Eyes Wide Open: A Memoir of Stanley Kubrick

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The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of... We know the truth not only by the reason, but by the heart." - Blaise Pascal” Jay flies to California to help out, and is soon convinced Evan′s death was no suicide. The police want him to leave the matter alone but he is determined to dig deeper. When his investigation takes him on a journey into his brother′s shady past, Jay finds himself caught up in a world of dangerous secrets and ruthless killers ... Eyes Wide Open will enable anyone who has an interest in living a fuller life to do just that. Not only will Isaac inspire you to do so, but he also provides the construct to pull it off.” Charlie, in his prime, was a quondam wayward who falls into the trap of the Cult, mostly for free intoxicants. Charlie and Jay's father was equally a shady figure who had a lot of altercations with Charlie, one who'd vowed to kill him. Charlie lives in a dingy apartment with his wife and is a derelict.

Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival. He was a hermit. He refused to fly and wouldn't be driven at more than thirty miles an hour. He avoided having his picture taken and was terrified of being assassinated. As a filmmaker, he was obsessed with perfection. He insisted on total control of every facet of the process. Simple scenes required one hundred takes. No wonder he made only six movies in the past thirty-five years. We will never know the father, the husband, but across both Raphael's and Herr's lenses, we do get a glimpse of the colleague.In Eyes Wide Open, Isaac captures the essence of exceptional living and leadership through the lenses of inner vision and aspiration. True perspective is an active pursuit. I learned much from this book and will approach my life and my work with my eyes wider open!” All in all the book was ok. The story line comes from the author's true life mentally ill nephew whose suicide is questionable and he wrote the book in honor of him and to those who have lost a child. It would be interesting to know how his family felt about the book since it seemed to put a lot of blame on Evan's parents. It was over the top at the end but I finished it. I know Gross can write better but this one just didn't work. 3 stars.

Without sight to guide him, Isaac Lidsky gives us a book of extraordinary vision about how to make best use of our talents. Read, savor, and grow!” The one serious conviction that a man should have is that nothing is to be taken too seriously.” “You can think best when you're happiest.” Samuel Butler In the face of great challenges, Isaac Lidsky has repeatedly chosen to take responsibility for his life and his happiness. In Eyes Wide Open, he teaches us how, inspiring us to envision and create the lives we want for ourselves. His insights are practical and powerful, pure and profound.” Years ago, Jay Erlich's older brother, Charlie, a wayward child of the sixties, set out for California, where he fell under the sway of a charismatic but deeply disturbed cultlike figure. Tragedy ensued and lives were destroyed, but as the decades passed, Charlie married and raised a family and lived a quiet, secluded life under the radar. Yet the demons that nearly destroyed him never completely disappeared. So all in all, I found EYES WIDE OPEN to be an interesting read—especially the inspiring Chapter 8, “Heart Wide Open.” Keep in mind this really isn’t a “How to” book for blind people. It’s really more a philosophy of life, related by someone who has faced a massive challenge, and learned to make the best of it. The sections appear to be independently written essays. This makes the read seem a little disconnected, and hurts continuity somewhat. Nevertheless, the author's encouraging words and especially his worldview come though loud and clear. The author closes the book with this admonition: “Count your blessings, not your burdens. Live with grace, not greed.”To do what these criminals are capable of, they must work for the mafia. I thought these people were supposed to be delusional druggies, but somehow they are VERY capable of hunting down people. I swear they must have access to police records. Either way, I think those close to the real man were blinded by proximity. They saw Raphael's observations as cold-hearted and overly critical, frustrated that he could criticise someone they felt he didn't know. Throughout his entire life, Isaac has proven time and time again that anything is possible, no matter the circumstance. His story is one of true strength, perseverance, and hope—one that we can all learn something from. Isaac’s journey will encourage many to think with limitless boundaries and go after their dreams, no matter how big.” Fear has a tendency to give us tunnel vision—we fill the unknown with our worst imaginings and cling to what’s familiar. But when confronted with new challenges, we need to think more broadly and adapt. When Isaac Lidsky learned that he was beginning to go blind at age thirteen, eventually losing his sight entirely by the time he was twenty-five, he initially thought that blindness would mean an end to his early success and his hopes for the future. Paradoxically, losing his sight gave him the vision to take responsibility for his reality and thrive. Lidsky graduated from Harvard College at age nineteen, served as a Supreme Court law clerk, fathered four children, and turned a failing construction subcontractor into a highly profitable business.

The author recounts his many struggles with RP and his plan to just solve the problem logically—just like it were some math problem. Of course, that didn’t work, and Isaac was forced to face circumstances that weren’t as simple as solving a geometry problem. The author began to see how to better use his other senses. He makes it clear that his hearing is not actually more acute than sighted people—it’s just he uses it more effectively: “I gained heightened abilities of perception employing my other senses.” As a result, “Eyes wide open became my powerful philosophy and active daily strategy.” Yazarın okuduğum ilk kitabıydı. Yine bir İzmir Kitap Fuarı zamanı aldığım, yaklaşık 3-4 senedir okunmayı bekleyen bir kitaptı. Çok uzun zamandır polisiye bir kitap okumamıştım açıkçası. Ve kitabın sayfalarını çevirmeye başlamam ile birlikte aslında bu türü ne kadar çok özlediğimi farketmiş oldum.And another faint whiff of contradiction comes from the fact that another collaborator, Michael Herr, received no criticism for sharing recollections of private conversations and moments in a series of articles for Vanity Fair (later collected into a book). One wonders if it's because Herr's was far more flattering of its subject. For some reason, all of Jay's "guesses" turn out to be correct, or somehow turn into truths as the story progresses. The witnesses claim to be unsure of the suspect's gender. Along the way, the suspicions are dropped, and everyone believes the suspect is a woman...because a doctor (who didn't even speak to the witness) suspected it. All in all, it is a twisty tale. Astonishingly, it is based on the true story of Gross' own nephew and his suspicious suicide. But, unfortunately it lags a lot and many threads of evidence were too thin to hold my attention. Jay Erlich's nephew has been found at the bottom of a cliff at Morrow Bay. It's all just a tragic suicide, until secrets from the past begin to rear up again. Did a notorious killer, jailed for many decades, have his hand in this? In the seeing with the heart chapter he covered many topics and examples on what that means, but this quote stood out to me.