An engaging, curiosity-driven journey from the 1960s to the present.
Continuous curiosity propels Danna’s life and career in this memoir.
In the prologue, the author describes his memoir as “a collection of stories, reflections, calls to action, and hard-earned insights,” addressing the book to his two young grandsons to share his life story and strongly held values with them (“So, my grandkids have a record of Grandpa”). The narrative is divided into four sections. The first (“If My Life Were a Play”) gives an overview of his life—his Italian immigrant heritage, suburban childhood, education (he holds graduate degrees in both physics and environmental engineering), and career—as Danna speculates about what the future will hold for his grandkids. The remaining sections focus on other aspects of the author’s life and values, including reflections on being an intellectual and business leader, understanding his own personality, his personal “guiding principles,” art, music, politics (liberal), religion (skeptic), and more. Identifying as a “boomer,” Danna has certainly led an eventful life. He describes visiting the 1965 New York World’s Fair 17 times, protesting the Vietnam War as a college student, serving as a U.S. Navy officer and instructor at its Nuclear Power School, getting a pilot’s license, training and consulting at commercial nuclear power plants and government facilities, being a business executive and an early adopter of technology, witnessing several solar eclipses, and traveling throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Along the way, he also was married and divorced twice, had a daughter, and entered a third long-term relationship; aside from some expressions of regret over the lack of balance between his work and personal life, the book provides minimal details about these relationships. A selection of images enlivens the text, ranging from family and travel photos to items of memorabilia such as concert programs and military insignia. Finally, an epilogue provides “Lyrics to Songs that Reflect Who I Am,” a list of selected technical publications and presentations, and the author’s sarcastic comments on four Bible stories that he finds outrageous.
Danna’s writing style is direct and straightforward, casual and conversational. Rather than offering flowery descriptions, even his most exciting and moving experiences are simply recorded as “amazing,” “incredible,” or “pretty cool.” He explains the scientific concepts underlying such events as the nuclear reactor accident at Three Mile Island and various solar eclipses succinctly and clearly, as befits his training and presenting career, and he describes art and music in terms of personal meaning. Danna’s humor shows in lines like “we partied like it was 1999. Actually, it was 1999.” The book’s structure, which presents overviews of subjects followed by deeper dives on specific topics, sometimes feels like summarizing, and the narrative jumps back and forth in time. However, it’s easy to follow, and the approach permits the author to express some very pointed opinions and include such extras as “The Humanist Ten Commandments,” a list of the organizations he supports, and a description of a visit from his grandsons. Again and again, Danna emphasizes the importance of curiosity, asking questions, thinking critically, and sticking to principles.
An engaging, curiosity-driven journey from the 1960s to the present.Pub Date: April 8, 2024
ISBN: 9781956672282
Page Count: 284
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.
A former New York City dancer reflects on her zesty heyday in the 1970s.
Discovered on a Manhattan street in 2020 and introduced on Stanton’s Humans of New York Instagram page, Johnson, then 76, shares her dynamic history as a “fiercely independent” Black burlesque dancer who used the stage name Tanqueray and became a celebrated fixture in midtown adult theaters. “I was the only black girl making white girl money,” she boasts, telling a vibrant story about sex and struggle in a bygone era. Frank and unapologetic, Johnson vividly captures aspects of her former life as a stage seductress shimmying to blues tracks during 18-minute sets or sewing lingerie for plus-sized dancers. Though her work was far from the Broadway shows she dreamed about, it eventually became all about the nightly hustle to simply survive. Her anecdotes are humorous, heartfelt, and supremely captivating, recounted with the passion of a true survivor and the acerbic wit of a weathered, street-wise New Yorker. She shares stories of growing up in an abusive household in Albany in the 1940s, a teenage pregnancy, and prison time for robbery as nonchalantly as she recalls selling rhinestone G-strings to prostitutes to make them sparkle in the headlights of passing cars. Complemented by an array of revealing personal photographs, the narrative alternates between heartfelt nostalgia about the seedier side of Manhattan’s go-go scene and funny quips about her unconventional stage performances. Encounters with a variety of hardworking dancers, drag queens, and pimps, plus an account of the complexities of a first love with a drug-addled hustler, fill out the memoir with personality and candor. With a narrative assist from Stanton, the result is a consistently titillating and often moving story of human struggle as well as an insider glimpse into the days when Times Square was considered the Big Apple’s gloriously unpolished underbelly. The book also includes Yee’s lush watercolor illustrations.
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-27827-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2022
A juicy story with some truly crazy moments, yet Anderson's good heart shines through.
The iconic model tells the story of her eventful life.
According to the acknowledgments, this memoir started as "a fifty-page poem and then grew into hundreds of pages of…more poetry." Readers will be glad that Anderson eventually turned to writing prose, since the well-told anecdotes and memorable character sketches are what make it a page-turner. The poetry (more accurately described as italicized notes-to-self with line breaks) remains strewn liberally through the pages, often summarizing the takeaway or the emotional impact of the events described: "I was / and still am / an exceptionally / easy target. / And, / I'm proud of that." This way of expressing herself is part of who she is, formed partly by her passion for Anaïs Nin and other writers; she is a serious maven of literature and the arts. The narrative gets off to a good start with Anderson’s nostalgic memories of her childhood in coastal Vancouver, raised by very young, very wild, and not very competent parents. Here and throughout the book, the author displays a remarkable lack of anger. She has faced abuse and mistreatment of many kinds over the decades, but she touches on the most appalling passages lightly—though not so lightly you don't feel the torment of the media attention on the events leading up to her divorce from Tommy Lee. Her trip to the pages of Playboy, which involved an escape from a violent fiance and sneaking across the border, is one of many jaw-dropping stories. In one interesting passage, Julian Assange's mother counsels Anderson to desexualize her image in order to be taken more seriously as an activist. She decided that “it was too late to turn back now”—that sexy is an inalienable part of who she is. Throughout her account of this kooky, messed-up, enviable, and often thrilling life, her humility (her sons "are true miracles, considering the gene pool") never fails her.
A juicy story with some truly crazy moments, yet Anderson's good heart shines through.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2023
ISBN: 9780063226562
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
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