Sensitive and empathetic; offers excellent suggestions for coping with the harsh reality of caring for elderly parents.
In this guide, a music and creative arts therapist advises caregivers of aging parents.
A former director of a senior center, Conroy (One Man’s Music, 2008) shares personal insights into the challenges associated with caring for elderly loved ones. Much of this short book focuses on the inevitable emotional baggage that exists between adult child and aging parent, demonstrating that truly understanding the relationship one has with one’s mother or father is the basis for compassionate caregiving. Conroy draws from her professional experiences as well as the trying interactions she had with her own father, lending an intimate slant to this instructional manual. She suggests that the caregiver needs to identify “Three Truths” (“your parent’s basic personality type,” “your relationship to your parent,” and “what your parent needs to feel validated and whole”) to be most effective. The author’s well-constructed description of the four “dysfunctional” parent personality types is likely to resonate with caregivers. Her strategies for dealing with these personalities are simple yet dramatic in their impact. She learned, for example, that her “dad’s passion was talking about himself,” something that “did not interest me, but I was willing to be bored, in order to please him.” Conroy explains the ingenious way she leveraged this factor to construct a situation in which both she and her father could be entertained. Not surprisingly, some of the techniques the author uses revolve around music, and it is a delight to read how this universal language brings joy to senior center residents. One of the more intriguing observations the author makes is that “compassionate lies” are not only acceptable, but also necessary. In the case of her father, Conroy lied to him about where she was getting the money to pay for his home attendants so he would accept the care. “I hated lying to my father,” writes Conroy, “but I had no alternative….This lie injured no one....It insured my father’s safety, and saved my sanity.” Conroy’s descriptive text is augmented by cartoon illustrations by her husband, Larry.
Sensitive and empathetic; offers excellent suggestions for coping with the harsh reality of caring for elderly parents.Pub Date: May 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-934912-77-5
Page Count: 85
Publisher: Black Lyon Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 23, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
An assessment of the first year of Bill Clinton's presidency with no major scoops but with long-term insight into Clinton's style and character. Brummett, a veteran Arkansas journalist and columnist for the Arkansas Democrat Gazette, here competes not so much with fellow Arkansas reporter Meredith Oakley (On the Make, p. 614), who exhaustively portrays Clinton's gubernatorial reign, but with ur- investigator Bob Woodward (The Agenda, not reviewed). Though he can't claim Woodward's access or propound verbatim conversations, Brummett did move to Washington and spoke to Clinton, former chief of staff Mack McLarty, and other White House officials. ``Bill Clinton is a man of awesome talent and troubling personal weaknesses,'' Brummett declares at the outset, and his account of Clinton's major efforts and crises bears that out. He grounds Clinton's cautious liberalism and winning personal style in home- state politics and shows how Clinton thrives extemporaneously and dies by TelePrompTer. America needed either ``a great moral leader or a clever policy synthesizer,'' the author argues, and Clinton is the latter, as shown in his budget plan. Brummett's treatments of missteps like the Waco disaster and the White House travel-office scandal add little new. He finds himself sympathetic to Clinton— ``a victim of his own optimism''—regarding his withdrawal of the Lani Guinier nomination. Brummett is more pointed on the suicide of White House chief deputy counsel Vincent Foster: He discounts talk of a scandalous cover-up but argues that any veteran of Arkansas politics should have been prepared for Washington nastiness. While his defense of Clinton's foreign policy performance is weak—he blames subordinates—Brummett notes credibly that Whitewater pales in comparison to previous executive-branch violations of the public interest like Iran-contra. Ultimately, Brummett is optimistic that Clinton will grow into the job—or, if defeated in 1996, return ``Ö la Nixon for us to kick around some more.'' Weaker on policy than politics, but with nuance and psychological truth.
Pub Date: Nov. 8, 1994
ISBN: 0-7868-6046-4
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Hyperion
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1994
A solid primer despite its opening rant.
A detailed how-to on lower-cost computer-system organization.
Hughes is a specialist in the Virtual Memory System computer platform, a big-budget server system used by corporations, and here he demonstrates how to lower the cost of service-oriented architecture (SOA) by creating it in-house. SOA is structured so that companies purchase the basic platform and buy additional accoutrements, called services, during the life cycle of the computer system. In the first five chapters, Hughes passionately argues that this a la carte model, though practical, has been used to the advantage of major computer companies like IBM, which make dollars hand over fist on unwitting businesses. According to his history, modern-day computer-system providers haven't had such a market advantage since the '70s, the last time SOA was in fashion. The author recommends the first, largely non-technical chapters be read by business management, but his overzealous soapbox speech isn't likely to convert people not already in agreement, especially considering that they may have made these so-called unwise investment decisions themselves. Meanwhile, SOA implementers probably don't care about the bigger picture or, if they do, are not in the position to make management decisions within their company. The first five chapters could have easily been edited down to a precise introduction. Nonetheless, the book is meant for programmers–those actually setting up the business SOA–and the meat of the book is C++ programming language code. Thankfully, Hughes includes a CD with all pertinent code and extensive instructions. With The Minimum You Need to Know, Hughes is attempting two books: One, a scathing indictment of big SOA providers, and another, a precise overview of do-it-yourself SOA. Only one is really effective.
A solid primer despite its opening rant.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-0-9770866-6-5
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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