An inspiriting memoir intelligently and affectingly told.
An entrepreneur recollects an eventful career in the biotech industry and his battle with cancer.
In 2015, debut author Becker noticed a lump on the right side of his neck and quickly made an appointment with his physician, immediately suspecting cancer. A second opinion, followed by a CT scan and a biopsy, officially confirmed Becker’s fears: he had oropharyngeal cancer, or cancer of the head and neck, already advanced to stage 4. The good news was that the author had spent a considerable swath of his professional career in the biotech industry and had accumulated excellent contacts in the world of oncology. It was determined that the best course of treatment would be a mix of chemotherapy and radiation, a grueling regimen to be endured over the course of six or seven weeks. Becker is inspired to reflect on a successful career borne out of a tumultuous childhood—after his parents divorced when he was 12, he turned rebellious and eventually dropped out of school. But he earned a GED, landed a job in the computer department at the same firm his father worked for, and eventually toiled as a stockbroker active in the biotech industry. Becker would become the CEO of two biotech companies before opening his own firm. The author’s remembrances are broad—he discusses his marriage and children, his youthful experimentation with LSD, and the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, just to name a few topics—but his steadfast march against cancer forms the backbone of the memoir. Becker writes briskly and with a certain urgency that matches his extraordinary resolve that sometimes expresses itself as profound impatience—he was barely given a cancer diagnosis before he was ready to commence treatment. This account, as well as the author’s life, is deeply inspired by his father’s advice, the encapsulation of which is the title of the book: “If you walk briskly and with intent, as though you were running late for an important meeting or something, you’ll give the impression that you have confidence and importance.”
An inspiriting memoir intelligently and affectingly told.Pub Date: April 28, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5211-7976-5
Page Count: 439
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: July 13, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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