Web Exclusive Reviews: Week of 8/25/2008
-- Publishers Weekly, 8/25/2008
nonfiction| Web Exclusive Pick of the Week |
 Swedish Death Metal Daniel Ekeroth. Bazillion Points (www.bazillionpoints.com), $34.95 (450p) ISBN 9780979616310Death Metal musician and author Ekeroth (Violent Italy) shows a true fan’s dedication in this oral history/band index of the thunderous music scene that emerged from frozen, sparsely-populated Sweden in the ’80s and early ’90s. In his introduction, Ekeroth explains the youth phenomenon that was Swedish Death Metal (it sounds pretty much like you would think) as natural in a country “generally made up of extremely small and boring towns.” He writes: “In the small and worthless town of Avesta where I grew up, there were metal bands in every garage, school, and youth center,” he writes. Without sensationalizing SDM’s dark, flamboyant lyrics, Ekeroth traces the movement that produced more than a thousand bands, from proto-genre “thrash metal” (more punk) to bastard offshoots like “black metal” (more makeup, less fun), through interviews with the musicians, tape-traders and fanzine writers who were there. The furious scene, made up almost entirely of frustrated and disaffected teenagers, would echo the ’70s punk revolution in New York and explode with the same powder-keg intensity, before eventually spawning “ridiculously well established” years that meant the death of Death. Maybe worth the price alone is the appendix, an “A to Z of Swedish Death Metal Bands,” which features brief profiles and discographies (with Ekeroth’s opinions) of every known SDM band, from world-famous At the Gates (“all their albums are classic masterpieces”) to Slakt (just one 2005 demo, “probably nerds”). More than 500 black and white photos and illus. (Aug.) |
NONFICTION
Africa Rising: How 900 Million African Consumers Offer More Than You Think
Vijay Mahajan with Robert E. Gunther. Wharton. $29.99 (288p) ISBN 9780132339421
Africa, like many emerging markets, has been long overlooked, but is poised for explosive growth and opportunity, says author Mahajan (The 86 Percent Solution) in this must-read for investors, executives and anyone with an interest in global business. He argues that Africa “is richer than you think” and presents “as big an opportunity as China and India.” The author describes a burgeoning middle class, referred to as “Africa Two,” and illustrates how successful companies are organizing the marketplace, creating infrastructure, advertising, and even customizing packaging. In a continent where many countries lack basic resources and transportation, Mahajan admits it would be easy for investors or corporations to discount prospects for profitability, but he describes how creative entrepreneurs have identified these problems as opportunities: the Coca-Cola Company uses trucks, bicycles and handcarts to transport its product into rural villages and is building its own ice plant to keep drinks cool during power outages. This compelling and captivating overview of the market with its colorful anecdotes provides a tremendous insight into Africa’s wealth, which Mahajan calls a “different type of oil and diamonds.” (Sept.)
Four-Letter Words: And Other Secrets of a Crossword Insider
Michelle Arnot. Perigee, $13.95 paper (240p) ISBN 9780399534355
While opening up a window into the unique world of those who write, edit, and obsessively solve crosswords, puzzle writer, editor and self-proclaimed "acrossionado" Arnot (What’s Gnu: History of the Crossword Puzzle) opens up a chest of insider secrets and solving tips worth the price of admission themselves. The title refers not to profanity, but a stable of commonly occurring crossword answers—“repeaters” to the insider—that form the foundation of nearly every standard crossword—and are cleverly highlighted, with an accompanying clue, throughout the text, equipping her readers with old-pro tools while keeping up a fleet, at times manic examination of the puzzle’s people and processes. Bouncing with little or no warning from topic to topic, Arnot comes across like a close friend finally given the green light to unload about a lifelong obsession. She wisely outlines her thoughts into chapter topics like geographical words, the occurrence of “E,” proper names, 3-letter words and crossword variations. Crossword fans should tear through this like a specimen from Monday’s New York Times, but Arnot’s enthusiasm alone could make anyone curious into a convert. (Aug.)
Relevance: Making Stuff That Matters
Tim Manners. Portfolio, $24.95 (224p) ISBN 9781591842200
Manners, a branding consultant and editor, takes the reader through the various aspects of building a successful brand, using the title of his book as a one word manifesto; all of his ideas loop back to it sooner or later. Branding is no longer a numbers game, according to the experts that he quotes, but about making your sure your customer is happy; not just with the service, or the product, but in their lives. How can this be achieved? The author’s answer: through relevant insights, innovation, investment and design. Combine these with careful attention to value and experience, and you’ll get growth. What distinguishes this book is the author’s scope: he’s clearly well connected and has plenty of quotes from branding and marketing experts across several industries to prove it. British range manufacturer Aga and niche coffee retailer Intelligentsia are just two of the “relevant” brands that Manners explores, and this range of knowledge adds authority to an otherwise thin argument, which at times seems like the same old ideas, rehashed and rebranded. (Sept.)
| Companion Animal Politics: What Goes In, What Goes Out |
Pet Food Politics: The Chihuahua in the Coal Mine Marion Nestle. Univ. of Calif., $18.95 (231p) ISBN 9780520257818For author and public health professor Nestle (Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health), the March 2007 pet food recall was the canary in the coal mine that would lead to a blitz of questions regarding the safety of imported food and goods. Begging comparison with Sinclair’s The Jungle,Nestle begins with a real-life whodunit, tracing an outbreak of kidney failure deaths among cats and then dogs. A major pet food manufacturer had recently switched wheat gluten suppliers, paying 20 to 30 percent less to a broker importing from China (natch). Soon, it’s revealed that two Chinese suppliers were passing off cheaper, toxic additives as gluten. As Nestle demonstrates, it’s the tip of the iceberg; unraveling the links among “food safety, health policy, international trade, and the relationship of corporations to government,” Nestle examines continuing food scandals, as well as the Chinese toy scare. Nestle finds most fault with the FDA; “still operat[ing] under food and drug laws passed in 1906 and modified in 1938,” it’s a systematically underfunded organization with an ever-increasing mandate and ever-shrinking powers of oversight. Though informative, this quick, clarifying read might easily make you sick to your stomach. (Sept.) New York’s Poop Scoop Law: Dogs, the Dirt, and Due Process  Michael Brandow. Purdue Univ., $29.95 (300p) ISBN 9781557534927With the “largest canine population known in history,” New York City in the early 1970s was drowning in 500,000 pounds of feces every day. In this overlong, occasionally entertaining account, Brandow details the situation with painstaking rigor, as the messy problem turned into a boondoggle of bizarre schemes, red tape and, eventually, 1978’s State Health Law 1310, which requires dog owners to clean up after their pets. Proposed solutions included forcing dogs to use their owners’ bathrooms, and City Controller Abraham Beame’s suggested corps of “Envirmaids,” female inspectors who would police the city “night and day.” (Why women? Not only are they neater than men, they cost less.) Brandow gives plenty of time to these and other characters, including TV reporter Fran Lee, whose “what about the children” campaign pushed the theory (later debunked) that dog feces exposure would cause blindness in kids, and the work of more level-headed, well-intentioned neighborhood groups. Unfortunately, constant digressions drag the narrative, exploding the text to encyclopedic length. Even dog-owning Manhattan natives will have their patience tested plodding through the bill’s inevitable ratification and aftermath; though occasionally engaging, this narrative is best suited for public policy students. (Aug.) |
Smack: Heroin and the American City
Eric C. Schneider. Univ. of Penn., $39.95 (296p) ISBN 978812241167
Schneider’s absorbing history of heroin’s proliferation in America draws a parallel between the evolution and decline of American cities and the rise of heroin use. Rather than treating the city as a “backdrop,” Schneider interprets cities as “the organizers of the world opium market,” and meticulously traces heroin’s ascendancy from early 20th century opium dens to the 1920s jazz milieu and into the suburbs of the late 20th century suburbs when heroin finally attracted the attention of mainstream media. He identifies cities, most notably New York, as hubs of heroin distribution, where residents often futilely attempted to save their neighborhoods from further loss of capital investment and migration to the suburbs. But as people migrated, so did the drug, and Schneider expertly shows that the fusion of the counterculture and increasing urban blight helped drive heroin into white middle class neighborhoods. Interviews with former addicts and social workers resonate amid Schneider’s efficient research. At the same time he remains true to his unsentimental analysis of heroin’s presence in American society, revealing the extent to which American cities are financially and socially weakened hosts to a parasitic element. (Sept.)
Wally’s World: Life with Wally the Wonder Dog
Marsha Boulton. Thomas Dunne, $23.95 (288p) ISBN 9780312379599
Author Boulton (Letters from the Country, Just a Minute More) and her longtime partner, author Stephen Williams, have shared their Canadian farmstead with a number of dogs, but Wally the Bull Terrier is the one who “shaped our life and saved it too.” Boulton’s wide-ranging memoir starts strong, a lyrical ode to the ups and downs of life among the canines, gleefully recounting obedience training and Wally’s puppy days, run-ins with skunks, the sudden death of loveable bull mastiff Hank, etc. Unfortunately, Boulton loses the narrative to some weighty personal issues; a lengthy police investigation against Williams, regarding a notorious serial killer case and the two books Williams wrote about it, eventually overwhelms (though Boulton’s serious run-in with skin cancer receives surprisingly little attention). Anecdotes about Wally are interspersed throughout, but charming tales of dog shows and tussles with local wildlife take a back seat to the grim legal proceedings. Though Boulton’s intended message is clear—a dog can make the bad times bearable and the good times better—her anger and frustration with the justice system speaks far louder, making this a disjointed and unsatisfying entry into the me-and-my-dog memoir camp. (Aug.)
What Rhymes with Bastard?
Linda Robertson. MacAdam/Cage, $24 (250p) ISBN 9781596923010
In this darkly comedic debut memoir, Scottish ex-pat Robertson details a bad year in San Francisco, living with a no-good boyfriend and her own uncertain identity. Wryly observing that “even a boyfriend in a lunatic asylum seemed better than none,” twenty-something Linda sends young, psychologically delicate Jack, “a good fixer-upper,” ahead to SF to secure a job, a place to live, and a “perfect backdrop to our decaying love.” The painful details of their relationship follow, as Jack becomes the alcoholic, drug abusing, philandering bastard of the title, and Robertson copes through friends, music and gallows humor. Though there’s little on the ex-pat experience (or the whys of her and her friends’ knack for poor choices), Robertson shares some welcome insights (“when your lover doesn't love you anymore, friends remind you that they do”) and gamely pokes fun at their grim, collective situation. The most serious material follows the death of Robertson’s mother, after which Robertson makes a bid for adulthood by entering the Ms. Accordion San Francisco 2004 pageant. Though sure to delight open-minded fans of chick lit (Robertson isn’t bashful), it’s a narrative unlikely to catch on with any broader an audience. (Aug. 29)
The World is Curved: Hidden Dangers to the Global Economy
David M. Smick. Portfolio, $26.95 (272p) ISBN 9781591842187
With this illuminating book, Smick revisits Thomas Friedman’s description of the “flat” world produced by globalization, arguing instead that the uncertainty produced by globalized financial markets has created a world that is curved, where events and their consequences are unpredictable. Smick begins with a puzzle: why did the subprime mortgage crisis, an event that directly impacted a relatively small piece of the global market, have such a catastrophic impact on the world market as a whole? From there, the author turns to topics as complex and varied as the potential 21st Century Chinese financial bubble and the policy dilemmas currently facing the Fed. Throughout the book, the author returns to the argument that political trends are increasingly at odds with the forces driving the globalized world economy. Smick brings expertise and lucidity to many difficult subjects, and while his book’s appeal will likely be limited to those with some background in the field, it will undoubtedly stir interest and debate amongst investors, policymakers and strategists alike. (Sept.)
LIFESTYLE
The Art and Soul of BakingCindy Mushet. Andrews McMeel, $40 (464p) ISBN 9780740773341
Veteran pastry chef Mushet puts her decades of experience to work in this dense, informative baking guide from Seattle-based gourmet cookware retailer Sur La Table (thankfully light on advertorials), opening with a comprehensive overview of crucial equipment and a 30 page guide to pantry stocking (butter, flour and sugar get three pages each, chocolate gets five). Covering all aspects of the baking spectrum, Mushet gives yeast-based breads, quick breads, cookies and bars, layered pastries and other specialties their turn, doing admirable work with standards like pizza dough and dinner rolls, as well as trendier riffs like pesto rolls and rustic olive and thyme bread that give cooks room to stretch in each category. Mushet’s invaluable lessons in ensuring oven accuracy, incorporating butter into dough for layered pastries (with step-by-step photos) and the causes of falling soufflés will get novices up to speed, and experts ready to tackle Mushet’s compelling cheesecake batter-in-a-food-processor technique will find her inventive hors d’oeuvre Stilton Cheesecake with Port-Braised Pears a big hit at the next cocktail party. Those already comfortable with baking will get the most out of the book’s 250 recipes, but there are plenty of dishes well within the reach of those new to Crème Brulee and lemon bar construction, making this a great volume to learn and grow with. (Sept.)
The Food Nanny Rescues Dinner: Easy Family Meals for Every Day of the Week
Liz Edmunds. Palmer/Pletsch (IPG, dist.), $24.95 (288p) ISBN 9780935278774
With the idea that shared family meals are the cornerstone of good parenting and relationships, self-styled “food nanny” Edmunds offers up a collection of 200 classic family favorites in this terrific home resource. Virtually every classic dish is represented, from Chicken Pot Pie, Pot Roast and Tuna Melts to Buttermilk Waffles and Apple Pie, as well as a few surprises like Sopapillas and even French Baguettes. Helpfully organized by theme (“comfort food,” “Italian night,” “Mexican night,” “pizza night”), Edmunds offers dishes for varying tastes and skill levels. Even those who have never set foot in the kitchen will be able to put a meal together quickly with her easy-to-follow guidance; Classic American Lasagne, for example, calls for jarred sauce and prepared lasagna noodles, but also offers recipes for the noodles themselves and a Bolognese sauce for cooks so inclined. It’s this distinguishing approach that makes the book suitable for honing skills and self-challenging. Themes of togetherness and “quality time” feel forced (what could possibly shut up kids faster than the suggested conversation starter, “Why do you think some kids need to bully others?”), but it’s impossible to fault Edmunds broad, deep and crowd-pleasing collection, especially suitable for those new to the kitchen. (Sept.)
ILLUSTRATED
Titanic: The Last Great Images
Robert Ballard with Ian Coutts. Running, $40 (192p) ISBN 9780762435043
Nearly twenty years after his famous 1985 discovery of the shipwrecked Titantic, the remote viewing technology developed by oceanographer Ballard and his team had progressed such that Ballard could capture the dream he was “just starting to realize” in ’85, deep-sea remote viewing with the “cleanest, clearest images… [all] in high definition.” Despite (or because of) decay and ghostly lighting, the submarine images are strangely vivid and colorful, with the power and credence to support one of Ballard’s major endeavors, declaring the wreck site an international marine museum (one chapter documents damage caused by private expeditions since ’86, another imagines a visit to the museum of 2062). Chapters on the ship’s construction and sinking include historical photos of the Titanic and its sister ship, the Olympic, juxtaposed with those same features from their Atlantic grave. Accompanied by commentary from colleagues Dwight Coleman and Jeremy Weirich, this book is a satisfying read with mesmerizing images for armchair voyagers, and a significant excursion into submarine technology and archeology for the more science-minded. (Sept.)
FICTION
Ace Hawkins and the Wrath of Santa Claus
Byron Starr. Creative Guy (Ingrim, dist.), $11.95 paper (188p) ISBN 9781894593504
At the very least, this burlesque of manly-man adventure fiction deserves points for thorough, determined oddness. Santa, a paranoid tyrant, hires greedy celebrity adventurer Ace to kill his rival, the equally evil but more wildly insane mad scientist Jack Frost. Santa’s bodyguard, the giant albino Mr. Snowman, is Ace’s mortal enemy, and Ace has personal ties to an underground band of elves fighting against Santa, complicating the job. Starr (Flatheads) makes good use of reliable conventions such as the tough guy reluctantly fighting for the downtrodden, and his frequent bursts of ingenuity display Santa’s depravity, such as the eight heads of the reindeer team mounted on his wall. Still, it remains a tedious, one-note caper. Starr and noted horror/fantasy illustrator Bret Jordan show impressive stamina in developing the joke in detail, but the book runs out of inspiration long before the end. (Oct.)
Though the Heavens May Fall
E.V. Thompson. Sphere (IPG, dist.), $35 (384p) ISBN 9781847440570
In Thompson’s quietly powerful puzzler set in 1856, Det. Constable Amos Hawke of Great Scotland Yard goes undercover to try to catch the killer of schoolteacher Edward Kernow and two excise officers who got too close to a smuggling ring in Cornwall. Amos, who officially is searching for his long-lost father, a former miner, lodges at the Charlestown cottage of Kernow’s widow, Maisie, and her schoolteacher daughter, Talwyn. In the course of his investigation, Amos meets Captain Billy, a drunk who knew his father when they toiled at the Wheal Notter copper mine. Billy is reluctant to say much, however, for fear of brothers Hannibal and Pasco Davey, miners-turned-crooks who will brook no interference from snoops. Thompson (The Vagrant King) leavens this multilayered historical with a chaste, slow-burning romance (after a bumpy start) between Amos and Talwyn, who even helps her detective swain-to-be on a crucial “spy” mission to France. (Oct.)
AUDIO
The Woman Who Can’t Forget: The Extraordinary Story of Living with the Most Remarkable Memory Known to Science: A Memoir
Jill Price, read by Celeste Ciulla. Recorded Books, unabridged, six CDs, 6.5 hrs., $29.99 ISBN 9781436105149
Price has spent the last eight years working with scientists to better understand her extraordinary memory. Since the early 1980s, she has experienced a total recall memory that allows her instantaneously to retrieve what she has done on any day of any year. The most interesting elements of this book come when Price explains how her memory works differently than normal people’s, and how that difference plays itself out in her self-understanding. However, the narrative of her personal life is a bit drab. Celeste Ciulla reads with a soft expressive voice that matches the text well. Whenever discussing past events, Price insists on including the dates, reinforcing the power of her memory. These dates collectively take up a significant amount of time in the audiobook. Ciulla’s perceptive take on this constant date-listing is to utter them in a rote tone, infusing Price’s words with a hint of obsessive compulsion. A Free Press hardcover (Reviews, Mar. 24). (May)
The Assassin’s Accomplice
Kate Clifford Larson, read by Laural Merlington. Brilliance Audio, unabridged, seven CDs, 8 hrs., $29.95 ISBN 9781423363729
Mary Surratt was a Washington, D.C. tavern operator who was hanged for her role in the Abraham Lincoln assassination conspiracy. At the time of her speedy military tribunal and swift execution, Surratt’s predicament generated considerable public debate about Southern resistance, Northern vengeance, and gender. History buffs will be enlightened by Larson’s findings about the scope and scale of Confederate covert activity in the waning days of the Civil Wars. Laural Merlington does not get the opportunity to sink her teeth into the complicated human drama until rather late in the proceedings. Her portrayal of the emotionally-charged interactions between Surratt and her fragile young-adult daughter demonstrates her range as a performer, but such interludes prove rather fleeting. Larson’s narrative remains tied to documentation and court transcripts, so listeners hoping for a full-blown 19th Century soap opera will need to turn elsewhere. A Basic Books hardcover (Reviews, Apr. 7). (June)
The End of Food
Paul Roberts, read by William Dufris. Tantor Audio, unabridged, 12 CDs, 15 hrs., $39.99 ISBN 9781400105991
Food shouldn’t be handled like other market economies and if it continues to do so, the system will self-destruct. With detailed information and extensive anecdotal evidence, Roberts provides an intriguing account of food that works well in illustrating the evolution, the problems, and the subtleties of today’s food industry. Unlike other food-writers, his assessment of the food industry is not entirely scathing but rather recognizes the inability of many within the industry to make significant changes. William Dufris is thorough in his delivery and excellent with his tone, timing, and emphasis during Roberts’ more complicated prose (of which there is plenty). His quoting voice doesn’t always match up with the speaker in terms of projection and personality. He maintains his rhythm and projection for most of the production with less than a handful of vocal shifts in the recording. A Houghton Mifflin hardcover (Reviews, Apr. 14). (June)
The Soloist
Steve Lopez, read by William Hughes. Blackstone Audio, unabridged, six CDs, 6.5 hrs., $19.95 ISBN 9781433215223
Perhaps the fact that William Hughes is an accomplished musician and a political science professor allows him to slip so easily into both the voice of free-associating, schizophrenic, homeless musical prodigy Nathaniel Ayers, and the more professional voice of LA Times columnist Lopez. Lopez stumbles across Ayers playing his violin on the street a few blocks from his downtown office and writes a column about him that piques the public’s interest. This begins an inspiring tale of a friendship rife with triumphs, disappointments, and human kindness. Hughes reads Lopez’s narration with the casual authority of one telling his own story. When the dialogue is Ayers’, Hughes makes a subtle but effective vocal shift to make him sound more loose and free, but also more anxious. A Putnam hardcover (Reviews, Feb. 18). (May)
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Barbara Axelson |
Isabelle Gason |
Stephen Milioti |
