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THE WORLD ACCORDING TO BOB

THE FURTHER ADVENTURES OF ONE MAN AND HIS STREET-WISE CAT

A simple, heartwarming story of continued companionship and mutual trust and respect. Though the book is averagely written,...

The continuing story of a London busker and his feline friend, Bob.

For those who read A Street Cat Named Bob (2013) and wondered what happened to the dynamic duo of James, a former drug addict and vendor for the street newspaper The Big Issue, and his cat companion, Bob, look no farther. Bowen expands on the story of his former life as a drug addict and the many ways Bob continues to be his faithful friend. "I always said that we were partners, that we needed each other equally,” he writes. “Deep down I believed that wasn't really true. I felt like I needed him more." When Bowen was struck by an unrelenting pain in his leg, making it impossible to stand or walk, Bob was there to help him through it. When the author had a severe chest cold, once again, Bob indicated through his small gestures, like resting his head on Bowen's chest, that he understood Bowen was ill and empathized with him. Seeing a stranger overdose in his own apartment stairwell jolted Bowen to fight his own cravings. "An addict is always living on a knife's edge…all [the destructive behavior] needed was one moment of weakness and I could be on the way down again,” he writes. While Bowen steadily worked his way out of addiction, silly cat moments, such as Bob's fascination with packaging, especially bubble wrap and boxes, kept him amused and happy. But he still had self-doubts about his life. Nosy strangers insisted Bob was being maltreated, and other vendors accused Bowen of breaking vending rules, which caused his license to be suspended. Then, everything changed with the unexpected success of his first book, which Bowen acknowledges is entirely due to his best friend, Bob.

A simple, heartwarming story of continued companionship and mutual trust and respect. Though the book is averagely written, it is sure to be another best-seller.

Pub Date: May 27, 2014

ISBN: 978-1250046321

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Dunne/St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014

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THE 48 LAWS OF POWER

If the authors are serious, this is a silly, distasteful book. If they are not, it’s a brilliant satire.

The authors have created a sort of anti-Book of Virtues in this encyclopedic compendium of the ways and means of power.

Everyone wants power and everyone is in a constant duplicitous game to gain more power at the expense of others, according to Greene, a screenwriter and former editor at Esquire (Elffers, a book packager, designed the volume, with its attractive marginalia). We live today as courtiers once did in royal courts: we must appear civil while attempting to crush all those around us. This power game can be played well or poorly, and in these 48 laws culled from the history and wisdom of the world’s greatest power players are the rules that must be followed to win. These laws boil down to being as ruthless, selfish, manipulative, and deceitful as possible. Each law, however, gets its own chapter: “Conceal Your Intentions,” “Always Say Less Than Necessary,” “Pose as a Friend, Work as a Spy,” and so on. Each chapter is conveniently broken down into sections on what happened to those who transgressed or observed the particular law, the key elements in this law, and ways to defensively reverse this law when it’s used against you. Quotations in the margins amplify the lesson being taught. While compelling in the way an auto accident might be, the book is simply nonsense. Rules often contradict each other. We are told, for instance, to “be conspicuous at all cost,” then told to “behave like others.” More seriously, Greene never really defines “power,” and he merely asserts, rather than offers evidence for, the Hobbesian world of all against all in which he insists we live. The world may be like this at times, but often it isn’t. To ask why this is so would be a far more useful project.

If the authors are serious, this is a silly, distasteful book. If they are not, it’s a brilliant satire.

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1998

ISBN: 0-670-88146-5

Page Count: 430

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1998

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THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS

FROM MEAN STREETS TO WALL STREET

Well-told and admonitory.

Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.

Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.

Well-told and admonitory.

Pub Date: June 1, 2006

ISBN: 0-06-074486-3

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006

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