by Lee Eisenberg ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 2, 2016
Challengingly thought-provoking, Eisenberg’s self-probing processes will encourage anyone to further ponder the meaning of...
A meditation on the relevance of celebrating one’s ever unfolding life story through the preservation and recognition of memories.
With sweeping enthusiasm, former Esquire editor-in-chief Eisenberg (Shoptimism: Why the American Consumer Will Keep on Buying No Matter What, 2009, etc.) acknowledges the presence of a metaphoric storywriter in the brain (the conscious “narrating mind”) that records and assembles our most significant moments into coherent and meaningful memory chapters. Whether due to technology or diminishing attention spans, many people, he believes, simply don’t bother acknowledging the significance of their life stories or their individual memories; after all, “now that we’re all packing search engines in our pockets, we don’t need to remember as much as we used to.” Eisenberg encourages readers to become more active compilers of their own life stories. Whether cinematic or anticlimactic, each memory is unique to the individual psyche. Regardless of emotional heft, these “stories” are exquisitely personal, forming the beginning, middle, and conclusion of a person’s legacy. The author expands on this theory in affable, accessible language and further engages readers with generous references to his own pivotal human-interest anecdotes. He also explores theories from social scientists, ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus, William James, and historical literary figures who each, in one way or another, support his theory that our search for personal purpose and meaning is tantamount to happiness and fulfillment—particularly at midlife. In three intriguing closing questionnaires, the author invites readers further into the heart of his contemplative observations to mindfully record and preserve what is experienced in order to appreciate the present and fortify the future as “generation to generation, the stories we hear, the stories we tell, and the stories we build upstairs commingle and live on indefinitely.”
Challengingly thought-provoking, Eisenberg’s self-probing processes will encourage anyone to further ponder the meaning of life.Pub Date: Feb. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4555-5046-3
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Twelve
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
Share your opinion of this book
by Robert Greene ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 23, 2018
The Stoics did much better with the much shorter Enchiridion.
A follow-on to the author’s garbled but popular 48 Laws of Power, promising that readers will learn how to win friends and influence people, to say nothing of outfoxing all those “toxic types” out in the world.
Greene (Mastery, 2012, etc.) begins with a big sell, averring that his book “is designed to immerse you in all aspects of human behavior and illuminate its root causes.” To gauge by this fat compendium, human behavior is mostly rotten, a presumption that fits with the author’s neo-Machiavellian program of self-validation and eventual strategic supremacy. The author works to formula: First, state a “law,” such as “confront your dark side” or “know your limits,” the latter of which seems pale compared to the Delphic oracle’s “nothing in excess.” Next, elaborate on that law with what might seem to be as plain as day: “Losing contact with reality, we make irrational decisions. That is why our success often does not last.” One imagines there might be other reasons for the evanescence of glory, but there you go. Finally, spin out a long tutelary yarn, seemingly the longer the better, to shore up the truism—in this case, the cometary rise and fall of one-time Disney CEO Michael Eisner, with the warning, “his fate could easily be yours, albeit most likely on a smaller scale,” which ranks right up there with the fortuneteller’s “I sense that someone you know has died" in orders of probability. It’s enough to inspire a new law: Beware of those who spend too much time telling you what you already know, even when it’s dressed up in fresh-sounding terms. “Continually mix the visceral with the analytic” is the language of a consultant’s report, more important-sounding than “go with your gut but use your head, too.”
The Stoics did much better with the much shorter Enchiridion.Pub Date: Oct. 23, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-42814-5
Page Count: 580
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
Share your opinion of this book
by Glennon Doyle ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 10, 2020
Doyle offers another lucid, inspiring chronicle of female empowerment and the rewards of self-awareness and renewal.
Awards & Accolades
Likes
26
Our Verdict
GET IT
New York Times Bestseller
IndieBound Bestseller
More life reflections from the bestselling author on themes of societal captivity and the catharsis of personal freedom.
In her third book, Doyle (Love Warrior, 2016, etc.) begins with a life-changing event. “Four years ago,” she writes, “married to the father of my three children, I fell in love with a woman.” That woman, Abby Wambach, would become her wife. Emblematically arranged into three sections—“Caged,” “Keys,” “Freedom”—the narrative offers, among other elements, vignettes about the soulful author’s girlhood, when she was bulimic and felt like a zoo animal, a “caged girl made for wide-open skies.” She followed the path that seemed right and appropriate based on her Catholic upbringing and adolescent conditioning. After a downward spiral into “drinking, drugging, and purging,” Doyle found sobriety and the authentic self she’d been suppressing. Still, there was trouble: Straining an already troubled marriage was her husband’s infidelity, which eventually led to life-altering choices and the discovery of a love she’d never experienced before. Throughout the book, Doyle remains open and candid, whether she’s admitting to rigging a high school homecoming court election or denouncing the doting perfectionism of “cream cheese parenting,” which is about “giving your children the best of everything.” The author’s fears and concerns are often mirrored by real-world issues: gender roles and bias, white privilege, racism, and religion-fueled homophobia and hypocrisy. Some stories merely skim the surface of larger issues, but Doyle revisits them in later sections and digs deeper, using friends and familial references to personify their impact on her life, both past and present. Shorter pieces, some only a page in length, manage to effectively translate an emotional gut punch, as when Doyle’s therapist called her blooming extramarital lesbian love a “dangerous distraction.” Ultimately, the narrative is an in-depth look at a courageous woman eager to share the wealth of her experiences by embracing vulnerability and reclaiming her inner strength and resiliency.
Doyle offers another lucid, inspiring chronicle of female empowerment and the rewards of self-awareness and renewal.Pub Date: March 10, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-0125-8
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Dial Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020
Share your opinion of this book
More About This Book
PROFILES
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
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
Trouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Trouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.