David Bruce

The Most Interesting People Who Live Life, Volume 2 David Bruce

This book contains 250 anecdotes, including these:1) To understand this anecdote, you must be aware that orthodox Jews believe that male Jews should keep their head covered. Orthodox Rabbi Joseph Kahaneman raised much money for Jewish schools. Once he went to a rich but fiercely anti-orthodox rich man to ask for money. The man looked at the rabbi, then said, "I'll give you money for your school provided that the students are forbidden to wear any kind of head covering at any time." "I agree," said Rabbi Kahaneman, and accepted the rich man's money. Soon afterward, a new Jewish Orthodox school opened: The B'nai B'rak School for Girls.2) A general in the Orient had an antique teacup that he greatly prized. One day, he was admiring it when it nearly slipped out of his hand, greatly alarming him. This made the general think: "I have been a general in battle after battle, often risking my life, yet never have I been as alarmed as I was when I nearly dropped this teacup. Why is this?" The general realized that he had become overly attached to the teacup, so he walked away, throwing the teacup over his shoulder and smashing it. 3) The World Wide Web has a number of interesting sites about health, including, which includes a questionnaire that it uses to calculate your expected lifespan. Jonathan Pond's nine-year-old daughter wanted to fill out the questionnaire, and thinking of an educational use of the questionnaire, he told her, "Fill it out as if you are doing everything bad for your health - drugs, booze, bad diet, no exercise, smoking, and so on." His daughter did, and she discovered that the Web site calculated that she would die at age 17.