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JUST A BUNCH OF CRAZY IDEAS

Name: JUST A BUNCH OF CRAZY IDEAS
Author: Pardu S. Ponnapalli
ISBN: 978-1456882396

by Pardu S. Ponnapalli ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 3, 2011

A stimulating grab bag of outside-the-box—sometimes out-of-left-field—brainstorms.

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As advertised, the author weighs in on everything from space travel to litter boxes in this collection of intriguing but often half-baked proposals.

Ponnapalli, an information-technology specialist who holds a doctorate in physics, offers a raft of ideas to improve the world. On the practical, just-might-work end of the spectrum are wireless gadgets that tweet passengers when their luggage comes up on the airport carousel, a dishwasher you can load from the top without bending over, cars with gas caps on both sides to ease filling-station traffic and a blueprint for a smell-sequestering cat restroom adjoining the house. On the boondoggle end is a grandiose project for an elevator to outer space, built from a series of geometrically increasing skyscrapers. In between are random schemes to modify hockey—a seventh player on the ice per team would boost scoring, the author contends—and make chess either less or more complicated. He offers several short treatments for Star Trek sequels (the Trekkie ethos of improvisational engineering saturates this book) and a surefire scheme to use a supercomputer to calculate a 14,600-term equation that can predict the stock market. The author presents his ideas in a lucid, engaging style, but doesn’t always think them through; his proposal to devote 10 % of the federal budget to paying down the national debt, for example, wouldn’t even close the yearly deficit. Other suggestions, such as his 1,000-calorie-a-day soup, coffee and tea diet, are just too odd to catch on—to judge by the cravings and gorgings noted in his 23-day weight-loss diary, he can’t even stick to it himself. Ponnapalli’s thinking shows both the strength of inspired dilettantism and the need for expert analysis to rein it in. Still, there are some nifty ideas here, and even the questionable ones will provoke reflection.

A stimulating grab bag of outside-the-box—sometimes out-of-left-field—brainstorms.

Pub Date: March 3, 2011

ISBN: 978-1456882396

Page Count: 78

Publisher: Xlibris

Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2011

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.