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)

A real hoot!

From now on, whenever the damned human race drives me crazy, this the book I'll be reaching for.
These here Mark Twain scholars have put together a delightful collection of anecdotes, stories, wit, and wisdom from the pen of the man himself. No one else could have written this stuff. It's funny, irreverent, insightful, and cantankerous. Real fun.
Plus, they got Grover Gardner to read it, and ya' can't do better than that.

Entertaining Listen

Where does Mark Twain's Helpful Hints for Good Living rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This collection of Mark Twain reflections is entertainment to have available to listen to while traveling or with friends. In this way it is quite different from the novels and non-fiction that I usually listen to.

A selection of Twain's writings

I enjoyed the narrator more than the selections from Twain's speeches and other writings. None of the pieces were from his celebrated fiction but they did all have his distinctive voice.

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!

very entertaining

a great collection of Mark twain writings and observations. mark twain was a wonderful wordsmith and his description of events is very colorful.

ignore the negative reviews

ignore the negative reviews - it was free and it was a good listen. the reader has an old timey voice which suits the context.

Take a trip back in time

This is a great book that takes you back in time. and into the thoughts and mind of Mark Twain/Samuel Clemens. He had a very unique way of looking at the world and thinking about situations that he found himself in. This book definitely takes you on a trip throughout his mind and it does it so clearly that you can almost see everything as if you were looking at it through his own eyes. Great book of more than just his writings but into the man himself. Highly recommended!

Classic humor

The reader was fantastic and you can't beat the timeless classic comedy of Mark Twain.