While it may be unfair to complain that a book on the benefits of “unfocusing” suffers from a lack of focus, Pillay’s...
A combination of self-help and theoretical science that suggests learning to “unfocus” may be the key to living a more productive life.
Harvard psychiatrist and brain imaging researcher Pillay (Life Unlocked: 7 Revolutionary Lessons to Overcome Fear, 2010) makes the case that the alternation of periods of focus and openness makes for increased learning and satisfaction. Letting go of precise goals allows one to “tinker” with one’s experience, whether romantic or work-related, in hopes of fixing problems, while dabbling in areas in which one has no expertise prepares one for new possibilities, and doodling opens the door to the unconscious. While the author throws out so many suggestions that any reader will be bound to find more than a few useful ones, Pillay’s affection for acronyms often makes the book difficult to read, and his use of language, with words like “tinkeringly,” can be off-putting. Although he tends to refer more frequently than necessary to celebrities like Jeff Bezos and Ryan Seacrest (whose life “sounds enigmatically unachievable and inconceivable”), Pillay cites an intriguing range of brain studies to support his argument, and his case studies of individuals with whom he has worked provide useful insights. The book might be most usefully read in fragments, since the cumulative effect of words of advice such as, “Be more playful and self-forgiving as you start to supertask” and “When lost, turn to your inner compass and ask, ‘Who am I?’ ” can bog down skeptical readers. The author takes his place in the spectrum of advocates of the power of positive thinking with his contention that “every person is responsible for his or her own greatness.”
While it may be unfair to complain that a book on the benefits of “unfocusing” suffers from a lack of focus, Pillay’s constant jumping from one suggestion to another, many of which seem off-topic, makes the book less useful than it could be.Pub Date: May 2, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-101-88365-5
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: March 6, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2017
One of the NBA’s 50 greatest players scores another basket—a deeply personal one.
A basketball legend reflects on his life in the game and a life lived in the “nightmare of endlessly repetitive and constant pain, agony, and guilt.”
Walton (Nothing but Net, 1994, etc.) begins this memoir on the floor—literally: “I have been living on the floor for most of the last two and a half years, unable to move.” In 2008, he suffered a catastrophic spinal collapse. “My spine will no longer hold me,” he writes. Thirty-seven orthopedic injuries, stemming from the fact that he had malformed feet, led to an endless string of stress fractures. As he notes, Walton is “the most injured athlete in the history of sports.” Over the years, he had ground his lower extremities “down to dust.” Walton’s memoir is two interwoven stories. The first is about his lifelong love of basketball, the second, his lifelong battle with injuries and pain. He had his first operation when he was 14, for a knee hurt in a basketball game. As he chronicles his distinguished career in the game, from high school to college to the NBA, he punctuates that story with a parallel one that chronicles at each juncture the injuries he suffered and overcame until he could no longer play, eventually turning to a successful broadcasting career (which helped his stuttering problem). Thanks to successful experimental spinal fusion surgery, he’s now pain-free. And then there’s the music he loves, especially the Grateful Dead’s; it accompanies both stories like a soundtrack playing off in the distance. Walton tends to get long-winded at times, but that won’t be news to anyone who watches his broadcasts, and those who have been afflicted with lifelong injuries will find the book uplifting and inspirational. Basketball fans will relish Walton’s acumen and insights into the game as well as his stories about players, coaches (especially John Wooden), and games, all told in Walton’s fervent, witty style.
One of the NBA’s 50 greatest players scores another basket—a deeply personal one.Pub Date: March 8, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4767-1686-2
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
These platitudes need perspective; better to buy the books they came from.
A lightweight collection of self-help snippets from the bestselling author.
What makes a quote a quote? Does it have to be quoted by someone other than the original author? Apparently not, if we take Strayed’s collection of truisms as an example. The well-known memoirist (Wild), novelist (Torch), and radio-show host (“Dear Sugar”) pulls lines from her previous pages and delivers them one at a time in this small, gift-sized book. No excerpt exceeds one page in length, and some are only one line long. Strayed doesn’t reference the books she’s drawing from, so the quotes stand without context and are strung together without apparent attention to structure or narrative flow. Thus, we move back and forth from first-person tales from the Pacific Crest Trail to conversational tidbits to meditations on grief. Some are astoundingly simple, such as Strayed’s declaration that “Love is the feeling we have for those we care deeply about and hold in high regard.” Others call on the author’s unique observations—people who regret what they haven’t done, she writes, end up “mingy, addled, shrink-wrapped versions” of themselves—and offer a reward for wading through obvious advice like “Trust your gut.” Other quotes sound familiar—not necessarily because you’ve read Strayed’s other work, but likely due to the influence of other authors on her writing. When she writes about blooming into your own authenticity, for instance, one is immediately reminded of Anaïs Nin: "And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom.” Strayed’s true blossoming happens in her longer works; while this collection might brighten someone’s day—and is sure to sell plenty of copies during the holidays—it’s no substitute for the real thing.
These platitudes need perspective; better to buy the books they came from.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-101-946909
Page Count: 160
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Aug. 15, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2015
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