A sensible approach that nonetheless requires a substantial commitment of time and energy; as the author well knows, there...
The creator of the popular language-learning website Fluent-Forever.com debuts by putting between covers the essentials of the program that he and myriad others have found helpful.
The author is indeed a buoyant, ebullient Harold Hill of a salesman (no dour Willy Loman here!). Throughout his text—which includes many self-help design features, including text boxes, bullet points, illustrations, chapter-end reminders and “key points”—Wyner reminds us repeatedly about how enjoyable his program is. About the vocabulary cards he recommends, he writes, “You’ll discover that they’re a lot of fun to create and a lot of fun to review.” That’s certainly debatable. The author’s program does make use of many sensible and even revolutionary methods for learning a language—principally, the use of visual and auditory reminders of the vocabulary and grammar a novice needs to learn. The more senses involved, the more certain the learning and retention. Wyner also slays a few hoary dragons that continue to dominate lots of classroom instruction: learning vocabulary in clusters of related words (he proposes that learners begin with the 625 most common words), studying grammar in isolation, translation exercises (he advises using only the new language). His arguments and justifications take a little over half of his text; the remainder he calls “The Toolbox,” and here he gives very specific advice about—and illustrations of—his flashcard techniques. He also recommends the heavy use of Google Images and other online visual and auditory aids for beginners—especially sound clips of native speakers. He urges that learners would benefit from mastering the International Phonetic Alphabet early in the process, and he provides a host of appendices, including the “International Phonetic Alphabet Decoder.”
A sensible approach that nonetheless requires a substantial commitment of time and energy; as the author well knows, there are no shortcuts to learning anything worthwhile.Pub Date: Aug. 5, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-385-34811-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Harmony
Review Posted Online: May 31, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2014
The perfect antidote to those who are secretly frightened of Rhonda Byrne.
Cheeky and snotty punk philosophy from across the pond.
Founder and editor of The Idler, British grouch Hodgkinson (How to Be Idle, 2005) is mad as hell—about everything. He hates kvetchers, for example, contending that “Moaning means a shirking of responsibility. And people make money from it, particularly lawyers.” He has no love for the typical 21st-century career arc, claiming, “You start out doing work experience, you graduate to being bossed around by idiots, you become idiotic and, then, if all works out well, you end up being the idiot who bosses other people around.” He also has issues with television and wishes you would chuck yours out the window. Nor does he like rude people, which is somewhat ironic, since throughout his engaging, lucid rant on today’s society, he’s nothing if not rude. But if he were polite, what fun would that be? Hodgkinson’s sophomore effort is indeed a hoot, in a Michael-Moore-on-crack kind of way. Like Moore, he’s a well-meaning, left-leaning smarty-pants who wants to change the world by utilizing a blend of biting humor and cannily positioned facts. His structure is a bit messy—the chapters are all but interchangeable—but his prose is edgy and readable, and the energy never flags, a definite danger in this rambling format. He did a ton of research, appropriating the words and thoughts of everybody from Dante and Bertrand Russell to Greil Marcus and Ken Kesey to support his boiling rage at the medical profession, consumerism, class division, etc., etc., etc. The content is a bit on the time-sensitive side, and the book probably won’t have much punch beyond 2008, but for now, if you need a dose of quality righteous indignation, you need not look further.
The perfect antidote to those who are secretly frightened of Rhonda Byrne.Pub Date: Dec. 11, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-06-082322-1
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Perennial/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2007
BOOK REVIEW
A less-than-gripping but still inspirational debut.
Formerly fat-bottomed girl makes her rocking world go ’round.
Beginning early in childhood, Blech found food a vital source of comfort and pleasure. Unfortunately, we’re not talking fruits and veggies—she gravitated toward ice cream, pastries and chips. By the time she turned 35, she was a binge-eater whose weight couldn’t be measured on a standard bathroom scale. Low self-esteem made it all but impossible for her to maintain a love affair; for a while her most fulfilling relationship was based solely on phone sex. After a physical at which she tipped the doctor’s scale at 444 pounds, she headed down to a weight-loss clinic in Durham, N.C., where she began a remarkable two-and-a-half year transformation. Thanks to the clinic’s “Rice Diet,” she dropped approximately 250 pounds without having gastric bypass surgery, eventually bagged herself a husband and, most importantly, regained her health, her well-being and her figure. A solid, albeit unspectacular and often long-winded memoirist, Blech has an endearing, earthy sense of humor. (She cheerfully recounts the evening when she demanded that her prospective new boyfriend whisper dirty things to her in Hebrew.) Readers will find themselves rooting almost immediately for someone honest enough to unflinchingly reveal the most embarrassing aspects of weighing 400-plus pounds. But Blech also has a tendency to ramble, and the litany of food she loves grows tiresome, ultimately detracting from the book’s momentum and message. Many of the final 50-or-so pages feature calorie-conscious recipes and motivational lists.
A less-than-gripping but still inspirational debut.Pub Date: Jan. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-59486-776-7
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Rodale
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2007
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
