My Picks of the Month
A lot of
people complain that there is no difference between the Democratic and
Republican Parties and they are right when it comes to the growth of Big
Government. Both bear responsibility for it no matter who was President. As
regards the Republican Party, Richard A. Viguerie, often called one of the
fathers of the conservative movement, has written a fascinating book, Takeover, ($27.95, WND Books),
subtitled “The 100-year war for the soul of the GOP and how conservatives can
finally win it.” This is a very lively,
entertaining, and never boring history of how, more than a century ago, Teddy
Roosevelt abandoned the Republican Party to advance his progressive political
viewpoint that became the philosophy of the party’s establishment, thereby
condemning the Party to being largely out of power for a half century until
over fifty years ago, conservatives began to battle for control of the Party.
When the establishment is in control, you get candidates like Dole, McCain, and
Romney, all of whom lost elections. And, while Goldwater, the first to really
challenge the GOP establishment did not win, he set in motion the election of
Ronald Reagan in the 1980s. Viguerie notes, too, that while Nixon, Bush 41 and
43 won with conservative messages, their agendas were compatible with those of
the Democratic Party. Anyone with an interest in politics will find this a
lively, fascinating look at the past and a prediction of what is to come.
In
February 2013, Dr. Ben Carson gave a speech at the National Prayer Breakfast
that warned about the dangers facing the nation and called for a return to the
principles that made America great. It caused quite a stir, perhaps because
President Obama was at the head table. Since then Dr. Carson has even been
spoken of as a possible candidate for President, but he is more interested in
sharing his concerns. He does that in One
Nation; What We Can All Do to Save America’s Future ($25.95, Sentinal, a
Penguin Book imprint). “We are the pinnacle nation in the world right now, but
if the examples of Egypt, Greece, Rome, and Great Britain teach us anything, it
is that pinnacle nations are not guaranteed their place forever. If we fail to
rediscover the basic principles of common sense, manners, and morality, we will
go the same way they did.” He shares his life as he shares his views and, by
any measure, a black boy living in poverty with an illiterate mother should not
have risen to attend Harvard and become a leading neurosurgeon. Except, of
course, in America where merit counts the most. If you share fears of the
future, you will find this book of interest.
Parenting
must be one of the greatest challenges anyone encounters. I had two wonderful
parents who provided me with a happy youth and all the years thereafter. I was
always encouraged to pursue my interests and always supported in doing so.
That’s why Alfie Kohn’s The Myth of the
Spoiled Child: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom about Children and Parenting
($25.99, Da Capo Press) caught my eye. One hears so much about today’s kids
being spoiled that it was enlightening and pleasurable to read a book that says
it’s just not true. Kohn challenges the assertion that education and quality
child-rearing are in decline, saying that claim has been made about every prior
generation. Well, it is definitely true that education in America is not
turning out students with the same body of knowledge their predecessors had. Kohn also doesn’t believe there is too much
over-or-under parenting going on and says that being an involved parent is far
better than being a detached or dictatorial one. Kohn has written a book he
hopes will serve the interests of both liberal and conservative minded parents.
My Mother took the view that children are guests in the adult’s world and that
there are rules for both to respect. They’re not new and include showing
respect, being honest, the value of work, etc. For the parent who needs a bit
of advice, this book will prove helpful.
If you are
one of those people who lives, breaths and dreams about baseball, you will find
Down to the Last Pitch: How the 1991
Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves Gave Us the Best World Series of All Time by
Tim Wendel ($25.99, Da Capo Press) as he recalls the series game-by-game,
rehashing the defining moments and reach back into baseball history to show the
reader just what made those moments great. Wendel feels that the 1991 series
was on the cusp of a new era for baseball. A founding editor of USA Today Baseball Weekly, Wendel is the
author of ten books about the game and is currently a writer-in-residence at
John Hopkins University. The 1991 series was the first time a last place team
climbed its way to the top—both teams were cellar-dwellers in 1990. Five of the
seven games were decided by a single run with four by the last at bat. Here’s
the story of two teams that took risks, followed their guts, and play from
beginning to end with integrity and heart.
Business, Finance, Etc
As
students graduate from college and grapple with choosing a career, find a great
job, or start a business, there’s a new book by Ben Carpenter that will prove
very helpful. It’s The Bigs ($25.00,
John Wiley and Sons) and is about “the secrets nobody tells students and young
professionals” about to begin an important stage in their lives. Carpenter’s
career has been in the world of finance, much of it spent in Greenwich Capital
which became a respected, profitable firm on Wall Street. He went from being a
salesman to being its co-CEO. These days he is the vice chairman of CRT Capital
Group. I cited this because he has written a common sense, up to date book that
is filled with the kind of advice you would want your son or daughter to know
as they enter the workforce. The book benefits as well from being very
readable. For the generation trying to plan for their later years, Ric Edelman
has written The Truth About Retirement
Plans and IRAs ($15.00, Simon and Schuster, softcover), a step-by-step
guide to making the most of one’s retirement plans and assuring long-term
financial security. In these times, this is a critical matter in an economy
that has been stagnating now since the 2008 financial crisis and two terms of
the current administration. Edelman is a familiar voice to those of us in the
tri-state area because his commercials air daily along with his radio and
television shows. Edelman Financial Services provides planning and investment
management to more than 23,000 clients and has more than $12 billion in assets
under its management. As Edelman says, “Unlike members of past generations who
were able to rely on their employers or the government to provide financial
security in retirement, your success will be determined almost entirely by
you.”
For those
in management positions, Robert Bruce Shaw has authored Leadership Blindspots subtitled “How successful leaders identify
and overcome weaknesses that matter” ($35.00, Jossey-Bass). The book is filled
with detailed case studies that examine how blindspots operate and cites
examples from firms like Apple, Amazon, Hewlet-Packard and others. If not
corrected they can lead to devastating mistakes. These are often common
problems that result from factors such as over-confidence in one’s own
judgment, the complexity of large organizations, and being surrounded by
yes-men. Changes in the marketplace seem to be happening at an accelerated pace
these days, so this book can help anyone at the top or on his way there.
People, People, People
What we
most enjoying reading about is other people. Their real lives often tell us
things about ourselves or provide insights into the values we share (or not)
with them.
For anyone
who cannot get enough of the late singer, Michael Jackson, they are in for a
treat. Remember the Time: Protecting
Michael Jackson in His Final Days ($26.00, Weinstein Books) is by the two
men who spent 24/7 with him throughout his final years, protecting him and
ensuring he had the privacy he desperately wanted. Bill Whitfield and Javon
Beard have written their story with Tanner Colby. Jackson’s final years were
spent moving from city to city, living with his three children in virtual
seclusion. Whitfield, a former cop and veteran of the security profession was
joined by a brash rookie, Beard, both of whom were single fathers as well. This
is likely the only first-person account of those final years you are likely to
need or read if you are a fan. Jackson was struggling to live a normal life
under extraordinary circumstances after having been driven from his Neverland
sanctuary by the tabloid media. Imagine having crowds screaming your name every
time word got out wherever he was. Hardly a normal life and, at the end, not a
particularly happy one.
I was
looking forward to reading The Good Spy:
The Life and Death of Robert Ames by Pulitzer Prize winner, Kai Bird
($26.00, Crown Publishers) who had written some very well regarded biographies
of men like J. Robert Oppenheimer. Ames was a CIA officer who was killed in
April 1983 when our embassy there was bombed by Islamic terrorists. Bird had
known Ames as an older neighbor while he a teenager living in Saudi Arabia with
his family. As a secret agent Ames job was to befriend those who could provide
useful information for the agency and, while the CIA never responded to his
requests, more than forty retired CIA and Mossad officers shared their memories
of Ames. He was universally liked by all who worked with him. As for his Arab
contacts, it helped that he spoke their language fluently and Ali Hassan
Salameh, Yasir Arafat’s intelligence chief, enjoyed a clandestine relationship
with him that became the seed of the Oslo peace process. For those following
events in the Middle East the biography has value, but the portrait of Ames is
so dominated by the author’s admiration that it fairly rapidly become rather
cloying to read. That is a personal reaction and others might well disagree.
Americans
understandably became weary of the long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that
followed in the wake of 9/11. On that day, however, two Naval Academy roommates
vowed to defend America and four weeks after Navy SEALs had killed Osama bin
Laden, President Obama, on the Memorial Day that followed the event, was in
Arlington National Cemetery to honor the nation’s fallen where Travis Manion, a
fallen U.S. Marine, and Brendan Looney, a fallen U.S. Navy SEAL, killed three
years apart, lay buried. Their story is told in Brothers Forever by Tom Sileo and Col. Tom Manion, Travis’s father
($16.95, Da Capo Press) It is the story of their bond and ultimate sacrifice
for the nation. It is the story of real people engaged in real combat and
seeing their comrades die. Sileo is a nationally syndicated columnist and
editor of The Unknown Soldiers blog and, as noted, Col. Manion was Travis’s
father and retired Marine. Together, the two men defined a small segment of
their generation’s sacrifice who put their nation’s defense first and foremost.
Jerry
Sandusky, arrested and found guilty of child molestation, has ruined the name
Sandusky for others who share it. One of them is Gerry Sandusky, the sports
director at WBAL in Baltimore and the radio play-by-play voice of the NFL’s
Baltimore Ravens. His book is a tribute to his father, Jon Sandusky, a former
player for the Browns and Green Bay Packers who went onto become head coach of
the Baltimore Colts, as well as assistant coach under legendary Don Shula at
the Miami Dolphins. Jon’s life was about family and football, so it is not
surprising that his son chose a career path with the game. Forgotten Sundays: A Son’s Story of Life, Loss, and Love from the
Sidelines of the NFL ($25.00, Running Press) will please anyone who loves
football and, in particular, was a fan of the teams with which Sandusky was
associated. Gerry grow up spending his summers observing his father in NFL
training camps and his Sundays with superstars, Hall of Fame players, and
coaches from Johnny United to Dan Marino, Don McCafferty to Tom Landry. He saw
the glory days and he watched his father face a losing battle with Alzheimer’s
Disease. This is a heartfelt story told with intelligence and humor that
explores a father-son relationship and the legacy of values and enthusiasms his
dad left him.
We all
wonder what it would be like to be caught in in avalanches, shipwrecks, or the
wake of tornadoes where life and death hangs in the balance. Alive is a compilation of such stories
($15.99) by Readers Digest editors. We all hope our will to survive will kick
in when we need it and the stories provide fascinating examples from a mountain
climber who has to crawl out of a crevasse on Mt. McKinley and must drag
himself to safety, knowing his partner did not survive. There’s hiker Larry Bishop’s
harrowing 48 hours clinging to the side of a mountain waiting to be rescued.
There are two women who were being mauled by a grizzly and had to defy death. It
is a reminder that Mother Nature doesn’t much care if you live or die, even if
you do! Interesting reading for sure. Center
of Gravity by Geva Salerno ($12.95, Levity Press, softcover) is the true
account of how a woman changed her entire life in one year and found her
personal power. She conducted an experiment in which she gave up dating for a year
so she could focus on her transformation and, in the process, make some
discoveries that can impact other women who are overworked, divorced, and
obsessed with society’s vision of the perfect life. It’s a leap of faith on her
part. She tells of dismantling her false life and building a new authentic one.
She has since become an advocate for women’s empowerment.
We have a
way of turning outlaws like Billy the Kid and the Sundance Kid into American
icons and this is particularly true of the Mafia that became the subjects of
movies and television series. C. Alexander Hortis has written “the hidden
history of how the Mafia captured New York” in The Mob and the City ($24.95, Prometheus Books) and it is a
fascinating look at the Sicilian gangs in the 1930s evolved into the Mafia
families that gained power as Prohibition became the law and as drugs became
widely used, dominating crime through to the 1950s. This is a thorough and
authentic history unlike “The Godfather” and countless other books. As such it
is filled with surprises, based on primary sources and even secret files
obtained through the Freedom of Information Act; as always, the truth is often
more interesting than the fiction. The author is an attorney and an authority
on the Mafia.
To Your Health
Americans
may be the most health conscious people on Earth, despite the obvious fact that
many are overweight and enjoy smoking and other things that we are constantly
reminded will kill us.
I have
been told that meditation is good for one’s mental health and I received Janet
Nima Taylor’s Meditation for Non
Meditators: Learn to Meditate in Five Minutes ($15.00, available from
Amazon.com, softcover). Having spent 20 years as a corporate executive, her
passion has been to help people change their behavior to create positive
habits. Following her corporate career she became an American Buddhist monk and
is now the director of the Temple Buddhist Center in Kansas City and executive
director of the Dzogchen Foundation, a national non-profit Buddhist and
meditation organization. The thing I liked about this book is that it does not
require you to sit on the floor, close your eyes, or do it as a religious
exercise. Instead, it is a pragmatic manual on how focusing on your breathing
can help lower stress and create a sense of peace and well-being no matter what
your religious beliefs may be or whether you even have any. A short way of
describing this is that you will learn how to hit the pause button and rest in
the present moment. That strikes me as a very good idea and this book is a way
to learn to do it.
Since my
Mother taught gourmet cooking for three decades I concluded that you are what
you eat. That’s why The Power of Food:
Enhancing Stem Cell Growth and Decreasing Inflammation by Bonnie Raffel, R.D.,
($29.95, Langdon Street Press) caught my eye. After being diagnosed with
multiple sclerosis in 2001, the author discovered she was allergic to the drug
prescribed to slow the disease’s neurologic deterioration. As a registered
dietitian, Raffel search for a way to combat the disease through nutrition and
the result is her book that combines original recipes and nutritional advice to
help MS patients and anyone seeking a natural, healthier lifestyle. The New Greenmarket Cookbook by
Gabrielle Langholtz ($24.99, Da Capo Press, softcover) combines healthy eating
with good health as it offers recipes by New York’s top chefs to take advantage
of the produce available from farmers markets. It’s one thing to have access to
freshly picked vegetables and fruits, and another to know how to take advantage
of them with delicious salads and other delightful dishes that include fish,
lamb, and other delectables. It helps if you live in New York, but these
markets exist in most big cities.
Athlete, Not Food Addict: Wellspring’s
Seven Steps to Weight Loss ($15.95,
New Horizon Press, softcover by
Daniel S. Kirschenbaum, Ph.D., a clinical psychologist, shatters widespread
beliefs about the addictive nature of food and offers an empowering method for
effective weight loss. It is his view that overweight problems are caused by
resistant biological forces within us, our culture, and a lack of knowledge
about how to manage and overcome these challenges. He wants the reader to be a
“weight-controller athlete” and learn how to use their brains to mold their
bodies in a healthy direction, just as athlete’s do. One might say it is mind
over platter, instead of mind over matter. For women athletes there’s The Pregnant Athlete by Brandi and
Steven Dion with Joel Heller, MD, and Perry McIntosh ($17.99, Da Capo Press,
softcover). The book says there is no reason that someone used to a high level
of physical activity should continue her training through a normal, healthy
pregnancy. It charts the changes a woman can expect in her strength, agility,
and stamina each month and includes lots of good advice. Brandi is the mother
of two, so this book is author-tested.
For Younger Readers
Getting
children accustomed to reading books early on is the key to their success later
in life. We’re fortunate to have so many books written for the pre-school,
early readers, and teens.
Time for
Kids is a publisher of some really excellent books for younger readers. They
are particularly educational, but distinguished as well by extraordinary use of
photos that make every page exciting. Among the latest are Big Book of When ($19.95) that makes history come alive answering
questions such as “When did a human first travel in space?” and “When did the
Egyptians build the pyramids of Giza?”
There are 801 such questions covering many topics that will interest any
younger reader. Time for Kids also has a series, “Book of Why”, smaller,
shorter softcover that also pose and answer many questions ($4.99 each) that
include “Really Cool People and Places”,
“Awesome Animal Kingdom”, “Amazing Sports and Science”, and “Stellar Space.” Children tend to lose some of the knowledge
they learn during the school year so these books, particularly during the
summer, increase their knowledge and deepen their need to keep learning.
Aimed at
those kids age 3 to 6, Early Birdy Gets
the Worm created by Bruce Lansky and illustrated by Bill Bolton ($15.99,
Meadowbrook Press) is a book without text so that the story is told entirely by
its illustrations. It is the 2014 Gold Winner in Children’s Picture Books from
the Mom’s Choice Awards. In effect, the children “read” the pictures of Early
Birdy learning how to catch a worm after watching Mother Bird. It is a very
funny adventure and a great way to introduce a child to the joy a book can
offer. Others in this series include Polar
Brrr’s Big Adventure and Monkey See,
Monkey Do. Next step are books with
a text.
From
Ideals Children’s Books, Nashville, TN, comes a new series, “Shine Bright
Kids”, (http://shinebrightkids.com) the creation of Christy Ziglar, the
daughter of famed motivator, Zig Ziglar. A mother of twins and a certified
financial planner, she wanted to publish books that will help younger readers
develop good money management skills. Must-Have
Marvin! ($14.99) will ring a bell for any parent whose child wants to have
the latest new things he or she learns about and is, in fact, the second in the
series which began in 2013 with Can’t-Wait
Willow ($14.99) about a little
girl who spends all her time and money on things she doesn’t really want or
need. Both are written by Christy Ziglar and are illustrated by Luanne Marten.
Both impart valuable lessons from Willow’s need to learn how to delay instant
gratification and Marvin’s need to learn that people matter more than things.
For early readers, 5 and up, the texts are easy and entertaining, benefitting
from the artwork. For parents, they teach good lessons in life in ways that
just explaining them might not.
I’m a fan
of a series, “When I Grow Up I Want to Be” from Wigu Publishing (www.WhenIGrowUpBooks.com) of Laguna Beach, California. I
recommend you visit their websites because you are likely to find a title that
fits your child’s interest. The latest is devoted to being In the U.S. Navy ($12.95) that features young Noah who dreams of
being in the Navy just like his grandfather who is taking him to tour a real
aircraft carrier. Noah’s little sister is coming along as well and as they
discover how interesting the carrier is with its crew and different decks, the
readers will too. For the early readers of this series, doors open up thanks to
the useful, accurate information they provide.
Young
adults will enjoy Pandemic by Yvonne
Ventresca ($`6.95, Sky Pony Press/Skyhorse Publishing), the story of Lilianna
Snyder’s sudden change from a model student to a withdrawn pessimist who
worries about all kinds of disasters. One arrives in the form of
quick-spreading illness that doctors are unable to treat. With her parents away
on business, she finds herself on her own when the bird flu pandemic arrives
and friends and neighbors begin dying around her. She must find a way to
survive the deadly outbreak and, at the same time, deal with her personal demons,
the result of a teacher’s sexual assault. If this sounds very grownup, it is. Also
for young adults and for those who like a bit of magic in their fiction,
there’s Dangerous Creatures by Kami
Garcia and Margaret Stohl whose previous book, “Beautiful Creatures” is now a
motion picture. This novel is part of a series by them and is a tale of love
and magic in which a woman with magical capabilities, Ridley Duchannes, and her
wannabe rocker boyfriend, Wesley “Link” Lincoln leave Stonewall Jackson High School
and their adolescence behind as they head to New York City, each for their own
reasons. Ridley is accustomed to using her powers to control Mortals, but her
overconfidence has cost her and now she has debts to settle in the city. Link
has dreams to become a rock star and joins a band comprised of “Dark
Supernaturals.” It’s hard to describe this novel, but that is not to say it
will prove entertaining to younger adult readers.
Novels, Novels, Novels
The flow
of new novels into my office reflects the even greater number of novels being
published these days by large and small publishers as well as self-published.
The best I can do is to select from the many I receive and take notice of them
for your consideration.
Dodendal: Valley of Dreams by Jim Holmgren ($14.95, softcover) is
a good example of a self-published book. The author has created a fictional future
of the United States, one very different from the present where we continue to
have faith in our Constitution. By tweaking some current trends, his novel
suggests the importance of protecting the freedoms we often take for granted.
It is fifty years hence and the action takes place over the course of one
fateful weekend during the celebrating the tricentennial of the “former” U.S,
one bankrupted after Mideast oil wars in the 2030s and missing four states
including California after the Second Mexican-American War. The nation is now
run by a corporation that has imposed a totalitarian society. Dissenters tend
to disappear. You can learn more at www.holmgrenBooks.com. A debut novel by Jeff Critser, Cold Shadows, ($16.95, Dark Matters
Press, softcover) has a similar feel to it. It is a techno-thriller that
reflects the public’s distrust in government and activities taken outside of
any oversight, something in the news as we read of concerns about the National
Security Agency. Playing off those concerns, the novel explores themes of
smuggling and murder, all committed in the name of an undefined and ill-conceived
“greater good.” When Philip Kurchow, the
IT manager for a transportation company in Munich, aware of a smuggling
operation in Eastern Europe is murdered, his friend Kip Michelson tries to find
out why and how it happened only to find himself ensnared in a dark world of
betrayal. A lethal virus, stolen from Russian vaults, is up for sale and Kip is
recruited by the FBI to uncover the smuggling. Secretly, the CIA is trying to
intercept the technology for clandestine research. Kip finds himself being stalked
and must race to expose what is occurring. You won’t put this one down until
you’ve read it cover to cover.
Lovers of
thriller novels will enjoy The Argentine
Triangle ($16.95, Select Books, softcover)
by Allan Topol, the author of “The Russian Endgame” that hit the
bestseller lists. Topol has authored nine novels of international intrigue and,
in this novel former CIA director Craig Page is enjoying a new, exhilarating
life racing cars across Europe. When an old friend goes missing during a covert
mission in Argentina, he gets involved. It takes him undercover into the
glamorous world of Buenos Aires’ wealthy elite and the plans of two colonels
that requires him to implement his experience and skills to expose their plot
for a cataclysmic future for South America. This is a classic espionage novel
and international thriller with villains and exotic locales. Two Soldiers by Anders Roslund and
Borge Hellstrom ($26.99, Quercus) takes you to Stockholm, Sweden where it was
originally published and into the life of Jose Pereira, a police officer who
heads up the department’s Organized Crime and Gang Section, who must find two
ruthless young criminals. It is a look at the dark and dangerous world where
gang life is the only place that boys from broken, impoverished families can
find acceptance and from which there is no escape. The novel has been called an
“unsettling portrait of the gangland cycle of violence, desperation, and hope.”
It is all that and a very compelling read as well.
A High Price to Pay is a Madeline Dawkins novel by
Cynthia Hamilton (www.cynthiahamiltonbooks.com). I enjoyed her last book, “Spouse
Trap”, and in this one Madeline’s dual professions
as event coordinator and private investigator cross paths during the most
lavish affair of her career—a weekend-long fortieth birthday extravaganza for
the wife of a famous film director. A simple background check after the
disappearance of some family jewels quickly turns into a murder investigation,
and before Madeline and Mike can put the pieces together, another body turns
up. As the Santa Barbara police and sheriff’s departments search for clues, the
Mad Dog P.I.’s use their own methods to untangle the crimes, discovering some
unsavory truths behind the glittering façade of their clients. To add to
Madeline’s already overflowing plate, the D.A. informs her that Rick Yeoman,
one of the men who had abducted her three years earlier, has been prematurely
released from prison after cutting a deal with the Feds. Besides fearing
reprisals from the man she helped to convict, his parole also triggers the
reappearance of soulless Lionel Usherwood, lured out his hideaway by the call
of revenge. When Yeoman’s body surfaces in Lake Cachuma, Usherwood moves on to
the next target: Madeline.
The Never Never Sisters by L. Alison Heller ($15.00, New
American Library, softcover) is a story of a woman who just needs to get away
and relax. Paige Reinhardt, a hardworking marriage counselor, is looking
forward to reconnecting with his busy husband for a summer in the Hamptons, but
a mysterious emergency at work ruins their travel plans and everything begins
to unravel. As Paige tries to figure out what is really going on in her own
marriage, her sister suddenly returns after twenty years and Paige discovers
that she may not know her family as well as she thought as she digs into her
husband’s work crisis. She must figure out if it is worth it to find herself at
the risk of losing her most precious relationships. This is about the
complicated bond between sisters and the secrets kept to protect the ones we
love. The author is a divorce lawyer and this brings a special level of insight
to the story.
That’s
it for June! Be sure to come back in July and, in the meantime, tell your
friends, family and coworkers who enjoy reading about Bookviews.com.
