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Embodied the honesty, competence, and sensuality of a truly American father in the self-help blockbuster “Life’s Little Instruction Book,” H. Jackson Brown Jr. died at his home in Nashville on November 30. He was 81 years old.
Confirmed by his son Adam, who did not specify the cause of death.
Mr. Brown’s book consisted of 511 simple commands that characteristically began with phrases such as “Resist temptation” and “Respect”. They got the job done (No. 34: “At meetings, turn around and resist to see who comes late”); chat (No. 22: “Learn three clean jokes”); etiquette (No. 89: “Don’t let anyone see you drunk”); love and friendship (No. 225: “When someone hugs you, let them be the first to let go”); father’s duties (No. 254: “Learn to show joy even if you do not want to”); and the pleasures of healthy activities (No. 144: “Take someone bowling”).
From the summer of 1991, when “Life’s Little Instruction Book” was published, to the summer of 1994, she led The New York Times’ how-to and miscellaneous bestseller list. For a time it was #1 in both hardcover and hardcover at the same time.
Tennessee Senator Lamar Alexander knockout Brown’s arrogance that predicted his campaign would become the next Republican presidential candidate in a 1998 book. That same year, California Attorney General Dan Lungren paraphrased Mr. Brown chanted a slogan while running for governor. Ross Perot exhibited A copy among other valuables at corporate headquarters. His book of fine counsel became a publishing phenomenon, with titles such as “Kitchen Wisdom: A Collection of Tasty Quotes” and “The Doctor’s Little Book of Wisdom.”
Probably no one copied Mr. Brown more than Mr. Brown. he Wrote Two sequels and 17 “Life’s Little” books, including “Life’s Little Instruction Book for Helpless Romantics” and “Life’s Little Treasure Christmas Reminiscence Book.” There were mugs, tear-off calendars, screensavers, and fortune cookies. By 1997, the original volume had sold nearly seven million copies, Publisher’s Weekly reported. Translated into 33 languages.
The book had a very innocent origin story. While Adam was preparing for his freshman year at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Mr. Brown began writing down earthly and existential clues. When he left Family Man, Mr. Brown told the Associated Press in 1992 that he had given him advice on 32-page plastic binding purchased from Walgreen’s.
Mr Brown recalled telling his son, “This is what your father knows about living a rewarding life.” He assumed his little project was over. But he had already written two books of listen-son aphorisms here—“A Father’s Book of Wisdom” and “Note I Love You”—and the small Nashville publishing house behind them learned his final text. Mr. Brown quickly turned from a local advertiser to a leading author.
Journalists and critics, reacting to its popularity, were unable to “avoid sarcastic comments” (No. 81).
Tom McNichol said, “No writer since Chairman Mao has touched so many people with a little phrasebook filled with a lot of white space.” commented at the Washington Post.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist Brian O’Neill wrote that the book is “designed to teach you how to part with $5.95.”
Speaking to The Hartford Courant about his many interviews with the press, Mr Brown speculated that “some young liberal writers will probably vomit after putting it down.”
Sociologically, his audience was elsewhere. The presidents of three Kentucky banks loved “Life’s Little Instruction Book” so much that he bought his customers more than 2,000 copies. That year they replaced his traditional gift of country hams.
Horace Jackson Brown Jr. was born and raised in Nashville on March 14, 1940. His father was a paper goods salesman and his mother, Sarah (Crowell) Brown, ran a dry cleaners.
Jack, as he is known, received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Emory University in 1963 and started in advertising. He met Rosemary Carleton on a blind date in 1968. (No. 213: “Don’t plan a long evening on a blind date. A lunch date is perfect.”) Later, she said she knew she would be his wife in five minutes. . (No. 501: “Believe in love at first sight.”) They got married in 1969.
After his great success, Mr. Brown found a yellow notebook and a mechanical pencil within his reach, and wrote down new instructions whenever it came to him. He never used a computer. With his advice, daily page calendars continued to be produced until this year.
Mr Brown and his wife divorced in 2010. In addition to his son, he is survived by a sister, Sallye Schumacher, and a granddaughter.
Thirty years after the publication of “Life’s Little Instruction Book,” Adam Brown vividly preserves his father’s advice.
“Nothing in that book was new to me,” he said. I thought, “Oh my god, that’s 511 things I’ve heard a thousand times.”
Daddy said “take someone bowling” – and Adam actually took the girls to bowling dates. His father said to “visit your city’s night court” (No. 393) – and Adam suspended bedtime for these outings during his childhood.
The “overtip breakfast waiters” (No. 7) came from their Saturday morning trips to the Waffle House. Mr. Brown wanted his son to appreciate that the servers had to wake up at 4 or 5 in order to start his shifts at 6 am. What sounded like an order was actually a lesson.
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