A clearly written but uneven work about human survival.
An analysis argues that the science of finance provides the key to humanity’s continued survival.
Criniti contends that “money has become an essential survival tool for everyone in our globalized civilization.” In that case, it becomes an absolute imperative to master finance—“the science of management of wealth”—since it is prosperity that most effectively draws people safely back from the “edge of survival.” The author expounds on this insight in biological terms—specifically Darwinian evolutionary theory—by arguing that humans have evolved in such a way that technological progress and wealth are now the key features of their fitness. These governable variables demonstrate that evolution, at least for humans, has itself evolved. Criniti describes the demands of the future in idiosyncratic terms: “Robotic forms and other technology are slowly filling this planet through the use of money. You need money to purchase the robotic parts for a cyborg, and you need money to make an android. If the nonliving come alive one day, then they may also need money to survive. The survival of the richest would then continue.” The author’s approach is a comprehensive one—for example, he devotes a large amount of time to defining life, death, and survival, though the book could have taken notions such as these for granted. At one point, while discussing survival in the wilderness, he defines wilderness. He even discusses at length the thorny issue of “why we should want to survive.”
Criniti’s prose is unfailingly lucid and offers some rich and informative details along the way. But he would have been better off deferring to convention, since some of his definitions can be counterintuitive. For example, he includes “thinking” as a criterion of life and simply stretches what counts as thinking beyond all reason: “All living things (such as bacteria, fungi, or plants) must make big decisions at some point in their life cycles.” The author’s overall strategy is to replace rigorous arguments with peremptory definitions and assertions. For example, he claims “everything must subordinate to the goal of survival,” a philosophically dubious statement, and encourages readers who disagree to discontinue perusing the book. In addition, he claims his work “may also serve as a direct learning tool to help you create your own path to economic and financial independence,” but he provides no specific or actionable counsel. Overall, Criniti’s book is a collection of thoughts leading up to a few sweeping and arguable main points. He dramatically promises to disclose uncomfortable truths about human nature, but that warning will strike many readers as a bit histrionic: “If you do not have the stomach to read about the horrors of survival or the truth about the current human predicament, then I suggest that you do not read this book. The conclusions are not easy to accept, and acceptance may only come after breaking down the inner walls of safety that our minds put up to protect us.”
A clearly written but uneven work about human survival.Pub Date: Dec. 11, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-9884595-4-0
Page Count: 528
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Aug. 27, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.
A charming bird journey with the bestselling author.
In his introduction to Tan’s “nature journal,” David Allen Sibley, the acclaimed ornithologist, nails the spirit of this book: a “collection of delightfully quirky, thoughtful, and personal observations of birds in sketches and words.” For years, Tan has looked out on her California backyard “paradise”—oaks, periwinkle vines, birch, Japanese maple, fuchsia shrubs—observing more than 60 species of birds, and she fashions her findings into delightful and approachable journal excerpts, accompanied by her gorgeous color sketches. As the entries—“a record of my life”—move along, the author becomes more adept at identifying and capturing them with words and pencils. Her first entry is September 16, 2017: Shortly after putting up hummingbird feeders, one of the tiny, delicate creatures landed on her hand and fed. “We have a relationship,” she writes. “I am in love.” By August 2018, her backyard “has become a menagerie of fledglings…all learning to fly.” Day by day, she has continued to learn more about the birds, their activities, and how she should relate to them; she also admits mistakes when they occur. In December 2018, she was excited to observe a Townsend’s Warbler—“Omigod! It’s looking at me. Displeased expression.” Battling pesky squirrels, Tan deployed Hot Pepper Suet to keep them away, and she deterred crows by hanging a fake one upside down. The author also declared war on outdoor cats when she learned they kill more than 1 billion birds per year. In May 2019, she notes that she spends $250 per month on beetle larvae. In June 2019, she confesses “spending more hours a day staring at birds than writing. How can I not?” Her last entry, on December 15, 2022, celebrates when an eating bird pauses, “looks and acknowledges I am there.”
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.Pub Date: April 23, 2024
ISBN: 9780593536131
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
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