A fresh look at adversity and the ways in which it can enrich one’s life.
A thorough guide to seeing adversity as a tool, rather than as an obstacle.
Unlike many self-help books, motivational speaker Taylor’s (Black Men Rock, 2013, etc.) title avoids the tired mantra of “overcoming” and “avoiding” life’s negative aspects, such as stress, challenges, and unhappy emotions. Instead, the author unusually suggests that nothing is good nor bad until one decides it is. Readers are thus encouraged to rethink the way they encounter difficulties, seeing them not as “bad” parts of life, but as the work of life itself. The physical world, Taylor explains, is but one part of a human’s existence. This is because, as he puts it, “you are not actually a human being having a spiritual experience—you are a spiritual being having a human experience, and your body is just like the suit of clothes that you are wearing.” When things don’t turn out as planned, whether they’re related to career, relationships, child-rearing, or educational goals, it isn’t necessarily a bad thing, he asserts. Instead, he encourages readers to practice mindfulness—the art of experiencing emotions from an observer’s point of view—and then determine how best one can use those feelings. He also suggests contemplation, a spiritual exercise of focusing on one aspect of life and looking at it from all angles. Taylor delivers cogent ideas in this book, backed by strategies that anyone can follow. For practice, he provides exercises to get readers in touch with what is truly important: “What are your deepest values? Select 3 to 6 and prioritize the words in order of importance to you.” These will speak to any reader searching for new perspectives on growth and living in the now.
A fresh look at adversity and the ways in which it can enrich one’s life.Pub Date: Oct. 29, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-9641894-6-1
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Creation Publishing Group
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A superb book about doing his job by a master of his craft.
The renowned writer offers advice on information-gathering and nonfiction composition.
The book consists of eight instructive and charming essays about creating narratives, all of them originally composed for the New Yorker, where McPhee (Silk Parachute, 2010, etc.) has been a contributor since the mid-1960s. Reading them consecutively in one volume constitutes a master class in writing, as the author clearly demonstrates why he has taught so successfully part-time for decades at Princeton University. In one of the essays, McPhee focuses on the personalities and skills of editors and publishers for whom he has worked, and his descriptions of those men and women are insightful and delightful. The main personality throughout the collection, though, is McPhee himself. He is frequently self-deprecating, occasionally openly proud of his accomplishments, and never boring. In his magazine articles and the books resulting from them, McPhee rarely injects himself except superficially. Within these essays, he offers a departure by revealing quite a bit about his journalism, his teaching life, and daughters, two of whom write professionally. Throughout the collection, there emerge passages of sly, subtle humor, a quality often absent in McPhee’s lengthy magazine pieces. Since some subjects are so weighty—especially those dealing with geology—the writing can seem dry. There is no dry prose here, however. Almost every sentence sparkles, with wordplay evident throughout. Another bonus is the detailed explanation of how McPhee decided to tackle certain topics and then how he chose to structure the resulting pieces. Readers already familiar with the author’s masterpieces—e.g., Levels of the Game, Encounters with the Archdruid, Looking for a Ship, Uncommon Carriers, Oranges, and Coming into the Country—will feel especially fulfilled by McPhee’s discussions of the specifics from his many books.
A superb book about doing his job by a master of his craft.Pub Date: Sept. 5, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-374-14274-2
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: May 8, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2017
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
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