Review: Gunn's Golden Rules

Manners matter. Whether it's holding the door open for someone behind you, saying "bless you" when someone sneezes or simply following the golden rule, behaving kindly toward others should be second nature. And it's always welcome. I am always appreciative of someone who holds a door for me, offers me a seat or any other random act of kindness. I try to act in the same way. Of course I don't always succeed (I am human after all) but remembering your manners doesn't only make the person on the receiving end happy, it makes you happy too. When you make someone smile, you can't help but smile back, can you?

Well Tim Gunn is a big promoter of manners. As evidenced by the fact that he wrote Gunn's Golden Rules: Life's Little Lessons for Making it Work.

Now I have to say, I love Tim Gunn. I love watching him work with the designers on Project Runway and watching him champion them on, help them through tough times and offer advice.

Gunn's book sounds just like him. So much so that while reading it I heard his voice in my head reading the words to me. (Which, by the way, was hilarious.) I enjoyed this book. Not only is it an etiquette book, which is find an interesting topic here in the 21st century, but he also inadvertently offered me advice on life, dating and behaving in public.

This book is written in a clear and concise way without a lot of fluff and stuffing. it's easy to read and follow and the chapters flow well and tie in to each other pretty cohesively. I enjoyed hearing Gunn's thoughts on life and manners, and I was certainly amused throughout the book with his stories.

That being said, I was a little surprised by some of the stories. They painted some of fashion's most famous people in a rather harsh and unflattering light. At times, it felt a little bit like a bash session, gossiping over the water cooler about "Can you believe what she said?" and "Did you hear about he behaved?" I realize they were examples of people who feel overly entitled and let that get in the way of behaving well, and the stories were, of course, amusing. I just found it interesting.

Overall, I truly enjoyed Gunn's Golden Rules and I believe he had a lot of intelligent things to say. I also believe his advice is helpful and his suggestions are legit.