Take 2: 2nd Acts

In this collection profiling people who took deliberate steps to change their lives drastically, the common thread is what Brans ( Mother, I Have Something to Tell You ) calls ``gumption.'' For all, three stages characterized the process by which they sought change: discontent, provocation, crisis. Among those interviewed are Katherine Fanning, former editor of the Christian Science Monitor ; Hope Cooke, ex-queen of Sikkim; A. Bartlett Giamatti, now baseball commissioner, once Yale president; and others of less renown--a monk who became an animal psychologist; a foundation president who is now an innkeeper. Such people who ``move on'' are expressly admired by the author, even when their desired goals are not fully achieved, as aggressive risk-takers. Readers contemplating their own ``second acts'' will find the book supportive. (May)