by Laura Landau ‧ RELEASE DATE: N/A
Pragmatic, inspiring advice on time/life management.
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In this debut self-help guide, a former longtime Microsoft employee discusses how to make decisions and trade-offs that honor one’s priorities in life.
Although she worked for Microsoft for 16 years, Landau was no Microserf (à la Douglas Coupland’s 1995 novel). “I made the uber-competitive, corporate environment work for me, not just work for the company,” she declares at the start of this book, which offers up her seven steps to achieving better “life balance.” She intentionally uses this term because “Work is a part of our lives, not a distinct entity that should get first, or even equal, billing.” Landau organizes her system under the catchy handles of “Design the Life You Want,” “Diagnose Where You Are Today,” “Deal with Yourself,” “Determine the Roles of Others,” “Decide Smarter,” “Do What It Takes,” and “Defend Your Progress” and offers an array of exercises to showcase and support her action-ideas. For example, she suggests ranking one’s priorities in life (adventure, career, family, and so on), assessing how well one’s daily calendar reflects this ranking, and imagining, by writing a bio and/or obituary, one’s desired “future self.” She cautions readers about a “saboteur” inner voice and the “dangerous duo” of procrastination and perfectionism and provides many fill-in charts, including how to assign what “VIP privileges” to give others and “identify when you’re making a tradeoff (hint, always)” in any decision. Landau concludes by urging readers to practice “Life Balance Defense” and set regular review sessions regarding this always-challenging quest. “It’s time to get practical and tactical,” she notes at one point, and this philosophy infuses this slim book. Although readers may hunger for more details on how Landau took charge of her own career, she still offers a lot of cleareyed advice and nifty tips to navigate one’s existence, making a point to note that you can’t always have it all. Her “Family Fold Fest,” the weekly “party” during which her husband and kids fold their own clothes after she does the laundry, is just one example of her life-balance savvy (indeed, genius). Overall, a positive, proactive how-to debut.
Pragmatic, inspiring advice on time/life management.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-0-9964647-0-3
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
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by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955
An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.
Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955
ISBN: 0670717797
Page Count: -
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955
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