A worthy, wise, and clearheaded guide for anyone considering higher education.
A comprehensive guide to making the most out of the college experience.
Chiara Bacigalupa, Shelly Albaum, Antonia Bacigalupa Albaum, and Gianna Albaum collectively bring to this project over 60 years of combined experience in higher education, make their position clear in the introduction: “We believe that almost everyone can benefit from a college education...But only if you know how to go to college.” The book begins by straightforwardly tackling the question: Why to go to college? The authors question the wisdom of this widely accepted educational move. But the authors also argue that going to college can boost your self-esteem and lead to a longer, emotionally richer life. What follows is detailed advice for the prospective student (or perhaps their parents) on how to select the right college: “Employers themselves have stated very clearly the skills they are looking for: teamwork, communication, resilience, empathy, self-awareness...You can pick up the key skills in any major, and you’re more likely to pick them up if you are excited about what you are studying.” From this big-picture perspective, the authors then narrow their focus to practical advice on topics like attending online classes and attendance-optional courses, dealing with homesickness, and how to successfully interact with other students and faculty members. They also teach readers how to handle the expected workload of college courses, set priorities, and avoid over-programming. To keep things lively, digitally animated characters give playful running commentary in the margins (e.g., a wizened owl giving tips and guiding prospective students). These characters take on distinctive personalities over the course of the book and help differentiate this book from similar guides. Each chapter ends with a few key takeaways (e.g., “Meet deadlines, even when they seem arbitrary”). While some of the more general later sections—with topics on how to read, think, write, and learn—are not necessarily specific to the needs of prospective university students, their inclusion could prove beneficial for any collegiate reader. For those interested in further reading on the topic, there is also a useful suggested reading list included at the end.
A worthy, wise, and clearheaded guide for anyone considering higher education.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Oct. 23, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
A frank and funny but uneven essay collection about neurodiversity.
An experimental, illustrated essay collection that questions neurotypical definitions of what is normal.
From a young age, writer and comedian Myers has been different. In addition to coping with obsessive compulsive disorder and panic attacks, she struggled to read basic social cues. During a round of seven minutes in heaven—a game in which two players spend seven minutes in a closet and are expected to kiss—Myers misread the romantic advances of her best friend and longtime crush, Marley. In Paris, she accidentally invited a sex worker to join her friends for “board games and beer,” thinking he was simply a random stranger who happened to be hitting on her. In community college, a stranger’s request for a pen spiraled her into a panic attack but resulted in a tentative friendship. When the author moved to Australia, she began taking notes on her colleagues in an effort to know them better. As the author says to her co-worker, Tabitha, “there are unspoken social contracts within a workplace that—by some miracle—everyone else already understands, and I don’t….When things Go Without Saying, they Never Get Said, and sometimes people need you to Say Those Things So They Understand What The Hell Is Going On.” At its best, Myers’ prose is vulnerable and humorous, capturing characterization in small but consequential life moments, and her illustrations beautifully complement the text. Unfortunately, the author’s tendency toward unnecessary capitalization and experimental forms is often unsuccessful, breaking the book’s otherwise steady rhythm.
A frank and funny but uneven essay collection about neurodiversity.Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9780063381308
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2025
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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