Schwartz’s second novel traces the contours of one man’s life, or his “journey to spirit,” across seven decades.

As a small child growing up in 1940s and ’50s Newark, New Jersey, Cameron Simmons is so slow to walk and talk that his dad remarks there must be a “tortoise walking around his hair.” The comment, made by a generally aloof father, stays with Cam for the rest of his life—one spent, in part, obtaining multiple degrees at Rutgers University during the ’60s; avoiding the Vietnam War draft to pursue an ultimately underwhelming career in pharmacology; and having a tumultuous series of typically fumbling and often chaste relationships, including an early failed marriage prior to a more long-lasting union. He also raises an adopted son with a tenderness his father never bestowed on him; switches jobs to become, at 6 feet, 5 inches in height, the tallest—if not most successful—eyeglasses salesman in the Eastern United States; and settles down, at a later age, to begin a career as a writer with a modest following on LinkedIn. However, Cam’s figurative tortoise—eternally perched atop his head, wandering and searching, undercutting his day-to-day being with a constant sense of precipice and inadequacy—hampers his joy. Something feels, for him, forever missing, as manifested in myriad suicide attempts. Schwartz ably captures this feeling of absence in confident, cohesive first-person prose, divided into carefully considered and often wry chapters: “All the while, the tortoise was still hanging around, precipitating lapses in my development, confidence, and general sense of where the hell I was going in life.” Cam’s finely detailed and distinctive voice never falters, evoking the protagonists in the works of such authors as John Irving and Mordecai Richler. By straddling the political and the personal—from the Watergate hearings and burgeoning climate protests to Cam’s persistent, often aimless yearnings—the book offers a wide-reaching tale of humanity.

A rich, resonant, and vividly imagined character study.

Schwartz presents a parable of corporate mentorship.

The author calls this book a “business fable,” though unlike classics of the genre like Spencer Johnson’s Who Moved My Cheese? (1998), it also incorporates elements of autofiction. The book tells the story of Calvin, a corporate sales manager, and the lessons he learns from the Billionaire, the anonymized head of his company. The Billionaire takes Calvin under his wing and, over the course of many meetings, imparts the wisdom that has led him to become known for his net worth. As the Billionaire explains how to unlearn incorrect beliefs, establish rapport by gauging a contact’s interaction style, develop persistence, and learn from mistakes, Calvin grows increasingly convinced, putting the Billionaire’s recommendations into practice and seeing results in his client outreach. Each chapter is divided into three parts: First is a standard narrative that follows the interactions between Calvin and the Billionaire as they engage in Socratic dialogues elucidating the elements that have led to the Billionaire’s success. Next comes a summary of key takeaways, and then a stream-of-consciousness section in which Calvin assimilates the chapter’s main lesson, connects it to other events in his life, and free-associates. Schwartz’s prose is generally straightforward (“Artificial deadlines damage trust. Transparent communication about actual constraints builds it”), buttressed by jargon that never becomes overwhelming. The dialogues between the two characters are well paced, maintaining interest. Some readers may find the repetitive elements of the book’s structure a bit wearing (for instance, Calvin repeatedly wonders if the Billionaire’s techniques might be manipulative, and the Billionaire justifies them as ways of building authenticity), but others may find the repetition suitable to the book’s framing as a fable. Many of the lessons will be familiar to readers of business books, but Schwartz uses the Billionaire’s tone and enthusiasm—along with the authority afforded to people who have made a lot of money—to make them sound fresh and revolutionary. With its easy readability and solid information, the book is a worthwhile addition to the genre.

An engaging and offbeat approach to conveying key lessons about business success.