God Loves Laughter

by William Sears

Book Overview

This is the hilarious story of a poor boy from the Middle West who became one of America's topflight TV stars. But he was bothered with a boyhood dream and eventually left the big time. He made his home in three continents and became a much-loved world traveller.

Through all the laughter - and it's uproarious at times - there is an underlying serious note, and the fact that his dream came true and brought him long-sought spiritual assurance...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0853980195
• ISBN13: 9780853980193
• Release Date: October 1960
• Publisher: George Ronald
• Length: 181 Pages
• Weight: 0.52 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 5.5" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Wonderful

I read this book as at about the age of 10. It is so wonderful, and i would definately recommend it!

A hilarious account of Sear's discovery of the Baha'i Faith

Born in Minnesota in 1911 of an Irish father, Sears made his father nervous from the time he spoke at six months. At 18 months he knew words that his father didn't know and had his first dream. By the time he was five he was making his father's life a misery with his inordinate interest in God so he was sent to Sunday school. "Let the boy worry Father Hogan for a while. I pay my pew-rent regularly and hardly ever use it. Let him earn the money." But this only opened up an abundance of new questions for Sears to ask his father. We follow Sears through his childhood with a laugh on every page. Much of the time he is bounced between mother, father, priest and grandfather as each give their interpretation of God, his dreams and his conviction that he would travel the world telling people about God. He started his writing career one summer before graduating from grade-school after reading a poem while having his hair cut. He sold his masterpiece for $7.50 and skyrocketed to fame. After marrying and having two sons Sears entered a bleak period in his life when his wife died and his youngest child had to be placed in a sanatorium. He had been pushed further from his dream and more into a world that cared very little about the things of the spirit when he was offered the first of many jobs at a radio station. One day a vision of loveliness walked into studio A and five drooling men watched her through the big studio window during the interview. "It was the most wonderful lunch I ever ate. I have no recollection of the food, but her voice was Pablo Casal's cello." They went for a drive and Marguerite told him about Baha'u'llah, the founder of the Baha'i Faith. At this point the one subject Sears never cared to discuss was religion, having investigated every religion, sect, cult and belief he could find in East and West. For three years Sears had not mentioned his dream to anyone and he only told Marguerite because he wanted her to know all about him before asking her to marry him. She gave him a book - a record of the public talks given by `Abdu'l-Baha during his visit to America from the Holy Land before the First World War. Inside the fly-leaf there was a tribute to Baha'u'llah by Leo Tolstoy, who had written: "The whole world is seeking the solution to its problems. There is a prisoner in `Akka, Baha'u'llah, who has the key." "I began to read. It was about two o'clock when I found out why Marguerite had become so excited when I mentioned my boyhood dream. I felt a stab-like thrill myself as I turned one of the pages and saw the date: September 20, 1912. It was the very day and year of my first dream." At their first Christmas, with sons now reunited, Marguerite read the words of Baha'u'llah about Christ to show that as a Baha'i she believed in Jesus: "When Christ came into the world, He shed the splendor of his glory upon all created things. Jesus it was who purified the World. Blessed is the man who, with a face beaming with light, hath turned to

excelent book

My father read this book to me when I was a little girl. I loved the book, and I was fortunate enough to attend a lecture given by Mr. Sears before he passed away. This was a wonderfuly humerous book written by a wonderful human being, and I recommend it to everyone.

A beautiful, moving, and witty book

I love William Sears as a human being without ever having met him. Although he has passed, when I read any of his books I feel he is speaking to me as if he were in the room. God Loves Laughter was the first of his books that I read. It started me on a journey of appreciating all of the simplicity and beauty life has to offer and I will always be grateful to Mr. Sears for giving me that. Thank you, Mana

loved it, i couldn't stop laughing or crying.

I received this book as a present. While my grandmother lay dying in the hospital I read this book to her. We laughed so much I cried. It was insightful, funny and moving. The last few weeks of my grandmothers life was filled with laughter and I would buy every book Mr. Sear writes.