Mark Twain's Helpful Hints for Good Living

A Handbook for the Damned Human Race

By: Lin Salamo - editor, Victor Fischer - editor, Michael B. Frank - editor, Mark Twain

Narrated by: Grover Gardner

Irreverent, charming, and eminently quotable, this handbook - an eccentric etiquette guide for the human race - contains 69 aphorisms, anecdotes, whimsical suggestions, maxims, and cautionary tales from Mark Twain’s private and published writings. It dispenses advice and reflections on family life and public manners; opinions on topics such as dress, health, food, and childrearing and safety; and more specialized tips, such as those for dealing with annoying salesmen and burglars.

Culled from Twain’s personal letters, autobiographical writings, speeches, novels, and sketches, these pieces are delightfully fresh, witty, startlingly relevant, and bursting with Twain’s characteristic ebullience for life. They also remind us exactly how Mark Twain came to be the most distinctive and well-known American literary voice in the world. These texts, some of them new or out of print for decades, have been selected and meticulously prepared by the editors at the Mark Twain Project.

©1991 1997, and 2001 by Richard A. Watson and JP Morgan Chase Bank as Trustees of the Mark Twain Foundation. 2004 by the Regents of the University of California (P)2012 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

“This wonderful book illustrates precisely why we can never have enough Twain. His humor is timeless, his wisdom about all things without equal.” (Ken Burns, American director and producer)

“This is a masterfully edited compendium that does Twain proud. It captures the note-taking, aphorism-creating, angry-letter-writing essence of Twain’s brain in a way essential, I think, to understanding the man, and by extension, the history of the United States and the nature of life on Earth.” (Dave Eggers)

“This book is a delightful read all the way through.” ( San Francisco Chronicle)

It's more Twain. That's a good thing.

I got a good laugh from these selections...and wanted more. It's a quick listen and if you are already familiar with Twain then it's a no-brainer, as you know what you're getting. Indispensably quotable and just a good time. I wish I could put his words to my tongue and speak like him because his work is just as relevant and important in today's society just as it was then.

Anything Mark Twain

Anything Mark Twain writes is gold. This collection of snippets was thoroughly enjoyable. And I enjoyed the performance 👍

Pleasantly Surprised

Twain was a remarkable writer. Fantastic writing and humor! This was a quick and uplifting listen!

LOLL (laugh out loud, literally!)

Dead over a hundred years and his writing still amazes, both for his mastery and humor, and for his relevance. Doesn't matter which of his works I'm reading, that is always what I come away with. Absolute awe.
For this collection, I'm actually having trouble recalling the individual pieces (but it's early and I haven't had my coffee yet), but I do remember having to explain myself for literally laughing out loud on more than one occasion. For both my colleagues at work and for my fellow diners (and for most American's, come to think of it), one word of explanation is usually enough:

"Twain."

I did NOT expect to laugh so much, but boy did I!

What did you love best about Mark Twain's Helpful Hints for Good Living?

I've heard in the past that Twain had a brilliant sense of humor, but I'd only read Huckleberry Finn and the Adventures of Tom Sawyer so I didn't think much of it. I really, really loved the sense of humor and the narrators brilliant job of bringing the material to life.

What about Grover Gardner’s performance did you like?

I'm not sure if this was just a matter of the narrator matching the material extremely well or if Gardner is always this good, but I will definitely be looking for more of his readings in the future.

Any additional comments?

This book alone adds Twain into my pantheon of favorite authors. It started a little slow to me, but he as a talent for exaggerating the truth in such a way as to make it truly profound.