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PostSecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives
New York Times Bestseller
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.
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.
278 pages, Hardcover
First published November 29, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,276 reviews
March 28, 2012
The correct title should be "Postsecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives: People Are Secretly Pretty Sad And Have Some Intense Shit That Hopefully They're Dealing With in Ways Other Than Anonymous Postcards".
November 3, 2019
if you're going to read this book, i highly recommend doing it the way i did it (if possible).
i bought this from a library book sale, which means i spent $2.50 on it, rather than whatever astronomical price it probably is normally. it also, more importantly, meant at least one person had read it before me.
this book is made up of a series of postcards creatively inscribed with anonymous secrets.
that person had marked up a series of cards with sections of blue post-it notes.
i spent this book not only marveling at (and feeling known by) the secrets of others, but also those of this person before me, who had donated this book without removing their markings.
maybe they'd simply forgotten, or maybe it had been donated by someone other than that reader.
but i like to think they'd found their own way of freeing their secrets through PostSecret.
bottom line: this is more coffee table book than book, and in some ways is no better than looking at the PostSecret website. but it was in my case.
---------
i do love knowing secrets
i bought this from a library book sale, which means i spent $2.50 on it, rather than whatever astronomical price it probably is normally. it also, more importantly, meant at least one person had read it before me.
this book is made up of a series of postcards creatively inscribed with anonymous secrets.
that person had marked up a series of cards with sections of blue post-it notes.
i spent this book not only marveling at (and feeling known by) the secrets of others, but also those of this person before me, who had donated this book without removing their markings.
maybe they'd simply forgotten, or maybe it had been donated by someone other than that reader.
but i like to think they'd found their own way of freeing their secrets through PostSecret.
bottom line: this is more coffee table book than book, and in some ways is no better than looking at the PostSecret website. but it was in my case.
---------
i do love knowing secrets
July 23, 2021
This was everything!
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾
October 2, 2009
I'm just as appalled as you are that this is listed on my "read" shelf. GR needs a "looked at every single page" shelf in order to better classify books such as this.
Taken at face value, this collection of confessional postcards is poignant, disturbing, and beautiful in equal parts. However, the same cynicism that causes me to assume that everyone on the Internet (who is not on my GR friends list) is in actuality a hairy, swaybacked, middle-aged man by the name of Lou also pulls me in the direction of doubting the validity of some of these confessions.
"He's an arty type...no principles." - W.S. Burroughs
During junior high, the high school psychology classes would often visit in order to give us anonymous research surveys. My dumb buddies and I were the self-appointed yes-men of Mrs. Wilson's third period English class. Whatever the question, we had zestfully partaken.
Freebased cocaine? Yep.
Sniffed glue? Just before soccer practice last Tuesday.
Sex? Do you even have to ask? (Luckily this was the Bible Belt in the mid-80's, so it was still bad form to broach the subject with seventh graders of collaboration versus solo project...)
Assuming that our questionnaires were not quickly trashed, I would have loved to have seen some of those research papers. Most likely they hypothesized that the seventh grade English class at T.S. Hill Middle School was comprised mainly of the understudies of Rick James, the Marquis de Sade, and late period Elvis Presley. Did anyone else ever do this? Why the hell did we? Two reasons I think:
1) We thought that we would look cool to the high schoolers (through osmosis, evidently, as it was a secret questionnaire).
2) It was a lot of fun.
I have great difficulty dismissing the possibility that the submitters for this book were not operating under similar motives.
Regardless, this is an interesting book. I suggest at least a once-over flip through.
Taken at face value, this collection of confessional postcards is poignant, disturbing, and beautiful in equal parts. However, the same cynicism that causes me to assume that everyone on the Internet (who is not on my GR friends list) is in actuality a hairy, swaybacked, middle-aged man by the name of Lou also pulls me in the direction of doubting the validity of some of these confessions.
"He's an arty type...no principles." - W.S. Burroughs
During junior high, the high school psychology classes would often visit in order to give us anonymous research surveys. My dumb buddies and I were the self-appointed yes-men of Mrs. Wilson's third period English class. Whatever the question, we had zestfully partaken.
Freebased cocaine? Yep.
Sniffed glue? Just before soccer practice last Tuesday.
Sex? Do you even have to ask? (Luckily this was the Bible Belt in the mid-80's, so it was still bad form to broach the subject with seventh graders of collaboration versus solo project...)
Assuming that our questionnaires were not quickly trashed, I would have loved to have seen some of those research papers. Most likely they hypothesized that the seventh grade English class at T.S. Hill Middle School was comprised mainly of the understudies of Rick James, the Marquis de Sade, and late period Elvis Presley. Did anyone else ever do this? Why the hell did we? Two reasons I think:
1) We thought that we would look cool to the high schoolers (through osmosis, evidently, as it was a secret questionnaire).
2) It was a lot of fun.
I have great difficulty dismissing the possibility that the submitters for this book were not operating under similar motives.
Regardless, this is an interesting book. I suggest at least a once-over flip through.
April 1, 2010
Here's a quote from one of the postcard that wiped the smile from my face while *reading* this amazing book :
Income from teaching creative writing ... $ 32,654.00
Income from writing creatively ... $ 0.00
I admire how Frank Warren got his idea for this collected postcards book, and reading the anonymous-es confessions somehow made me realize that I'm not the only person on this planet that have deepest darkest secret(s) that I'm dying to share but so afraid that anyone I know or know me find it (/them) out.
Income from teaching creative writing ... $ 32,654.00
Income from writing creatively ... $ 0.00
I admire how Frank Warren got his idea for this collected postcards book, and reading the anonymous-es confessions somehow made me realize that I'm not the only person on this planet that have deepest darkest secret(s) that I'm dying to share but so afraid that anyone I know or know me find it (/them) out.
September 26, 2019
A Goodreads friend recently read this (I will link you when I get the chance to do so on my laptop Dita) and I remember how years ago I frequently checked the website to see what the latest updates were. So I decided to pick up this book as well. The secrets go from small things to stuff that makes me want to cry. We all carry our sins with us but I hope writing them down helped at least a few of the people who participated in this project to cope with what was going on in their heads and lives at the time.
This book brought up a lot of nostalgic feelings from when I was a teenager, and back then those postcards helped me realize a lot of things about humanity and myself, good and bad.
This book brought up a lot of nostalgic feelings from when I was a teenager, and back then those postcards helped me realize a lot of things about humanity and myself, good and bad.
May 10, 2007
This books is oddly inspiring and terrifying at the same time. People from all over the country sent postcards to this guy with their deepests secrets and fears and some will scare the hell out of you and some will make you cry and the worst part is some will make you nod your head and agree! The postcards touch on every human experience we have and let you know you are not alone. The author still receives postcards from all over the world and has made a sequel as well, there is also a website and the postcards were used in the song and video "Dirty Little Secret" by the All-American Rejects.
August 26, 2019
In 2004, Frank Warren printed out 3,000 postcards and invited people to share a secret with him, anonymously, by writing it on one of these postcards and mailing it to him.
The secret could be about regret, fear, betrayal, desire, confession, or a 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.
The response was overwhelming.
And, some of these postcards are shared in this book-perfect as a coffee table book-as you can look over the postcards a bit at a time, or all over the course of an hour...
I feel like I attended a FASCINATING “art exhibit” this afternoon with my GR friend, Dita, who discovered and recommended this book...Thank You, Dita!
As the book says...”Human emotions can be unique and universal at the same time”. And, this collection certainly illustrates that! 🤗
The secret could be about regret, fear, betrayal, desire, confession, or a 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.
The response was overwhelming.
And, some of these postcards are shared in this book-perfect as a coffee table book-as you can look over the postcards a bit at a time, or all over the course of an hour...
I feel like I attended a FASCINATING “art exhibit” this afternoon with my GR friend, Dita, who discovered and recommended this book...Thank You, Dita!
As the book says...”Human emotions can be unique and universal at the same time”. And, this collection certainly illustrates that! 🤗
March 4, 2009
I really adore these PostSecret books. I feel like I'm kind of late in finding them, but what the hell! So I'm not on the cutting edge. That's no secret.
Anyway, I am touched by the secrets strangers tell to strangers, so saddened by the guilt and hurt and loss that ordinary people are carrying around. I can only hope that telling their secrets has helped this folks heal. (Does that sound trite? But it's true, it's really true!)
I am also amazed and pleased by the art that people create on these postcards to help them express themselves.
This is really good stuff.
Anyway, I am touched by the secrets strangers tell to strangers, so saddened by the guilt and hurt and loss that ordinary people are carrying around. I can only hope that telling their secrets has helped this folks heal. (Does that sound trite? But it's true, it's really true!)
I am also amazed and pleased by the art that people create on these postcards to help them express themselves.
This is really good stuff.
February 26, 2022
This is a weird book a sibling brought home one day years ago, and I read through it. Some of the secrets are relatively normal, but plenty of them come across as super-weird and you pray to god that person isn't your neighbor. It certainly led to an interesting conversation between said sibling and myself.
December 31, 2023
4 stars
I read this needed epistolary book in one setting. I needed it for a Goodreads group challenge.
The premise is revealing an anonymous secret, written on a postcard and sent to an address in Maryland. The author then published the ones he felt were the best. They range from loving and missing God to personal private thoughts to some hilarious sexual secrets. It is page after page of postcards, most with some type of art work. Most good for a laugh but a few for some deeper thought.
I read this needed epistolary book in one setting. I needed it for a Goodreads group challenge.
The premise is revealing an anonymous secret, written on a postcard and sent to an address in Maryland. The author then published the ones he felt were the best. They range from loving and missing God to personal private thoughts to some hilarious sexual secrets. It is page after page of postcards, most with some type of art work. Most good for a laugh but a few for some deeper thought.
June 14, 2008
I've seen bits of the books before, and articles about it, but this was the first of the books that I've read all the way through and really took some time with. For some reason it reminded me of the film "Amelie" - one of my all time favorites.
I found it to be beautiful and inspiring and heartbreaking and funny and depressing all at once. Some secrets made me laugh, a few made me cry, I judged some, I felt like praying for others, but almost all made me feel something, and I think that's what I loved most about it. The book, and the project as a whole, touched me and elicited emotional reactions.
The project continues on. A whole community has been built around it, some are displayed in art galleries, others on Warren's website: http://postsecret.blogspot.com/ People respond to them and give follow-ups to what sharing their secrets did for them. Some have found it to be therapeutic, others have been helped just by reading the book and knowing they aren't alone.
I saw an interview with Frank Warren, and I think he summed up the power of the project for me when he said, “Every single person has one secret that would break your heart. If we could just remember this, I think there would be a lot more compassion and tolerance in this world.”
I found it to be beautiful and inspiring and heartbreaking and funny and depressing all at once. Some secrets made me laugh, a few made me cry, I judged some, I felt like praying for others, but almost all made me feel something, and I think that's what I loved most about it. The book, and the project as a whole, touched me and elicited emotional reactions.
The project continues on. A whole community has been built around it, some are displayed in art galleries, others on Warren's website: http://postsecret.blogspot.com/ People respond to them and give follow-ups to what sharing their secrets did for them. Some have found it to be therapeutic, others have been helped just by reading the book and knowing they aren't alone.
I saw an interview with Frank Warren, and I think he summed up the power of the project for me when he said, “Every single person has one secret that would break your heart. If we could just remember this, I think there would be a lot more compassion and tolerance in this world.”
August 23, 2019
This was a super enjoyable read, but like, in a voyeur way? Looking at peoples secrets like this was really impressive and eye opening. I can't really say much beyond that about this book since it's not a story so much as a confessional. I enjoyed it nonetheless and some people put some serious effort into the postcards they sent in!
June 21, 2012
At first,I found this book fun in a guilty pleasure voyeur kind of way. However, as I read more and more secrets I became engrossed with each post card and the the gravity of what it presented. It was quite liberating and heart wrenching to read all these secrets, some of them depressing beyond belief, that are written by every day people. It makes you wonder about your friends, your parents, your siblings. Anyways, it inspired me to get back to writing in my journal. I think unburdening ones heart to paper can be just as therapeutic and relieving as telling a person.
October 11, 2018
I don't know how many stars I should give after reading other people's secrets. But for the idea & the artsy postcards that been sent to PostSecret, I could give it 4 ⭐. I haven't found something like this before. Reading this collection felt like hearing confessions. Some are happy to get rid of it, some relieved to wrote it down & sent it away, some just want to brag and some wrote it down with hope.
October 7, 2016
Warren created a project in which he would ask for anonymous submissions of postcards which had their mailers' secrets on them. It was meant to be a way for people to let go of their guilt and feel lighter by not being the only ones who knew about them. The project became huge as thousands upon thousands mailed in their confessions, and so this book of curation was created.
Some submissions are lighthearted, casual admissions, while many others are very dark and unfortunate. I think what garners people's curiosities and sympathies towards these submissions is the universality of suffering. This book is almost a sentimental celebration of suffering.
There is a quote included in the middle of this book that I think expresses the success of this project well: "Without suffering, there would be no compassion."
Here is the official website where you can see some of the more recent entries: http://postsecret.com/
Some submissions are lighthearted, casual admissions, while many others are very dark and unfortunate. I think what garners people's curiosities and sympathies towards these submissions is the universality of suffering. This book is almost a sentimental celebration of suffering.
There is a quote included in the middle of this book that I think expresses the success of this project well: "Without suffering, there would be no compassion."
Here is the official website where you can see some of the more recent entries: http://postsecret.com/
February 10, 2017
Is it just me or do people always think they are unique to the extent that nobody thinks the way they do? Can the truth be that we are all self conscious, hopeful, hold the occasional grudge, the shame of a certain pettiness over a trifle we know is absurd but can't entirely release, etc.?
We are all just people. How else do the marketing algorithms so accurately predict us? Baa...baa...
Don't be surprised then when you open up this clever compendium. A call goes out for people to write down their deepest secret on the back of a home made self designed post card, and mail it in, anonymously. They are collated into this book and you will be saddened, shocked and amused.
And sometimes, you may be startled.
Because you have that secret, too
We are all just people. How else do the marketing algorithms so accurately predict us? Baa...baa...
Don't be surprised then when you open up this clever compendium. A call goes out for people to write down their deepest secret on the back of a home made self designed post card, and mail it in, anonymously. They are collated into this book and you will be saddened, shocked and amused.
And sometimes, you may be startled.
Because you have that secret, too
September 19, 2010
The secrets from this book that have stuck with me are
"I love one of my children"
and
"the medication is not enough to make me forget what he did to me . . . if i see him again i will kill him to save the others"
There are also some less serious secrets, such as
"I think women who don't wear makeup . . . are lazy"
and
"I ATE ALL THE BLUEBERRIES (AND THEY WERE DELICIOUS)"
"I love one of my children"
and
"the medication is not enough to make me forget what he did to me . . . if i see him again i will kill him to save the others"
There are also some less serious secrets, such as
"I think women who don't wear makeup . . . are lazy"
and
"I ATE ALL THE BLUEBERRIES (AND THEY WERE DELICIOUS)"
December 15, 2008
I remember reading about PostSecret when it first began a couple of years ago, and a couple of months ago found the weekly blog compiled by Frank Warren. People send Warren a 3 by 5 postcard that reveals a secret that they have never told anyone. Selections of what he receives appear on the blog and in this, the first of 4 books.
The postcards in this book are not organized in any particular way, but the secrets that they reveal include betrayal, love, fear, courage, despair, hope, lonliness, and connection--and anything falling between those opposites. For me, reading the secrets provokes sadness, sympathy, disgust, hope, laughter, and sometimes recognition.
The postcards in this book are not organized in any particular way, but the secrets that they reveal include betrayal, love, fear, courage, despair, hope, lonliness, and connection--and anything falling between those opposites. For me, reading the secrets provokes sadness, sympathy, disgust, hope, laughter, and sometimes recognition.
February 21, 2017
“How I wish I could hug everyone and tell them that it's okay. It's okay to be scared and angry and hurt and selfish. It's part of being human."
April 9, 2015
Raw, honest and beautiful!
January 1, 2023
Really incredible collection here. A doozy. Some real humdingers of hearts aching and breaking. 💔❤️🩹❣️
Read this if you’re feeling alone or lonely.
Remember: your problems are yours to have, for good or ill.
Read this if you’re feeling alone or lonely.
Remember: your problems are yours to have, for good or ill.
October 29, 2012
While reading this, I realize I'm not the only one who has weird and wild belief or secrets. Some of my secrets were written there and when I saw them, I don't know how to react.
In life we sometimes thought we're the only one experiencing terrible things but no, someone out there is experiencing that too. I don't know if we should be happy about it or sad. One thing I know is that we're not alone.
In life we sometimes thought we're the only one experiencing terrible things but no, someone out there is experiencing that too. I don't know if we should be happy about it or sad. One thing I know is that we're not alone.
January 31, 2017
If you can't read the text on this blurry photo, it says: "In November 2004, I printed 3000 postcards inviting people to share a secret with me..."
That was enough to intrigue me. Every year my school library does a "Blind Date with A Book" challenge around Valentine's Day and this is the first time that I actually parcipated. I don't know about you, but that hook was too good to pass up.
Before now, I had never heard of this book, (if you can really call it a book, I s'pose). What started out as a social experiement/art project quickly turned into a phenomenon as postcards filled with secrets - some amusing, some scary, some dark as heck - began flooding Frank Warren's mailbox, and continue to do so today.
I read this after collapsing at home on my last day of Finals, in need of something to take my mind off the stress of the week prior. I ended up whipping through this in just one sitting. I loved it! It was so quick, visually stimulating, and engaging. Some of the secrets I could relate to, some of them I most certainly couldn't (but found interesting anyways) and some kind of discouraged me. Such as the secret about creative writing earning $0 (a sad truth I am still unwilling to face...)
If you want something quick, definitely check out this book or the author's website (postsecret.com) where he posts even more secrets...
September 4, 2021
Hace ya unos años, PostSecret apareció como una muestra de arte en la que gente anónima ponía postales físicas colgadas en una galería de arte. Tras el éxito de la iniciativa lo expandieron a internet, donde el éxito fue aun mayor. La gente manda secretos sobre amor y desamor, arrepentimiento y frustración, confesiones de crímenes pasados y de deseos de suicidio... Hay de todo y la exposición, uno tras otro, a estos secretos nos deja echar una vistazo al alma humana que no encuentro habitualmente en la narrativa. Muy interesante experiencia. Como dice otro comentarista, el libro debería llamarse "Postsecret: Extraordinary Confessions from Ordinary Lives: People Are Secretly Pretty Sad And Have Some Intense Shit That Hopefully They're Dealing With in Ways Other Than Anonymous Postcards".
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September 18, 2020
This was the first book. But I liked the fourth book better. Probably because it was more of a surprise. This one was good too though. I just liked it better when I didn't know what to expect.
January 3, 2010
I have leafed through this in bookstores in the past but never from cover to cover. Since I have learned the wonders of the public library system I was finally able to pore over it, giving it the attention it deserved. I love this book. I love the concept. I love the art. I love the individual expressions (and confessions)of things that can be unifying and liberating to the masses. There are many secrets that i could do without, usually of a sexual nature, but you can't really censor people's secrets. You get what you ask for and sometimes it comes in graphic form. Such is art. I felt like it gave me an unfiltered look at humanity that left me sympathetic, hopeful and inspired.
January 17, 2012
there are two kind of secrets: those we keep from others and those we hide from ourselves....
are you willing to share yours???
this book was so liberating, as it was comforting.
I dont think i can describe with words the emotions, thoughts, insight it gave to me. How much pain, frustration, shattered dreams, fears, hopes.. can all be condensed into a simple sentence.
these simple revelations had so much substance. I laughed, cried, gasped.. and of course; empathize,because many of this quiet thoughts were ones of my own..
what a creative project Frank! Excellent book!
are you willing to share yours???
this book was so liberating, as it was comforting.
I dont think i can describe with words the emotions, thoughts, insight it gave to me. How much pain, frustration, shattered dreams, fears, hopes.. can all be condensed into a simple sentence.
these simple revelations had so much substance. I laughed, cried, gasped.. and of course; empathize,because many of this quiet thoughts were ones of my own..
what a creative project Frank! Excellent book!
January 6, 2008
The big secret: people are lonely and unhappy with themselves. I don't mean that as sarcasm, I mean that the anonymous secrets in this book (and updated everyday on the website) are proof that struggling is universal.
May 31, 2015
There was a postcard written in my handwriting... It wasn't me, but it made me think that I had sent one and had forgotten about it. :/
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