A clearly written and wide-ranging collection of lessons on becoming a more cheerful, centered, and successful person.
An inspirational manual aims to help readers through life’s difficulties.
In one form or another, Blalock’s nonfiction debut repeatedly asks readers the same question: “What are your solutions for sanity in a world of chaos and complexity?” In these pages, the author distills the lessons of a lifetime in business into his own answers to that question, delivered in bite-sized chapters that keep the book’s tempo swift. Chapter subjects range across a broad spectrum of issues, and the tips are supplied with a minimum of fuss or flourish. Readers are instructed on the value of mindful eating, on healthy ways of dealing with disappointment, on the importance of compromise, on methods of critical thinking, on the role of willpower in long-term planning, on the ability to know when to relinquish a stubborn but pointless hope (“Giving up hope is sometimes prudent in situations where your attention elsewhere is necessary to reach your goals in life” is a typical elaboration), and many other topics. The theme running through all of this lucid material and connecting it is the author’s insistence that being personally and spiritually grounded is the key to both happiness and success. The guide’s encouraging tone derives in large part from Blalock’s optimistic belief that the power to achieve that foundation rests in the hands of each person—this is a self-help book that places a refreshing emphasis on the “self” part. The writing often relies on clichéd thinking—embrace the moment, every day is a new day, change is constant, etc.—and many of the instructions in these brief chapters, however valuable, are truisms that scarcely bear repeating (things like “be kind,” “be honorable,” “be productive,” “be positive”). But the upbeat tone and positive self-improvement advice will make the manual a shot in the arm for despondent or distracted readers.
A clearly written and wide-ranging collection of lessons on becoming a more cheerful, centered, and successful person.Pub Date: April 18, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-4575-6364-5
Page Count: 264
Publisher: Archway Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 14, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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