cover image Maybe: Maybe Not: Second Thoughts from a Secret Life

Maybe: Maybe Not: Second Thoughts from a Secret Life

Robert Fulghum. Villard Books, $19 (228pp) ISBN 978-0-679-41960-0

The author's missionary spirit glows even brighter in his fourth book than in its bestselling predecessors All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten et al. In this collection of ``second thoughts from a secret life,'' he uses musings about ironing a shirt, conducting the last movement of Beethoven's Ninth and selling school chocolate to emphasize the give and take, the unpredictability of the well-lived life. What Fulghum says of Einstein could well apply to himself: ``Ambiguity remains at the end of the equation of his best thinking.'' If a chapter on the consumption of urine by certain cultures is distasteful, Fulghum's ruminations nevertheless make zesty entertainment. His many fans will enjoy his latest contribution and accept his invitation to join him for singing and storytelling on the ``22 Cities, 22 Causes, One Good Reason Tour'' he'll be making from September through November to benefit Literacy Volunteers, Special Olympics, Habitat for Humanity and other causes. (Sept.)