Web Exclusive Reviews: Week of 4/28/2008
-- Publishers Weekly, 4/28/2008
NONFICTION
| Web Pick of the Week |
|
|
NONFICTION
Asshole: How I Got Rich and Happy By Not Giving a Damn About Anyone
Martin Kihn. Broadway, $22.95 (256p) ISBN 9780767927260
This strange, semi-parodic business self-help memoir from author and journalist Kihn (formerly of Spy magazine) details the writer’s attempt to throw off, at age 40, the nice-guy habits that were killing him (“defects like consideration, politeness, giving a fuck what you think”) and discover the winning Asshole within. After setting some ground rules (“Things I Would Not Do,” including subtance abuse, adultery and smiling), Kihn finds himself a role model (“the Nemesis,” a classic jerk at the office), a life coach (typical advice: “Walk bigger”) and starts putting his philosophy into action. Laying out his narrative in ten steps, Kihn’s “experiments” take him into the boxing ring, through dog training, into public confrontation and, naturally, toward wisdom, success and happiness. Kihn is generally funny, especially in goofy asides like “Meditation for Assholes” (affirmations include “I constantly feel a nameless dread which inspires me”), but, in keeping with the theme, he’s often crude. Whether it works, ultimately, will depend on one’s reaction to the ending, in which Kihn Learns a Valuable Lesson. Like an above-average Adam Sandler movie, this mix of racy humor and overt sentiment will probably get both a bigger audience, and less credit, than it deserves. (Apr.)
Crunch: Why Do I Feel So Squeezed? (and Other Unsolved Economic Mysteries)Jared Bernstein. Berrett-Koehler, $26.95 (225p) ISBN 9781576754771
According to economist and author Bernstein (All Together Now: Common Sense for a Fair Economy), the endless parade of economic legislation and corporate criminality that keep the rich getting richer are all a direct product of economic knowledge being monopolized and manipulated by the rich, keeping the middle and lower classes woefully unprepared to understand, much less stand up to, the economic forces aligned against them. Fortunately, this accessible overview should clear things up for even the most befogged reader. Answering questions from an average American perspective—“the ones in the vise grip of the crunch”—Bernstein explains murky topics like health care reform, minimum wage laws, the Federal Reserve, immigration and budget deficits with a clear, friendly manner that sidesteps any scholarly (and/or sinister) obfuscation. His progressive “we’re all in this togther” philosophy, though seemingly familiar, is backed up with enough data and savvy to illuminate what’s wrong in the dominant “self-reliance” narrative of American political discourse. This down-to-earth, populist guide to the pressing economic issues of our time is a clarifying, useful and empowering resource. (Apr.)
Flip: How to Turn Everything You Know on Its Head—and Succeed Beyond your Wildest Imaginings
Peter Sheahan. William Morrow, $25.95 (320p) ISBN 9780061558955
Sheahan, consultant and Young Turk of the business world, turns conventional wisdom around to discover marketing techniques effective with today’s younger consumers, “who can’t go to the toilet without phoning five of their friends.” Sheahan puts forth business model-shattering concepts like gaining control by giving it up: allowing customers, networks and rank-and-file employees to improve products through feedback, interaction and inclusiveness. He even “flips”conventional thinking on outsourcing: “It is one thing to make products or do the paperwork for the world cheaply, and it is another entirely to innovate, design and sell goods and services to the world’s advanced consumer markets.” Sheahan illustrates his points convincingly with examples pulled from the business headlines, though some of his ideas may strike readers as overly dramatic and hard to follow, like putting as much effort into staff satisfaction as into customer satisfaction. Elsewhere, readers will find business fundamentals updated (“absolutely, positively sweat the small stuff” and “you’ve got to be fast, good, cheap, and more!”), and increasingly familiar lessons on exploiting a niche (“Mass-market success: Find it on the fringe”). Business owners and decision makers trying to capture the hearts and minds of today’s younger consumers will find this a helpful guide. (Apr.)
Ghosts at the Table: Riverboat Gamblers, Texas Rounders, Roadside Hucksters, and the Living Legends Who Made Poker What It Is TodayDes Wilson. Da Capo, $26 (368p) 9780306816284
A card game’s journey from American frontier pastime to “the fastest growing recreational activity on earth” is the subject of this readable new history from writer and “poker personality” Wilson (Swimming with the Devilfish). Aiming to uncover the truth behind poker’s most famous moments and personalities, Wilson finds that Wild Bill Hickok probably wasn’t holding the notorious “dead man’s hand,” aces and eights, when he was gunned down in a Deadwood saloon, but that the two sides in the OK Corral really did sit down for a game the night before their shootout. Wilson is at his best relating the history, and subsequent marketing transformation, of the Texas road gamblers—men like Amarillo Slim Preston, Doyle Brunson and TJ Cloutier—who once traveled the state playing in illegal games for big money, and now write how-to books and front internet sites as respected sages. Fans will enjoy the witty, incisive portraits of the game’s star players, including Phil Hellmuth, Jennifer Harmon, Johnny Chan and Phil Ivey, “who began playing with a fake ID when he was eighteen… [using] the name Jerome.” Detailing the emergence of female stars and the internationalization of the game, this history offers much for aficionados and casual fans alike. (Apr.)
Inside Steve’s Brain
Leander Kahney. Portfolio, $23.95 (304p) ISBN 9781591841982
Throughout his storied Silicon Valley career, Apple CEO and Pixar Studios founder Steve Jobs has been labeled, among other things, an egomaniac, a Zen Buddhist, a business mastermind, a sociopath and a music mogul. Blogger, author and Wired News editor Kahney, who has chronicled Apple in previous books (The Cult of Mac), attempts to plumb the depths of Jobs’s prodigious mind in this engrossing biography. The author devotes much time to the sensational aspects of Jobs’ life, including his demeaning and ferocious interactions with employees, his relentless high-mindedness and fanatical attention to detail, clearly demonstrating how his tyrannical and perfectionist impulses have have shaped the award-winning designs and consumer-friendly products that have made Apple a juggernaut. Though it doesn’t penetrate the Mac man’s psyche too deeply, and sections on tangential figures like Apple design guru Jonathan Ive and Apple Store visionary Ron Johnson can meander, those searching for a telling portrait of Jobs’s management style and its impact on Apple will not be left wanting. (Apr.)
Man Killed by Pheasant: And Other Kinships: A Memoir
John T. Price. Da Capo, $25 (240p) ISBN 9780306816055
Taking a chronological tour of his life in Iowa, author and essayist Price (Not Just Any Land: A Personal and Literary Journey into the American Grasslands) ruminates on what he calls “kinship”: the “familial embrace of nature, body, and spirit” that has kept him rooted in his home state. Price has a gentle but perceptive eye, especially when he turns it on his family. Reminisces about his rapidly deteriorating grandfather are especially compelling, and he’s disarmingly honest throughout. His dry sense of humor, put to fine use in the title chapter, is sparse but stinging: “One of the great things about... the seventies in general, was that parents and children were encouraged, whenever possible, to participate in separate activities.” Made up largely of previously published essays, Price’s memoir lacks cohesion and his limited scope can feel self-indulgent (especially in respect to his wife, who comes across as a cipher). Still, this book has a strong agrarian sensibility and a careful method of self-examination that recalls Indiana-based essayist Scott Russell Sanders; it should resonate well with regional readers, but may also catch a groundswell of Green-related interest in urban centers. (Apr.)
Mistaken Identity: Two Families, One Survivor, Unwavering Hope
Don and Susie Van Ryn, Colleen Newell and Whitney Cerak, with Mark Tabb. S&S/Howard, $21.99 (288p) ISBN 9781416567356
In a widely reported incident in 2006, Laura Van Ryn and Whitney Cerak, students at an evangelical college in Indiana, and their families were victims of a ghastly mistake: the wrong girl was identified as the survivor of a car crash that claimed multiple lives. Only after five weeks, when the girl emerged from a coma, was the error discovered. The families and the survivor, Whitney, record their experiences in this heavily Christian account. Those seeking a tale of extraordinary emotions to match the extraordinary circumstances will be disappointed: both families are devoutly religious, and their faith is of the sort that does not admit a great range of feelings. Anger and anguish are quickly recast as professions of faith and celebrations of life in Christ. The Van Ryns immediately embrace Whitney and dismiss a reporter’s suggestion of lawsuits. Nor are the Ceraks bitter, not even Whitney, who suffers brain damage. As they describe it, the story inspires others to adopt their beliefs. (Because of such conversions, Whitney writes that the five people killed in the crash have given their lives for Christ.) Readers who don’t share the authors’ faith may feel alienated, however much they admire the fortitude of the families. (Mar.)
Panther Soup: Travels Through Europe in War and Peace
John Gimlette. Knopf, $26 (416p) ISBN 9780307265425
Overlong and slyly self-important, travel writer Gimlette’s third book takes the recollections of WWII veteran Putnam Flint and combines them with Gimlette’s own European tour for a then-and-now travelogue that doesn’t ever quite connect. Flint, an 86-year-old Bostonian who traveled from Provence to Austria with his tank destroyer battalion during the closing days of the war, is winning, inquisitive and has a writer’s gift for precise language, telling Gimlette, “In combat, you hear guns, and it’s like a musical score. The story unrolls from there.” Unfortunately, Gimlette can’t help but stretch the metaphor to the breaking point: “In Flint’s case, it was a complex score, and no two recitals were ever quite the same.” The two-thirds spent with Gimlette’s own travels are often tedious; he has a fondness for looking for old brothels and new strip clubs, and a heavy hand with generalizations: “For the French, culture is duty, for the Americans it’s pleasure.” The combination of Gimlette’s fatuous modern opinions and a tense historical memoir never quite gels; Flint’s worthwhile stories deserve better. Illustrations. (Apr.)
Sitting BullBill Yenne. Westholme, $29.95 (448p) ISBN 9781594160608
In this stirring biography, Yenne, author of numerous books on the history of the American West (Indian Wars, On the Trail of Lewis and Clark, etc.), captures the extraordinary life of Plains Indian leader Sitting Bull while providing new insight into the nomadic culture of the Lakota. Born in 1831, Sitting Bull witnessed the downfall of his people’s way of life nearly from start to finish—despite some clashes, “the Lakota supremacy on the northern Plains remained essentially unchallenged” until the 1850s. Yenne describes how hostilities increased after the 1849 California gold rush, and were exacerbated by the opening of the railroad; conflicts and broken treaties would harden many Lakota against the colonists, including Sitting Bull. A high point is Yenne’s account of how celebrity journalism created the myth of Custer’s Last Stand, casting the general as hero and Sitting Bull as the villain, and how the US cavalry’s defeat was used to justify forcing Indians off their land and onto reservations. The last half of the book describes Sitting Bull’s unsuccessful attempts to defend the Lakota’s land and culture through negotiation and peaceful resistance, alongside a dismal record of government betrayal and neglect. In this remarkable, tragic portrait, Sitting Bull emerges as a thoughtful, passionate and very human figure. 60 illustrations. (Apr.)
Stuffed and Starved: The Hidden Battle for the World Food System
Raj Patel. Melville, $19.95 (448p) ISBN 9781933633497
Journalist and scholar Patel (Promised Land: Competing Visions of Agrarian Reform) focuses attention on the unfortunate irony of the current world food situation, in which the imbalance of world resources has created an epidemic of obesity in some parts of the world while millions in the “Global South” endure starvation. To make sense of the situation, Patel addresses the entire system of global food production, distribution and sale, concluding that “[u]nless you’re a corporate food executive, the food system isn’t working for you.” “Record levels of diet-related disease” plague consumers, cruel market realities (and unsympathetic officials) doom farmers, and communities are beset by a supermarket system that provides “cheap calories” while “bleed[ing] local economies.” Patel analyzes what can be done, presenting logical recommendations and strategies for individuals—eat locally, seasonally, and ecologically; support local business, workers’ rights, and living wages; create a sustainable food system—though several primary components of his big vision (including ending agribusiness subsidies and corporate farming, and levying a tax on processed foods) are clearly a long way off. Those concerned about global health, social justice and the environment will be aware of many of the issues presented here, but should still find much to learn. (Apr.)
We Would Have Played for Nothing: Baseball Stars of the 1950s and 1960s Talk About the Game They Loved
Fay Vincent. Simon & Schuster, $25 (336p) ISBN 9781416553427
Vincent’s second volume of interviews with ballplayers hearkens to a time when kids played baseball all day (with only a break for lunch), annual salaries for professional players rarely reached six figures and the color barrier was only recently broken by Jackie Robinson. Robinson’s legacy looms large in the 11 accounts featured here; in one of the book’s more touching passages, late New York Giants shortstop Bill Rigney laments failing to introduce himself after the Brooklyn Dodger slugged his first big-league home run against the Giants in 1947. Elsewhere, Duke Snider recalls playing in the final game at Ebbets Field before the Dodgers moved west, and Carl Erskine reveals that players back then didn’t bother to read their contracts. Author and former baseball commissioner Vincent records verbatim his subjects’ comments, preserving each player’s characteristic mannerisms but encouraging digression; that said, everybody questioned has remarkably detailed memories and plenty of opinions on today’s game. This is a vivid, entertaining read for anyone old enough to remember Whitey Ford, Lew Burdette and Billy Williams, and an informative insider’s history for a new generation of fans. (Apr.)
Writings for a Democratic Society: The Tom Hayden Reader
Tom Hayden. City Lights, $21.95 (450p) ISBN 9780872864610
Former California State Senator Hayden (Ending the War in Iraq) has a long history of activism and politics, much of which has been chronicled in his writing; this collection pulls together more than four decades of work tackling vital social issues, from civil rights and Vietnam to genetically modified foods, Iraq and the global justice movement. Hayden writes in a clear and heartfelt manner, turning spotlights not just on problems, but on the commonsense, and often overlooked, implications of those problems: “A country that fails to provide living wages for so many of its young is more committed to its present privileges than its future potential”; “American empire seeks American independence by plunging other nations, cultures, and classes into dependence, which in turn triggers a spiral of resentment and resistance.” These grim pronouncements are balanced by a sense of optimism and a clarion call for action: “The times are too hard for us to respond simply as comforters of the oppressed… we must move ahead concertedly with our goal—the changing of society.” Dense and wide-ranging, this is a thorough survey of an important thinker and activist. (Apr.)
LIFESTYLE
The Jungle Effect: A Doctor Discovers the Healthiest Diets from Around the World—Why They Work and How to Bring them Home
Daphne Miller. Collins, $22.95 (384p) ISBN 9780061535659
Family physician Miller had seen countless cases of chronic illness and weight gain, but it wasn’t until she saw a patient recently returned from Brazil that a light bulb went off in her head: the patient had noticed marked improvement after just a few weeks in her father’s native village. Intrigued, Miller did some research and found a number of “cold spots” around the world, areas where chronic diseases like diabetes, depression and heart disease are disproportionately low. She then embarked on a world tour to find out why. As she travels through Copper Canyon, Mexico to Cameroon, West Africa to Iceland—where locals manage to avoid depression in one of the darkest and coldest regions in the world—and beyond, Miller finds that, in each case, local diet plays a key role. Many of her overarching tips will sound familiar (eat fresh foods, eat more fish, avoid refined sugar, watch the salt, etc.), but a handful of suggestions, such as eating fermented foods and using mushrooms to fight cancer, should come as news. Miller’s work is consistently informative and educational, if at times meandering; each “cold spot” is accompanied by a specific regimen, and Miller’s practical advice and recipes are all geared for the novice. Anyone unafraid of modifying their diet will find this anthropological diet guide useful. (May)
ILLUSTRATED
Kelly: A Father, a Son, an American Quest
Daniel J. Boyne. Mystic Seaport, $34.95 (256p) ISBN 9780939511235
In a time when rowing rivaled boxing and baseball in popularity, Jack Kelly (1889-1960) was its greatest champion. In this attractive illustrated biography, sports and society writer Boyne (The Red Rose Crew: A True Story of Women, Winning and the Water) chronicles Kelly’s rise from modest beginnings as the son of Irish immigrants to Olympic gold, a journey that left him both triumphant and bitter. Boyne makes a compelling argument that Kelly’s rowing acumen was directly related to his other major physical pursuit, bricklaying, which he took up at age eighteen: “a perfect exercise for strengthening your hands, wrists and forearms.” That and years of training on Philadelphia’s Schuylkill River made Kelly the fastest rower in the world, but prejudice barred him from England’s prestigious Henley Regatta. That sleight, never forgotten, lead him to push his son Kell into the sport, and ultimately to win the Regatta in 1947. An obvious labor of love, the book is so fond of its subject that it reads at times like a tall tale—Kelly even saves a woman from a burning building—but even so, it’s a fine portrait of two Olympic champions and their remarkable family, including Jack’s daughter Grace, and theater stars Walter and George. (Mar.)
FICTION
Summer Snow
Nicole Baart. Tyndale, $12.99 paper (384p) ISBN 9781414316239
In her sophomore outing and excellent follow-up to After the Leaves Fall, Baart continues her saga of Julia DeSmit with the same careful prose and enjoyable storytelling she showed in her debut. Julia’s pregnancy is starting to show and she’s dropped out of college to live with her grandmother and work at Value Foods in a small Midwestern town. Her beloved “boy next door” is marrying another, and the father of her coming child is out of the picture. But when the unexpected happens, Julia discovers the bitterness of being unforgiving, the possibility of second chances, and the place in her life that only God can fill. Baart communicates deep spiritual themes with a light touch, and some scenes, such as Julia and a friend watching cottonwood fluff (“summer snow”) blow over a lake at sundown, are lovely. She also has a knack with characterization, and wise words come from both expected and unexpected places. This is a treat for faith fiction readers, and proves Baart is not just a one-hit wonder. (May)
The Sweetgum Knit Lit Society
Beth Pattillo. WaterBrook, $13.99 paper (352p) ISBN 9781400073948
Take five knitters, put them in a book club, expand it to include a rebellious teen and you’ve got this agreeable “yarn” by Pattillo. Eugenie Pierce is a 60-something “tough love” librarian in Sweetgum, Tenn. who finds the neglected 13-year-old Hannah Simmons tearing out pages of a library book. In reparation, Hannah must attend Eugenie’s “Knit Lit Society” at Sweetgum Christian Church. Pattillo offers a mélange of additional characters: Merry McGavin is an overwhelmed mother; single gal Ruthie Allen is 55 and at odds with her sister, Esther Jackson; Camille St. Clair is a 24-year-old committed to caring for her terminally ill mother. All five women harbor secrets that Hannah’s presence in the group will prompt them to reveal. Though the plot can be predictable, the story grows smoothly in Pattillo’s competent hands. As each woman’s situation comes to a crisis point, the tension never escalates past a gentle simmer. Pattillo, a Rita Award-winning writer author (Heavens to Betsy) creates a sweet story of redemption that will go down well with knitters as well as the knitting-challenged. (May)
Timeskipper
Stefano Benni, trans. from the Italian by Antony Shugaar. Europa (Consortium, dist.), $16.95 paper (272p) ISBN 9781933372440
Time is out of joint in this quasi-fantasy novel by Italian author Benni (Margherita Dolce Vita), whose young hero, Luperto, is stopped on his way to school by God, who, dressed in rags and swarmed by flies, gives Luperto a “duoclock,” or the ability to see the future. Luperto, now called Timeskipper, grows up the son of a woodcarver in a small village in post-war Italy. Timeskipper goes away to the city to be educated, flirts with communism, plays soccer, becomes a newspaper reporter, observes the student unrest that sweeps Europe in 1968 and returns home to take part in his village’s losing war between tradition and progress. He also can’t forget Selene, the on-again off-again love of his life. At key points, Timeskipper’s duoclock enables him to see possible futures, but shorn of the underused gimmick, this is a fairly stock coming-of-age story dressed up with supporting characters right out of a Fellini movie. Many Italian political references will be lost on the average American reader, making this translation one that may have trouble finding with a larger audience. (May)
AUDIO
Dodsworth
Sinclair Lewis, read by Grover Gardner. Blackstone Audio, unabridged, 11 CDs, 13.5 hrs., $29.95 ISBN 9781433208133
Lewis’s remarkable 1929 satirical novel about millionaire auto manufacturer Sam Dodsworth, who journeys to Europe with his new wife, is brought to life in a straightforward yet entirely enjoyable performance by Grover Gardner. He offers only slight variations in tone and dialect for each character, but they are always entertaining and realistic. He’s never over-the-top or outrageous, which, given the writing style, could easily have been the case. Gardner’s Dodsworth is a clear-cut and firm individual whose voice shifts ever so slightly once he begins to realize that there is far more to life than just a paycheck. As Dodsworth’s wife, Gardner delivers a slightly more grating tone with a higher pitch reminiscent of a stage performance, which offers a more lighthearted tone at times. (Feb.)
The Reserve
Russell Banks, read by Tom Stechschulte. HarperAudio, unabridged, eight CDs, 9.5 hrs., $39.95 ISBN 9780061457517
Tom Stechschulte’s voice is well suited to this novel’s myriad layers of time and interlocking characters. Although superficially different—genteel versus rebellious, calm versus wild—the central figures all have an old-fashioned depth. Set in the mid-1930s amid mounting concerns over war, numerous characters have Germanic accents, which Stechschulte reproduces adeptly. He shifts easily from the backwoods drawl of the people who live surrounding the exclusive reserve in the Adirondacks to the haughty upper-class tones of the wealthy who stay there. Similarly, he captures the broad, confident tones of Jordan Groves, the prickly artist who fits neither group, but then moves his voice fluidly to that of the enigmatic heiress, Vanessa Cole, who catches Groves’s eye. Stechschulte gives Vanessa’s words the right husky, even sultry quality, but more importantly he perfectly expresses her rapidly shifting emotions of inner turmoil and borderline madness. Simultaneous release with the Harper hardcover (Reviews, Nov. 26). (Feb.)
