If I Only Knew Then...

Critical Praise

"These frequently charming, often bittersweet personal tales reveal the mistakes and regrets entertained by the figures we look up to and a few, like Paul Newman, insist they not only don't learn from their mistakes but also derive a certain degree of comfort from repeatedly committing the same errors. A pleasant way to pass an afternoon while benefiting HELP USA, a worthwhile non-profit group assisting the homeless."
-Monstersandcritics.com

"It's important to realize your mistakes and learn from them, says writer and actor Charles Grodin. So he asked more than 80 celebrities and other notable folks to describe their biggest boo-boos in life and the lessons they gained. What's in it for the reader? Well, not a lot of profound insight. The advice given here is pretty garden variety (seven contributors produce some variation of, "Trust your gut instincts.")
-Caller.com

"This collection of stories, memories, tears, and laughter from a wide variety of individuals, collected and compiled by Charles Grodin is worth every minute you will spend with it and every penny it will cost you. The memories go from heart-rending stories of losing people who were loved to the delightful laughs of those who never met a failure that they couldn't find funny. It is more about success than it is failure. It is about learning and understanding what has happened in the past and letting it not be a failure but something that informs and generates growth, maturity, and change. From a story by a surgeon who was taught compassion by a young girl who would not survive her seventh heart surgery, to the amusing realization of Astronaut Scott Carpenter that he was "born too long ago," each segment of the book has its own personality and its own life. It echoes the lesson that we should all learn from our pasts, that no matter what we've done, where we have been, who has hurt us, or we have hurt, regret is the worst thing that one can suffer. We must each make peace with our past, and become better because of it. Otherwise, there doesn't seem to be much point in going on, does there?"
-Myshelf.com

"Wise, warm, witty and wonderful..."
-Armchairintervies.com, Dr. David Frisbie, Executive Director, The Center for Marriage & Family Studies and author of Happily Remarried

"THE WORLD'S top celebs and pols have some big regrets, and Charles Grodin has compiled them in his new book, "If Only I Knew Then - Learning From Our Mistakes." Mario Cuomo says he's sorry for telling Michael Dukakis to take the high road against George H.W. Bush's negative ads, which ended with Dukakis' loss. "Any jackass can kick down a barn, but it takes a good man to build one," Cuomo says. "What I should have added . . . was 'But when the jackass starts kicking down the barn, a good man should start kicking the jackass.' " For Robert De Niro's movie partner Jane Rosenthal, it was making "Rocky and Bullwinkle," only to see it tank on opening day. "By the five o'clock show we were in full cardiac arrest, by the nine o'clock show rigor mortis had set in, and by Saturday morning we were sitting shiva," she recalls."
-New York Post