The Long Life of a Short Woman ALL IN A LIFETIME by Dr. Ruth Westheimer (Warner Books: $17.95; 225 pp.) Home Edition

• Published in: The Los Angeles times
• Main Author: Geller, Laura
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, Calif Los Angeles Times Communications LLC 10.01.1988
• ISSN: 0458-3035

When her son began school, Ruth went to Columbia Teachers College where she earned her doctorate in education in 1970. In her first teaching job, she taught sex education. This led her to seek more training in human sexuality, eventually studying at an advanced training program for sex therapists at Cornell Medical School where she became an adjunct associate professor. After hearing her lecture about sex education, the community affairs director of WYNY invited her to interview for a Sunday morning talk show. That led to the offer that created Dr. Ruth-15 minutes right after midnight on Sunday morning. [Ruth Westheimer] had her own show. Ruth Westheimer's lifetime has been extraordinarily full-she has lived in five countries, experienced more tragedy than most people will ever deal with, lived as an active participant in two of the most important events of modern Jewish history-the Holocaust and the birth of the State of Israel-celebrated personal joy and triumph and achieved more success than she ever dreamed possible. The book is filled with the minute details of that life, who she knew, what she did, how her life evolved. What is missing from the book is thoughtful analysis of how the events of her life have shaped her as a person. We learn a great deal about what happened to [Karola Siegel] as she became Dr. Ruth, but we never learn much about the human being behind the events. It is an interesting story, but a story without a soul.