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The collapse last year of the Minneapolis bridge came as a shock to Americans who assume their bridges and other major infrastructure is safe. It isn’t! Broken Buildings, Busted Budgets: How to Fix America’s Trillion-Dollar Construction Industry ($25.00, University of Chicago Press) tells the real story. Barry B. LePatner warns that it is merely a matter of time before the next tragedy occurs and he’s surprised that more bridges haven’t failed by now. Design flaws are just the tip of the iceberg because bridges, many of which were built forty years and more ago, were not designed for the weight they carry in today’s conditions. More than 72,000 bridges are known to be "structurally deficient" and 80,000 are "functionally obsolete." Quite literally, the federal government parcels out barely $3,500 per bridge for repairs. This is one of those important books that tend to get overlooked. Don’t! This is a true national priority. A Short History of the American Stomach by Frederick Kaufman ($23.00, Harcourt) reveals that our intense concern with what and how we eat in America dates back to its very earliest days. You’ve never read American history from this point of view and you will be amazed to discover that diet gurus date back to the 19th century and earlier. This is especially timely in view of the recent uproar over the approval of cloned meat and milk from cattle, pigs, and goats, our fears of genetically modified foods, and our love of fast foods. This is a highly entertaining look at how Americans have eaten in the past and its influence on what we eat in the present. Some books are evocative of one’s own life or simply a lifestyle we would like to recapture for our own. This is especially true for Laura Schenone’s The Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken: A Search for Food and Family ($26.95, W.W. Norton) that is not just her own personal journey, but reflects that of many other Italian-Americans. Among my earliest memories was the wonderful pasta dishes my Italian grandfather used to make and serve, so I instantly connected to this book, but I think anyone who goes in search of their roots and recalls a particular delicacy will also greatly enjoy her story that begins with her memory of an old, handcrafted, wooden ravioli press, long out of service, that hung as a decoration on the wall of her mother’s kitchen. My Mother, a famed teacher of cuisine and cookbook author, also made her own pasta. This is a book about authenticity that reaches back to traditional Ligurian cooking to tell the story of the redemptive power of food.
As the political campaigns heat up, some very important issues will prove to be deciding factors for many voters and among them will be the environment. The publisher of two collections of my weekly commentaries for The National Anxiety Center, Alan Gottlieb of Merril Press, has three books well worth reading these days. One is by Roy Innis, the chairman of the Congress of Racial Equality, who has written of "the new civil rights battle", the efforts of foundations, environmental organizations, and politicians to limit access to the U.S. energy reserves that are being denied for our use and schemes to limit existing energy and to reduce it. In Energy Keepers, Energy Killers ($15.00, softcover) Innis provides the truth about energy, the master resource upon which our economy is based. He dispels the lies about the environment with which we are deluged daily and I cannot recommend this easy-to-read and easy-to-understand book highly enough. I am pleased to count Ron Arnold as a friend and am delighted to recommend his latest book, Freezing in the Dark: Money, Power, Politics, and the Vast Left Wing Conspiracy ($23.00, softcover) that is a worthy addition to his previous books such as Undue Influence: Wealthy Foundations, Grant-Drive Environmental Groups, and Zealous Bureaucrats That Control Your Future. Along with Alan Gottlieb, he has authored Trashing the Economy and Politically Correct Environment. Few men have greater knowledge and insight to the way the environmental movement twists the truth and harms America’s economy and future. This extensive look at the forces at work to mislead Americans about energy and environmental truths is an achievement. Finally, Gottlieb, chairman of the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms and founder of the Second Amendment Foundation, has with Dave Workman, co-authored America Fights Back: Armed Self-Defense in a Violent Age ($23.00) that reveals the efforts at work in America to undermine the Second Amendment and leave Americans defenseless against the criminals and crazies who would not hesitate to use guns. As recently as last month we have seen innocent victims gunned down on university campuses and in shopping malls for lack of any armed defense. In an era when America continues to be threatened by Islamic fundamentalists, the fundamental right of self-defense was never more needed or more precious. Check out these books at www.merrilpress.com. Time and again we get to wonder what a jury was thinking when it lets some obviously guilty person go free or awards a million dollars to some numbskull who injured himself. If that kind of thing interests you, then you should definitely read American Juries: The Verdict by Neil Vidmar and Valerie P. Hans ($32.95, Prometheus Books). This is a thoroughly researched study that reviews more than fifty years of empirical research on civil and criminal juries. It then provides its own verdict on whether the jury system as presently constituted works. The authors are professors of law with significant credentials and it shows. This isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but if it’s an interest of yours, this is as close to definitive as it comes. Want to get behind the 9/11 Commission report on what happened that day? My friend, David H. Brown, is a veteran reporter who went on to spend 24 years with the federal government as Assistant Director of Information at the Department of Justice and later transferred to the Federal Aviation Administration in a similar capacity. With that background, he saw 9/11 and the subsequent homeland security efforts as only an insider could. Retired now, he has written two books that anyone seeking his insight will want to read. They are "Nine/Eleven", ($11.70) written with John T. Dailey, PhD, which asks and answers whether the Federal Aviation Administration alone could have deterred the terrorists. You will not find the answer in the Commission’s report. What you will discover is that, by 1969-70 the FAA had in hand a program to identify potential hijackers before they got out of an airport. It was never implemented. The other book is Airline Passenger Screening Has Become a FEMA-Type Snafu ($11.70). Anyone who has had to pass through an airport will testify to that. Searching grandmothers has become both the reality and the cliché that describes the failure. Both books can be purchased by visiting http://www.authorhouse.com. These two outstanding books are also recommended in our Featured Book section with more information about them and their author. You can also purchase them directly via Amazon.com. It well may be that all story-telling began as tales told around the fire about a lost family member or one’s own hunting exploits. In time they would become myths. Today they are memoirs, biographies, and autobiographies.
More than fifty years have passed since Jack Kerouac transformed American literature with his book, On the Road. It became the bible of the Beat Generation. That was 50 years ago and I can remember when it was first published. Paul Maher, Jr. has written Jack Kerouac’s American Journey: The Real-Life Odyssey of On the Road ($16.00, Da Capo Press, member of the Perseus Group, softcover). It is an uncompromising look at the real people, adventures, and experiences that were reflected in what is now regarded as a 20th century classic. Maher has performed an excellent piece of research via interviews, access to letters, notebooks, and correspondence. The physical and metaphysical journey is revealed. It is quite revealing and a reminder that iconic authors are often frail, flawed creatures when detached from their writings. A different kind of odyssey is the subject of Hats & Eyeglasses: A Family Love Affair with Gambling by Martha Frankel ($23.95, Tarcher/Penguin) about growing up in a loving Jewish family of gamblers where her father’s poker games, her mother’s mah jongg, and pots of delicious food made for happy times. She would spend weekends at the racetrack picking winners for her father, but after her father died when she was 16, she lost interest in wagering. She went on to marry and become a successful celebrity journalist, but in her mid-forties gambling re-entered her life and nearly destroyed it. This is both a joyous and cautionary tale that makes for very interesting reading. The world of show business is always good for some interesting books by or about its colorful personalities. I fell seriously in lust with Kathleen Turner when she starred in the film, "Body Heat", released in 1981. Not only was it an excellent crime drama, but she just sizzled. She has written Send Yourself Roses: Thoughts on My Life, Love, and Leading Roles, in collaboration with Gloria Feldt ($24.99, Springboard Press, imprint of Hachette Book Group USA). That was her first film, but she has gone on to have a successful career in both films and on stage, plus marriage and motherhood. Turner writes with engaging honesty about her personal and professional life and anyone who admires this fine actress will thoroughly enjoy her book. My Music, My Life by Ravi Shankar ($29.95, Mandela Publishing, San Rafael, CA, softcover) is the story of a man, now in his late 80s, who has been performing Indian classical music all over the world for six decades. He literally put this unique and compelling music on the world stage, broadening its appeal. In the process, he mentored musicians like George Harrison of the Beatles and collaborated with others like John Coltrain, the jazz saxophonist, and composers like Philip Glass, who wrote the foreword. Violinist Yehundi Menuhin wrote the introduction. Extensively illustrated with photos, this autobiography was originally published nearly forty years ago. The updated version includes a new chapter by the author. Music lovers will enjoy this one. Show business of an earlier era gave us Will Rogers, Performer ($24.95, 21st Century Publishers, Cheyenne, WY, softcover). The authors, Richard and Mary Maturi, remind us of how influential this comedian and actor was in both his public and professional life. He was a star of vaudeville, Broadway and Hollywood, and wrote a newspaper column that commented on politics and other topics of his day. Famous for saying, "I never met a man I didn’t like", this biography of a man who died in a 1935 private plane crash offers a glimpse into a bygone era’s superstar. I am not particularly adventurous and I doubt most people are, but we love to read about those who were. The passing last month of Sir Edmund Hillary is testimony to our fascination with people who attempt the impossible and triumph. They Lived to Tell the Tale is a collection of "True stories of modern adventure from the legendary Explorers Club", edited and introduced by Jan Jarboe Russell ($27.95, The Lyons Press). Here you can read an account by Titanic discoverer Robert Ballard’s "bad day at the office" and the search for the Andean condor by naturalist Jim Fowler. Dr. Ken Kamier survives disaster on Mount Everest. Mountaineer James Powell relates how not to take a jungle bath and NASA astronaut Leroy Chiao tells of joining a Russian crew on the International Space Station. This is the kind of thing that fires the imagination while you read safe in your favorite chair. A different kind of explorer, one engaged in cosmological theories, gets his story told by Kristine Larsen, Stephen Hawking: A Biography ($16.95, Prometheus Books, softcover). Arguably the most famous physicist since Albert Einstein, Hawking is best known to the public for his decades-long struggle with Lou Gehrig’s disease. Trapped in a failed body, he nonetheless is acknowledged to possess one of the great minds of our time. He has made significant contributions to our understanding of the nature and origins of the universe and anyone with an interest in science will find this biography of the author of A Brief History of Time well worth reading. Sports fans will enjoy three recently published books. Harvard Beats Yale 29-29 and Other Great Comebacks from the Annals of Sport by Barry Wilner and Ken Rappoport ($16.95, Taylor Trade Publishing, softcover) is a title that tells you all you need to know and it is guaranteed to serve up a couple of hours of reading pleasure. Likewise, The Best Game Ever: Pirates vs. Yankees – October 13, 1960 by Jim Reisler ($26.00, Da Capo Press) recalls the game played in Pittsburgh by a Yankee team that included Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Whitey Ford, and Yogi Berra versus a Pirates team playing in their first World Series after thirty-five years. It was led by the legendary Roberto Clemente. You can relive it, inning by inning, in this excellent account. Finally, there’s Everything You Wanted to Know About the New York Knicks by Michael Benson ($24.95, Taylor Trade Publishing, an imprint of Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group.) It is an encyclopedic listing of every man who played on or coached this team from its inception in 1946 to the present. Getting Down to Business (Books) There’s really no reason to not get the job you want, to make your business a success story, or to manage people effectively. That is, if you read just some of the many books published monthly on these and other business related topics. Let’s look at a few.
Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat by Michael Masterson ($27.90, Wiley) is a great title by a best-selling author, business guru, copywriting genius, and founder of one of the Internet’s popular websites. Masterson looks at the way most first-time entrepreneurs start up their business and recommends a different approach from getting an office, printing business cards, et cetera. He says get the product ready enough to sell, sell it, and, if it sells, make it better. In essence, he says that most people work hard to avoid selling because it can be very hard. That first sale, however, can be exhilarating. Here is a book that is full of good advice on how to sell effectively, build a customer base, and head toward that million-dollar revenue mark. Why Smart Companies Do Dumb Things: Lessons Learned from Innovation Blunders by Calvin L. Hodock ($25.95, Prometheus Books) addresses the fact that American corporations invest a lot in research and development while at the same time often sabotaging those efforts for lack of marketplace savvy and poor management decisions. Hodock uses eight typical innovation blunders that continually doom new product development. In the fast moving world of today’s business climate, the failure to keep pace and anticipate the market can spell doom for even well established companies. The pitfalls are spelled out in this book and that makes it well worth reading. How we communicate is one of the ways people make judgments about us, so acquiring good business writing skills is definitely a must. Tom Sant’s The Language of Success ($15.00, Amacom softcover) is filled with excellent advice on what to do and what not to do. Given the speech of email, taking care in the composition and content of what we write takes on increasing importance. Here’s a guide to delivering clear, concise messages that inform, persuade, and motivate. It’s about words that work. Test-Drive Your Dream Job by Brian Kurth ($16.95, Business Plus, an imprint of Hachette, softcover) that offers a very unusual approach the author calls "vocation vacation" that lets you build the skills and acquire the knowledge you will need to begin a new career while not endangering your current one. It’s an interesting concept. Fast Profits in Hard Times: 10 Secret Strategies to Make You Rich in an Up or Down Economy by Jordan E. Goodman ($23.99, Business Plus, a Hachette Book Company imprint) is yet another book on investment strategies, but I guess if you have no strategy to begin with, it’s probably a good idea to learn from a pro. Goodman has thirty years of experience to back up the recommendations he makes and, since the economy looks like it is headed into the tank for a while, this book has arrived just in time to teach you how to avoid that fate. If you are new to investing, try this one on for size. About a year ago, I recommended The Real Pepsi Challenge by Stephanie Capparell and it is now available in softcover ($15.00, Free press, Wall Street Journal Books). It is a very interesting look at the way the president of the Pepsi-Cola Company, back in the 1940s, decided to build a market for the soft drink among African Americans. This was the era of Jim Crow laws and few Blacks were being hired to do sales, but the company pioneered in breaking the racial barriers and put together a team to build a market for the soft drink at a time when few Americans ever saw a young black man with a corporate business card. It is an inspiring story. Don’t leave without visiting our Featured Books section. You will be glad you did.
One of my favorite publishers of books for the younger set is Charlesbridge Publishing of Watertown, Massachusetts, that has a website at www.charlesbridge.com. I recently received a batch of their new books for 2008, so let’s look at them together. The Searcher and Old Tree by David McPhall ($15.95) is a picture book for the very young with a story about a raccoon who lives in an old tree. A storm batters the tree, but it withstands the winds while he sleeps on, oblivious to everything. I am sure there’s a metaphor here about the security one’s home provides, the forces of nature or just being oblivious to them, but the artwork is sublime, the story amusing, and I liked it a lot. Nature and home are the theme of Finding Home by Sandra Markle, illustrated by Alan Marks ($15.95). The location, however, is Australia and koala bears, a mother and child, must flee a raging wildfire to find safety, experiencing dangers along the way. The former book is ideal to read to a pre-schooler and the latter will work for one who has mastered beginning reading skills. There are still more Charlesbridge books. Not so Tall for Six by Dianna Hutts Aston, illustrated by Frank W. Dormer ($14.95) will work for those of that age and as a read-to for those younger. It addresses the childhood concerns of those who are shorter than others around them, how to deal with a bully and make him a friend. Trout Are Made of Trees by April Pulley Sayre and fancifully illustrated by Kate Endle ($6.95) is an early lesson in the way everything on earth is inter-connected by the cycle of life. It is a very sweet way of making this point and intended for the very young. The older reader of perhaps 12 and up gets a real lesson from Life on Earth—and Beyond: An Astrobiologist’s Quest by Pamela S. Turner ($11.95). It is the story of Dr. Chris McKay’s scientific journeys that have taken him from the Antarctic to the deserts of Chile and onto the tundra of Siberia. Many photos illustrate the story of the search to understand what factors are necessary to sustain life. This book demonstrates how exciting scientific research can be. Finally, a really good novel for the same age group is Elaine Scott’s Secrets of the Cirque Medrano ($15.95) about a young Polish girl sent to live in Paris after her mother’s death to live with her aunt and uncle who run a café. She befriends Paco, a young circus performer who poses for the artist Pablo Picasso and is drawn into a web of international intrigue. The story brings alive the drama and excitement of the intellectual world of avant-garde artists and writers at the turn of the twentieth century. Let’s move on now to other publishers. Lost and Alone by Janan Cain ($15.95, Illumination Arts, Bellevue, WA) reminded me of being young and getting "lost" just blocks from my home. Very scary and this clever and stylishly illustrated story for the pre-school age group is about an adventurous young bee who runs away and finds himself in a scary, unfamiliar place. He must trust his feelings and remember what his mother taught him to stay safe until his mother can find him. There’s lots of good advice and lessons to be learned that any parent would want to convey through this story. I Love You More Than Rainbows by Susan E. Crites, illustrated by Mark and Rosemary Jarman ($14.99, Thomas Nelson Publishers) simply repeats the message of a parent’s love for their child and will work for the very, very young. Any kid over five might find it a bit sappy though. March is, I’m told, National Nutrition Month. I confess I am not a fan of preachy books and Janey Junkfood’s Fresh Adventure by Barbara Storper, MS, RD, illustrated by Frances E. Schneid ($15.95) is aimed at children 8 through 12 and available from www.foodplay.com. For the concerned parent, this book with its advice and 14 healthy snack food recipes will help youngsters understand the differences between "junk food" and healthier choices. Folks who study our eating habits will tell you that people all around the world are, indeed, putting on extra pounds as economies improve and make more food affordable. Encouraging good food choices among the younger set is without doubt a good thing. Sleep problems among children ages 3 to 6 years of age are addressed in Sleepytown Beagles, Oh Brother! Timothy Glass has written the third in a series devoted to sleep problems ($18.95/$11.95, Sleepytown Beagles, PO Box 65522, Albuquerque, MN 87193, www.sleepytownbeagles.com.) In this book, a new little sister becomes part of the family. For parents with very young children who are afraid to go to sleep, this series will prove very helpful. The ghosts of famous artists come out to play in Gallery Ghost: Find the Ghost Who Paints the Most! Its official publication date is next month in April. Art history teacher, Anna Nilsen, and illustrator Richard Sala who provides cartoon-style portraits of artists such as Renoir, Manet, and Gauguin, some 24 artists in all, along with poems by Betsy Franco ($17.95, Birdcage Press, Palo Alto, CA – www.birdcagepress.com) will introduce a youngster, age 7 and up, to the great artists of the past. Each has a brief biography. This is an excellent way to appeal to the imagination of young readers while starting them on the way to an appreciation for these and other artists. When it comes to creative energy, young girls have an abundance. Indie Girl by Arne Johnson and Karen Macklin ($16.95, Zest Books) offers nine artful projects from concept to reality that can use that energy for starting a band, creating an art exhibit, forming a dance troupe, and other ways to learn and use creative skills. This publisher, www.zestbooks.net, has a number of good books for pre-teens and teenagers that offer good advice on how to get through those years.
Lastly, there’s Mirrorstone™, an imprint of Wizards of the Coast, one of the best publishers of fantasy and science fiction. Aimed at young readers ages 8 through 12, they have some great books and among the newest are Claw of the Dragon, Book 1 and Search for the Pegasus, Book 2. The latter isn’t due until July, but the former was published in January. Here the fantasy world of dragons, wizards, and imaginary worlds come alive, but with a modern sensibility. There’s also an anthology, Magic in the Mirrorstone, that’s out this month, perfect for those ages 13 to 17. This is a great way to wean younger readers away from the television set and hook them on the joys of reading. Check out their titles at www.mirrorstonebooks.com. The deluge continues. As many novels as I may take note of this or any other month, be assured there are five others that simply do not make it into this report for reasons of space. One Bookviews’ news note: Make sure you visit our Featured Books section to learn about Jon Land’s forthcoming novel, The Seven Sins ($29.95, Tor/Forge). Its official publication date is June 10. It will make a great Father’s Day gift. This book has already begun to receive attention and critical acclaim as a page-turning story of high-stakes gambling and global conspiracies. My guess is that its lead character, Michael Tiranno, will join the ranks of others like the Godfather, Michael Corleone. I will have more to say in June.
A more traditional mystery is one by the much beloved M.C Beaton whose more than twenty previous novels have acquired many fans for his policeman, Hamish Macbeth, whose village of Lochdubh may be the sleepiest town in the Highlands, but has more than its share of murders. Just as Hamish is about to walk down the aisle with Ayesha, her elderly employer, Mrs. Gentle, turns up dead. Other bodies follow in Death of a Gentle Lady ($23.99, Grand Central Publishing) I am not sure if the word "fun" applies to mayhem, but it’s hard not to apply it to this latest chapter. Another British author, John Banville, writing under the pen name of Benjamin Black, earned all kinds of praise for his debut mystery novel, Christine Falls. Happily he is back with a sequel, The Silver Swan ($25.00, Henry Holt & Company). This story returns to the basement offices of Dublin pathologist, Quirke, who is more at home among the dead than the living. When he receives a call from a barely remembered classmate about a young woman’s apparent suicide, he is drawn back into Dublin’s dark underworld. Both his daughter and father are part of this eerie tale of crime. If you love nuance, character, and a sense of place this novel has plenty to offer on every page. The tropics of Brazil may lure you to take a chance on Red Parrot, Wooden Leg by Gregorio Kohon ($28.95, Karnac Books, Ltd., London). This is Kohan’s first novel. Set amidst the political repression, anti-Semitism, and violence of the 1960s Latin American dictatorships of Brazil and Argentina, the author takes his inspiration from the writers of that period, the Beats such as Kerouac and Ginsberg, as well as their predecessor, Henry Miller. A native of Argentina, Kohan is a Training Analyst of the British Psychoanalytical Society in London, where he moved in 1970. This quirky tale is a coming-of-age story about the adventures of two young writers trying to jump-start their careers in Rio De Janeiro. The book is filled with fanciful characters including a parrot with a wooden leg whose only phrase is "kiss me in tochis", a Yiddish version of you-know-what. It is not your ordinary novel, but that is its appeal. I have no idea of how many softcover editions of novels are being published these days, but if the ever-growing stack in my office is any indicator, it’s a lot! Among the premiere publishers if Plume, an imprint of the huge Penguin Publishing empire and I have two "chick lit" novels the ladies will like. There’s The History of Lucy’s Love Life in Ten and a Half Chapters by Deborah Wright ($14.00) in which the literary trick of time travel is put to work to find the perfect man! It’s kind of "Bridget Jones meets H.G. Wells." Bored with her nice, stable boyfriend, Lucy Lyon gets to use a time machine to track down the great lovers of the past from such as Casanova. This is a clever twist and a very entertaining tale. The Romance Reader’s Book Club by Julie L. Cannon ($13.00) is a coming-of-age story with a southern flair to it about a teenage girl who opens a Pandora’s box of passion and guilt when she receives a cache of old paperback romances. She forms a secret book club with two girlfriends and her eccentric Aunt Minna, discovering a literary world of passionate affairs, love and heartache. It’s a bit more complex story than just that, but a guaranteed good read. For whatever reason, women seem to be the prime market for softcover novels and many women write for it. Take, for example, The Book of Mom by Taylor G. Wilshire ($13.95, Nautilus Press), a mom herself. She poses the question that every mom asks at one time or another. Is there room for me in Mommy? Her main character, Tate, a stay at home mother is burned out. She seeks the help of a therapist who is also a good friend in her quest to regain her passion for life. This is an inspirational and thought provoking novel by someone who has transformed her own life. My Soul to Keep by Melanie Wells ($12.99, Multnomah) is a novel of suspense. It’s psychology professor Dylan Foster’s favorite day of the academic year, graduation day, and also the sixth birthday of her little friend, Christine Zocci. The day goes terribly wrong when a little boy is snatched from a neighborhood park, setting off a chain of events. The police are baffled, but Dylan pursues an investigation of her own. You can go along, but keep the lights on and the door locked. That’s it for March! Don’t forget to visit our Featured Books section and I guarantee that you will discover a unique and interesting book there. And don’t forget to tell your book-loving friends and relatives to visit Bookviews.com because we depend on word of mouth. |
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Contact: Alan Caruba |
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Have you ever suspected that good-looking people get all sorts of unfair advantages? Well, you’re right! In Looks: Why They Matter More Than You Ever Imagined ($23.00, Amacom) Gordon L. Patzer, PhD, backs up with scientific studies the way most Americans, like people of other cultures, let what they see of a person largely determine what they believe and feel about that person. This natural tendency affects the relations between managers and their employees, teachers and their students, doctors and their patients, even parents and their children. Bringing the results of three decades of study of this phenomenon to the book, Dr. Patzer reveals how being too short, too fat, or too plain looking can affect one’s life, but also that good looking people must deal with unconscious higher expectations and face harsher consequences for failing to meet them. Since we live in a society that is obsessed with one’s looks, this makes for a very interesting, provocative book.
I have always been a fan of Winston Churchill and he has been most fortunate to have Martin Gilbert as a biographer. Happily, Churchill and America is now available in a softcover edition ($18.00, Free Press) and it is a thoroughly enjoyable story of this great man who was half-American by virtue of his mother’s nationality, but attained immortality as the leader of Great Britain during the perilous years of World War II. Gilbert puts his ties to America in historical context for a very readable biography. Few people are more American than the wonderful baseball player, Yogi Berra, and the sports historian, Carlo DeVito has told his story in Yogi: The Life and Times of an American Original ($25.95. Triumph Books, Chicago). I last encountered DeVito when he wrote about the Marra family who owned the Giants and I know that any lover of the national game will just love this biography, even if they were born after 1964 when Berra last swung a bat. This son of Italian immigrants grew up to become one of the game’s greatest ambassadors. This is, to my knowledge, the first truly comprehensive biography. A great Yankee player and later a manager of the Mets, Berra is a great American success story participating in ten World Series championships.
Go Google: 20 Ways to Reach More Customers and Build Revenue with Google Business Tools by Greg Holden ($19.95, Amacom softcover) gives you the edge when using the internationally popular search engine. For those savvy users who know how to make the most out of its advance features, Google can help their companies establish an Internet presence, communicate, share information, sell products, and analyze Web traffic. Holden believes that Google is the ultimate tool for businesses of every size and his comprehensive guide to Google’s many applications is quite astonishing. I suspect that anyone who goes to school with this book will soon be going to the bank more frequently.
My cousin Richard chides me for never really growing up and he’s right. I have retained the little boy in me and even have a few stuffed toys around to remind me of what fun they are. This may also account in partwhy, alone among the many reviewers out there, I have always striven to include news of new books for young people, from the pre-schoolers to the teens.
I am a great fan of Wiley Miller’s comic strip "Non Sequitur" and look for it every day in my local daily. I am delighted to report he has authored and illustrated a howlingly funny sequel to The Extraordinary Adventures of Ordinary Basil. He’s back with Ordinary Basil: Attack of the Volcano Monkeys ($14.99, Blue Sky Press/Scholastic) that will enchant readers, aged 7 and up. Count me, at age 70, among them. It is an action-packed adventure as Basil and Louise visit Monkey Island and discover an advanced society of monkeys bred to have human intelligence. This is the work of evil Euric Von Rottwell who is planning to use them to further his "Peace through World Domination" plan. Teachers and parents alike have heaped praise on Miller and I will, too. This is just another great story. Don’t wait for an excuse to give it to your kid, just do it!
The prolific novelist, Tim Dorsey, is back with Atomic Lobster ($24.95, William Morrow) with the extra bonus of the paperback edition of Hurricane Punch ($7.99, Harper). Set in Florida, it features Serge Storms, an engaging psychopath devoted to vigilante justice. In this novel he and his drug-happy sidekick, Coleman, set off on a cruise along with Rachel, a boozy blond. A lot of bloodletting and laughter ensues, even if you may not associate those two. It takes a lot of talent to get laughs out of a serial killer, but Dorsey does that, lulling the reader into accepting the ever-so-bent world of his very oddball hero. Having resided in Florida while a student at the University of Miami, I know how skillfully Dorsey has captured the aura of the State with its endless sunshine, swaying palms, and tropical delights. The tropics show up in Don Bruns’ St. Barts Breakdown ($24.95, Oceanview Publishing, Ipswich, MA). Bruns is another prolific writer and like a previous novel, "South Beach Shakedown", offers another messy problem for rock and roll journalist, Mick Sever, who always seems to be around people who get murdered or soon will be. In this story it’s music legend Danny Murtz and what began as a quick trip for an interview turns into something far from the short vacation Sever anticipated. Murtz is convinced someone is out to kill him and he’s right, but who? That’s for you to discover in this thoroughly enjoyable mystery.