TRAVEL FORWARD

Name: TRAVEL FORWARD
Author: Mark Murphy
ISBN: 978-0989105460

by Mark Murphy ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 4, 2013

An easy-to-read self-help primer with an intriguing travel premise and positive pointers on building a more fulfilling life.

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In this self-help guide, a motivational speaker outlines his travel-focused philosophy for achieving inner and external growth.

According to Murphy (Travel Unscripted, 2012), if you embrace the principles of this book, you’ll change your life—and change the world. The author quit a corporate job more than a decade ago and is a now an entrepreneur and motivational speaker who has appeared on Fox, CNN and NBC’s Today show. His ideology focuses on five core values—integrity, love and gratitude, a lifetime of learning, self-determination and oneness. To illustrate his points, he shares anecdotes about such high-profile figures as Nelson Mandela, Condoleezza Rice and Jon Bon Jovi, as well as lesser-known people, such as the author’s friends and family members and other people he’s encountered on his world travels. Murphy often features bits of text in larger type, and in several instances, he allows a single quote to fill a full page. He also sets forth a series of reader assignments, such as listing the places you’d like to go in the “physical world” (such as St. Lucia) and those you’d like to achieve in your “personal world” (such as smiling more at strangers). Although the travel theme unravels at times during the more general musings, Murphy does present some food for thought for readers seeking to rebalance or redirect their lives. He’s also an admirable advocate of his “oneness” concept, highlighting charitable organizations throughout this work. The author’s own “personal world” journey rarely appears, but it does include a touching mention of his wife’s diagnosis of multiple sclerosis and how he and his wife “could sit around and lament the diagnosis and what might happen or they could focus on living their lives.” The text after the “or” is bolded and in a different color, reflecting the onward-and- upward perspective that Murphy consistently espouses throughout this book.

An easy-to-read self-help primer with an intriguing travel premise and positive pointers on building a more fulfilling life.

Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2013

ISBN: 978-0989105460

Page Count: 186

Publisher: Highpoint Executive Publishing

Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2013

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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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

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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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.