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
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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