An eclectic and stimulating attempt to create a “new language” around charitable efforts.
A posthumously published collection of wide-ranging essays by Karoff, an innovator in the field of philanthropy.
In 1989, the author founded The Philanthropic Initiative (TPI), an organization devoted to helping clients charitably donate more strategically. Giving, he avers in this book, is more than the sum of its mechanics—it’s a spiritual calling, a grand “wake-up call,” and the expression of a deep passion. Karoff taught others how to establish a profoundly personal connection to their charitable efforts, and to see philanthropy as a concrete “translation of values to the practice of values.” On a societal level, he envisioned an “open-source philanthropy,” which he defines here as “more effective systems of collective social action” with “less segmentation of issues and more holistic ways of solving problems.” Editor Marble, who worked for TPI, has gathered an eclectic assemblage of essays by the author, who died in 2017; the pieces offer an expansive interpretation of the meaning of philanthropic activity. The author was literarily inclined, and these short works, all composed over the last quarter-century, include his own poems, references to William Butler Yeats and Aristotle, and philosophical discussions of the nature of wealth and generosity. Marble asserts that this collection is not a “how-to manual,” but rather a “dreamer’s guide,” and to some extent, she’s right; in these pages, Karoff never hides his idealistic desire to “make the world a better place,” and unabashedly valorizes the “magic of philanthropy.” However, he does also dispense a considerable amount of actionable counsel about efficient charitable giving. Moreover, he squarely acknowledges the “pressure of reality” and the corresponding danger of naïveté: “From the outset, it is clear that you cannot ‘magic’ away the critical problems facing the world,” he notes. “One of TPI’s operating premises is that ‘social change is incremental at best.’ Thus the waving of wands doesn’t do it.” Overall, these essays are as instructional and insightful as they are inspirational.
An eclectic and stimulating attempt to create a “new language” around charitable efforts.Pub Date: July 15, 2025
ISBN: 9781633311152
Page Count: 258
Publisher: Disruption Books
Review Posted Online: April 25, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
A frank and funny but uneven essay collection about neurodiversity.
An experimental, illustrated essay collection that questions neurotypical definitions of what is normal.
From a young age, writer and comedian Myers has been different. In addition to coping with obsessive compulsive disorder and panic attacks, she struggled to read basic social cues. During a round of seven minutes in heaven—a game in which two players spend seven minutes in a closet and are expected to kiss—Myers misread the romantic advances of her best friend and longtime crush, Marley. In Paris, she accidentally invited a sex worker to join her friends for “board games and beer,” thinking he was simply a random stranger who happened to be hitting on her. In community college, a stranger’s request for a pen spiraled her into a panic attack but resulted in a tentative friendship. When the author moved to Australia, she began taking notes on her colleagues in an effort to know them better. As the author says to her co-worker, Tabitha, “there are unspoken social contracts within a workplace that—by some miracle—everyone else already understands, and I don’t….When things Go Without Saying, they Never Get Said, and sometimes people need you to Say Those Things So They Understand What The Hell Is Going On.” At its best, Myers’ prose is vulnerable and humorous, capturing characterization in small but consequential life moments, and her illustrations beautifully complement the text. Unfortunately, the author’s tendency toward unnecessary capitalization and experimental forms is often unsuccessful, breaking the book’s otherwise steady rhythm.
A frank and funny but uneven essay collection about neurodiversity.Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9780063381308
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: Sept. 12, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2025
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