frequent speaker at conferences such as TEDx, PopTech, Summit Series (called “Davos for the Millennials�), the AARP 50+ Convention. He teaches the class, “What’s Your Story? How to Deliver an Authentic Elevator Pitch� in private sessions and on-site at companies.
Prior to founding the Six-Word Memoir project, Larry had a robust career in journalism. He was articles editor of Men’s Journal, executive editor of Yahoo! Internet Life, senior editor at ESPN The Magazine, a founding editor of P.O.V. and editor-in-chief of its sister publication, EGG. While living in San Francisco, he was managing editor of the wire/syndication service AlterNet and an editor at Dave Eggers' Might Magazine. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, ESPN Magazine, Popular Science, Men’s Health, Salon, Slate, Buzzfeed, and has contributed essays to many anthologies, including Modern Love: 50 True and Extraordinary Tales of Desire, Deceit, and Devotion and The End of the Golden Gate: Writers on Loving and (Sometimes) Leaving San Francisco.
He lives in Berkeley, CA, with his wife, the writer Piper Kerman, and their son.
Larry Smith is the founder of The Six-Word Memoir® Project, a bestselling series of nine books, board game, live event program, and a global phenomenon found in classrooms, conferences, and corporate settings alike.
Larry speaks on the power of personal storytelling across the world. He has been invited to work with teams at Twitter, Levi’s, JPMorgan Chase, Snapchat, Dell, Yelp, Shutterfly, ESPN and Google; nonprofits including the Zen Hospice Project and Dress For Success, as well as foundations, philanthropies, and schools. He’s a frequent speaker at conferences such as TEDx, PopTech, Summit Series (called “Davos for the Millennials�), the AARP 50+ Convention. He teaches the class, “What’s Your Story? How to Deliver an Authentic Elevator Pitch� in private sessions and on-site at companies.
Prior to founding the Six-Word Memoir project, Larry had a robust career in journalism. He was articles editor of Men’s Journal, executive editor of Yahoo! Internet Life, senior editor at ESPN The Magazine, a founding editor of P.O.V. and editor-in-chief of its sister publication, EGG. While living in San Francisco, he was managing editor of the wire/syndication service AlterNet and an editor at Dave Eggers' Might Magazine. His writing has appeared in The New York Times, ESPN Magazine, Popular Science, Men’s Health, Salon, Slate, Buzzfeed, and has contributed essays to many anthologies, including Modern Love: 50 True and Extraordinary Tales of Desire, Deceit, and Devotion and The End of the Golden Gate: Writers on Loving and (Sometimes) Leaving San Francisco.
He lives in Berkeley, CA, with his wife, the writer Piper Kerman, and their son.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 142 reviews
November 5, 2018
These are a lot of fun. I think I'm going to try to do a six-word memoir every day. I think it will be a good exercise.
January 19, 2014
I love all the things you can do with six word memoirs in the classroom. Not only can you have students write their own, but this could be a form of assessment for books they read: have students write a six word memoir for the protagonist and antagonist in their story. This could be a form of assessment in science or social studies. What would Napoleon's six word memoir be? Abraham Lincoln? Nelson Mandela? Write the six-word memoir for an element on the periodic table. What would an amoeba's six word memoir be? There's just so much you can do with this!
I really enjoyed this follow-up to NOT QUITE WHAT I WAS PLANNING, probably more so than the original.
I really enjoyed this follow-up to NOT QUITE WHAT I WAS PLANNING, probably more so than the original.
February 20, 2016
Some funny, clever, and sad. Inspired.
January 19, 2022
La idea de escribir una memoria en 6 palabras me parece interesante.
Algunas de las historias están bien, pero la mayoría, meh.
Algunas de las historias están bien, pero la mayoría, meh.
February 3, 2022
I love this series. It fascinates me that some people's six-word memoirs are highly visual snapshots (one in this collection is something like "Wedding dress thrown into garbage can"), others try to recount a person's entire life, and still others give advice to the reader.
January 26, 2014
I heard a lot about this book before I ever read it. I'm mostly enamored by the concept, and it's fun to see how different people interpreted "memoir"...some wrote where their lives appeared to be in the moment, others wrote the most important things to them, and still others incorporated the grand story arc of their lives in only six words (though I did find one that was only five words long. It felt like an Easter egg.)
The brilliance of this is seeing glimpses of beauty in the lives of others, and thinking about what words would make up my six-word memoir.
The brilliance of this is seeing glimpses of beauty in the lives of others, and thinking about what words would make up my six-word memoir.
May 8, 2016
I've never been one to read "collections", but when I read what this book was about I knew I had to own it. Never would I have imagined how much can be said in six words, and it's inspired me to try some "six-word-memoirs" myself. Took me about two hours to read it, with breaks, and it's just great. Still not sure whether I have a favourite memoir in here as they're all so real in their own way. Should look into getting the other books in this series!
January 10, 2010
I love these books. It's amazing how much emotion some people and wring out of six little words.
June 13, 2016
Fun, heartfelt, fascinating, funny, and wonderful. Another winning anthology from SMITH.
March 1, 2010
Quick, easy flip through. Not as enlightening as I had hoped - I don't know what I expected with only six words at the authors' disposal. I want to hear more :)
August 22, 2016
I'm a big fan of 6 word memoirs so I enjoyed this collection. My own is "had it all. Lost it. Rebuilding "
February 7, 2017
Really liked reading these Six-word Memoirs. Read all four today and was a highly entertained. If you love quotes, read these books.
February 24, 2017
I just love these books.
October 9, 2018
Perfect genre. Average stories. Cautiously proceed...
December 15, 2018
Paperback
Perfect little book for a lazy winter Saturday morning. It's amazing how much of a story can be packed into 6 little words. I wonder what words I'd choose? ;)
Perfect little book for a lazy winter Saturday morning. It's amazing how much of a story can be packed into 6 little words. I wonder what words I'd choose? ;)
October 4, 2019
Still a fun thing to do.
Will try this in real life.
Elaine Benes hero. Not even real.
Will try this in real life.
Elaine Benes hero. Not even real.
July 18, 2020
I was intrigued by the concept
Liker some quotes. Didn't like others.
You see what I did there ?
Looks like I did it again.
Overall, quick insightful read. Try it.
Liker some quotes. Didn't like others.
You see what I did there ?
Looks like I did it again.
Overall, quick insightful read. Try it.
June 30, 2021
Try it-- yours in just six.
October 15, 2024
Six word memoirs was such an intriguing topic that I had to check it out. There was a wide range of writers (all ages, including 3rd graders, and all walks of life). They focused on many different aspects of life, with various tones - amusing, no-nonsense, tragic etc.
There was much to reflect on. Here are a few sneak peeks:
- "'Live long and prosper' says it" - Leonard Nimoy's entry
- "I just hope there's a sequel."
- "I found my mother's suicide note." (which coincidentally was also 6 words: "no funeral no wake no nothing.")
- "I'm living better than billions, sadly."
- "My life is a to-do pile."
- "Just some schlub who cures kids."
- "Grandchildren's smiles. No mirror needed."
- "The Fruit Loop among the Cheerios."
I will definitely be checking out other books in this series!
There was much to reflect on. Here are a few sneak peeks:
- "'Live long and prosper' says it" - Leonard Nimoy's entry
- "I just hope there's a sequel."
- "I found my mother's suicide note." (which coincidentally was also 6 words: "no funeral no wake no nothing.")
- "I'm living better than billions, sadly."
- "My life is a to-do pile."
- "Just some schlub who cures kids."
- "Grandchildren's smiles. No mirror needed."
- "The Fruit Loop among the Cheerios."
I will definitely be checking out other books in this series!
October 28, 2017
I loved the concept as much as the output. This is a great waiting room book and also could be used as an activity in a class, workshop, or training. Reading the memoirs, I was amazed at how much can be packed into six words. I appreciated the variety of approach authors took to writing these. It also made me think a lot about life and how, in my view, we only get one. I thought a lot about the long-term effects of various traumatic life experiences and how, for some, they can become the story of their lives. Suffering takes on a new meaning when you consider that, if only given six words to describe s life, it is what comes to the fore.
I look forward to reading more of these in the future.
I look forward to reading more of these in the future.
July 16, 2019
I had high hopes for this book after reading Fresh Off the Boat from this series. While there were a few great 6-word memoirs in this book, many of them seemed to be about sex and/or divorce. While this might not seem like a big deal, it isn't very helpful to me since I was hoping to use this with my high school English classes. And, honestly, many of the memoirs were just a list of things people had done or words they used to describe themselves--it was lacking the wit and depth of thought I saw in the other book. It was also missing the few that were further explained by the author of the memoir. I've learned that I better check out the others from the series from my library/interlibrary loan before deciding buying a copy for my classroom.
June 14, 2018
This is the fourth book of collected six-word memoirs, but my first read in this phenomenon. They ranged from the quirky to the profound. Some of the memoirs are by famous writers, but many are from people who submitted their memoir to the SMITHmag.net site. A few that I made a connection with: “Friendship test: willingness to be inconvenienced� - Gay Talese; “Can't reach top shelves, married tall� Joy Zuercher; “A story told with every wrinkle� - Beth Canton; and “Am hoping there is an epilogue� - Margot Beverley. Fun read.
March 16, 2019
My ratings of books on ŷ are solely a crude ranking of their utility to me, and not an evaluation of literary merit, entertainment value, social importance, humor, insightfulness, scientific accuracy, creative vigor, suspensefulness of plot, depth of characters, vitality of theme, excitement of climax, satisfaction of ending, or any other combination of dimensions of value which we are expected to boil down through some fabulous alchemy into a single digit.
November 22, 2023
Fun Fun Fun
Mostly amusing though some are serious and some sad. There are six word memoirs by names you will recognize. You will find yourself in at least a few, and maybe you will be inspired to write one or two of your own.
Mostly amusing though some are serious and some sad. There are six word memoirs by names you will recognize. You will find yourself in at least a few, and maybe you will be inspired to write one or two of your own.
June 8, 2018
Interesting
August 9, 2018
Very entertaining. Sometimes makes you think ;sometimes makes you wonder.
January 1, 2019
Cute, fun
This was a cute, quick read, with a lot of fun and quirkiness. Nothing too deep, just short and sweet.
This was a cute, quick read, with a lot of fun and quirkiness. Nothing too deep, just short and sweet.
October 16, 2019
Finished in an hour (or less). Nice quick read with a few golden nuggets. The addition of the appendix on backstories was nice (though some still didn't quite explain the six words).
February 17, 2022
The shorts are good but some are hard to interpret or make sense of. Some really hit hard some are underwhelming. It was a good space filler for my challenge goal while aitting in doctors offices.
February 21, 2022
This is a quick read; interesting.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 142 reviews
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