A well-thought-out career manual.
A self-help guide for female professionals at every stage of their careers.
Rencher’s debut brings together lessons that she’s learned during more than a quarter-century of working at unnamed for-profit and nonprofit institutions. The resulting 10-part self-help guide emphasizes how important it is for women to know themselves and understand their strengths and weaknesses, because, she says, “unless you truly know yourself, you’ll be far more susceptible to the whims and behaviors of others.” Office environments can work against one’s sense of self, she asserts; as a result, it’s essential for women to “hold their ground” and push back against men who would take credit for their work. Rencher goes on to advise women to provide their employers with demonstrable evidence of the value that they bring to their companies and to negotiate for salaries that are consistent with that value. She points out the importance of decisiveness, offers ways to fight back against “mean-girl” behavior, and proposes six traits of healthy, productive leadership. The book also debunks toxic myths about losing one’s job and shows how a period of unemployment can point a way to a new beginning. Overall, the text is well-researched, featuring references to the works and thoughts of many business leaders and thinkers—including former Xerox chairwoman and CEO Anne Mulcahy and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg—which Rencher uses to support conclusions that she draws from her own personal experience. Her prose is clear and easy to read, keeping the focus on observations, questions, and recommendations and providing an effective vision of what makes a true leader. Overall, Rencher has produced a useful guide that will aid working women of all ages.
A well-thought-out career manual.Pub Date: Dec. 28, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-9763464-2-5
Page Count: 173
Publisher: Frayer & Williams Publishing
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Everything you always wanted to know about the ancient Egyptian practice of mummifying corpses—and so much more. Brier (Ancient Egyptian Magic, 1980) sets the tone early: ``For 15 years,'' he states matter-of-factly, ``I had been working toward the goal of mummifying a human.'' Imagine his surprise and disappointment when the C.W. Post campus of Long Island University (where he is chairman of the philosophy department) declined the honor of being the site of this project, which among other things would have entailed keeping an unembalmed corpse on the campus for 70 days. The text treats the reader to a scattershot review of the wide variety of information Brier learned about mummies while doing research for the mummification. These range from clinical descriptions of the process (derived from Herodotus and other ancient writers as well as from archaeological evidence) through an account of the development of mummification in ancient Egypt to a fascinating look at medical information scientists have derived from mummies (for instance, that ancient Egyptians suffered from often fatal tooth decay and arterial diseases). Brier discusses French scientists' close, but disappointingly unfruitful, study of Ramses the Great's mummy, briefly takes note of the Egyptian religious and cultural practice of mummifying animals, and inventories famous royal mummies. He concludes rather far afield with a discussion of ``The Mummy in Fiction and Film.'' Mercifully, the book closes before he embarks on the macabre task of actually mummifying a medical cadaver in the ancient manner, which is scheduled to take place this summer. A great gift idea for the hard-core Egyptologist in your life. General readers with strong stomachs may also enjoy Brier's eccentric ramble through the ancient world. (125 b&w photos, not seen)
Pub Date: Sept. 23, 1994
ISBN: 0-688-10272-7
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Thirteen years (195264) of letters from James Beard, with just enough interspersed replies from West Coast culinary colleague Helen Evans Brown to reveal that more of her voice would have improved this volume. Harcourt Brace editor Ferrone offers excerpts from 300 of approximately 450 extant letters. The documents have been edited silently, and the man who emerges is convivial but shallow and in some ways insecure. These pages are dominated by what Beard cooks and eats and with whom he is eating. (Not surprisingly, the need to diet is a recurring theme.) While readers may cull a few ideas (in addition to those in recipes at the end of the volume), ultimately they receive a picture of a limited person: Who else could lunch with Alice B. Toklas and record only what they ate? Who could dine with wine expert Alexis Lichine and name the foods only, not the wines? Occasionally, others in the culinary field come under Beard's critical eye, with Dione Lucas, a ``great technician who doesn't know about food,'' earning particular attention. In 1952, Beard writes, ``I am always poor nowadays,'' and this becomes a familiar refrain, despite a full (and lucrative) schedule of writing books and articles, giving classes and demonstrations, appearing on radio and television, and acting as a corporate consultant. Brown, for her part, resists suggestions to move east and join his schemes for a cooking school or supply store, and her rare comments add some needed spice. (It's interesting to note that Beard had actually proposed publishing their joint correspondence, then discarded Brown's letters.) It is Brown who chastises Beard for publishing individually some material they accumulated for a joint cookbook and reminds him not to insult women cooks: ``They buy most of your books.'' More a parade of menu items than a life, this one is bland reading for all but the most serious students of the Master. (8 pages b&w photos, not seen)
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1994
ISBN: 1-55970-264-8
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Arcade
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 1994
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