Judy Tam Sargent was first hospitalized for anorexia at age 16. During the next 10 years she was an in- and outpatient at more than 25 treatment centers. She has a world of rage—and plenty of constructive criticisms—to pass on here. Now just over 30, Sargent is a nurse-therapist. Considered fully recovered herself, she counsels others suffering from eating disorders. Her trenchant, essential point: Anorexia and other associated disorders are a manifestation of psychological/emotional problems. The most effective way to treat eating disorders should therefore be to treat the underlying problems, not to concentrate on often draconian measures aimed at forcing sufferers to eat. If tube feeding and other such drastic therapies are needed because the disease has become life-threatening, then they should of course be used, says Sargent—but not in the spirit of punishment, and not as the heart of a treatment program. The roots of Sargent’s own illness are heartbreakingly recounted here. She was born in 1968, and four years later her twin brother, Bobby, was diagnosed as autistic and institutionalized, devastating the family and causing the eventual breakdown of her parents’ marriage. Sargent is emphatic about where her problems started. —In addition to the family factors that contributed to my illness, my innate personality—perfectionistic and over-eager to please—helped fuel the anorexic process.— She began a weight-loss program at 13 in response to family pressures. From then on, the disease spiraled out of control, as Sargent became terrified of eating or drinking, exercised fanatically, attempted suicide, ran away from hospitals, and lost herself in the illness. Her disturbing account of various therapies and facilities reveals that much of the treatment for eating disorders is still in the Dark Ages. But Sargent concludes by explaining which therapist and therapy finally worked—and why. An unsettling account, told in a strong voice, and with valuable lessons for those engaged in a similar struggle.
Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999
ISBN: 1-880823-19-5
Page Count: 208
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1999
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.
A helpful guide to working effectively with people from other cultures.
“The sad truth is that the vast majority of managers who conduct business internationally have little understanding about how culture is impacting their work,” writes Meyer, a professor at INSEAD, an international business school. Yet they face a wider array of work styles than ever before in dealing with clients, suppliers and colleagues from around the world. When is it best to speak or stay quiet? What is the role of the leader in the room? When working with foreign business people, failing to take cultural differences into account can lead to frustration, misunderstanding or worse. Based on research and her experiences teaching cross-cultural behaviors to executive students, the author examines a handful of key areas. Among others, they include communicating (Anglo-Saxons are explicit; Asians communicate implicitly, requiring listeners to read between the lines), developing a sense of trust (Brazilians do it over long lunches), and decision-making (Germans rely on consensus, Americans on one decider). In each area, the author provides a “culture map scale” that positions behaviors in more than 20 countries along a continuum, allowing readers to anticipate the preferences of individuals from a particular country: Do they like direct or indirect negative feedback? Are they rigid or flexible regarding deadlines? Do they favor verbal or written commitments? And so on. Meyer discusses managers who have faced perplexing situations, such as knowledgeable team members who fail to speak up in meetings or Indians who offer a puzzling half-shake, half-nod of the head. Cultural differences—not personality quirks—are the motivating factors behind many behavioral styles. Depending on our cultures, we understand the world in a particular way, find certain arguments persuasive or lacking merit, and consider some ways of making decisions or measuring time natural and others quite strange.
These are not hard and fast rules, but Meyer delivers important reading for those engaged in international business.Pub Date: May 27, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-61039-250-1
Page Count: 288
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2014
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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