A good reminder to drive with a relaxed but alert mind and let the harried others pass by without incident.
A guide to being a safe driver with an emphasis on the dangers and related consequences of everyday driving.
In his first book, Balis outlines the importance of driving with a calm attitude and a centered mind. He notes how the cultural attitude of driving has changed from cautious to casual and makes sound points about the random and unpredictable variables that exist on the road, like bad weather or surprising curves. Add to these careless human errors or lapses in judgment—texting or driving while under the influence, for example—and the sum total is a rather dangerous daily activity that most people do not take too seriously. He forces readers to examine their own behavior on the road and consider changes they can make to be safer. Balis also suggests fine-tuning skills on reading road “clues,” such as being aware of traffic density, light and time of day, as well as subtler observations, e.g., noticing the direction a line of phone poles takes to indicate upcoming curves in the road. Ultimately, his advice is spot-on and important. At times, however, it feels a bit unrealistic. How does one reduce danger and improve safety? “The answer is to recognize and respect the unpredictability of the road every moment of every drive.” While we may hope to maintain this sort of tireless vigilance, it feels impossible. Still, this handbook on driving safely boils down to some basic, no-nonsense wisdom: “Think of driving as more Zen, less zoom. Your car may be one of the few places you can be utterly unto yourself, private, thoughtful, contemplative. Appreciate these moments. Breathe into that blessed privacy and space.” Hard to argue with this.
A good reminder to drive with a relaxed but alert mind and let the harried others pass by without incident.Pub Date: Nov. 24, 2014
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 67
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services
Review Posted Online: Jan. 7, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the...
Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children.
He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions.
Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006
ISBN: 0374500010
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Hill & Wang
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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