Slick sloganeering about the meaning of life, laced with quotable quotes from philosophical heavyweights. A professor of philosophy at Notre Dame who takes considerable pride in his success teaching football players, Morris is a master of catchy mnemonics, especially alliteration. Here, he explains how the key to success lies in the seven C's of conception, confidence, concentration, consistency, commitment of emotional energy, character, and capacity to enjoy. Each C is spelled out in its own chapter, and all are full of appropriate examples from Morris' own life and stories gleaned from other sources and studded with sayings from the likes of Socrates, Thoreau, Bacon, Confucius, and Carlyle. His advice is determinedly simplistic: e.g., make a list of your goals on a 3x5 card and tape it up where you'll see it frequently. He cannot resist rhetoric such as ``you have to plan your work and then work your plan,'' but alliteration appears to be his favorite teaching device. Besides the seven C's of success, there's the 2- U Principle (involving uniqueness and union), the Human Happiness 4-U Thesis (involving the above plus usefulness and understanding), and the great I AM acrostic defining the basic dimensions of human life as the intellectual, aesthetic, and moral. His message is simple: don't confuse success with power, wealth, status, or fame, for it lies instead in personal excellence and fulfillment. There's little that is new or controversial in Morris' philosophy; the package he has put together demonstrates his facility as a teacher rather than any originality as a thinker. (First printing of 75,000)
Pub Date: March 23, 1994
ISBN: 0-399-13943-5
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Grosset & Dunlap
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
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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