From the Publisher…
The project that captured a nation’s imagination.
The instructions were simple, but the results were extraordinary.
“You are invited to anonymously contribute a secret to a group art project. Your secret can be a regret, fear, betrayal, desire, confession, or childhood humiliation. Reveal anything — as long as it is true and you have never shared it with anyone before. Be brief. Be legible. Be creative.”
It all began with an idea Frank Warren had for a community art project. He began handing out postcards to strangers and leaving them in public places — asking people to write down a secret they had never told anyone and mail it to him, anonymously.
The response was overwhelming. The secrets were both provocative and profound, and the cards themselves were works of art — carefully and creatively constructed by hand. Addictively compelling, the cards reveal our deepest fears, desires, regrets, and obsessions. Frank calls them “graphic haiku,” beautiful, elegant, and small in structure but powerfully emotional.
As Frank began posting the cards on his website, PostSecret took on a life of its own, becoming much more than a simple art project. It has grown into a global phenomenon, exposing our individual aspirations, fantasies, and frailties — our common humanity.
Every day dozens of postcards still make their way to Frank, with postmarks from around the world, touching on every aspect of human experience. This extraordinary collection brings together the most powerful, personal, and beautifully intimate secrets Frank Warren has received — and brilliantly illuminates that human emotions can be unique and universal at the same time.
About the Author…
Frank Warren is a small business owner based in Maryland who started postsecret.com as a community art project. Since October 2004, Warren has received thousands of anonymous postcards which have been featured in galleries, the popular music video for the All-American Rejects’ “Dirty Little Secret,” and, most recently, in the bestselling book PostSecret. Ranked by New York magazine as the third most popular blog on the Internet, Warren’s website earned several awards at both the 2006 Bloggy and Webby Awards and continues to attract over 3 million visitors a month. Warren has appeared on Today, 20/20, CNN, MSNBC, NPR, and Fox News, among others. He lives in Germantown, Maryland, with his wife and daughter.
I absolutely love the idea of this project — a 5 out of 5 hearts in my book. It is very powerful to spend time getting something out. It is very powerful to send it off and away. And/but, what doesn’t sit right with me, is that “away” really isn’t “away”. It’s gathered up. It’s shared. It’s published. It’s actually given more life than had it simply been kept inside.
That written, I felt rather voyeuristic looking over these cards. And some cards were so poignant that I know they have now lodged in me. So although my heart goes out to some of the “sharers”, as a (I now realize) “sharee”, I’m not sure I want them there.
So although I suppose I should have known what I was agreeing to on purchasing this book, although I hope that this is a helpful catharsis for many, although many of the message are absolutely beautiful in their expression, my rating is a two out of five hearts. This book did transform me but it so did in a way I wasn’t quite ready for. (And of course, maybe that lesson alone is worth a five?)
an avid reader 
