Book Reviews
Here is a brief excerpt from an article by Juliana Schroeder and Jane Risen for The New York Times. Its core thesis is brilliant but simple, as you will soon realize. Today, when there are so many conflicts — sometimes…
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Olivier Philip Ziegler MacLehose Press (2013) A comprehensive biography of a magnificent performer who was large, who contained multitudes Prior to reading Philip Ziegler’s biography, what I knew about Laurence Olivier (1907-1989) was limited almost entirely to seeing several of…
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Nature’s God: The Heretical Origins of the American Republic Matthew Stewart W.W., Norton & Company (2014) A brilliant analysis of “the power and impact of America’s original philosophical radicalism” This was an especially challenging read because the issues that Matthew…
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What Stays in Vegas: The World of Personal Data — Lifeblood of Big Business — and the End of Privacy as We Know It Adam Tanner PublicAffairs (2014) What stays in Las Vegas? An abundance of personal data used to…
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Why We Make Things and Why it Matters: The Education of a Craftsman Peter Korn David R. Godine, Publisher (2014) How and why the creative effort “is a process of challenging embedded narratives in order to….” Peter Korn poses an…
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The Myth of Mirror Neurons: The Real Neuroscience of Communication and Cognition Grgegory Hickok W.W. Norton & Company (2014) How the latest research in neuroscience can help almost anyone think and communicate much more effectively I begin with an unconventional…
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Classics for Pleasure Michael Dirda A Harvest Book/Hartcourt, Inc. (2007) “Michael Dirda is the best-read person in America. But he doesn’t rub it in.” Michael Kinsley I agree with Kinsley, presuming to suggest that the same can be said of…
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Essays in Biography Joseph Epstein Axios Press (2012) The more we learn about others, it seems, the better we understand ourselves…at least sometimes I have read most of Joseph Epstein’s 13 collections of essays dating back to Divorced in America:…
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Seeking the North Star: Selected Speeches John R. Silber David R. Godine, Publisher (2014) “Discontent combined with youthful idealism and energy for action ensures a brighter future.” John Silber This volume consists of 30 of John Silber’s speeches that he…
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Never Be Closing: How to Sell Better Without Screwing Your Clients, Your Colleagues, or Yourself Tim Hurson and Tim Dunne Portfolio/The Penguin Group (2014) How and why “Productive Thinking” can accelerate personal growth and professional development In the film version…
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