Next book

BEING BETTER THAN YOU BELIEVE

8 STEPS TO ULTIMATE SUCCESS

Awards & Accolades

Our Verdict

  • Our Verdict
  • GET IT

Berry presents his positive plan for life and career transformation.

As a business leader who has worked globally for Fortune 500 companies, Berry now uses his communication skills to head his own business specializing in executive coaching and leadership development. However, this brisk guide is not only for the business-minded, as anyone needing to break out of a job rut can benefit from the author’s reader-friendly advice. Quoting Albert Einstein’s famous “insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result,” Berry doesn’t give simplistic solutions; instead, he prompts readers to overcome negative mental barriers and achieve full life and career potential. The book is clearly divided by chapter into eight principles, beginning with “Why Change?” and culminating in “Creating Opportunities for Success.” Each chapter ends with questions, or “thought stimulators,” to encourage self-evaluation. For example, those who are unsure of a career path can review a list of 377 personal values (consistency, assertiveness, etc.) in the book’s appendix—ultimately the list should be narrowed to four major values as part of an exercise to help determine personal job compatibility. A chapter on networking suggests easily implemented ideas for maintaining professional relationships; e.g., using technology to connect with others or remembering special events like birthdays. The author also discusses the powerful concept of product branding and how to utilize advertising concepts for “personal rebranding.” Berry’s voice is affecting as he encourages readers to have an open mind and embrace new perspectives. He demonstrates an engaging passion for his work; during two-year negotiations on behalf of an American company that wished to purchase a Turkish company, Berry made an effort to learn the Turkish culture, and when he brought prayer beads to a meeting, the Turkish company’s otherwise stern patriarch was pleased and deal was struck. Some of the book’s questions are reminiscent of a college career day, but Berry gives fresh, modern insight for those who desire to make changes for the better. An inspirational tool for personal and professional growth.

 

Pub Date: Dec. 3, 2010

ISBN: 978-1432756420

Page Count: 206

Publisher: Outskirts

Review Posted Online: Dec. 27, 2011

Categories:
Next book

MAGIC HOUR

Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.

Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.

Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.

Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.

Pub Date: March 1, 2006

ISBN: 0-345-46752-3

Page Count: 400

Publisher: Ballantine

Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005

Categories:
Next book

THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

A strict report, worthy of sympathy.

A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.

"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….

A strict report, worthy of sympathy.

Pub Date: June 15, 1951

ISBN: 0316769177

Page Count: -

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951

Categories:
Close Quickview