Lessons from My Teachers: From Preschool to the Present

Playwright and essayist Ruhl (Smile) provides a heartfelt reflection on her life’s many teachers. Adapted from her Yale course of the same name, the book was also inspired by Ruhl’s desire to break away from doomscrolling, which yields “few answers... only very loud opinions.” In short essays, she recaps lessons in the “powerful art of listening” from Gloria Steinem and on how to make the best sunny-side up egg from her grandfather. She offers moving ruminations on the strong impression made by childhood teachers, like the piano instructor who taught her how to “make a mistake” yet “keep moving forward.” Some essays delight in their unexpectedness, such as the one about “the falafel maker” whose advice that “every good story has to have a love story” Ruhl followed in subsequent plays. The book strays into slightly off-topic personal musings, though these sometimes offer Ruhl’s own cogent lessons on the creative process (“Ride the Amtrak quiet car” to battle writer’s block, she advises) and end up giving an intriguing if truncated glimpse of the playwright’s life, from her struggles with chronic illness to her study of Buddhism. Throughout, Ruhl couches her reminiscences on learning within a passionate critique of America’s cultural obsession with self-reliance. The result is an inspiring tribute to the supportive communities that make creative life possible. (May)