YOUNG MAN IN A HURRY

BY

GAVIN NEWSOM

Four stars out of five stars

This is the second book by Gavin Newsom, Governor of California.  The first book, Citizenville: How to Take the Town Square Digital and Reinvent Government, was published in 2013 while he was Lieutenant Governor.  The present book, Young Man in a Hurry, is an autobiography published in 2026, two years before the Presidential election year of 2028.  For voters likely to cast their votes, whether living in California or elsewhere, the book is where one can gain an insight into the various stages of his life, including his efforts in overcoming dyslexia, growing up with his sister in a family of separated parents, the relationship of his family and the Gordon Getty family, his career as a businessman, the political offices he has held and the legislations he initiated and/or supported, and his relationship with and what he thought of Donald Trump.  The following are a few highlights:

-            Both Barack Obama and Diane Feinstein were not pleased by his stance on supporting Proposition 3, the 2024 Right to Marry and Repeal Proposition 8 Amendment.  Obama was agreeable to “civil unions” for gays and lesbians but not to marriage. Senator Obama avoided taking a photo with Newsom in a meeting with him in a fundraiser hosted by Governor Willie Brown.   

-            When Newsom’s chief staff asked why he championed Proposition 3, his reply was that it was the right thing to do.

-            Newsom’s effort to trace the roots of his family was met with only partial success.  His conclusion was: “I had my mother and father as flesh and blood, my grandparents as smoky, indistinct figures, and their parents as only a legend or two.”

-            There are moving accounts of the deaths of his mother and his father.

-            “In 1981, Reagan gutted Jimmy Carter’s model Mental Health Systems Act, which had committed the federal government to take a prominent role in the care of the mentally ill.  It had earmarked nearly $800 million to California and other states for local communities to establish their own mental health facilities”.

-            Newsom also gave an account of his interactions with Donald Trump and his opinion of him.

-            The book has an index.  However, the word “dyslexia” cannot be found in the index.

A  few memorable quotes:

1.        “Your past does not equal your future” ;  “The secret to living is giving”                                       (Tony Robbins, self-help evangelist)

2.        “If the mood I read was foul, I’d start out with humor.  If the mood was no-nonsense, I’d find something of comfort to riff on.  I learned that an audience didn ‘t mind occasional hiccups of speech, as long as you looked them in the eye. “

(Gavin Newsom on what he learned about the art of public speaking while overcoming dyslexia.)

When writing this review, I was immersed in listening to Irish Ballads.  It is thus fitting to end the review with the quote which appears in “A Young Man in a Hurry”.

“To be Irish is to know that in the end, the world will break your heart."

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