Albom does not present a full transcript of the regular Tuesday talks. Unfortunately, but surely not surprisingly, those relying on this text will not actually learn The Meaning of Life here. He calls his weekly visits to his teacher his last class, and the present book a term paper. Albom well fulfilled the age-old obligation to visit the sick. That was how the author first learned of Morrie's condition. The dying man, largely because of his life-affirming attitude toward his death-dealing illness, became a sort of thanatopic guru, and was the subject of three Ted Koppel interviews on Nightline.

This is the vivid record of the teacher's battle with muscle- wasting amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease. Here Albom recounts how, recently, as the old man was dying, he renewed his warm relationship with his revered mentor. Another reader might have interpreted the professor's aphorisms as droll humor or wrung a wrong note at an inappropriate moment, making the story a maudlin tearjerker instead it is read for what it is, a tribute to a remarkable teacher.Award-winning sportswriter Albom was a student at Brandeis University, some two decades ago, of sociologist Morrie Schwartz. That a professional writer can write well is not surprising, but Albom also reads well, with clear enunciation and a talent for mimicry. The story is told in a journalistic style that never crosses into pathos.

The 14 Tuesday visits that followed their reunion took Albom-and will take listeners with him-on a journey of reawakening to life's best rewards. Albom was one of hundreds of former students and acquaintances who traveled great distances to visit Morrie in the final months of his life. Morrie, on the other hand, after a rich life filled with friends, family, teaching, and music, was dying from Lou Gehrig's disease, a crippling illness that diminished his activities daily. An accidental viewing of an interview with Morrie on Nightline led Albom to become reunited with his old teacher, friend, and 'coach' at a time when Albom, a successful sportswriter, was struggling to define dissatisfactions with his own life and career. The titular Morrie was Morrie Schwartz, Albom's university professor 20 years before the events being narrated. It's an honest reading, and the underlying timbre of private memory pushes it past mere recitation to pure storytelling. As the author of this inspirational true story, Albom uses verbal inflection in exactly the right places to evoke humor, empathy, and emotion. No one but Mitch Albom could have read Tuesdays with Morrie so effectively.

Tuesdays with morrie book