A handy guide for novice and moderately experienced speakers, once you’ve dodged the TED boosterism.
The head honcho of the much-watched (and oft-satirized) TED Talks shares how he gets the best out of speakers.
Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, writes Anderson, clocked in at 17 minutes, 40 seconds: just a hair under the 18 minutes allotted to speakers at the TED Conference, a group that’s included high-wattage thinkers like Bill Gates, Andrew Solomon, and Steven Pinker. The King comparison is apt, since Anderson writes with a preacher’s enthusiasm and messianic demeanor about the virtues of TED Talks and about why you might want to master the skills involved in presenting one. From appropriate dress to calming your nerves to revising to pacing, the bulk of the book is filled with tips. Hone the “throughline” of your talk—its (usually counterintuitive) point—into 15 words. Own your vulnerability and express it onstage. Emphasize parable and metaphor in your storytelling. Avoid bombarding people with slides, especially ones with lots of bullet points (“bullets belong in The Godfather”). Avoid airy expressions of gratitude when you start and finish, and focus instead on more earthbound questions and assertions that stoke curiosity. Anderson provides examples from the TED vault to bolster his points, mentioning speaker shipwrecks anonymously and calling out particularly surprising and successful ones by name—he refers a few times to Monica Lewinsky’s 2015 talk as an example of intense preparation, fending off fear, and telling a story that resonates. The author’s exhortations to constantly revise, rehearse, and rethink your story are all unimpeachably practical. (Indeed, the book unintentionally doubles as a helpful writing guide.) So it’s disappointing that the closing chapters devolve into a TED history lesson and overenthusiastic cheerleading about the organization’s world-changing powers—an oddly soft conclusion from a writer who demands we stick the landing.
A handy guide for novice and moderately experienced speakers, once you’ve dodged the TED boosterism.Pub Date: May 3, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-544-63449-7
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Review Posted Online: March 27, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2016
A harrowing account of manic depression, plus information about the disease, by Diane Berger, mother of a manic-depressive son, and Lisa Berger, her sister and a free-lance writer (Parade, Vogue, etc.). Wrenching personal chapters by Diane alternate with well- researched, fact-filled ones by Lisa that provide a primer and sourcebook on the disorder. A third voice, that of the patient himself, offers glimpses into the bizarre, frightening world of the manic-depressive. The personal chapters chronicle the two- year period from the onset of son Mark's symptoms during his freshman year at college to the present; there is no fairy-tale ending, but there is a measure of hope, with Mark currently living in a halfway house and learning to control his manic depression with medication and therapy. The informational chapters explain the disorder in lay terms, describe the various medications-and their side effects-that are used to treat it, and tell the uninitiated how to locate professional help and what forms of therapy they may employ, and what to expect from hospitals and halfway houses. There's also enlightening, though not encouraging, information about insurance and Social Security coverage. Adding to the book's usefulness are appendices of institutions and researchers, support groups, and other sources of information and assistance. An uncommonly useful book that should be a godsend to any family have a member afflicted with manic depression.
Pub Date: April 16, 1991
ISBN: 0-688-09178-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1991
A clear guide and a steadying hand for those with a life-threatening illness: medical, emotional, spiritual—and above all, practical—help for day-to day living. Lynn (director of the George Washington Medical School Center to Improve Care of the Dying) and Harrold (a fellow at the National Cancer Institute) have abundant experience and it shows here. They clarify and articulate the issues and concerns, physical and otherwise, that come with facing death. First and foremost, “If you have been pursuing all sorts of treatments and technology that are uncomfortable, how do you know when to let go of these and make different plans for how to spend the rest of your life?” From this starting point, the authors are able to help readers create their own approaches to a period of life when the duration and timing are unpredictable, but a singular opportunity exists for growth and finding peace. Lynn and Harrold go on to consider practicalities at length and in depth, from helping families make decisions as a unit to finding community support services, communicating with physicians, and controlling pain and other disturbing symptoms. When the end is in sight, the authors again first provide a focus: “How do you handle the urgent need to find meaning for yourself in what is soon to be a completed life?” Then, practical help abounds: among the issues, plans that must be made ahead, decisions to forgo medical treatment, and hastening death. Lynn and Harrold’s discussion of assisted suicide is a model of sensitive, knowledgeable medical care. Coping with the events near death, enduring loss, and help with some specific situations (loss of children among them) receive the same illuminating discussion. An up-to-date resource list rounds out this guide. An unflinching look at the painful tasks and opportunities for growth that accompany the end of life; coupled with invaluable help for completing them.
Pub Date: March 1, 1999
ISBN: 0-19-511662-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1999
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