An impassioned and engaging call to make life and work more sustainable.
A nonfiction book offers a Benjamin Franklin–inspired plea to embrace frugality in all aspects of life.
This work uses Franklin’s book The Way to Wealth as both an inspiration and a framing device. Piasecki encourages readers to pursue “competitive frugality,” improving outcomes by doing more with less on both the personal and global levels. Each chapter opens with a Franklin quotation that introduces the concept Piasecki explores in essays that often deliver intriguing asides, both in footnotes and in the main text, before returning to their central themes. The book explores the current state of business, the environment, and human interaction. It shows how each is affected by embracing a sense of frugality and common purpose, which the author contrasts with the “stupid” behavior of “knuckleheads” whose actions are often self-defeating and always unsustainable. The volume celebrates companies pursuing sustainable growth, particularly Unilever, and each chapter ends with a list of highlights and suggestions for contemplation and discussion. Piasecki takes a broad view of what frugality means, encompassing everything from living within one’s means to operating an efficient workplace to appreciating small moments of joy. (One example of the last category, a story about the author’s encounter with musician Dizzy Gillespie, is particularly delightful.) The closing chapters look toward the future, focusing on the current generation of children and how it can benefit from people in positions of authority thinking about the long-term repercussions of their decisions. The book concludes with a list of recommended resources for further reading.
Piasecki’s passion for his subject is evident throughout, and it is clear that he has put a lot of thought into how the world can achieve sustainability. With its wide-ranging subject matter, examining everything from the functions of global cities and hockey games to Bruce Springsteen, the volume encompasses the author’s broad interests and experiences. Business book connoisseurs will enjoy the work’s assessment of the similarities and differences between its observations on management and those of Jim Collins in Good to Great (2001). Piasecki highlights little-known leaders who embody his concept of competitive frugality, with plenty of details provided as they are held up as examples. The author’s cautious optimism about humanity’s ability to curb climate change pairs well with his frequent reminders to readers that the necessary modifications are both achievable and desirable, resulting in an upbeat look at a challenging topic. Piasecki has a gift for phrasing his key points concisely (“What is sound competition and what is simply stupid competitiveness?”), making the book an easy read that covers a remarkable amount of territory in under 200 pages. The many asides and digressions, while generally intriguing, can leave readers wondering where a chapter is going at times. But for the most part, the author successfully connects his conclusions to the preceding paragraphs, no matter how much he meanders along the way. There is a valedictory sensibility to the volume, with references to Piasecki’s earlier works and his long career, which adds weight to its arguments in favor of protecting the future.
An impassioned and engaging call to make life and work more sustainable.Pub Date: March 22, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-66781-912-9
Page Count: 192
Publisher: BookBaby
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.
A former New York City dancer reflects on her zesty heyday in the 1970s.
Discovered on a Manhattan street in 2020 and introduced on Stanton’s Humans of New York Instagram page, Johnson, then 76, shares her dynamic history as a “fiercely independent” Black burlesque dancer who used the stage name Tanqueray and became a celebrated fixture in midtown adult theaters. “I was the only black girl making white girl money,” she boasts, telling a vibrant story about sex and struggle in a bygone era. Frank and unapologetic, Johnson vividly captures aspects of her former life as a stage seductress shimmying to blues tracks during 18-minute sets or sewing lingerie for plus-sized dancers. Though her work was far from the Broadway shows she dreamed about, it eventually became all about the nightly hustle to simply survive. Her anecdotes are humorous, heartfelt, and supremely captivating, recounted with the passion of a true survivor and the acerbic wit of a weathered, street-wise New Yorker. She shares stories of growing up in an abusive household in Albany in the 1940s, a teenage pregnancy, and prison time for robbery as nonchalantly as she recalls selling rhinestone G-strings to prostitutes to make them sparkle in the headlights of passing cars. Complemented by an array of revealing personal photographs, the narrative alternates between heartfelt nostalgia about the seedier side of Manhattan’s go-go scene and funny quips about her unconventional stage performances. Encounters with a variety of hardworking dancers, drag queens, and pimps, plus an account of the complexities of a first love with a drug-addled hustler, fill out the memoir with personality and candor. With a narrative assist from Stanton, the result is a consistently titillating and often moving story of human struggle as well as an insider glimpse into the days when Times Square was considered the Big Apple’s gloriously unpolished underbelly. The book also includes Yee’s lush watercolor illustrations.
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-27827-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2022
A juicy story with some truly crazy moments, yet Anderson's good heart shines through.
The iconic model tells the story of her eventful life.
According to the acknowledgments, this memoir started as "a fifty-page poem and then grew into hundreds of pages of…more poetry." Readers will be glad that Anderson eventually turned to writing prose, since the well-told anecdotes and memorable character sketches are what make it a page-turner. The poetry (more accurately described as italicized notes-to-self with line breaks) remains strewn liberally through the pages, often summarizing the takeaway or the emotional impact of the events described: "I was / and still am / an exceptionally / easy target. / And, / I'm proud of that." This way of expressing herself is part of who she is, formed partly by her passion for Anaïs Nin and other writers; she is a serious maven of literature and the arts. The narrative gets off to a good start with Anderson’s nostalgic memories of her childhood in coastal Vancouver, raised by very young, very wild, and not very competent parents. Here and throughout the book, the author displays a remarkable lack of anger. She has faced abuse and mistreatment of many kinds over the decades, but she touches on the most appalling passages lightly—though not so lightly you don't feel the torment of the media attention on the events leading up to her divorce from Tommy Lee. Her trip to the pages of Playboy, which involved an escape from a violent fiance and sneaking across the border, is one of many jaw-dropping stories. In one interesting passage, Julian Assange's mother counsels Anderson to desexualize her image in order to be taken more seriously as an activist. She decided that “it was too late to turn back now”—that sexy is an inalienable part of who she is. Throughout her account of this kooky, messed-up, enviable, and often thrilling life, her humility (her sons "are true miracles, considering the gene pool") never fails her.
A juicy story with some truly crazy moments, yet Anderson's good heart shines through.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2023
ISBN: 9780063226562
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Dey Street/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Dec. 5, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
SEEN & HEARD
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