Thirty-odd essays—culled from a dozen years of published encounters between master stylist Amis (Time's Arrow, 1991, etc.) and English-speaking literati and other contemporary phenomena—in a collection as well-honed and readable as it is wide-ranging. In the title piece, a 1981 interview with Nabokov's widow in Montreaux, she appears as a distinctive yet private personality, fully engaged in the business of bolstering her late husband's literary reputation. Similar pilgrimages are conducted to Boston's Massachusetts General Hospital, for a chat with John Updike, to Monaco for an afternoon binge with the elusive Anthony Burgess, to V.S. Pritchett in London in order to marvel at his many decades of achievement, and to New York, in an unsuccessful search for Madonna on the publication of Sex. An amiable but keen-eyed raconteur, Amis reveals as much about himself as he does his subject, with impressions of the moment melded into insightful commentary on the author's work. The same is true when he turns to sports, whether accompanying a British soccer club led by owner Elton John on a junket to China, or witnessing the debut of 14-year-old Monica Seles at a tournament in Boca Raton. But his savage critical edge has its place here as well, and he skewers Madonna in her role as amoral media exploiter while painting an even grimmer portrait— from trips to the Pentagon and Washington think-tanks—of Reagan's doomsday gambit, the Star Wars program. Formulaic at times, and not always geared to an American reader, but still of much interest: excursions that will enhance Amis's reputation as a polished, peripatetic critic—a highly literate observer of the monuments and foibles of our age.
Pub Date: Feb. 9, 1994
ISBN: 0-517-59702-0
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Harmony
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 1993
IN THE NEWS
A comprehensive address of nuclear power geared toward citizens privy to the complex issues involved.
The re-emergence of nuclear power as an energy source lends new vigor to economist Ahmed’s 30-year-old study.
Nuclear power is very much back on the table after years of legislative and public resistance, as fossil fuels have shown themselves to be vulnerable from almost every angle. Handling radioactive waste has been foremost of concern in this re-emergence, but as Ahmed ably–if in tinder-dry academese–demonstrates, a number of other concerns that most be addressed to gain a full grasp on nuclear-power feasibility. This has been the case since the late 1970s, when this book first appeared. Ahmed’s text serves two different audiences, one being the professional energy analyst who’s comfortable in the heavy weather of econometrics, flow charts that resemble the works of Jackson Pollack, parameter estimations and microeconomic simulations. The visuals provide a credible economic framework to thoroughly examine the uranium fuel situation: resources and reserves, supply and demand, prices and costs of extraction and refinement. These concerns dovetail with the other audience of the book–the lay reader curious about the nature of U.S. uranium reserves, the cost of nuclear-power production, those in control of the resources and the processes associated with mining and milling. If the book shows its age by concentrating on the light-water reactor fission program, it is also prescient about the potential for industry monopolization. “Possible producers’ collusion can be inferred from the future trend in the prices of uranium,” the author writes, and price forecasts have proven very close to today’s production prices. The system flow diagram of power generation costs is invaluable, as it also serves as a remarkable overview of what is required–fuel, capital, operating and maintenance factors–to produce even a single watt of nuclear energy.
A comprehensive address of nuclear power geared toward citizens privy to the complex issues involved.Pub Date: July 17, 2006
ISBN: 978-1-4196-3829-7
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A plainspoken, worthy, and sweeping manual on parenting teens.
A guide provides tips to parents dealing with teenagers in the age of cellphones and rampant social media.
In this fifth edition of his parenting book, experienced family counselor and author McIntire (Grandma, Can We Talk?, 2017, etc.) doles out a great deal of pointed advice on every aspect of raising teens. Some traditional subjects are addressed in clear and straightforward prose: personal economy, homework, drug use, and the much-vexed “birds and the bees”-type talks about dating and sex. Throughout the manual, McIntire is evenhanded in his treatment of the two sides of the parenting equation, consistently reminding his adult readers that their own self-care is a vital part of the process. “A parent who continually accepts responsibility and blame and feels accountable for whatever goes wrong, sacrifices his/her own self-esteem,” he writes. “When parents take care of their own needs, they help their teens as well as themselves.” But the bulk of his program centers of course on the kids. “The first priority in parenting,” he reminds readers, “should be finding things to highlight about our kids.” To this end, he lays out 12 general steps that cover an enormous amount of material: encouraging teens to contribute to the whole family; addressing poor impulse control and the formation of bad habits; coping with the complicated ramifications of punishments; and so on. The book’s opening chapters add a good deal of new, valuable guidance on questions of teen use of the internet and warn parents to take a tough line with social media, reminding them that it’s their job to know what their kids are doing online. The advice is amiable but firm, offered with many hypothetical dialogues to illustrate better conversations. McIntire closes by assuring his readers that they and their children should strive to be lifelong friends, and the useful suggestions throughout this work should help make that happen.
A plainspoken, worthy, and sweeping manual on parenting teens.Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-9614519-4-3
Page Count: 300
Publisher: Summit Crossroads Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 27, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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