A fresh take on well-trod self-improvement territory.
A debut motivational guide challenges readers to gain a new perspective.
Though the world may appear full of roadblocks that keep people from success and productivity, it is actually their mindsets that cause them to register these events as problems in the first place, according to Egan. “The crucial first step in creating sustainable growth and lasting change is to examine the limitations of your internal mindset,” writes the author in the manual’s introduction. “Shifting your viewpoint can enable you to use your perceived external limitations as catalysts for personal and organizational progress.” Influenced by modern psychology and Tibetan Buddhism, Egan seeks to help his readers initiate this shift in their own lives, thereby viewing the world in a way that is more beneficial to their contentment. Using anecdotes from his experiences as an educator, the author demonstrates how the way people see their lives is simply one possible interpretation, a tale that could be told from any number of perspectives. There is no need for readers to live forever in the stories they inherited from society or people in their past. Egan argues that readers can rewrite their narratives, alter their assumptions, find opportunities in the obstacles they face, and otherwise build new outlooks. Each chapter tackles a different area of life that is subject to transformation—difficulty, panic, attachment—and provides an exercise to help the audience recalibrate. The author’s prose is encouraging and plainspoken, more akin to a monk than a booster with a megaphone: “In Japanese martial arts, there is the concept of kuzushi, or disrupting the root or balance of the opponent….The secret to this is understanding what unbalances your opponent, and the only way to gain this understanding is, again, by staying connected to them.” While the book does not offer much that isn’t available in the many similar works in the motivational genre, Egan brings a self-awareness to the topic that imbues it with a sense of sincerity. That and the clean, simple structure should help this guide stand out from the crowd.
A fresh take on well-trod self-improvement territory.Pub Date: May 29, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5445-1048-4
Page Count: 132
Publisher: Lioncrest Publishing
Review Posted Online: Aug. 12, 2019
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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