A roundabout way of saying: Pay more attention to each other, lose the inhibitions and get it on already.
Real-life couple and practicing sex therapists come up with a plan to put readers’ tired old sex lives on the well-lubed track to paradise.
Wilson and Zdrok Wilson, a former Playboy Playmate, Penthouse sex columnist and host of the weekly Sirius show “The Sex Connection,” offer a 30-day solution to remedy bedroom woes. While the authors acknowledge that most folks don’t have enough time or room in the budget to shop for role-playing gear and sex toys, their aim is to provide easily implemented suggestions to result in more heat between the sheets. They encourage readers to begin by signing the “Contract of Enhancement of Erotic Union,” proving their commitment to one another. They also suggest the likely uncomfortable task of informing friends and relatives of the month-long project they’re about to undertake, as a means of explaining why they’ll be harder to reach than usual for the next month. When the authors get around to outlining their program, there’s not much revolutionary material here: Post-coital cuddling is strongly encouraged, and readers are gently reminded, “Making out doesn’t have to lead to sex.” One of their more provocative suggestions: If readers find their libido heightened during a long car ride, the automobile’s hood is the perfect height to execute “The Stallion” position. Most memorable, unfortunately, might be the authors’ description of “armpit sex,” a bit of frottage suggested as an ideal way to break up the repetitiveness of oral sex: “By clasping her arms to her sides, a woman can create a moderately tight space in her armpits through which a man can thrust his erection.” Readers might well be cautioned to save that for day 31.
A roundabout way of saying: Pay more attention to each other, lose the inhibitions and get it on already.Pub Date: June 18, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-60550-680-7
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Adams Media
Review Posted Online: June 6, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2011
Readers unfamiliar with the anecdotal material Greene presents may find interesting avenues to pursue, but they should...
Greene (The 33 Strategies of War, 2007, etc.) believes that genius can be learned if we pay attention and reject social conformity.
The author suggests that our emergence as a species with stereoscopic, frontal vision and sophisticated hand-eye coordination gave us an advantage over earlier humans and primates because it allowed us to contemplate a situation and ponder alternatives for action. This, along with the advantages conferred by mirror neurons, which allow us to intuit what others may be thinking, contributed to our ability to learn, pass on inventions to future generations and improve our problem-solving ability. Throughout most of human history, we were hunter-gatherers, and our brains are engineered accordingly. The author has a jaundiced view of our modern technological society, which, he writes, encourages quick, rash judgments. We fail to spend the time needed to develop thorough mastery of a subject. Greene writes that every human is “born unique,” with specific potential that we can develop if we listen to our inner voice. He offers many interesting but tendentious examples to illustrate his theory, including Einstein, Darwin, Mozart and Temple Grandin. In the case of Darwin, Greene ignores the formative intellectual influences that shaped his thought, including the discovery of geological evolution with which he was familiar before his famous voyage. The author uses Grandin's struggle to overcome autistic social handicaps as a model for the necessity for everyone to create a deceptive social mask.
Readers unfamiliar with the anecdotal material Greene presents may find interesting avenues to pursue, but they should beware of the author's quirky, sometimes misleading brush-stroke characterizations.Pub Date: Nov. 13, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-670-02496-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2012
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An intriguing approach to identifying and relating to one’s emotions.
An analysis of our emotions and the skills required to understand them.
We all have emotions, but how many of us have the vocabulary to accurately describe our experiences or to understand how our emotions affect the way we act? In this guide to help readers with their emotions, Brackett, the founding director of Yale University’s Center for Emotional Intelligence, presents a five-step method he calls R.U.L.E.R.: We need to recognize our emotions, understand what has caused them, be able to label them with precise terms and descriptions, know how to safely and effectively express them, and be able to regulate them in productive ways. The author walks readers through each step and provides an intriguing tool to use to help identify a specific emotion. Brackett introduces a four-square grid called a Mood Meter, which allows one to define where an emotion falls based on pleasantness and energy. He also uses four colors for each quadrant: yellow for high pleasantness and high energy, red for low pleasantness and high energy, green for high pleasantness and low energy, and blue for low pleasantness and low energy. The idea is to identify where an emotion lies in this grid in order to put the R.U.L.E.R. method to good use. The author’s research is wide-ranging, and his interweaving of his personal story with the data helps make the book less academic and more accessible to general readers. It’s particularly useful for parents and teachers who want to help children learn to handle difficult emotions so that they can thrive rather than be overwhelmed by them. The author’s system will also find use in the workplace. “Emotions are the most powerful force inside the workplace—as they are in every human endeavor,” writes Brackett. “They influence everything from leadership effectiveness to building and maintaining complex relationships, from innovation to customer relations.”
An intriguing approach to identifying and relating to one’s emotions.Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-21284-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: June 22, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2019
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