A solid self-help work containing informed advice for living.
A self-help guide that presents readers with a five-year plan to become more active and actualized.
Management consultant DeCosta’s book opens by encouraging readers to visualize their futures as if they were DVDs featuring each aspect of their lives, from personal relationships to career milestones to day-to-day quality of life. It uses this metaphor to illustrate how one can take a more active leadership role in one’s life decisions. The book is divided into four parts, each prefaced with quotes from famous figures, such as Muhammad Ali and Mark Twain. Its overall thesis is that when people don’t have fully realized plans, they allow outside events to bully them and make them unhappy. The book provides detailed, nuanced examples of how to reverse such crippling thought patterns. In chapters such as “Welcome the Critic,” the author encourages readers to stop rejecting the commentaries and judgments of others and instead learn how to embrace constructive criticism. He ably imparts the book’s lessons in taut prose, as when he writes of his former boss: “[W]hen I screwed up, he let me know how and why.” In a pleasing bit of symmetry, he closes with a revamped metaphor, encouraging readers to imagine a classroom of 30 different potential future versions of themselves: “[N]one of them have superpowers, nor are they a member of the Royal Family of England, and none of them are on a reality television show.” This relatable illustration deflates the starry-eyed quality of many other self-help books. Overall, DeCosta’s pragmatism and punchy prose make this book an enjoyable, inspiring read.
A solid self-help work containing informed advice for living.Pub Date: March 6, 2014
ISBN: 978-1494388805
Page Count: 152
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s...
Music journalist and musician Wald (Talking 'Bout Your Mama: The Dozens, Snaps, and the Deep Roots of Rap, 2014, etc.) focuses on one evening in music history to explain the evolution of contemporary music, especially folk, blues, and rock.
The date of that evening is July 25, 1965, at the Newport Folk Festival, where there was an unbelievably unexpected occurrence: singer/songwriter Bob Dylan, already a living legend in his early 20s, overriding the acoustic music that made him famous in favor of electronically based music, causing reactions ranging from adoration to intense resentment among other musicians, DJs, and record buyers. Dylan has told his own stories (those stories vary because that’s Dylan’s character), and plenty of other music journalists have explored the Dylan phenomenon. What sets Wald's book apart is his laser focus on that one date. The detailed recounting of what did and did not occur on stage and in the audience that night contains contradictory evidence sorted skillfully by the author. He offers a wealth of context; in fact, his account of Dylan's stage appearance does not arrive until 250 pages in. The author cites dozens of sources, well-known and otherwise, but the key storylines, other than Dylan, involve acoustic folk music guru Pete Seeger and the rich history of the Newport festival, a history that had created expectations smashed by Dylan. Furthermore, the appearances on the pages by other musicians—e.g., Joan Baez, the Weaver, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Dave Van Ronk, and Gordon Lightfoot—give the book enough of an expansive feel. Wald's personal knowledge seems encyclopedic, and his endnotes show how he ranged far beyond personal knowledge to produce the book.
An enjoyable slice of 20th-century music journalism almost certain to provide something for most readers, no matter one’s personal feelings about Dylan's music or persona.Pub Date: July 25, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-06-236668-9
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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