Live with Meaning. Die with Passion.

Fumitada Naoe
One Peace Books (2009)
ISBN 9780978508456
Reviewed by Carol Hoyer, PhD, for Reader Views (7/09)


Fumitada Naoe has lived a very eventful life experiencing poverty, discrimination, loss and love. His story may seem from the title to reflect encounters readers experience on a daily basis, but once you start reading you will find there is more to his story.

Raised in poverty, living in a shack and having very little to eat the author remembers that his mother has told him “Rich people and poor people all eat the same grain of rice.” It is not where you live, but what you do with the time you have here on earth.  The author through his essays and thoughts reminds us not to waste a minute of our life worrying about “what if.”

Throughout the book photographer Takashi Owaki’s pictures of children and adults provide visual imagery that adds relevance to Naoe’s stories.

I found “Live with Meaning. Die with Passion.” by Fumitada Naoe quite interesting and uplifting, although I had great difficulty reading the print on black pages which was done in white lettering. The print was quite small which also added to the difficulty of reading the book. I would like to see a reprint done in larger print and without the black pages.

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