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Category: Non Fiction

Blog Tour & Giveaway: The Pun Also Rises by John Pollack

[ 97 ] April 13, 2011

Please join John Pollack, author of The Pun Also Rises, as he tours the blogosphere with TLC Book Tours!

Reviewed by Shannon Hopkins

“(P)uns help us find such meaning in a chaotic world.”

John Pollack’s The Pun Also Rises features a title nearly as long as the book itself, a seemingly presumptious title suggesting that, at least in his mind, the “humble pun” is anything but. What follows is a concise (224 page) survey of the pun in which Pollack aptly makes his case to the reader.

The pun is a form of wordplay in which the punster employs a word or phrase that holds a double meaning in context. It is such a ubiquitous part of language and communication that we often make puns without intending to do so (like the time I spouted “aww, shucks” when my dad said he wasn’t telling any more jokes about cornfields…). As Pollack illustrates in Chapter 2, this is because punning plays an integral part in the development of complex language — by using and hearing puns, our brains process information on several levels simultaneously and learn new associations between the sounds that they must interpret.

Chapters 3 and 4 follow the rise and fall of punning through history as a respected linguistic form, then as a vehicle for humor and later a vehicle for bad humor, and today a hotly debated yet unarguably fundamental component of communication. Pollack peppers his study with puns from different eras and societies to demonstrate our universal familiarity with them, which also keeps the historical journey from reading too much like a history book.

The Pun Also Rises is a riveting and amusing read for anybody who is interested in wordplay or in having a deeper understanding of how humanity has stretched a limited set of sounds to encompass a limitless supply of concepts and ideas. It is also an ideal primer for the novice punster and a brilliant retort to any who may doubt the creative brilliance of the pun.

Rating: 4.5/5

Shannon lives in Cleveland, Ohio with her boyfriend and a room full of books that she peruses when she isn’t trolling Apartment Therapy for new decorating ideas. In her free time she enjoys maintaining her blog, Reaching for the Moon, working on her first novel, and working with high school and college students in a local Model United Nations program.

Giveaway:
I have 1 copy of The Pun Also Rises to give away!

Mandatory entry: Please comment here and include your e-mail address.

Extra entries (please post each entry separately, i.e. 2 posts for subscribing):
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- Share this giveaway on a social network of your choice. Click the “Share/Save” button at the bottom of this post (1 entry each)

This giveaway is open to US and Canada residents only. Deadline to enter is midnight on April 29, 2011.

Review and giveaway copies were provided free of any obligation by Gotham. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Giveaway: Dance First. Think Later by Kathryn and Ross Petras

[ 121 ] February 25, 2011

I have a copy of “Dance First, Think Later” by Kathryn and Ross Petras for one lucky winner, courtesy of Workman Publishing!

About the book

The right quote at the right time can change everything-Steve Jobs once read “Stay hungry. Stay foolish” on the back cover of The Whole Earth Catalog, and those four words came to guide his life. Pithy but profound nuggets of big-picture wisdom can give anyone direction, courage, and inspiration.

Created by Kathryn and Ross Petras, whose books and calendars have over 5.6 million copies in print, “Dance First. Think Later” is a collection of the greatest life wisdom from an unexpected group of speakers, doers, and thinkers. There are 618 rules to live by-funny, thoughtful, offhanded, clever, and always profound:

  • “Spend the afternoon. You can’t take it with you.”-Annie Dillard
  • “If everything is under control, you are going too slow.” -Mario Andretti
  • “The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook.” -Julia Child
  • “Don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened.” ―Dr. Seuss (Theodor Geisel)
  • “Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity.” ―Ray Bradbury

“Dance First. Think Later” is the perfect timeless gift for recent graduates, newlyweds, new home owners, or anyone looking for a little uplift and direction.

Mandatory entry: Please comment on this post with your e-mail address.

Extra entries (please post each entry separately, i.e. 2 posts for subscribing):
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This giveaway is open to US and Canada residents only. Deadline to enter is midnight on March 11, 2011.

Giveaway copy is provided free of any obligation by Workman Publishing. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Blog Tour & Giveaway: We Have Met the Enemy by Daniel Akst

[ 102 ] January 30, 2011

Please join Daniel Akst, author of We Have Met the Enemy, as he tours the blogosphere with TLC Book Tours!

Reviewed by Vera (Luxury Reading)

If you have not heard of Daniel Akst, you’re likely to become a huge fan after reading We Have Met the Enemy: Self-Control in an Age of Excess.

The “enemy” in We Have Met the Enemy is us and our lack of self-control in a world that is full of temptations. While our ancestors had to exercise their willpower to stay away from a few certain bad habits, our bad habit possibilities have vastly multiplied. We have access to cheap and widely available unhealthy foods, riveting TV shows that keep us glued to the couches, and prior to the economic meltdown, loads of unsecured credit that had us spending money into oblivion. And our bad habits are not just bad economically speaking, they are also deadly. As Akst puts it, “we do ourselves in … slowly and prosaically, jumping to a premature death in a sea of batter-fried shrimp, booze, and bad television, which we watch instead of exercising.”

Akst traces self-control from the Ancient Greeks, to British Victorians to Freud and so on, interspersing opinions on the issue from a variety of individuals who had something to say about the topic. However, We Have Met the Enemy is by no means a finger-pointing diatribe against our excesses. Instead, Akst strives to define the reasons behind the low-supply of self control in today’s age, and cite the social, cultural, religious and other constraints that can help us “behave”.

Akst’s brutally honest exploration of our self-control, or the lack thereof, is as disturbing as it is hilarious. And that is where his genius lies – in his ability to discuss a serious topic with the wit that will have you laughing out loud. We Have Met the Enemy is the first book in a long time that had me pulling out a highlighter in an effort to remember especially cheeky lines and bring them up in conversations later.

Rating: 4/5

Giveaway:
I have 1 hardcover copy of We Have Met the Enemy to give away!

Mandatory entry: Please comment here and include your e-mail address.

Extra entries (please post each entry separately, i.e. 2 posts for subscribing):
- Subscribe via e-mail, follow or subscribe to the feed. You must verify the subscriptions. (1 entry each)
- Enter another current giveaway and tell me which one you entered (1 entry each)
- Share this giveaway on a social network of your choice. Click the “Share/Save” button at the bottom of this post (1 entry each)

This giveaway is open to US and Canada residents only. Deadline to enter is midnight on February 28, 2011.

Review and giveaway copies were provided free of any obligation by Penguin Press. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Health Scare: The Truth Behind America’s Health Care Crisis by Rene P. Moret

[ 9 ] January 19, 2011

Reviewed by Erin N.

Since the last Presidential election, the American population has been inundated with health care reform proposals and, ultimately, the new health care law that has caused the most fierce controversy and partisan politics ever to grace the scene of the 21st century landscape. Despite the conflict, no one on any side of the debate believes that health care does not need to be reformed. The vast majority of Americans recognize that the root problem is uncontrolled costs; what they are not in full agreement on is “what generated those excessive costs to begin with.”

Rene P. Moret, an MBA Accountant with 20 years of executive experience in the managed health care industry, attempts to address the root causes for the failures in the American health care system. Furthermore, he presents a thoroughly thought out alternative to “the most significant health care legislation since Medicare and Medicaid in1965″.

Moret contends that there are two fundamental flaws with our health care system and that the health care legislation does not address either one of these flaws. The first flaw is that all “health care” can be “viewed as a combination of two subsystems: well care and sick care.” The American system is a predominantly “sick care” system. The second flaw is that our health care reimbursement system is based on insurance principles that promote and sustain a “high-cost, high-quality sick care system, but discourages activities that would improve our well care system and reduce costs.” Moret believes that the new legislation will fail to fix the system because “putting more people into the same system that got us into this mess in the first place will only make matters worse.”

In Health Scare, Moret presents a very concise and fact packed treatise about the history of our current health care system, the issues that have given rise to our current problems, and a proposition that would fundamentally change health care in America for years to come.

Rating: 4.5/5

Erin fell in love with the written word as a small child and subsequently spent most of her life happily devouring literature. She works as a freelance news, marketing, and technical writer. Erin lives just outside of Cleveland, Ohio with her husband, children, and grandchildren.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Phenix & Phenix Literary Publicists. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Speed Reading by Abby Marks Beale

[ 5 ] January 14, 2011

Reviewed by Alisha C.

We have heard of people who can speed read through novels in mere minutes, but you are probably like me in that you worry about comprehension. Beale’s guide addresses this concern with an extra set of exercises to ensure you don’t “speed look” through a book/magazine, but actually retain the information. She provides ways to read important words, utilize the “organizational pattern” of the work to your best benefit and tricks to find the “golden nuggets” in the text. Beale also provides tactics such as skimming, scanning and skipping in order to glean comprehension without reading every single word.

Beale explains ways to speed read while using pacers, how to skim and scan certain types of writing, ways to tackle large amounts of reading material and how to pare it down, along with exercises to stay alert and evaluate your current reading habits in order to improve them. The guide provides tactics to employ for different types of reading material (online, magazine, non-fiction and fiction). While less than half of the book actually focuses on reading words and turning pages faster, the remainder of the book provides helpful hints for getting through material faster, effective note taking strategies, how to expand your vocabulary and how to control the speed with which you read.

The book’s co-author, Mullan, provides tactics for reading online text, articles and books using speed techniques. Mullan explains how to adapt paper reading techniques to digital documents. Mullan also provides a set of on-screen pacers you can use to gain momentum and speed when reading online text.

[amazonify]1592577784[/amazonify]Beale’s guide does not suggest that you always speed read material, but provides tips and tricks on how to switch between speeds when reading different types of material. She compares it to driving a manual transmission car, in some instances, you can shift into fifth gear and fly (like news articles) while in other instances (Shakespeare, poetry, etc.) you should remain in the lower gears both for enjoyment and comprehension.

I have read a few other Complete Idiot’s Guides and generally find them to be a little too basic and with much of the information overly repeated throughout the book. In my opinion, the guides generally lack substance and I tend to search for other titles to satisfy my curiosity about a given topic. That said, I was impressed by the amount of information in The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Speed Reading. While the tendency to summarize and repeat the information still exists, the book provided a large amount of information and “time-saving strategies for reading faster and remembering more.” I spent a little time trying some of timed exercises and did see a noticeable improvement in my reading times. I plan to go back and practice them more!

Part-time fiction writer, Alisha Churbe lives in Portland, Oregon. In the rare instances when you can pry her away from books, Alisha can be found travelling in foreign countries, cooking, or hiking with her husband Michael and dog Zach.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Wilks Communication. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande

[ 5 ] January 12, 2011

Reviewed by Vera (Luxury Reading)

Hundreds of thousands of people die every year from surgeries gone wrong. While surgeries are never truly “routine” and unexpected things do happen, some errors are very preventable.

A surgeon by profession, Atul Gawande was part of the team assembled by the World Health Organization (WHO) to look at the prevalence of surgery errors. They heard accounts from other surgeons – those that operated in high-tech hospitals of the developed countries and others from the developing countries that lacked adequate resources, training, personnel, and so on.

What they found was that errors happened everywhere, and no amount of technology or pharmaceuticals could prevent them. In fact, errors happened most often due to human error, due to routine tasks that were forgotten while focusing on the more complicated problems at hand. This conclusion led to the development of a simple checklist that was then tested at participating hospitals around the world. The results were quite surprising, even to Gawande.

The Checklist Manifesto is Gawande’s account of the development of the surgical checklist, but it’s also so much more. He discusses and compares checklists used by a variety of professionals, from pilots who heavily rely on checklists for safety, to financiers who use checklists to make calculated investment decisions. More importantly, Gawande makes a convincing argument in favor of checklists. Our world is complicated and our skills are getting more and more specialized, causing seemingly unimportant and routine tasks to fall through the cracks. That is where checklists come in.

The Checklist Manifesto has also been a true inspiration, and I have since made checklists for the routine tasks in my life: packing for travel, making professional Power Point presentations, preparing for holidays, etc. Having well thought lists to guide me through these common situations definitely makes my life less stressful – I no longer worry about forgetting to pack a cell phone charger or to buy a gift for a distant aunt!

Rating: 5/5

This book was provided free of any obligation by Picador. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: My Reading Life by Pat Conroy

[ 9 ] January 10, 2011

When I first began reading the novels of Pat Conroy in college as a requirement for English courses, I thought the task would be an overwhelming one. I’d heard other students talk about how difficult Conroy was to read. I quickly changed my mind when I became enraptured by one of his greatest novels, in my opinion, The Prince of Tides.

As I began reading My Reading Life, I realized that Conroy had interests in a wide variety of subjects. His love of books began with his love for animals and researching them in over-sized books that his mother would bring home from the library. He states that, “The world of books was set for me by the intellectual hunger of my mother.” By the time Conroy completed the fifth grade, he knew the name of nearly every mammal that existed in Africa.

In the beginning chapters, Conroy speaks about his family life and intertwines this with anecdotes from one of the many books he has not only read, but studied. I found this approach interesting, as he was able to recount childhood, adolescence, and teenage memories based on novels he had read during certain periods of his life. He also talks of the impact that some of the greatest authors who have ever lived have had on him, and his writing career. Some of the authors and books that stood out most to me were Shakespeare, Gone with the Wind, and Vanity Fair.

I’ve never read another book in which I had the opportunity to learn about and get to know an author the way I did in My Reading Life. As a writer myself, I was able to see where other authors get their inspiration and how they use experiences from other novels to shape their own stories.  My Reading Life is truly a book that you can learn from. It not only got my thought processes going but it also inspired me; the way Conroy speaks about books he’s read inspired me to run out and find them for myself.

Review copy was provided free of any obligation by Nan A. Talese. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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Review: Queen of Your Own Life by Kathy Kinney & Cindy Ratzlaff

[ 7 ] January 10, 2011

Reviewed by Krista C.

This fairly short book is a quick read that lays out steps for women of a “certain age” (over 50) to reclaim their “Queenliness”. The co-authors talk about a lot of self-actualization concepts that I was already familiar with. Concepts like:

  • Be Happy in Your Own Skin
  • Maintain a Great Group of Girlfriends
  • Have an Attitude of Gratitude
  • Stop Being a “People-Pleaser”
  • Don’t Worry, Be Happy

Queen of Your Own Life provided me with an opportunity to take a self-inventory to see how I was doing in these areas. It turns out I’m a pretty good “Queen of My Own Life”. This book would be a fun one to share with your girlfriends; if shared with a group of women, it could spark interesting discussions about what societal and family myths everyone incorporated while growing up, and how they’ve affected the women’s lives since.

Queen of Your Own Life is written by Kathy Kinney and Cindy Ratzlaff. Kathy Kinney is probably most well known for her role as Mimi on “The Drew Carey Show”. Kathy talks about how she didn’t grow up with much self-confidence but gained it by playing Mimi for all those years. Cindy and Kathy both sprinkle in their own experiences and struggles with coming to love themselves in spite of their critical inner voices and societal pressures to look or act a certain way. Their stories are relevant and interesting.

I like a book that encourages women to celebrate becoming the “Queen of Your Own Life”. It inspired me to reach out to some girlfriends I hadn’t talked to in awhile. I can see the value of some of the ceremonies and exercises discussed in the book but some of them seemed a little far-fetched. However, it’s easy to pick and choose which exercises to do based on what makes the most sense for you individually.

I may not hold a Crowning Celebration as outlined in the book, but I do know that I’m blessed to be where I am in my life. It’s always good to take a refresher course in some of these basic self-help concepts. Even better, if you’ve never pondered the concepts, Queen of Your Own Life is a non-threatening way to start getting your thought processes rolling.

Krista lives just outside the urban sprawl of Portland, Oregon. Lamentably, her work as a technical writer and business analyst often interferes with her reading which is a true passion.

This book was provided free of any obligation by Harlequin. No monetary or any other form of compensation was received.

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