The combination of this book’s two parts makes for an inviting, general-purpose life guide for readers of all ages.
A debut manual offers tips on managing both money and the mind.
Piercy’s book packs a lot of information into only a little more than 100 pages, and it opens with a wake-up call aimed at his U.S. readers. He points out that average Americans over the course of a normal working life will see more than $1 million flow through their hands—but end up on the doorstep of retirement with little or nothing to depend on other than Social Security. (Piercy is certainly not the first writer to remind readers that the fund is projected to go broke as early as 2037.) The author cites studies showing that the percentage of Americans enrolled in some kind of pension plan has dropped precipitously in recent decades. These dire figures are laid out early in the work to underscore the importance of the straightforward and often startlingly simple rules and pieces of advice that are given in the following pages. Piercy breaks down financial obligations along the lines of some of life’s most prominent expenses in America: going to college, buying a car, purchasing a house, managing credit cards, minimizing debt, and saving for retirement. The financial advice boils down to living within one’s fiscal means and planning for the future by always spending only 70 percent of one’s income, setting aside the rest. Many of the strategies Piercy outlines are self-evidently pragmatic and workable. What gives his book its extra interest is its back half, in which the author supplements his financial pointers with personal ones, buttressed by his personal born-again Christianity (he “received Christ” in 1972). They range far from religious matters, extending to the importance of things like health, exercise, personal relationships, and the vital role of keeping a positive attitude (as Piercy bluntly puts it, “I am convinced that some people wouldn’t know happiness if it kicked them in the rear end”).
The combination of this book’s two parts makes for an inviting, general-purpose life guide for readers of all ages.Pub Date: Aug. 4, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-578-17945-2
Page Count: 144
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
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