Audiobook Review: To Be Honest by Michael Leviton

About:

To Be Honest by Michael Leviton is a memoir focusing on the author’s upbringing in a family which believes that “honesty is the best policy”, but takes it to an extreme. Mr. Leviton is not only an author, but an accomplished ukulele player.

• 7 hours and 10 minutes
• Publisher: Dreamscape Media, LLC
• ASIN: B0857HQN28
• Language: English

My rat­ing for To Be Honest — 4
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More Books by Michael Leviton*

Thoughts:

We all like to think we love honesty, but we quickly come to find out we don’t like it as much as we think, especially in our personal lives. Many times we tell white lies to either save face, give encouragement (“that’s a nice drawing”), or just to be nice. The first one has a tendency to boomerang and make things worse, ( ‘Oh, what a tangled web we weave,/ When first we practice to deceive!’ – Sir Walter Scott), the last two are usually told to children but not always.

I, unfortunately, am also a “too honest” individual and cannot understand why many times people lie without a good reason, just because they can (looking at you Real Estate industry), giving up future dollars for immediate pennies. Unlike the author’s parents, I do understand the nuances of society and that sometimes being less than truthful might be an advantage.

In the memoir To Be Honest by Michael Leviton, the author tells of his upbringing in which his parents always thought that honesty is the only way to go through life, without any nuances involved. The young Mr. Leviton couldn’t understand why his blunt honesty is not appreciated by his fellow elementary school students, or the teachers for that matter.

Throughout his life, the author realizes that this policy of total truthfulness (emphasis on “total”) has actually been a disservice by creating self-inflicted roadblocks, making life more difficult and less pleasurable.

The author himself narrates this audio-book, he not only has the guts to write about this unique upbringing, but also to poke fun at himself. While reading, at times, he seems to crack up at his own jokes / unfortunate events which I found very charming.

Buy To Be Honest Amazon.com*
More Books by Michael Leviton*

Zohar — Man of la Book
Dis­claimer: I got this book for free.
*Ama­zon links point to an affil­i­ate account