A goldmine of hand-picked information for those trying to navigate today’s tough consumer terrain.
The Chicago Tribune’s problem-solving advocate hacks through the bureaucratic roadblocks of the contemporary customer experience.
Yates admits that he’s come a long way from his roots as a sheepish kid and reticent college student to becoming Chicago’s solutions guru. He effectively distills his years as the Tribune’s “consumer conscience” in a book that tackles a variety of thorny and universal buyer-beware issues. As a common consumer, Yates sympathizes with those given the circuitous company runaround when simply seeking problem resolution. Refreshingly, the author doesn’t mince words about today’s fiercely competitive marketplace. Companies are in business to make money, they routinely avoid confrontation and being nice only goes so far when aiming for real results. The author dispenses pages of practical information on how consumers can avoid being taken advantage of whether by circumnavigating circuitous call centers, initiating small-claims court cases or battling utility providers and banks. He provides cautionary counsel on too-good-to-be-true product deals, service contracts and automobile financing, exposes cunning scamming operations and, perhaps most importantly, provides a definitive listing of “consumer commandments.” Elsewhere, Yates directs readers to resources like junk-mail removal websites and offers counsel on the most effective way to complain, and he reiterates that dogged determination is often the key to a successful negotiation. Rather than solve consumer problems, as in his newspaper column, the guidebook supplies the necessary tools to empower consumers to help themselves. “At some point,” Yates writes, “we all must become our own best advocates.”
A goldmine of hand-picked information for those trying to navigate today’s tough consumer terrain.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-06-200988-3
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Nov. 6, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2011
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
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BOOK TO SCREEN
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Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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