Mcnally's Chance: An Archy Mcnally Novel
Vincent Lardo
G.P. Putnam's Sons/Penguin Putnam Inc.
375 Hudson St., New York, NY 10014
0399147322 $24.95, Hardback
Bill Woodman
Reviewer
Dr. Johnson said, "The only end of writing is to enable the readers better to enjoy life or better to
endure it." It is surprising the types of books that help readers endure. One of my friends, during
his
father's recent illness and death, found solace reading all of the ingenious noir novels of Raymond
Chandler. Another writer friend endured poverty in a London bedsit by reading P.G. Wodehouse's
ten comic novels featuring Bertie Wooster and his prince among gentleman's gentlemen Jeeves.
Evelyn Waugh said that Wodehouse's delightful world will "continue to release future generations
from captivity that may be more irksome than our own." She also praised Raymond Chandler in
the
1940s as the "greatest living American novelist," for his Philip Marlowe detective novels. Readers
looking for a series of books to help them better enjoy life or just endure it with a smile could do
far
worse than the light but very entertaining adventures of Archy McNally, a mystery series
originated
by the late Lawrence Saunders and continued under the skilled Vincent Lardo.
The frivolity of the ten Archy McNally novels accounts in large part for their charm. In these
comic
narratives, one remove from realism, the trivia of daily life become transformed into the magic of
McNally's whimsical Palm Beach world. What Archy chooses to wear, what he eats and drinks,
the
places he hangs-out with his friends and sweethearts, the thoughts he has about family and
friends-all
these matters that are normally of secondary interest to the more realistic mystery become the
ritually attended details that provide for delight. In the realistic tradition, such details remain
trivial
and forgettable. But for Archy McNally a good meal at the Pelican Club or a two-mile swim in the
ocean are nearly as stimulating as the inevitable murder in Palm Beach. Archy McNally's frivolous
approach to life is a refreshing antidote to the heavy seriousness of many of today's best mystery
writers such as James Lee Burke. The grand events by which we measure life in the most serious
literature of the genre tends to overlook the nickel and dime events that are the currency for most
of
us most of the time. For McNally it is riches enough. As the old nursery rhyme suggests, "Merrily,
merrily, merrily, merrily life is but a dream." At least it is healthy to think so at times.
McNally's Chance, Lardo's latest novel in the Archy McNally series, gets off to a fast and fun start
when Sabrina Wright, best-selling author of bodice-rippers, asks Archy to find her lost daughter
and
husband. Her daughter, Gillian, has fled to Palm Beach to learn the true identity of her birth
father.
Sabrina had her out of wedlock and promised, after receiving a large sum of money from more
than
one "father," to keep the famous family name of Gillian's real father secret. Three different Palm
Beach gents confess paternity to Archy, and Sabrina turns up dead.
Through it all, the pleasure of the book is in the Worth-Avenue-a-realism of Archy's voice and
point
of view. He's as witty as Bertie Wooster, and not nearly as naive.
It is Archy's character that provides one of only two small glitches in the novel. The Archy of
Lardo's most recent novel is not as sweet as the Archy of the earlier novels. Consistently
unfaithful
to his true love Consuela "Connie" Garcia in all his adventures, Archy becomes romantically
entangled with other women because events force these situations. He is usually the one seduced,
in
mock-gallant fashion, rather than the seducer. In this latest novel, however, he becomes
somewhat
of a sexual predator. Worse, his prey is the darling of his "best friend," the addlebrained Binky
Watrous, and she lives in a trailer park. Archy is less likeable here than in the earlier novels.
There's
also a very minor subplot that returns after the main plot is resolved that threatens to take our
man
in Palm Beach away to Hollywood in the next McNally novel to investigate an eighty-year old
Los
Angeles mystery. In fact the novel ends with these dire words referring to this subplot: "To be
continued..." Let's hope that McNally stays in Palm Beach for scores of novels to come, and he
leaves LA crime to Chandler's Philip Marlowe.
The Theory Of Options: A New Theory Of The Evolution Of Human Behaviour
Sean Gould
Universal Publishers/uPUBLISH.com USA
ISBN: 1-58112-700-6, $19.95
Tony Dickinson.
Reviewer
Gould's 'Theory of Options' is put forward to bridge explanations of human behaviour to those of
human evolution. The major claim is that the human species have become motivated to maximise
their options along a 'fitness pathway'. Though supportive of Darwinian notions of structural
adaptation, Gould extends the evolutionary argument to address the ontological as well as
phylogenetic aspects of individual growth and development. We thus read here of the
evolutionary
significance and import of more culturally determined values such as may be observed in
expressions
of human love, morality an ethics.
Throughout the book's five main chapters, we read that structural complexity and larger brains
increase options (no surprises there), but so also have the development of morals and a flexible
psychology served to maximise options. Indeed, the purpose of our knowledge acquisition
processes
is to increase our options. Much is made of the idea that purposeful human behaviour is born of
the
motivation to increase one's behavioural options, but I would argue that this is not so much an
end
in itself. I would rather have seen the argument framed such that increasing one's behavioural
options supplies a SOLUTION to the problem of coping with unpredictable, uncertain future
circumstances.
Gould is quite at liberty to introduce his notion of the 'personal geodesic' as pictorial metaphor for
distinguishing ontogenetic from phylogenetic developmental/evolutionary processes, but if the
take
home message is that increasing one's options affords a greater repertoire of behaviours from
which
to select in the face of novel circumstances (and thus scaffolding increasingly larger, if not more
complex, extant adaptive behaviours), this might have been more succinctly stated. Gould's more
notable contribution here, however, is his prompting discussion re the development of human
moral
reasoning. Although one rarely considers exactly what evolutionary pressure(s) might be brought
to
forebearance by its development, Gould proposes that morality evolved as a powerful inhibitor in
the
(modern) less-reflexive human brain "to ensure that the transfer process from reflex to learning
works reliably" (p.105).
This is not, however, either a novel, or surprising claim per se, given the recent interest and
extensive literature on the topic of intelligent adaptive systems. [Unfortunately embedded in
neither
a form of Waddingtonian epigenetic landscape or even an autopoietic systems context, Gould's
reference group cited throughout the text comprises general readership volumes with no other key
paper references provided (though a 'further reading' list is appended)]. But where Gould does
provoke us, however, is with his claim that "humans enjoy maximum options when all constraints
on
behaviour are moral ones" (p. 162). The key observation here is that a flexible, though largely
inhibitory, moral psychology may be alterable at relatively high speed (in response to short-term
behavioural challenges) without compromising gross morphological characteristics, the latter held
sway under more coarse phylogenetic (Darwinian) check. For the 'successful' enculturated human
animal able to afford the luxury of pondering ethical considerations (ethics in turn existing to
resolve
a certain type of action - 'an unconstrained choice' (p.160).
Gould's thesis is not derived from empirical study, but remains worthy of wider attention than this
cursory summary might suggest. This volume provides a valuable discursive evolutionary
explanation for the emergence of moral and ethical reasoning - a topic little, if ever, offered much
space in the modern literature concerned with evolutionary psychology and adaptive intelligent
systems.
Glamorous Powers
Susan Howatch
Alfred A. Knopf
201 East 50th St., New York, NY 10022
ISBN 0394571452, Hardcover, $18.95, 403 pages
Carie Morrison
Reviewer
Susan Howatch again takes us into the dark corners of the Church of England with Glamorous
Powers, the second book in her series revolving around the Church in the early 20th century. The
first book, Glittering Images, introduced us to Jon Darrow as a religious lifeline to Charles
Ashworth when he most needed guidance. Jon was a staid Fordite monk who used his psychic
ability
to alleviate suffering in others and to assist them on their spiritual journey. Charles viewed Jon
Darrow as a man who "had it all together," the type of man Charles wanted to be. Glamorous
Powers shows us that what we see on the surface can be extremely different than what lies
beneath.
Early one morning, Jon is overcome with a vision he believes is sent from God to deliver a
startling
message: leave the Order of the Fordite monks after seventeen years of service. One simply can
not
walk out of a monastic Order; Jon must obtain permission from his superior. Unfortunately, Jon's
new superior is an acquaintance from his college years with whom he shares a mutual abhorrence,
Francis Ingram. The intellectual exchanges that take place between Jon and Francis are both
mentally stimulating and humorous, and as a reader I found the evolution of their friendship
extremely fulfilling. Ultimately, Francis decides Jon has truly been called by God to leave the
Order,
and Jon is out in the world for the first time in seventeen years.
This sprawling novel presents the many sides of Jon Darrow: the serene servant of God, the aging
60-year-old man who doesn't feel a day over 45, the failed father of two grown children, and a
man
making a second attempt at married life after a hugely botched first marriage. Susan Howatch
deftly
weaves these many faces of Jon into the story so that we see him develop into a full character, a
union of the many roles he must play. The complexity and multitude of relationships in need of
healing are such that I dare not go into too much detail here for fear of ruining a truly great romp
through the psyche of one agonized man.
Jon's psychic abilities are central to the main conflicts in the story, from how he handles his
temper
with Francis to how he comes to grips with the ministrations of his recently-deceased spiritual
advisor, the mysterious Father Darcy. Troubles begin to compound, and we watch Jon tread
down a
path that we can see from the outside is clearly a dreadful mistake. I genuinely wanted to reach
out
and throttle the man back into some sort of logic at one point in the story. The muddle in which
Jon
ultimately finds himself seems at first insurmountable; however, Jon finds a way through and
emerges with flying colors.
Susan Howatch has again furnished a truly satisfying read with Glamorous Powers. Jon Darrow is
a
feisty old coot of a character who proves that redemption and healing in any relationship is
possible
regardless of the passage of time or the depth of the wound.
The Body Knows: How To Tune In To Your Body And Improve Your Health
Caroline M. Sutherland, Medical Intuitive
Hay House, Inc.
PO Box 5100, Carlsbad, CA 92018-5100
ISBN: 1-56170-842-9, $13.95, 2001, 311 pp., 800-654-5126, www.hayhouse.com
Shannon McKelden Cave
Reviewer
I would hazard a guess that most people don't pay too much attention to what their bodies telling
them. We ignore the stomach pains, medicate the headaches, and pass off our aches and pains as
old
age. But Caroline M. Sutherland, medical intuitive, has a much different outlook.
In The Body Knows, How To Tune In To Your Body And Improve Your Health, Sutherland
shares
her discovery that "the body knows what to do to get well," and shows us the steps toward
working
with the body to bring it the health it strives for.
Beginning with the story of how she became a medical intuitive, Sutherland then moves on to
discussing four distinct body types people have, based on symptoms they manifest. After choosing
which body type you best fit, "The Body Knows" provides useful solutions for eliminating those
symptoms, including identifying food allergies, exercise and other lifestyle changes appropriate to
that body type.
A major portion of the book is devoted to candida yeast problems, food allergies, weight issues,
understanding addictions and environmental issues. I was amazed at how many common
symptoms
can be caused by something as simple as sensitivity to certain foods that can be eliminated from
the
diet, thus eradicating symptoms a person may have suffered with for many years. Case histories
are
presented as examples for every topic, including special cases involving serious illnesses and
emotional issues.
Part V gets down to the task of "Putting it All Together to Heal Your Family and Yourself."
Sutherland assures us, "The gift of intuition regarding the physical body isn't the sole domain of a
few select people -- it's available to everyone." Developing intuition about our bodies and health is
most interesting. There are simple methods of self-testing provided to learn to "hear" your body.
Sutherland also includes comprehensive methods for tuning into children and teenagers, women's
issues and the elderly.
The appendices include a basic food plan and food "families" to help eliminate allergens from the
diet, common environmental allergies, and a list of carbohydrate contents. A suggested reading
list
and self-help resources offer more information and follow up to what is learned in "The Body
Knows."
The reader can't help but listen to their body's communications after reading this terrific book.
Symptoms which have gone unexplained and largely ignored in the past, jump out at us as
messages
to be heeded. The Body Knows provides the tools to improve your health, your emotions.
The Proposal
Mary Ann Kerl
AmErica House
PO Box 151, Frederick, MD 21705-0151
ISBN 1588515052 $19.95, http://www.amazon.com
Priscilla A. Maine
Review
Crystal McCourtney never expected to be sole provider for her eight-year-old son, nor had she
expected to be a widow after only ten years of marriage. A drunk driver rearranged her life,
causing
her to refocus and rethink her expectations. Strengthened by faith, encouraged by her friends
Crystal
struggles to survive. Yet the pain of her loss is like a knotted fist of angry rage in her spirit
because,
she can never forgive the alcoholic whose irresponsible behavior cost her so much. Never.
Psychologist, Dave Alexander, never expected fatherhood to be so fulfilling, nor so difficult to
claim
rights to. But obstacles bar his path: he's not married to his daughter's mother, he courted and
wed
the wine bottle instead and by the time he found the redeeming grace of God and a sponsor in AA
his credibility as parent material was tainted considerably. Still, Dave is determined to fight for his
right to be a father to his daughter.
Crystal approaches Dr. Alexander because she needs his endorsement of her proposal for a
program
she designed to help teens develop the skills needed to cope with drugs, sex, and violence. Dave is
far more interested in getting on with his own battles and plans to point out the weakness in
Crystal's
proposal and be done with her. Both forget to remember to consult the Master's plan, until a
series
of mishaps throw them together.
When Crystal's rebellious son runs away from home, a fiery crash threatens the life of Dave's
daughter, and a face-to-face encounter with the unforgiven past, both find their faith tested and
they
are forced to reevaluate their expectations.
The Proposal is a heart-warming story, reinforcing the value of forgiveness in our lives.
Private Heat
Robert E. Bailey
M. Evans and Company, Inc.
216 East 49th Street, New York, New York 10017
ISBN 0-87131-970-5, Hard cover pgs. 301., Book price $21.95
Meredith Campbell
Reviewer
Meet Art Hardin, Private Investigator, living in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Middle-aged, rumpled,
opinionated, coming out with one-liners like " there's no such thing as struggle-free justice," he
comes complete with wife, three sons, and a dog. Retired government counterintelligence officer
for
the Defense Intelligence Service, Art is now chasing insurance fraud cases, and other small change
operations. Naturally, he's usually broke.
When confronted with a monetary offer he can't refuse, he reluctantly takes on the job of
protecting
Karen Smith, niece of an influential attorney. The niece has information about the disappearance
of
millions of dollars that her lover/ boss stashed away in offshore banks. Unfortunately, the boss is
found decaying in the trunk of his car. Making her even more vulnerable, she is having divorce
papers served on her husband, a loutish cop with a violent temper. Theirs is a love/hate
relationship,
and he is expected to explode all over his estranged wife.
Her death would keep her from giving crucial testimony regarding the missing money. What starts
out as a simple two-day body guarding case becomes complicated when crooked cops and vicious
criminals come after the girl. Also, lurking out of sight is the real danger, a villain from Art's past.
With the help of Wendy, his gutsy wife, and Ron Craig, former CIA agent, Art unsnarls this rat's
nest of evil, but not until the body count is substantial and his own life and career are
jeopardized.
Having once been himself a government agent in counterintelligence, Bailey writes out of his own
experience; thus, the prose and dialogue glitters with cop-speak. For some, not acquainted with
this
insider slang, the language can be cryptic. However, it is today's language, hip, funny, and the
reader
finds himself enjoying being "educated" into this new world. Character driven, a page turner,
Private
Heat, is the first in the Art Hardin series and Robert E. Bailey the freshest talent of the genre seen
in
years.
The Atlantis Dialogue - The Original Story of The Lost Empire
Plato, author
Aaron Shepard: Editor
Shepard Publications
Los Angeles, California
ISBN 0-938497-15-4 Paperback, 60 p. $8.00
ISBN 0-938497-16-2 E-Book, 70 p. PDF $5.00
http://www.aaronshep.com/books/Plato.html
Judy Justice
Reviewer
Stories about Atlantis have survived throughout the ages and are just as interesting today as they
must have been thousands of years ago. Although most people consider the lost civilization of
Atlantis to be nothing more than a myth, serious researchers are still trying to locate evidence of
this
ancient land. Why does the myth live on? Could it be that the concept of a society such as that
described in the myth is something we aspire to?
Plato was a great philosopher with a very strong interest in politics. He realized early on that,
rather
than seek office himself, he could do more to improve society by becoming a teacher of future
politicians. He set about to teach his philosophy on government and justice to the youth of his
day.
By telling his students stories in the form of 'Dialogues,' with characters speaking the 'parts,' Plato
vividly brought his ideas to life. So much so that even now, thousands of years later, these ancient
stories continue to interest the modern reader.
Aaron Shepard, specializes in retelling classic literature and folktales. In this e-book, he extracted
material contained in two of the dialogues that pertain to the legendary lost civilization of
Atlantis.
In his introduction Shepard noted that the Timaeus dialogue was largely taken up with Plato's
views
on the creation of the Universe so he goes on to explain: "The Atlantis Dialogue - as I've titled
this
volume - was compiled by attaching the beginning of the Timaeus to all but the introduction of the
Critias." He goes on to describe the ebook as, "a compact and unified work that presents
everything
that Plato said about Atlantis, and in the context he intended." (p.7/8)
Now instead of reading through dusty textbooks to find Plato's story of Atlantis, you can
download
an electronic edition of this classic written in 360 B.C. as translated from the original Greek by
Benjamin Jowett in 1892 (Oxford University Press Vol 2.)
There is a brief introduction by Shepard; as well, he provides a recommended reading list of
subject-related titles for readers who may want to locate other books about Atlantis. An easy
read,
The Atlantis Dialogue is an excellent introduction to classical Greek philosophy as it pertains to
Plato's views about society and it provides a good starting point for anyone wanting to learn more
about the origins of the Atlantis myth.
Frankenstein
Mary Shelley
Oxford World Classics
ISBN: 0-19-283487-8, ś2.99
Jason Millar, Reviewer
thecrystaltower@btinternet.com
Mary Shelley lives on in intellectual circles, often as the shadow of Percy Bysshe, a woman who
recognised that her own intellect was inferior to that of her Romantic husband's. Yet her most
famous work, Frankenstein, is in itself a work of paramount profundity and revolutionised writing
in
subtle ways.
The novel itself was published in 1818, shortly after the death of Mary and Percy's child, William.
The prose is archaic in places, as is to be expected, but Mary's style is unique. Frankenstein is
often
classed as a Gothic novel in the same vein as Radcliffe, Walpole and Lewis, as well as the later
Stoker. Yet her style is clinical, and her words are missing the hyperbole and hysterics that are
characteristic to the genre. Her novel does not focus on ghosts or unexplained deaths, but its
original plot sets the precedent for today's science fiction. Mary's writing excels in its descriptive
phases, and it is here that one sees the definately Gothic effect. Yet as Muriel Spark remarked in
her
criticisms of the novel, it is the language of realism - the effect only is Gothic.
Contrary to popular belief, Frankenstein is the man, not the monster, physically speaking. The
monster is never given a name. Brought up with a silver spoon in his mouth, Dr. Victor
Frankenstein
is a Swiss scientist who yearns to discover the secret of life. He succeeds, and when he does so
resolve to create a human being of magnificent stature and perfection. Yet he is blinded by
ambition,
a hunger for glory rather than achievement. He is afflicted with irresponsibility, and a recklessness
that is fatal. Frankenstein chronicles the downfall of a genius by showing how a mortal man's
ability
is exceeded by his ambition and intellect, and how dangerous it is to challenge the
fundamentals.
"Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a
torrent
of light into our dark world. A new species would bless me as its creator and source." -
Frankenstein, Chapter IV, p.54
It is a powerful morality novel, cautioning and warning against things which in themselves seem
innocent - a desire to do good, to cure disease, to give a child everything he or she needs and
wants,
a hunger for knowledge, and the ambition to put that to good use. Yet it is these very goals which
result in the almost tragic downfall of Frankenstein.
The novel's structure is clever, a Chinese box structure, narrated in sequence by Walton, the man
who hears Frankenstein's miserable story, Frankenstein himself, the monster, and then
Frankenstein
again, followed finally by Walton. Rather than become tedious and confused, it allows us to see all
facets of the characters, and it allows us to understand the abhorred monster as much as the
anguished scientist, and the beauty of this is that the last sentence is finished still wondering who
was
right and who was wrong.
This novel is deeply though provoking, and intellectually moving, but at the expense of characters.
Any feminist feeling that Mary may have picked up from the champion of woman's rights (who
was
her mother) Mary Wollstonecraft, is entirely absent. The female characters are so lifeless and two
dimensional as to be peripheral plot devices, though the male characters contrast and compliment
each other in such a way as to make the ideas explored even more poignant.
Frankenstein is a classic for a good reason. Its scope and depth give it a rare quality, vastly
superior
to any film reproduction, and it is arguably the forbear of modern science fiction. This is by no
means an easy read, but in comprehending it, one begins to realise that Mary's genius may not be
as
inferior as she believed.
Karla's Bookshelf
Luna de Miel
Laurie MacDiarmid
Cassandra Press
St. Norbert College, 100 Grant Street, De Pere, WI 54115
No ISBN, $5.00
Filled to throbbing with yearning, this book is packed with passionate poems, full of
unpredictable,
dream-like images of love and desire, sin and repentance. MacDiarmid takes the reader along on a
wild ride, on a honeymoon (luna de miel), from when the narrator discovers desire sitting next to
her
in the first poem, to her final outing in the last when she reconsiders her daughter and what the
child
might not understand of her mother's passion.
The first poem "True Love" finds the narrator awakened by longing, while "cruising/ flat-foot
over
the dead and/ cackles ." of her ordinary life. The reader meets Armand, the lover, purveyor of sin,
when he takes the narrator to a wedding in "Late Afternoon," the wedding flowers not the only
thing
deflowered finally as she refuses to become like:
Aunt Bella, "forty-eight and unfucked,"
ribboned rice bag twisted in her bloated grip.
wheezed down the church steps after us,
lips pulled apart between creamy cheeks.
From "Resurrection" through "Tucson Aphrodite" and "Down Alvernon," the narrator gains some
sort of redemption as she awakens from her journey only to discover her daughter once again.
The
discovery grounds her, and the reader is somehow redeemed as well.
MacDiarmid's poems are filled with wonderfully crafted images. She makes the reader spin and
shiver with the uncertain pleasure of lust and sin. Images, "skimming past flowered
crosses/gravestones yellow as teeth ." to "Water spoils at the curbs and oily cobblestones,/slick as
otter's backs ." and "a delicate honeymoon circle/that'll nestle, cool and small/as nibbled
kisses/against my white wrist ...," delight the reader with their freshness. MacDiarmid's poems
echo
with assonance. The poem "True Love" smacks with short "a" sounds with words like "cackle,
flat,
traffic, black, glad, and dappled."
In the poem "Late Afternoon," MacDiarmid opens with words that rely on long "o-s" (coast,
Taxco,
over, spoils, oily, stones, open, doorways) perhaps to reflect the narrator's surprise or maybe
shock
at being taken on this dreamlike journey.
The metal creaks and groans as the stones
roll away on either side,
into open mouths and black eyes,
dark doorways to muddy houses.
Sound and image combine to create the overriding theme of this small book: desire. Desire
promises
that it can take you by surprise, take you while doing the most ordinary things, take you nearly
anywhere if you trust it--and then desire takes you back, maybe sweating and choking, but
certainly
returned and forever changed. Desire is so pervasive that in the poem "Pretty Soon:"
It sparked behind their shut lids,
leaked from his fingers into her tangled hair,
skittered out into the ivy,
where sleepy wasps hustled bush to bush,
so that it sketched in the peeling eaves,
threw the palo verde into purple,
and painted the fat chickens white.
Even the morning glories turned their
tactless faces up, stupid with bliss,
expecting to be filled.
MacDiarmid, winner of the John Gilgun award for poetry in 2001 (The Mochila Review, Missouri
Western State College), is a writer of skill, humor and passion. These poems take delight in the
marriage of language and image, sin and redemption.
Karla Huston
Reviewer
David's Bookshelf
The Complete Idiot's Guide To Throwing A Great Party
Phyllis Cambria and Patty Sachs
Alpha Books
ISBN: 0-02-863974-X, $25.95, www.idiotsguides.com
If you are one of those people who takes on more than you can chew and winds up way less
organized than you would like, don't throw a party without this Idiot's Guide. Although it covers
everything an idiot needs to know, you don't have to be an idiot to make good use of it.
Right up front are some handy lists: ten questions to ask a vendor, a budget breakdown, and six
elements of a great invitation. From there, it covers every conceivable party situation, including
business functions, seasonal events, dinner parties, black tie affairs and of course, cleaning up
after your guests. (They even include tips on how to get different stains out of the
upholstery.)
And they cover every facet imaginable, from food to decorations, from guest lists to lighting, from
choosing between styles (funky or formal, for example) to how to handle the sometimes touchy
subject of alcohol.
I like interactive books that are more than just a block of text, which is why the many floating
boxes
are so welcome. "Party Pitfall" boxes warn about common mistakes party organizers can make.
"Shindig Sayings" help us understand the lingo when dealing with suppliers. "Chips and Tips" are
handy pieces of advice. "Festive Facts" are bits of party trivia, which could also be used somehow
as
a party game, I suppose.
Here is one example of a "Chips and Tips": "Add the addresses and phone numbers of thrift and
resale shops on costume party invitations." Keep in mind all these little party tips come from two
very experienced event planners.
All this good stuff continues for 248 pages until the really good stuff appears: the party planning
worksheets. Hang onto these. They can be very useful. Then comes a wine selection table
(probably
more useful for the formal parties than for the funky ones) and a calendar of U.S. holidays. So, if
you need an excuse for a party, just flip to page 269.
Chantal and I didn't need an excuse when we got married, but I sure wish we had had The
Complete
Idiot's Guide To Throwing A Great Party to help us through.
Wildflower
Carl Rafala
Great Unpublished
ISBN: 1-588-98-098-7, $15.00, www.greatunpublished.com
If you like avant guard writing and enjoy sci fi, pick up a copy of Carl Rafala's anthology
Wildflower. Each of the 11 short stories is imaginative, and no two are similar in style.
Rafala's world or should I say worlds? teems with biobots, methane clouds, electronic eyes,
space crafts, and genetic regeneration. His tales emit a darkness, a sense of hopelessness. While
his
heavy use of futuristic techno-lingo displays a fascination with humanity's future, his plots betray a
deep mistrust and desperation for where technology might be leading us.
In Wildflower, soldiers hunt down protesters, people drive creatures to extinction on planet after
planet, and it gets harder and harder to define the boundaries between humans and machines.
Each of Rafala's tales keeps readers in suspense, some with surprise endings, some with a gradual
realization of where the story is headed. Not surprisingly, Philip K. Dick is one of his influences,
because "Things are always dark and uncertain with Dick, and I love that." Unfortunately, Rafala
also keeps us in the dark about some details that could help us better follow the story.
Another strength, Rafala's fantastic imagination, becomes a weakness through excess. Like the
movie director who tries to impress with special effects, Rafala's techno-lingo overshadows some
truly enjoyable stories. Rafala is a good enough writer that he does not need to distract us with
razzle-dazzle.
Wildflower's weaknesses can be attributed to a young writer who has yet to come of age. I look
forward to his next book to seeing a Rafala confident enough to use both suspense and
techno-lingo without overusing them.
Until then, enjoy Wildflower.
David Leonhardt
Reviewer
Emily's Bookshelf
Mouse's First Valentine
Lauren Thompson
Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas, NY,NY 10020
ISBN: 0-689-84724-6, $12.95
Do you recall the first time when, as a child, you gathered together red and pink paper, doilies or
lace, ribbons and other pretty frills? Then, snipping and pasting, you created your very own
valentine
for a special someone.
If your memory has faded, "Mouse's First Valentine" will re-evoke this early rite of passage, and
capture these magical moments for today's child, as she or he embarks upon this heartfelt
enterprise.
The brother and sister mouse "stars" of this picture book will scamper right into the hearts of
children and adults alike.
Consider Love: Its Moods And Many Ways.
Sandra Boynton
Simon & Schuster
1230 Avenue of the Americas, NY, NY 10020
ISBN:0-689-84703-3, $14.95
The publisher takes a tongue-in-cheek approach in describing this book that all ages can enjoy.
Check out this jacket blurb: "From the sentimental to the soulful, this book explores, in absolutely
no depth whatsoever (yet with a number of lively and perhaps profound illustrations), the many
and
curious modes of love. Also it rhymes." Boynton's droll creature couples experience all kinds of
"amore": "There's hopeful love and love despairing. Cautious love and love that's daring." The
cautious possum lovers eye one another warily as they hang from a bough. A daring hippo
(carrying
a heart balloon, of course) leaps across a dale to reach his love. The flap also says, "Ms. Boynton
is
an internationally ignored authority on romance." In the name of love, this must stop! What better
time to begin than February 14. Forget chocolates, forget roses! Make "Consider Love" the
incredible, inedible gift for your sweetheart this year.
Love, Ruby Lavender
Deborah Wiles
Harcourt
525 B Street, San Diego, CA 92101
ISBN: 0-15-202314-3, $16.00
Nine-year-old Ruby Lavender faces a lonely, empty summer in Halleluia, Mississippi, a town of
"400
good friendly folks and a few old soreheads." Miss Eula may be "old" but she most definitely is
not
among the town's soreheads, despite being widowed a year earlier.
The quirky Miss Eula is not only Ruby's grandmother but also her best friend and co-conspirator.
(The book opens as the twosome "liberate" three chickens destined for Kentucky Fried or
potpie.)
When Miss Eula unexpectedly goes off to Hawaii to visit her son, daughter-in-law and baby
granddaughter, Ruby is left to deal with her nemesis, Melba Jane, on her own. (Both girls believe
Melba Jane possesses information damaging to Ruby. Melba Jane enjoys this "power" she holds
over
Ruby.)
The letter exchange between Miss Eula and Ruby conveys the duo's close relationship as well as
Ruby's disarming honesty and spunk:
"Your letter was exciting. I was depressed at first. I was sure you would hate Hawaii. Maybe by
now you do.
"For your information, Melba Jane is curling her hair so loopy it looks like a heap of catfish guts.
It's
very attractive. I told her so.
"Here is another picture of me. Love, your awfully lonely granddaughter, Ruby L."
Ruby and Miss Eula make for highly memorable characters: Ruby as she attempts to understand
life
and Miss Eula, who has lived life in such a way to have acquired or maintained much "joie de
vivre."
Nora's Room
Jessica Harper, author & Lindsay Harper du Pont, illustrator
HarperCollins
1350 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019
0060291362, $15.95, 1-800-242-7737
What could possibly be going on in Nora's room? It's so noisy up there that it sounds like the
London Bridge REALLY falling down, like a bunch of rhinos playing musical chairs, like a dump
truck dumping its junk. When Mom goes to investigate, she finds a sign on the door, "ENTER IF
YOU DARE!" She asks, "What's going on in there?" Mischievous daughter replies, "Oh,
nothing."
But when Mom opens the door, the mystery is humorously and surprisingly cleared up. This sister
author-illustrator team have produced a fun and funny book.
Langston Hughes: American Poet
Alice Walker
HarperCollins
1350 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10019
ISBN: 0-06-021518-6, $16.95, 1-800-242-7737
HarperCollins has reissued Walker's biography of Langston Hughes, first written for children in
1974. The new edition, with bountiful, beautiful paintings, marks the 100th anniversary of
Hughes'
birth, on February 1, 1902.
As a college student, Walker had the good fortune of meeting and knowing Huges. He publisher
her
first short story in an anthology he edited, and they corresponded from time to time over the
years.
In an author's note penned for this edition, Walker characterizes Hughes: "He was a person who
loved unconditionally. He was accepting of others, patient with them, and capable of finding
humor
in the most complicated experiences of life. He was also thoughtful and humble. And very, very
wise."
Hughes' wisdom shone early. He had just graduated from high school when he wrote en
evocative,
flowing verse comparing the souls of black people to old, deep rivers that reached back to Africa.
This now familiar ode begins:
"I've known rivers: I've known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood
in
human veins. My soul has grown deep like the rivers."
Hughes couldn't understand his father, a stingy, bitter man with comtempt for his own people. He
had moved to Mexico shortly after Langston's birth. There he grew wealthy in money and mean in
soul.
Langston lived with this grandmother until he was 12, and then with his mother. These two
women
imbued him with a sense of both the resilient spirit and the suffering of America's blacks. These
qualities became frequent themes in Hughes' poetry.
Just as Hughes helped young people, Walker hopes to inspire today's youth with this biography of
the great American poet.
Wounded Knee
Neil Waldman
Atheneum
1230 Avenue of the Americas, NY, NY 10020
ISBN: 0-689-82559-5, $18.00
Wounded Knee is a thoughtful historical narrative of the events that led to the slaughter of native
Lakotans at Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota, on December 29, 1890. The author describes it
as the final encounter "between two proud and warring peoples the inevitable conclusion of the
clash between two disparate nations."
One nation consisted of nomadic hunters in the northern Plains; the other of immigrants seeking
to
establish farms in the same region.
Waldman begins by describing the seven Lakota tribes at the time of Columbus' landing, and their
peaceful coexistence with European trappers and traders for some 200 years.
Then in the spring of 1841, a small contingent of covered wagons crossed Lakota lands, hoping to
reach California and Oregon. When word got back East that the settlers had arrived successfully,
a
tiny trickle of wagons through Lakota lands became a steady stream, then a raging river after gold
was found in California in 1848.
The Lakota did nothing during the early years, although the wagon trains trampled and destroyed
much prairie land. As well, diseases brought by the newcomers spread epidemics among these
people who had not developed defenses to cholera, smallpox and measles.
Armed Lakota resistance to the flow of foreigners through their territory began with warriors
attacking very small wagon trains. Eastern newpapers played up these assaults, carried out by
"bloodthirsty savages." The gulf between the two peoples widened.
U.S. leaders' almost total lack of understanding of Lakota culture contributed to mounting
frustrations and distrust on both sides.
Under a treaty, for example, Lakotans who took up farming were promised monthly allotments of
food and goods. But government officials humiliated Lakota men by making them, as "heads of
families," wait in long lines for these allotments. The Lakota considered such tasks to be women's
work. Further, by calling names alphabetically, they dishonored chiefs, wise men and elders who
expected deference.
Wounded Knee provides a serious study of Lakota-U.S. relationships in a readable and attractive
format. Waldman's realistic drawings, sprinkled through the pages, are based on early
photographs.
Although this tale is in picture book format, all ages will laugh at the silliness of this Old World
treasure. The back jacket says that Lemuel's character is based on the mythical fools of the actual
town of Chelm in ancient Poland.
"The unifying theme in all the Chelm folktales is the acknowledgement of the idea that fools are
always the other person, never ourselves," it says. Lemuel may be a fool, but the muted, dreamy
illustrations show him to be a likeable, good-natured fool. Lemuel is a fisherman who dreams of
sailing to the enchanted city that must lie just over the horizon. When he finally sets off, a huge
storm arises. Lemuel strikes his head on the mast and loses consciousness. He awakens in the
magical town, which, strangely, looks very much like his own. He even finds a house with a
woman
and boy who are the spitting image of his wife and son. But, enough of this madness; he decides
to
sail home immediately. This time he falls asleep. When Lemuel awakens the next morning, he's
quite
happy that his boat has carried him back to his own village.
It's easy to see why this story has endured for centuries. And this edition portrays it in a delightful
format.
The Emperor Lays An Egg
Brenda Z. Guiberson
Henry Holt
115 West 18th Street, NY, NY 10011
ISBN: 0-8050-6204-1, $16.95
This nonfiction saga dispenses a dose of anti-gripe medicine to anyone, of any age, who whines
about having to go out into the cold, snow, ice, frost, or biting wind.
Pity the poor parents of the emperor penguin! After mama emperor penguin lays an egg, papa
penguin scoops it up with his feet and cuddles it against his fat abdomen, under a pouch-like fold
of
skin. Mama has not eaten for six weeks, since arrival at the breeding ground. Exhausted and
hungry,
she heads out, with the other new mothers, on a four-day waddle to open sea.
Meanwhile, in the dead of a dark Antarctic winter, thousands of papa penguins shuffle around, an
egg balanced on each one's feet. To conserve heat, they soon huddle together, each standing
straight
and still. Sixty-five days later, smack dab in the middle of winter, the egg hatches. The tiny new
emperor remains nestled on his father's feet until mama penguin returns with a throat full of fish
and
squid to feed to baby.
The papas now get a long-needed break, and food! When the dads return, each penguin mother
and
father will take turns traveling to the sea, returning with up to seven pounds of seafood in his or
her
crop.
By summer, the junior penguins are ready to go it alone with their age-mates. It will be six years
until they experience their own sub-zero sacrifice of raising a baby emperor.
Emily Will
Reviewer
Dana's Bookshelf
Unsung: A History of Women in American Music
Christine Ammer
Amadeus Press
133 S. W. Second Avenue, Suite 450, Portland, OR 97204
ISBN 1-57467-061-1, $19.95, 1-800-327-5680
Its not often that one finds enlightenment in a bibliography. Bibliographies are supposed to be
where
writers demonstrate their homework, not their interpretive skills. Not so Christine Ammers
Unsung:
A History Of Women In American Music. Her bibliography is massive, stretching to 13 pages
(with
the Notes occupying another 32 pages!), and in it we find citations like this: Is there a Career for
Women Musicians cited in a 1938 issue of Metronome; and Why Not Women in Orchestras? in
Etude Music Magazine in 1952.
Today it is difficult to imagine a world in which such questions occurred. In the 199899 season of
the U.S.s most prominent orchestras, women occupied between 18 and 38 percent of the
positions.
Disproportionate to their actual populace, of course, and also to the percentage of women in
music
academies (a majority). But on the plus side this is certainly an improvement over debating
whether
they should even be there.
Nor are women musicians anonymous faces behind the music stands any more. Women
conductors
have gained national attention, albeit only a handful. Three women have been awarded the
Pulitzer
Prize for their compositionsa male-only award up till 1983. The 1999 Avery Fisher Prize went to
Sarah Chang, Pamela Frank, and Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, the first time the prize went to
women.
Author Christine Ammer goes on to site so many women-won honors there is really only two
words
to adequately describe her book and her subject: mostly massive.
More about the mostly in a bit. For now, Unsung is the 2nd edition of a classic text in the field,
first
published in 1980. The first edition became the definitive book in the field, which this 2nd edition
has considerably revised and expanded. Now embracing a full two centuries of women in
American
music, Ms. Ammer added dozens of composers and performers, including women involved in
such
byways and back streets as transcribing Native American and Cajun music, ragtime and jazz,
electronic and performance art, from the late 1800s to the present.
Ms. Ammers new material heaps plenty of factand no end of superbly sketched biographical
anecdoteon the personal lives, trials, tribulations, and successes of her subjects. Blessedly, she
runs
long on detail and short on polemic. Literally hundreds of women are conjured vividly to life out
of
such unpromising material as dusty newspaper archives, hardly-to-be-found program notes from
all
but forgotten performances, family albums and letters, reminiscences of friends and teachers, and
obituaries. In her own words,
The research process for the first edition was long and laborious. I went through all the journals,
newspaper reviews, and programs I could find from the 1790s to the present, mainly in the
Boston
and New York public libraries. None of the material was indexed or computerized, so it took
many
months to read it all. When I found particularly interesting women, such as Sophia Hewitt
(organist
for the Handel and Haydn Society in the early 1800s), I tracked down municipal records and the
like. For this second, greatly expanded edition, the clipping files I'd kept over the years, the
Internet,
and personal interviews with living artists such as composer Joan Tower, made the process much
less time-consuming but nonetheless fascinating.
Ms Ammer has an eye for the telling detail thats so piquant you are right there with the individual
as
events happen:
[Camilla] Ursos parents moved to Paris and tried to enroll her at the Conservatory there. At first
they could not even get their foot inside the door. The normal enrollment age was ten, and no girl
had ever been admitted. Finally, after nine months of delay the family could ill affordCamillas
father
could not find work in Paris and her mother had to take in sewing and washingthe Conservatory
director . . . agreed to hear her play. After this audition, the eight-year-old was admitted
immediately.
Undine Smith Moore became known mostly for her choral compositions and arrangements of
spirituals. . . . She herself said her rhythms, choice of scale structures, use of call and response,
and
general use of contrapuntal devices are among the characteristics making her music uniquely
black. .
. . I hope that everything I have written reflects my blackness. I cannot say, but I hope so.
... some outstanding work was done by three American women who studied American Indian
music.
Alice Cunningham Fletcher (18381923) did the first important work, beginning about 1882. ...
She
wrote a treatise on the songs of the Omaha Indians and articles on the music of the Sioux and
Pawnee Indians. ... Natalie Curtis Burlin (18751921) ... worked on the Indians of the Southwest,
particularly the Hopi and Zuni, beginning about 1900. She published her findings in The Indians
Book, which contained more than 200 songs of eighteen tribes.
Regrettably, the mention of American Indian brings up one of the books shortcomings: its poor
index. The term American Indian spreads all over page 167 but does not appear in the index. It
appears to be a names-and-institutions index that was compiled by the index function of a word
processor, whose limitation is that they dont catch ideas, movements, or generic subjects that
occupy multiple pages.
But back to Ms. Ammer. All this started virtually by accident. When asked about the initial idea,
Ms.
Ammer responded,
The original impetus came in the mid-1970s. I was asked to introduce an all-women's wind
quintet,
and when I went to the library to look up some background on women wind players, I found
absolutely nothing. My children were in school orchestras and bands, which included many girls. I
symphony orchestras, chamber groups, and soloists consisted almost entirely of men. So I
wondered
what had happened to all the girls in school ensembles. And why were all the works I heard in
concert, records, and on radio composed by men?
Until you pick up her book and open it at random, it is easy to overlook the vastness of the
subject.
Fortunately Ms. Ammer is as methodical as she is exacting. She does not address the subject
chronologically; music is too diverse for the timeline approach. Rather, she arrangesso to
speakher
study according to discipline. It is easier to simply quote part of the Table of Contents:
1. The First FloweringAt the Organ
2. The "Lady Violinists" and Other String Players
3. Seated at the Keyboard
4. The First "Lady Composers"
5. ApartheidThe All-Women's Orchestras
6. American Composers in European Idioms
7. Grass RootsComposers in American Idioms
8. Opera Composers and Conductors
9. Contemporary and Postmodern IdiomsAfter 1950
10. Electronic Music, Mixed Media, Film, Performance Art
11. Todays Orchestras, Conductors, and Instrumentalists
While she is proud of what American women have done, she is less sanguine about the
recognition
they receive even today:
The personnel of major American orchestras is now 25 to 35 percent women, and there are many
all- or part-women's chamber ensembles, string quartets, etc. But, the numbers are still small-three
out of a hundred prizewinners; one out of two dozen...conductors; one-fourth to one-third
women
players when conservatories graduate a majority of women. Further, in some fields such as music
education, women still are consigned to the lower ranks, such as untenured or adjunct professors
in
colleges and conservatories. Women brass players have a particularly hard time winning
acceptance;
very few have made it into the big time, and it is not for want of talent or ability. Prejudice lingers,
and for those women who have gotten a foot in the door, there is often a glass ceiling.
Unfortunately, lack of recognition is a term that can be applied to Ms. Ammers work itself. There
are, for all her exactitude, some astonishing lacunae. None of the following are even mentioned,
much less is their role in female musicology assayed: Ann Dudley, Anna Turner, Joan Doan,
Gabrielle Roth, Constance Demby; and the genres of world fusion, ambient, soundspace,
minimalism, blues, trance, techno, space jazz, electronic and acoustical space, hip-hop, punk. Ms.
Ammers focus on institutional/academic music and music long assimilated into the mainstream,
such
as ragtime and jazz, neglects almost everything that has been happening in the nonacademic
creative
sector. We must forgive her for the omission on the grounds of the books already massive
content,
and perhaps the inhibition of the publisher to add another 50 pages or so to a book already in
danger
of being priced out of the market. (At $19.95 its the bargain of the year in academic
publishing.)
In any event, nonacademic creative work surely deserves the attentions of an exacting and lucid
scholar like Ms. Ammer. Perhaps she will consider the topic for another book, or at least
extended
article. Or consider this: An all-color large-format book about all that lies behind the Hearts of
Space phenomenonwith all those exotic names, instruments, and performancesis surely a strong
coffee-table candidate once the art book publishing industry gets out of the present
doldrums.
Growing Global: A Corporate Vision Masterclass
Stan Shih
John Wiley & Sons (Asia) Pte. Ltd.
2 Clementi Loop, #02-01, Singapore 129809
ISBN 0-471-47927-6, $24.95, http://www.wiley.com
Stan Shih is the CEO of Acer, Taiwan's leading computer brand, and one of Asias most visible
brands internationally. He is famed for his quick-march yet humanitarian approach to corporate
change. In a part of the world where innovation is not particularly encouraged, his endless
reengineering of his company has been closely watched during the past decade (and inviting in the
jape that Acer is the worlds first re-re-re-re-reengineered firm).
Unlike the Standard Industrial Model of the Corporate Reflections book, this book is really a
ghost-written puff piece for the CEO. He has much praise for his company and its employees, but
there is not a single instance in the entire book where he has patted himself on the back for Acers
success. So there, Mr. Welch.
Growing Global is a rewritten series of lectures he gave at a Taiwanese university in 200001. In it
he
unveils his latest management wrinkle, the Internet Organization" or IO. The IO is based on
"virtual
dream teams", which he envisions as small, ever-mutating groups of specialists who taskget
together
as a team, accomplish a project, and when finished, move on and reassemble for a new project.
Mr.
Shih claims that this "can turn Acer into a 'higher form' of organization."
Well, maybe Acer under Mr. Shih, but most of the rest of Asia is led by of conservative,
hierarchical,
conformist, autocratic, men who also happen to be ill-interested in (a) the deluge-like advance of
technological advancement, and (b) what their own young people are thinking of all this.
Being in essence lectures to students, Mr. Shihs book reads like rather well-penned, logical, but
lusterless class notes. Sadly, in shaping his style for a student audience, one of the books
shortcomings is vast oversimplification of complex realities without the statistical or anecdotal
backup to clarify why the point can be so simplified. For example, take the statement, Many
Japanese companies take product quality to the point of perfection before releasing a product to
the
market; although they have mastered product quality, they have missed the timing, so the value
they
create is greatly compromised.
First of all, that isnt true, as any Acura or Sony owner well knows. But more worrisome, isnt this
really saying, Get to market and fix the problems later? This and a few other comments like it
remind
one why the international image of Taiwanese products was for decades quickndirty.
On the brighter side, Mr. Shih definitely has a sharp mind when it comes to grasping the Big
Picture.
Extract his analyses of the differences between U.S., European, Japanese, Southeast Asian, and
Taiwanese social and business cultures, and you would have the chapter outline for another book.
His dissection of how those five cultures approach globalization is a thumb in the eye to
anti-globalizers who monolithically interpret issues in terms of monolithic capitalism. The reality is
that capitalism is about as monolithic as a playground.
Mr. Shih elucidates the differences in corporate culture that enabled Dell, Compaq, Cisco
Systems,
IBM, Sony, and his own Acer to evolve distinctive conceptual differences about product creation
and marketing. For example, the Microsoft and Cisco models are to buy up and integrate
successful
smaller companies into their own fold. Acers approach is rather like the incubator model in which
a
very slim-and-trim parent company spins off no end of tightly focused subsidiaries that get their
job
done and dissolveagain that IO structure he talks about.
Niche is a word that crops up often in this book. It is a reality so much part-and-parcel the core of
Asian life that it is amazing more American companies dont get it. They tend to go into a country
withpardon the termboth guns blazing, lavishly spending on large-scale ad campaigns, creating
massive distribution and retailing n networks, and in general interpreting Asia as little more than
another mass-market. Problem is, Asia is 300 million people occupying 3,000 cultural niches. Can
one really apply marketing ideas to the inhabits of a valley in Northern Thailand the same way as
to a
hip young kid in Bangkok? Can one lump together the wealthy socialites of any given city with its
recent-graduate first-jobbers, both of whom shop the same cosmetics counters in the same mall
gallerias but buy very different product lines to convey very different social images.
Most Westerners dont live in Asia on the street level. Hence they dont develop a sensitivity for
how
the place works. Asia isnt a series of markets, it is a vast number of cultural courtyards. A
courtyard
is a traditional-laden common meeting groundof things or ideas, take your pickin which one side
is
bounded by the public market, another by the religious temple or mosque, a third by the political
infrastructure, and the last by customs and taboos that govern the first three and have been doing
it
from before words were written.
Mr. Shih addresses the issue of Asian nichification constantly throughout the bookalthough not
expressed in the metaphor above. His terminology is traditionalglobalization, functionality, value
creation, corporate strategy, reengineering. You can just imagine the dutiful students scribbling
their
ballpoints dry.
Which brings up a painful observation. Nearly all the text is bounded by buzzwords popular about
five years ago. The effect is rather like reading the complete technical specifications of a Ferrari
that
won the 52 Le Mans Grand Prix. There is no mention of social and political dynamics that drive
the
computer and internet development in India. Not a word about the successful data entry and
overnight software models that originated in Bangalore and created a huge market for Indian
talent
in the U.S. Linux and open-sourcing get so little attention they seem to barely exist (and worse,
arent even in the index).
There is a reason for this. Mr. Shih is an old-line industrialist, even though his product vision in
this
book happens to be internetware. His preoccupation with quality manufacturing and point of
value-addition overlook enormous social changes burbling away beneath Asias corporate-speak.
There is no mention, perhaps not even a recognition, of the major generational gaps which divide
Asia today which will turn into chasms over the next 25 years.
Mr. Acer is of the Grand Generation of major corporate and political leaders who shaped the
region
from fifty to twenty years ago. This generation carved out the great trade and industrial empires
and
set into motion the political attitudes that dominate the region today. This Old Guard is now in its
70s and 80s. Although the 25 years of a generation separates the Old Guard from their sonstodays
middle managers now coming into directorships, only one thing tends to separate them in their
value
systems: todays 40s to 60s were largely educated overseas and look to the West for models and
inspiration (indeed, as does Mr. Shih throughout the book).
But the students Mr. Shih was addressing at Chiaotung University were raised in a radically
different
atmosphere: the internet, the computer at home, and now the group games. To walk into a
Singapore or Bangkok cybercafe that caters to the tweeny generation is an unnerving experience.
The roar when you open the door is reminiscent of the scene in Tom Wolfes Bonfire of the
Vanities
in which someone opens the door of the N.Y. Stock Exchange trading floor and is hit by a great
roaring wall of sound that sounds like, well, the Masters of the Universe at work.
Thats what it is like to be around Asias tweenies and early thirtysomethings (all males, by the
way).
In their conversation, in their group gaming, in their a-political and a-corporate views of their
future,
they are not really rebellious, but they are of such a different mindset that the ideas of Mr. Shih
must
come across to them as precambrian. The younger generation has their elders figured out with a
clarity that would induce apoplexy in the older generation if only they knew of it. But they dont
know. Older Asia hasnt a clue what younger Asia is thinking. That is what is so disturbing about
thinkingno matter how well-intendedlike this from Mr. Shih:
In Asia, business diversity in the past was achieved through protectionism, the dominance of
financial conglomerates, and collusion between government and business; in the diverse business
environment of the new, freer economy, the question is: can you stay focused competitively? If
you
dont excel at what you do, how can you compete?
True enough, but there is not a single new idea in this paragraph, and unfortunately, not many
more
in the rest of the book. Tellingly, there are only two bibliographical references in lieu of a
bibliography. One of them is his own 1996 book Me Too Is Not My Style and the other is Tom
Peters and Robert Watermans 1988 largely discredited In Search Of Excellence.
The New Asian Corporation: Managing for the Future in Post-Crisis Asia
Michael Alan Hamlin
Jossey-Bass, Inc., Publishers
350 Sansome Street, San Francisco, CA 94104
ISBN: 0-787-94606-0, $38.00
Euphoria, in its exaggerated and unfounded high spirits stage, is not in complete touch with
reality.
From about 1994 through July 1997 Southeast and East Asia were about as euphoric as
economies
can get. It seemed there was no end to the market for assets in the form of cheap labor and land,
governments vying for the favors of overseas investors, and bankers from Tokyo to Paris who
were
convinced the region was brushed with a magic money wand. How easy the pedestal broke, how
messy the pieces became. The straw that broke the camels back was an obscure stock trading
opportunity in Thailand, whose unintended consequence was to blow down the entire Asian house
of economic cards.
Western critics waggled their fingers at Asian Values, defined loosely as overinvesting in
unproductive sectors like real estate, crony capitalism, family-dominated corporations with murky
balance sheets, kleptocratic political leaders who protected investors in exchange for lucrative
favors
to family members, and the psychological effects of cultures based on rigidity, hierarchy, denial,
and
consensus.
During that same year many Asian political leaders waggled their fingers back, pointing to the
World
Banks inept financial prescriptions, rampant globalization, greedy financiers, too much investment
in
too little diversity, the Wests loose morals, and, in one political leaders view, a cabal of Jewish
financiers from New York. For a year this went on, even as a handful of political leaders and
business investors tried to settle the differences and fix things. Little noticed outside of
professional
management circles was a book entitled Asia's Best: The Myth & Reality of Asia's Most
Successful
Corporations by Michael Alan Hamlin. However, inside management circles it created waves. It
was
the first book to go beyond American and Japanese models of successful companies to look at
less-noticed regional businesses.
His book shattered the myths about Asians "opaque" management ways and showed how certain
Asia's best companies could stand up there with the world's best. His examples came from
off-the-beaten-track locales: In his home-base country of the Philippines, he analyzed, among
others,
the Jollibee fast-food chain, Eastern Telecommunications Philippines, Inc., Manila Electric
Company, Megalink Inc., National Steel Corporation, Petron Corporation, Philippine Appliance
Corporation, San Miguel Corporation, and Philippine Business for Social Progress.
Hamlin dissected the common myths about Asian business and found the following: (a) Asia did
not
have a unique Asian management style suitable only for Asia; (b) that Asian companies tended to
acquire technology by buying it rather than developing it through joint venture agreements or
alliances; (c) innovation among Asian companies was awful and, "Basic research throughout Asia,
despite rapid, sustained growth over two decades is virtually nonexistent"; and (d) successful
Asian
companies are "masters of nichemanship" rather than "sprawling conglomerates." Given the
economic collapse Southeast Asia was experiencing, his conclusion was a bitter pill: "While
productivity in Asia has been rising, very little purely Asian technology has accounted for the
increase. As the region enters a new era of liberalization and intense competition, its reliance on
Western technology and low value-added exports is dangerously high. Worse, not enough
investment has been made in education and the development of research centers necessary to
support the creation of indigenous, productivity-enhancing technology. Massive public and private
investment in educational infrastructure will be required to sustain rapid growth in Southeast
Asia."
Mr. Hamlin was not alone in the gloom department, but his assessment was dramatically different
than that of the alpha-males of the guru pack Michael E. Porter, Gary Hamel, and C.K. Prahalad.
They interpreted Asias problems in terms of poor use of resource availability (including labor),
and
opportunity. Mr. Hamlin, much closer to the action, interpreted Asias problems in terms of
enhancing resourcefulness and focusing on profitability growth rather than market share
growth.
During 1998 and 1999 the business press and economists as notable as Paul Krugman stated that
unless Asia changed its business and political thinking in fundamental ways, the then-extant
recovery
would go belly-up the moment the next crisis came along. When it did, triggered by the burst of
the
dot.com bubble and sectorial recession in the USA, Asian producers yet again found themselves
facing hard times. This time they were really hard: Singapore, that bastion of meritocracy and
meticulous government planning, found it had built far too many fab-lab computer chip makers
and
far too little of the diversified electronics manufacturer that Taiwan was so good at. Japan
dithered
over its massive real-estate debt and flaky banking system (and is still doing so). Thailands top
cronies talked a great story but didnt make the substantive changes needed to charm ever-fussier
investors. Malaysia spent vast amounts of the public retirement fund to richly award a handful of
politically anointed favorite sons who also happened to be lousy businessmen.
During this same period Mr. Hamlin was analyzing events with the same astuteness he used in his
Asias Best book. He distilled his latest thinking in The New Asian Corporation. What did he come
with?
Mr. Hamlin makes a fairly good case that a New Asian Corporation has emerged as the positive
side
of the two economic crises that have hit the region. He cites three fundamental changes in Asian
social and business thinking that make this possible:
1. The diminishing importance of guanxi (connections) in such things as obtaining government
approvals of incentives, development plans, and permits. In the past guanxi were a way to shut
out
any but a few favored friends.
2. Most Asian governments now expect their domestic enterprises to get competitive or get out of
business.
3. Newly aware and therefore empowered consumers demand much more from government and
corporations than they were used to getting. When governments dismantled barriers to investment
in
key manufacturing and retail sectors, consumers no longer had to put up with high prices due to
outmoded but politically connected big-business interests.
Asia is Rising From the Ashes, as Mr. Hamlin puts it, because eleven behavioral patterns have
irrevocably changed:
1. Corporate culture is meritocratic; it puts a premium on and strategic thinking rather than
hierarchy and seniority.
2. Shareholders are becoming internationally astute and more critical.
3. Productivity is based on management expertise rather than management seniority.
4. Tenure is based on contribution, which is tantamount to a new social contract.
5. Competence has replaced affirmative action thinking in which ethnicity took priority over
knowledge and experience.
6. A younger generation with fresh ideas and international experience is rising into middle
management levels.
7. Corporate strategy now focuses on key business processes and the development of new
business
models.
8. Strategy and focus are seen as vital engines of foresight and strength.
9. A constant search for new sources of profitability requires a strategy-led view of growth rather
than the opportunistic approach of the past.
10. Markets are becoming customer-centered rather than monopoly-centered.
11. A sense of urgency and innovation crosses political and industrial boundaries.
12. Liberalization is forcing companies into new markets.
13. Businesses are identifying who their customers are and what they really want
The New Asian Corporation makes a strong case for a different style of doing business in Asia.
Mr.
Hamlin uses his many points to describe the changes that an inwardly investing company should
take
into account when creating their Asia strategies. He backs up his theories with plenty of Asian
corporate success stories that have survived the crisis and are now devising strategies and
techniques
for todays economic climate. Asian firms have suffered badly in the face of the 1997 and 2001
financial crises, globalization, and liberalization. The New Asian Corporation describes what Mr.
Hamlin believes has happened, why, and how an outsider can come to grips with it.
I Am Not This Body
Photographs by Barbara Ess
Essays by Barbara Ess, Pulitzer Prize-winner Michael Cunningham, Thurston Moore, and Guy
Armstrong
Aperture Foundation, Inc.
20 East 23rd Street, New York, NY 10010
ISBN 0-89381-936-0, $40 ($32 direct from the publishers website), www.aperture.org
The last forty years has seen photography go through a radical stylistic, technical, and theoretical
mutation. Nobody can say exactly when, but at some point capturing the world as is slipped away
from the viewfinders of contemporary photographers. They began to see themselves as
manipulators
of reality rather than recorders of it. Bye-bye went the familiar landscape, portrait, street scene, or
casual snapshot, and in came the photograph as a "directed" or "authored" or "scripted"
document.
Students of this view believed their role was not to perfect reality using camera craftsmanship, but
to
create their own version of it. The trick was to imagine scenarios of the world, then fictionalize
them
on photo film.
This isnt what anyone would have predicted when the cameraas distinct from photographybegan.
So
lets go back to the beginning.
The basic optical principles of the pinhole camera (Italian for chamber) are described in Chinese
texts as far back as the 5th century BC. Chinese philosopher Mo Ti deduced that light travels in
straight lines by observing an inverted image when light passed through a pinhole to cast an image
on the opposite side. The next mention of the camera obscura wasnt until the 10th century AD,
when one Yu Chao-Lung used model pagodas to make pinhole images on a screen.
Western philosophers took a different tack. Aristotle In the 4th century BC Aristotle commented
in
his work Problems: "Why is it that when the sun passes through quadri-laterals, as for instance in
wickerwork, it does not produce a figure rectangular in shape but circular? . . . Why is it that an
eclipse of the sun, if one looks at it through a sieve or through leaves, the rays are
crescent-shaped
where they reach the earth?
In the 10th century the Arabian physicist and mathematician Ibn Al-Haitam arranged three candles
in
a row and put a screen with a small hole between the candles and the wall. He noted that images
(a)
were formed only by means of small holes and (b) that the candle to the right made an image to
the
left on the wall. He too deduced that light travels in straight lines.
In the 1850s a Scottish scientist named Sir David Bruiser was apparently the first to make pinhole
photographs. (He also coined the term "pinhole" to describe them.) The Impressionist movement
in
France had a considerable effect on attitudes about the photograph. A traditionalist school
believed
in sharp focus and good lenses; a contrarian school of "pictorialists" emulated the atmospheric
qualities of paintings. By the 1890s commercial pinhole cameras were sold in Europe, the United
States, and Japan.
Mass production of lensed cameras and the "new realism" of the first half of the 20th century
edged
aside pinhole photography. By the 1930s it was all but forgotten. In the mid-1960s several
photographic artists in widely separated locales experimented with the pinhole technique. In 1971
Time-Life Books published The Art of Photography in the well-known Life Library of
Photography,
which included a panoramic pinhole image (at which they excel compared with everyday
cameras).
The June 1975 issue of Popular Photography published an article "Pinholes for the People", based
on a month-long project at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, in which people came into the
museum,
picked up a camera from one of the 15,000 made for the occasion, and made an exposure. The
images were developed in the museums darkroom and then displayed in the gallery. Democratic
art
if ever there was such a thing.
Pinhole cameras are so intriguing to artsy types because they have no focal length. They have
infinite
depth of field, from a fingertip in front of the pinhole all the way to infinity. The term "focal
length"
means the distance between the pinhole and the film. Pinhole cameras range from ultra wide-angle
cameras to long telephoto cameras. They excel at ultra-wide angle images because unlike
lens-produced images, pinhole ultra-wides remain rectilinear. If the film plane is flatas in Barbara
Esss photosthere will be vignetting (light fall-off at the corners), producing a circular image in the
middle that is sharp toward the center but becomes more ill-defined the further it goes outward.
The
image also may be overexposed at the center and underexposed at the corners. Barbara Ess
exploits
all these effects to produce astigmatic soft-focus smears of semi-image which, taken together,
chart
her voyage from the port of technician out into the promontories and sea lanes of aesthetic
philosophy.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, Barbara Esss photography would have us paging through
the
dictionary adjective by adjective. She is famous for her attempts to "photograph what cannot be
photographed." I Am Not This Body invites us into her imagination as she leads the way into
"ambiguous perceptual boundaries: between people, between the self and the not self, between in
here and out there." In her view, "reality... includes a perceiver, who has memories, thoughts,
desires, emotions a normal camera tends to omit.
Pinhole images in Ms. Ess's hands are soft, rounded, distant, apparitional, out of reach, intimate,
tinged with loneliness and melancholy. Reality becomes subtly-toned dreamscapes that are not so
much moments of being as visionary versions of it. Blurry and distorted, she coaxes her subjects
from hallucination and enigma. Distinction between photographer and artist is erased. All the
more
so is differentiation between the perceiver and the perceived. As she puts it:
The membrane where mind and matter meet is indefinable; it can also be ambiguous where the self
ends and the world begins. The material world comes to you via the perceptual apparatus and is
mediated through and by you. So sometimes its hard to tell the difference between what is
apparent
and what is real.
One of photography's great strengths is its ability to document life while revealing new meanings
in
it. Barbara Ess is less interested in discovering exotic new images than in fathoming the
meaningful
within the mysteries of the familiar. Her repertoire of methods is formidable: isolating,
magnifying,
staging, suspending belief and disbelief; merging the familiar with the abstract; mixing ambiguity
into
perceptual and psychological conditions. Representing reality is less relevant than making it
malleable.
Her landscapes turn common everydayness into surreal romanticism; its like Andrew Wyeth losing
his glasses just after he drops acid. One of her signature tools is an ultra-short distance between
pinhole and film. This yields up very soft foci and such severe vignetting that the image is a blurry
circle centered within a big blot of black. Such mega-vignetting transforms the image content of a
shot into to an extremely transitory eventa flash of road, a distant barn seen from a gully, her
blurred
hands seemingly washing themselves in front of a backdrop of leaves. One almost expects the
images
to vanish from the page immediately after the tenth of a second it takes for the eye to register
their
existence, so important is her message of transitoriness.
The books images are accompanied by mercifully brief textsextended captions, really. No pedant
with a pinhole and a philosophy is this lady: Her captions are a cross between mystical realism, a
dada manifesto as might be read by Laurie Anderson, a philosophy that denies philosophy, a tally
list
of the days most banal eventsall of which comprise a viewpoint disembodied from a theory. She
says
it better in the text accompanying what is arguably the definitive image in the booka picture of a
curious but dubious curly-haired girl, little finger between her lips in the quintessential gesture of
doubt by a little girl, as she is being hoovered out into the vignette of black beyond the circle of
life.
Of this she says [all-caps her own]:
"I Am Not This Body". But I am. Aching and full of longing. Take a picture of this meat, this
husk.
You dont have me. I am something that cannot be photographed, cannot be named, defined,
translated. Theres experience and thats all there is. ... But theres also all this stuff. It gets in the
way.
Ive always had trouble with stuff. Ive fought my whole life to have control over stuff, over the
appearance of stuff: my chaotic hair, learning to play the accordion, getting dressed, being on
time,
electric bills, the five ballet positions, getting money, spending money, even just putting one foot
in
front of the other. Clear the table. A place for everything and everything in its place. A battle for
order, a battle for space.
If the utter simplicity and honesty of the pinhole camera lead to this chiaroscuro of half-existing
things, who or what can one trust?
This is just the sort of cerebral angel-food cake the slick art magazines feast upon, so it is no
surprise that her work has occupied covers and inside pages of the likes of Artforum and Art in
America, to say nothing of museum and gallery catalogs. Shes had one-woman shows at the High
Museum of Art, Atlanta; Curt Marcus Gallery, New York; Faggionato Fine Arts, London; and
Fundacion la Caixa, Barcelona, and at galleries in Madrid, Los Angeles, Paris, Antwerp, Cologne,
and Washington. In 1993 the Queens Museum curated the traveling exhibition "Barbara Ess:
Photography, Installation and Books." However, none of these are as what-the-heck fun as the
title
of an anthology she edited in New York in 1983: Just Another Asshole #6.
In other words, forget the hoo-ha and look at the pictures. Theyre so good you could climb
inside.
Dana De Zoysa
Reviewer
Leann's Bookshelf
One Door Away From Heaven
Dean Koontz
Bantam Books
ISBN 0-553-80137-6 $26.96
I agonized over this review. I did not know what to say. I would hardly want to insult Dean
Koontz.
I've always loved the way that he approaches a story. His writing, the characters that he gives
birth
to, have always held a special magic all their own. Yet, until about midway through this very long
book, I could not stand it. It bored and confused me. Why did I keep reading? Humor and little
flashes of insight as to the reality hidden beneath.
It was somewhere around page 330 when I absolutely fell in love with the story. I had a good
grasp
of the characters and a strong whiff of what the story was going to reveal. I was in the flow and I
let
the rest of the book carry me along to a rather splendid conclusion. I was a bit disappointed, the
ending resonates of Oprah's best hours, but not so much so that I regretted reading the book.
At heart this is a story of innocence; Leilana Klonk and Curtis Hammond who are two children
masquerading as adults. This is a story of surprises; I must have exclaimed a loud a good five
times.
Of course, anyone in the room with me at the time was more surprised than myself but there you
have it. I will let you know this much; if you are a rather odd duck such as myself and happen to
love a good dose of humor mixed into your heaping helping of macabre then you will have to
open
this One Door Away From Heaven.
But Dean, you do need to work on the mix a bit more.
Narcissus In Chains: An Anita Blake Vampire Hunter Novel
Laurell K. Hamilton
Berkley
ISBN 0-425-18168-5 $22.95
Oh boy, this lady can write!
Her heroine, Anita Blake, could kick Buffy's butt all the way to hell and back! Buffy, being
television's idea of a vampire slayer. As for those of you without the luck to read one of her
earlier
adventures, Anita Blake deals with monsters of all sorts. Preternatural, paranormal, if it can be
called
a monster then she has come up against it. Not only does she defeat evil and creatures of occult
origins, she in fact loves a few of them. She even protects them. I admit to being excited by these
novels. I'm excited in the way that I feel after seeing Errol Flynn as Robin Hood, any grand
swashbuckler of old, even Karl Kolchak of the old Nightstalker series. I even get a thrill very
similar
to how I felt after reading my first Harlequin romance so very many years back.
This particularly juicy novel has Anita letting vampire, Master of the City, Jean-Claude back into
her
life. Richard, the werewolf king, is there as well. Anita finally consummates her mark to Richard
and
his werewolves as well as to Jean-Claude and his vampires. If that alone weren't explosive
enough,
and believe me-things get plenty hot, Anita is called in to help the city's other shapeshifters. It
seems
the dominant wereanimals are being taken, tortured and destroyed. Only Anita, with the power
she
wields as her own and shares through the marks, can succeed in saving them.
I did not want this book to end. Narcissus In Chains made for a marvelous escape. The only fault
that I found, the overdone review blurbs on the dust jacket. But perhaps that is just jealousy on
my
part.
Shock
Robin Cook
G.P. Putnam's Sons
ISBN 0-399-14600-8 $24.95
I am sorry. Shock is a perfectly acceptable read but I'd hoped for more. Nothing in it was that
surprising to me but if you take into account my lifelong status as horror fan, my not being
shocked
is understandable. Dr. Cook explores immoral medical practices that do not seem so very far from
the pale. I imagine that people are very much like the characters in Shock and I find the scenario
probably as certain as the Roswell crash and Marilyn Monroe's murder.
Shock finds two friends, Deborah and Joanna, getting together as egg donors for the Wingate
Infertility Clinic. It seems that the clinic is shelling out the big bucks in order to cultivate healthy,
intelligent women. They, being grad students, fit the bill and certainly can benefit from the money.
Besides, they are doing a great thing. Helping out infertile couples is a noble undertaking.
After time spent enjoying the fruits of their sacrifice, Joanna decides that she must know what
happened with her eggs. She persuades Deborah to come along for the ride as they both devise a
scheme to get the information. What they find is indeed horrifying but I fear, not improbable.
Leann Arndt, Reviewer
BuzzysReviews@aol.com
Roger's Bookshelf
The Quest For Global Dominance
Vijay Govindarajan and Anil K. Gupta
Jossey-Bass
ISBN 0-7879-5721-6, $27.00
If you're looking for a detailed book on globalization that has the qualities, depth, and approach of
a
college textbook, here it is. The book was written by two professors who met, and discovered a
synergy for writing, while they were students at Harvard. They've developed a style that presents
their points in a well-organized fashion, with sufficient illustration and documentation to validate
the
authors' points. The examples they use are well-known companies that have achieved global
dominance; now we know how they did it-with plenty of information and understanding between
two covers of a modern book.
The book is organized into nine chapters, each strong enough to be a stand-alone publication on
its
own. We start with Rising Up to the Global Challenge and then move into Building Global
Presence.
Appetites whetted, we now get a comprehensive case study: Lessons from Wal-Mart's
Globalization. Exploiting Global Presence comes next, followed by a chapter on Cultivating a
Global
Mindset. This is primary theme of the book; it's a mindset that enables dominance.
Chapter 6 gets into some how-to: Building a Global Knowledge Machine, sharing vital
information
and understanding across national boundaries and cultural divides. The authors then concentrate
on
the Dynamics of Global Business Teams and Changing the Rules of the Global Game. The final
chapter is Globalization in the Digital Age, keeping us right up-to-date and reminding the reader
that
this topic is real and "present" in today's organizations. A bibliography and two indices follow the
footnotes section.
The ordinary lay reader will have trouble with this book. It is an academic work. However, for
senior executives, marketing professionals, and students of globalization, this book will be a
treasure. Those involved with graduate education in business should not miss this book. It will be
valuable reading for self-growing executives engaged in executive MBA programs, giving them
solid
knowledge and insight to apply in their real world of global growth and dominance.
True Leaders
Bette Price, George Ritcheske
Dearborn
ISBN 0-7931-4826-X, $25.00
I've read a lot of books about leadership that use exemplary leaders to make the author's points.
Most turn out to be biographical anthologies. True Leaders is different.
This tightly written (read: no fluff to bulk-up the book's size) book is organized around a set of
values, which the authors found to be central to corporate success. With a focus on core values,
leaders operate differently than those who are focused on what the bottom line will look like at
the
end of the next reporting period. Their results are stronger and more sustainable in the long run.
Satisfaction levels-for them and for the people working for them-are much higher. Trust runs
deep.
True leadership is at work.
The authors interviewed 25 CEOs from both private and public sector organizations. They
confirmed that ten core values are the essence of their work: Passion is a prerequisite. See what is
not yet visible. Care enough to connect and convey. Treat learning like dirty dishes. Do what's
right
and tell the truth. Trust is a must. Recognize and build people. Trust your intuition. Risk to
respond
and grow. Respect the importance of balance. And those core values are the chapters of the
book.
In each of the chapters, the authors explain the value and its importance, illustrating and
reinforcing
the concepts through stories from the CEOs. These perspectives are woven into the fabric of each
chapter in a way that is very comfortable for the reader. The input from the CEOs brings the
values
to life, inspiring as well as educating the reader. The presentations are never "in-your-face," but fit
nicely into the pattern of the reader's experience with the book.
Just about the time you'll feel like you've completed the book and are ready to close the cover
with a
silent "thanks" to the authors, you'll discover there's more. Over thirty more pages are organized
into
appendices talking about Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE), a leadership evaluation, a
one-on-one
discussion card, an attitudes and values graph, and profiles of the companies represented by the
CEOs used in the book. And, of course, there's an index. Nice package. The authors were so
impressed by SIFE, by the way, that a portion of the sales of the books is contributed to the
organization. Before even reading the book, you may want to visit www.sife.org.
You might want to get two copies of this book, one to keep on the shelf, and one to loan to
friends.
The Entrepreneurial Cat: 13 Ways To Transform Your Work Life
Mary Hessler-Key with Jazzie the Cat
Berrett-Koehler Publishers
ISBN 1-57675-064-7, $9.95
This book was a disappointment to me. It was recommended by a friend when I expressed
intrigue
with books that mixed illustrations and stories to communicate management messages (a la Who
Moved My Cheese).
The author is a PhD-level, highly experienced consultant . . . with a couple of cats. From her
biography in the book, I'd expect something strong. I'd describe the book more as "cute" or
"artsy,"
rather than having strong content.
Hessler-Key suggests that we can learn from cats, applying their behaviors to better manage our
own. Her thirteen messages are couched in short descriptive pieces from or about her cat. The
advice is succinct at the end of each of the one-page lessons. Here are the messages: Pick a
business
or career that lets you express your talents. Done only that and do it well. Constantly look for
ways
to full your customers needs. Gauge your distance, position yourself, and leap. Follow your
instincts. Clean out the old and begin again. Observe your environment closely and with
detachment.
Meander and Explore. Catnap occasionally-dream. Walk away from opportunities that don't meet
your standards. Be independent, but don't isolate yourself. Pick your priority; be relentless. Life
Balance. Find your place in the sun, relax and enjoy life.
A 14-page workbook section follows, asking a number of questions around each of the thirteen
themes. This feature could make the book a worthwhile tool for workshops, though my personal
concern is that there is not enough meat and seriousness in the book's content to inspire effective
responses without the author or a colleague serving as a facilitator.
I'm not sure that today's reader is in the same space that this book occupies. It seems to fluffy and
light to be taken seriously, even though the messages are valid. It's not up to what I'd like to see
from this author and not what I'm accustomed to seeing from Berrett-Kohler.
Beep! Beep! Competing In The Age Of The Road Runner
Chip R. Bell & Oren Harari
Warner Books
ISBN 0-446-52353-4, $23.95
The Road Runner cartoons are classic. Most of us grew up laughing out loud as Wile E. Coyote
encountered one challenge after another in his attempts to capture the Road Runner. The
scenarios
were simple. The coyote devised ways to capture lunch, never winning the competition. His tools,
all products of Acme Company, backfired on him. He caused himself a great deal of difficulty,
while
the Road Runner went on with his life, practically oblivious to the coyote's campaign.
At the start of their book, Bell and Harari note that coyotes can run 30 miles per hour and road
runners can't really fly and can only run 16 miles per hour. Wile E. Coyote has an endless arsenal
of
gadgets to trap the road runner, all provided by his single supplier, Acme. He's a master planner,
yet
continually fails . . . of his own volition. What's the problem here? Why is the Road Runner so
successful? Because he's operating under different rules. The coyote may be seen as chained to
conventional wisdom, doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. A
bureaucrat. The Road Runner is more like the agile entrepreneur, competing with a whole
different
paradigm.
The authors take this familiar cartoon and turn it into an instructive business case. Their objective
is
to help us become road runners among coyotes. In page after page, they pull lessons from the
cartoons that we probably all missed as kids, comparing the characters and their motivations and
their results. "Wile E. Coyote is preoccupied, earnest, conniving, and grim. The Road Runner is
joyful, light, and free. Wile E. does nothing but go from pursuing one meal to the next, with
perpetual frustration; the bird is gleefully living life to the fullest. The results are the same: Wile E.
somehow manages to dig himself into the hole of failure, while the Road Runner strides on,
undeterred and unaffected by life's bumps and obstacles."
Can you imagine the authors conducting their research for this book?
As we move through the book, we learn more about the comparative principles and how to
succeed
in the Age of the Road Runner. Familiar names populate the pages as we are provided with
examples of companies and people. A "Tail Feathers" feature spotlights ordinary people doing
extraordinary things-as Road Runners. The stories are inspirational, as well as educational. "Bird
Seed" sections furnish the reader with solid advice that fits the concept, but it not linked to the
two
main characters.
Descriptive summaries of Road Runner cartoon incidents are liberally sprinkled throughout the
book, keeping the reader laughing and smiling and wondering in amazement how the coyote could
keep going in this futile struggle. And therein lies the tale of this book. To survive in a Road
Runner
Age, you cannot continue to operate like a coyote. The book is filled with current wisdom, but
just
as important, it's a fun book to read. People learn more when they're laughing, so expect to gain a
lot from Beep! Beep!
Roger Herman
Reviewer
Klausner's Bookshelf
Joyride
Colleen Collins
Harlequin Temptation
$4.50, 218 pp. ISBN: 0373259670
To add sexy spice into her life Corinne McCourt decides to surprise her fianc‚ Tony Bergerson.
However the surprise is on Corrine as she catches Tony with some bimbo. Outraged, Corrine
takes
her two-week vacation from work immediately, steals Tony's Ferrari, and drives from Denver to
her
cousin Sandie's apartment in Las Vegas. Sandie welcomes Corrine, but informs her favorite
relative
that she needs to go away. Her lover pulled a bump and run with Sandie in his car on an old man's
Studebaker and she needs time to think. Corrine pretends to be Sandie over the next few days.
Vegas police detective Leo Wolfman still recovers from a bullet he took on a case that involved
his
now ex-wife. His first non-desk assignment since the injury is the Studebaker case. However,
when
he sees Corrine masquerading as Sandie, he struggles with an attraction he does not want, but
soon
love proves too powerful even for this romantic turned cynic. Corrine shares his feelings, but
wonders if he loves her or her Sandie impersonation. Joyride is a humorous contemporary
romance
that category readers will enjoy. Though the story line requires acceptance of the quirks of the
cast
especially why Sandie would potentially endanger her beloved cousin, fans will enjoy their
eccentricity. Colleen Collins has written a fun book that deserves a sequel starring a lovesick
professional wrestler.
Second Chance Proposal
C.J. Carmichael
Harlequin SuperRomance
$4.99, 296 pp. ISBN 0373710380
When his abhorrent stepfather Max Strongman decides to drill for oil on the family ranch in
Alberta,
Dylan McLean is outraged by the potential environmental harm to the McLean property. Dylan
organizes a protest, but a scuffle occurs and an innocent girl is killed. Dylan feels culpable because
he arranged the demonstration that led to the death of the teenager. Unable to cope with what
happened, Dylan leaves town with no warning just before he is to marry Cathleen Shannon. Two
years later, a rodeo injury sidelines Dylan who begins to ponder what happened on that fatal day.
He
postulates who is the killer and decides it is time to prove his innocence to Cathleen. Rather then
pine, Cathleen opened up the bed and breakfast that she once thought she would manage with
Dylan. She rejects Dylan's efforts to reenter her life, but still gives him a place to sleep, albeit her
barn. As he atones for what he did to her, their love flourishes, but Cathleen fears Dylan will just
leave again. Second Chance Proposal, the first of three consecutive months of Shannon sisters'
tales,
is an engaging romantic suspense tale that grips the readers from the start. Though some readers
will
feel sorry for Dylan as a flawed person unable to cope with the tragedy, others will dub him a
loser
especially as Cathleen is one heck of an individual, making his desertion even less tolerable. Still
C.J.
Carmichael opens her trilogy with a strong second chance at love tale that whets the appetite of
fans
anxiously awaiting the next two releases.
A Mother To His Children
K.N. Casper
Harlequin SuperRomance
$4.99, 297 pp. ISBN: 0373710410
After earning her Masters, Julie First looks forward to a career in education. She is extremely
please
to obtain the position of curriculum writer for the Coyote Springs, Texas schools. However, she
is
taken aback when her contract requires her to agree to never criticize the school board. Still, she
cannot resist this opportunity and signs the document. Julie soon begins to suspect the
administration of committing transgressions. She voices her opinion of potential wrong doing to
school board member Rolf Murdock, who blows her away as being ridiculously paranoid.
However,
Rolf reassesses things when his inquiries are treated with disrespect and antagonism. Rolf obtains
Julie's cooperation as they secretly investigate the current superintendent and the school
administration. As Rolf and Julie fall in love and she wants to mother his children as if they were
her
own, she wants to retain her career too. However, she knows his first wife's career ended Rolf's 's
marriage. K.N. Casper is gaining quite a following for her deep looks at relationships, especially in
The First Family of Texas series. A Mother To His Children is a powerful look at how choices
people make in their professional lives impact their personal life. The story line works when Julie
struggles with her growing love for Rolf and his four children vs. her desire to continue as a
curriculum writer. Though the amateur sleuth investigation into the school administration adds
excitement and facilitates the proximity between the lead protagonists, that subplot never feeds
into
the larger theme of selections among options indirectly effecting relationships. Still, K.N. Casper
fans with a thought provoking entertaining novel.
Naughty By Nature
Jule McBride
Harlequin Temptation
$3.99, 212 pp. ISBN: 0373259662
The Valentine Bomber sent two explosive letters to two former US Senators who along with
another retired colleague is leading the debate on extending maternity leave. So far luck has
insured
no one has been hurt, but Secret Service Agent Morgan Fine is assigned to watch over Vivian
Verne, the daughter of the third retired senator. Morgan has done his duty, but has kept his
distance
from the vixen he watches. Now with his two weeks of bodyguard service over, Morgan makes a
play for Vivian's maid Lucy Giangarfalo, who invites him to her bedroom. The next morning after
awakening to the best sex of his life, a horrified Morgan realizes he spent the night with that man
eating Vivian. As the threat to her safety rises, there is a direct correlation of risk to his heart that
goes up proportionally as Morgan and Vivian fall in love. Naughty By Nature is an exciting
political
romance that shows the danger to individuals when extremists try to take control of any issue
worthy of debate and ultimately synergy. Though how Morgan mistook the six-foot Vivian for the
five-foot Lucy seems impossible even with the duo steaming the sheets in the dark. Still, the lead
couple is an engaging pair who drives a strong tale forward. Jule McBride provides readers with
an
interesting tale of love and compromise that leaves the reader thinking about solutions not sound
bytes to other complex issues.
Good Time Girl
Candace Schuler
Harlequin Blaze,
$4.50, 251 pp. ISBN: 0373790317
Starting to feel ancient as she nears her thirtieth birthday, fifth grade school teacher Roxanne
Archer
fixes on having a "final" good time. She sets in motion her strategy as if she is the Commander in
Charge of a deploying joint military operation. With school out for summer, Roxanne plans to
spend
her summer vacation in Texas seeking the perfect cowboy. The staid teacher is determined to
become a groupie on rodeo circuit, but to one hunk of a cowboy of her choice. Tom Steele knows
that this is his last summer working in the rodeo as he plans to run the Second Chance Ranch after
the Vegas show. However, he is shocked when hotsy Roxy chooses him among the available
hunks
for a summer of love. Though he quickly sees past her sexy veneer to the warm caring person that
Roxy tries to hide, he still wants to taste her fire, but not just for the summer. Roxy's portrayal of
a
femme fatale groupie turns Good Time Girl into a humorous contemporary romance. Tom is a
fabulous dream cowboy, who is a handsome hunk treating people with respect especially drop
dead
gorgeous sirens. His teachers never looked or acted like Roxy. Though the good girl pretending
to
be a loose woman has been used in many a tale few writers attain Candace Shuler's novelty that
leaves the audience wanting more works like this one.
Secret Games
Jeanie London
Harlequin Blaze
$4.50, 250 pp. ISBN: 0373790325
When the Weatherbys informed marriage counselor Maggie James they no longer require her
services, she is stunned. The Weatherbys went to a relationship superclub by Niagara Falls that
coaxed them into intimacy. Maggie realizes she misdiagnosed their needs, feeling stress, not a lack
of sex was the cause of the couple's woes. A disturbed Maggie visits her friend Dr. Lyn
Milhausser
for advice on how not to miss the intimacy angle in the future since she never stays in a
relationship
long enough for the lull to set in. Lyn suggests going to Falling Inn Bed and Breakfast with good
neighbor Sam Masters. That night Maggie asks a stunned Sam to accompany her as his pretend
lover to the B&B superclub. Sam loves Maggie and sees this as the opportunity to change their
relationship to friend and lover. He plans to seduce his beloved until she realizes she really wants
him. Deigned by the Falling Inn Staff as Cupid's Couple, Maggie begins to fall in love with Sam,
but
cannot understand that her best friend can also be her best man for a lifetime. Secret Games is an
enticing erotic romance that paints a scrumptious picture of superclubs that will have couples
ready
for a go of their own. The story line is fun as Sam adheres to Maggie's five steps to strong
relationships, but with an assist from an out of control B & B staff. Though why Maggie after
three
years of success should become unglued by the Weatherbys epiphany seems odd, fans of
relationship
dramas that is part humorous romp and part sexual desire will enjoy Jeanie London red hot trip to
the Falls.
The Maverick
Carrie Alexander
Harlequin Super Romance,
$4.99, 296 pp. ISBN: 0373710429
In treetop, Wyoming, Deputy Sheriff Sophie Ryan knows immediately who is driving the
motorcycle
fifteen miles over the speed limit though he has not been in town in over fourteen years. Sophie
arrests her teenage lover Luke "The Maverick" Salinger as he has charges of arson, vandalism,
and
breaking and entering on the books from fourteen years ago. Sophie wants nothing to do with
Maverick or any other of the wealthy Salingers who forced her to raise her son Joey by herself.
Upon seeing Sophie, Luke thinks back to the fire in the lawyer's office that changed his life. He
was
about to turn himself in after seeing his girlfriend Sophie, but was stunned to overhear she ratted
on
him. Instead of going to the law, he fled town. Later he learned she had a kid. Not comprehending
he might be the father, he assumed she cheated on him too. At Luke's present day hearing on the
old
charges, Judge Entwhistle makes a surprising decision by appointing Sophie as Luke's watchdog
to
see that he behaves while in town. Sophie knows she must do her job, but wonders how to do it
when she still loves the man she thought she hated. The Maverick is an interesting police
procedural
romance starring two fine lead protagonists learning that love is forever. The story line is fast
paced
as the lead couple struggles with an attraction that threatens to engulf both of them as well as with
misconceptions about their past. Though the villain is a more of a caricature than a realistic
person,
readers will relish Carrie Alexander's super romance.
The Caves Of Perigord
Martin Walker
Simon & Schuster
$25.00, 394 pp., ISBN 074322849
In 1500 BC in the Vezere valley (what is now La Ferrassie in the south of France), only the true
artisans are allowed to paint. These artists are a brotherhood that is considered holy and each man
is
only allowed to paint one animal. The Keeper of the Bulls tries to defy tradition by becoming the
leader, thus forcing the keeper of the deer and his mate to run away. They find a cave far from
their
people and begin painting inside it. In occupied France in 1944, murder occurs in that same cave.
American Captain Manners sent to help the resistance and Francois Malrand, a leader of the
French
Resistance, agree to hide the caves. In the present day, Manners' son goes to an auction house in
England with a rock painting from that cave, wondering how much it is worth. Lydia Dean knows
it's priceless but before any decisions can be made about what to do with it, the painted rock goes
missing. Since all roads lead to France, Lydia and Manners cross the Channel to try and find the
rock and the cave where it belongs. The Caves Of Perigord is a fascinating look into the
prehistory
of man, the French Resistance just prior to D-day, and the politics involved in the modern art
world.
The three tales are told in alternating chapters and Martin Walker is so talented the reader never
loses interest when jumping from one era to another. Although there is plenty of action, this novel
will be a literary success because the audience will care about the characters and hope everything
turns out all right for them.
Spy's Life
Henry Porter
Simon & Schuster
$25.00, 390 pp., ISBN: 0743215605
When the UN plane crashed near LaGuardia Airport, Robert Harland quickly realizes he is in
great
danger of drowning, as the rescuers have no idea he was dumped into the nearby East River. He
struggles over to where Alan Griswold reclines in a busted up seat, but finds his friend is dead.
Robert's personal luck continues when Alan's cell phone rings. This enables Alan to inform the
caller
where he is. Robert takes Alan's wallet with him before the rescuers save his life. As Robert
recovers
from his one in a fifty billion chance of survival, he learns what happened. Transportation blames
it
on physics, but the FBI hints at sabotage. UN Secretariat Jaidi asks Robert to learn why someone
destroyed a plane, murdering officially ten people and unofficially eleven in order to kill Alan.
Apparently, Alan had damaging information on someone. A former espionage agent, Robert
agrees
to uncover the truth even as a young man Tomas Rath comes into his life claiming to be his son
through a liaison over two decades ago with Czech Eva Houresh. Rarely does a novel start off as
exciting as a Spy's Life does. Henry Porter never eases up on the throttle from his first page in the
East River to the final overseas confrontation. The espionage thriller is very complex though it
appears to contain an unnecessary spin or two too many. The cast is developed so that readers
appreciate Robert as a fabulous lead character while those who seem on the hero's side and his
enemies round out a strong tale of international intrigue.
Target Lock
James H. Cobb
Putnam
$25.95, 419 pp. ISBN: 0399148493
In 2008, when modern day pirates steal a satellite with military information from a US research
ship,
the American navy sends Commander Amanda Garrett and her USS Cunningham "Sea Fighters"
crew to retrieve the stolen item. However, Amanda quickly realizes that these thugs are not some
solo Jolly Roger, but belong to massive conglomerate led by the charismatic Makara Harconan.
The
chase goes awry and the dynamic Makara captures Amanda. He takes her to his secret hideaway
where she sees he has stored the stolen satellite. Though she finds herself falling for her host,
Amanda knows her crew will soon come to save the day and rescue her from the brink. Normally
a
Sea Fighters novel is action packed and plenty of fun for the reader. Though the history including
biological of the Indonesian archipelago is fascinating, even hard core fans will believe Target
Lock
sinks to the ocean floor and it is not a submarine of bathysphere. Amanda acts more like a high
school girl with her first crush than the intrepid intelligent Commander she normally is. As
humongous, powerful, and brilliant Makara and his followers are, the Sea Fighters are never truly
challenged. To read James H. Cobb at his best, the audience should target Sea Fighter, Sea Strike,
or especially the incredible Choosers Of The Slain.
A Game Of Spies
John Altman
Putnam
$25.95, 256 pp. ISBN: 039914837X
In 1939, M16 espionage agent William Hobbs seduces naive twenty-year old German Eva
Bernhardt
to work undercover in Germany spying for the British. After obtaining Eva's cooperation, William
callously drops her leaving her at the mercies of M16, who believe Eva is the prefect person to
drop
in Berlin to learn when and where Hitler's invasion of France is to begin. The Nazis hope to
uncover
British moles to use them to transmit misinformation to the Allies. In 1940, Eva hates both the
Nazis
and the British for their callous misuse of people. She is trying to obtain invasion information
from
Otto Klinger, a person who might have a grudge against the Nazis. However, the German Secret
Service know Eva works for the British and plan to use her as a courier for disinformation to fool
their enemies. Hobbs, who arranged a kidnapping of himself in Holland by the Gestapo, realizes
the
Nazis are using Eva as a pawn. He now knows he loves Eva and will risk his life to insure her
safety
even as the Nazis pursue him. In his debut tale, A Gathering Of Spies, John Altman provided
espionage fans with a taut World War II thriller. His second novel, A Game Of Spies is even
better
as readers receive a powerful historical spy tale that never slows down as both sides use people as
fodder in a deadly game of trump. Fans of the genre will want to read this superb World War II
novel that brings the era alive through the actions and reactions of a powerful ensemble.
Turbulence
John J.Nance
Putnam
$25.95, 400 pp. ISBN 0399148477
In the years following September Eleventh attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon,
the United States warred on terrorism. For the most part, they wiped out the leading terrorist
organizations and bailed out the aircraft industry. People are flying again, but the service has
deteriorated to the point that customers are angry, frustrated and fed up with the cavalier
mistreatment by the airlines on its' passengers and crew. The worst offender is Meridian Airways
who treat the people like cattle and are more interested in the bottom line than caring for its crews
or passengers. The service on Meridian Flight Six is so terrible and frightening that the passengers
are ready to mutiny. The pilot is paranoid and afraid because he's a newcomer to international
flying.
Add to the mix that the spooks at Langley mistakenly believe through a ridiculous set of
circumstances, that terrorists control Meridian Flight Six and you have a scenario for tragedy. Just
about everyone has seen a road rage incident, but few have observed an air rage occurrence.
Turbulence provides such a happening and the subsequent overreaction of the passengers, crew
and
the CIA as a consequence of the lessons learned by the September Eleventh tragedy. John Lance
is
to aviation thrillers what John Grisham is to legal thrillers with this novel being his most disturbing
yet best work by far. The plot projects the effects of future actions that are caused by the horrific
events of the last few months. This story line mesmerizes readers who will not put down the
thriller
until the last page is turned.
Time And Chance
Sharon Kay Penman
Putnam
$27.95, 512 pp. ISBN: 0399147853
Early in his reign, King Henry II successfully subdues his rebellious lords, who prefer their little
fiefdoms to a powerful central state figure like His Highness. He decides he must also act
accordingly with the Church in order to bring the priests in line. He chooses his most trusted ally
Chancellor Thomas Becket to serve as the Archbishop of Canterbury though his friend is not a
priest. However, once Sir Thomas takes over his new position, he changes his philosophy and
becomes a fanatical supporter of the Church publicly opposing much of what his mentor desires.
Though over a decade younger than his wife Eleanor, Henry still loves her madly. He sires two
daughters and five sons with her, while anchoring the throne for his Plantagant descendants
(Richard, John, etc.) through war, treachery, and statesmanship. However, his fame (or shame) in
history hinges on the murder of Sir Thomas, considered a saint by almost everyone else in the
country. Time And Chance, the sequel to When Christ And His Saints Slept, is an insightful
historical fiction that brings to life the Henry II nation- building era. Reminding the audience in
many
ways of A Man for All Seasons, the tale is vividly loaded so that the audience can see a critical
period in the building of a nation. Henry is a complex individual whom Sharon Kay Penman
insures
the audience fully comprehends how deep the King was. The look at the fights Henry fought and
their impact on his family, his subjects, and his enemies make this mid to late twelfth century tale a
must read for genre fans.
The English Assassin
Daniel Silva
Putnam
$25.95, 400 pp. ISBN: 0399148515
English art gallery owner Julie Isherwood obtains a commission for Mario Delvecchio to go to
Zurich to restore a painting. Mario has no idea who the client is or what painting he is to clean,
but
the money is too good to ignore. In Zurich, Mario finds his host is not at his villa and learns from
Julie that there is a change of plans. Julie provides Mario with the security codes to enter the villa.
Inside Mario learns he is to restore Raphael's Portrait of a Young Man from the early sixteenth
century until he finds the murdered body of his client. Relying on his stealth as a former Israeli
operative, Mario sneaks away, but is caught by the police as he tries to leave town. Mario's
former
boss Ari Shamron obtains his freedom. Ari had arranged for Mario, who is actually Gabriel Allon,
to
do the restoration job. He wants Gabriel to meet with Anna Rolfe, daughter of the deceased, to
see
what she knows. Reluctantly, Gabriel becomes involved once again in the deadly world of
professional assassinations even as art crimes from the time of the Nazis threaten his life. The first
half of The English Assassin is as good as any thriller readers will find as Daniel Silva sets up his
plot
with historical references and moral predicaments. However, the latter part of the novel is loaded
with action, but turns into a more typical "shoot-em-up" espionage chiller. Overall, fans will enjoy
this story, but will feel a bit shortchanged because the second half fails to attain the incredible
levels
of the first part of the book.
Widow's Walk
Robert B. Parker
Putnam
$24.95, 304 pp. ISBN 0399148450
Boston lawyer Rita Fiore hires private detective Spenser to find some evidence that will help her
client Mary Smith who is accused of murdering her husband Nathan. He was a very rich fifty-one
year old man and Mary is twenty-three and a real life dumb blonde. Both Spenser and her attorney
believe she is innocent and intend to find the real perpetrator so Mary's name will be cleared.
From
the time Spenser signs on for the case, he picks up a tail. Hoping that the thugs following him
could
lead him to somebody that clears Mary, he has Hawk follow them. When they find out whom they
work for, Hawk and Spenser talk to that person but learn nothing. As Spenser starts to peel away
the layers of a financial conspiracy, six people involved in the case are killed and it looks like
Spencer is going to be the seventh. Spenser is like Batman: ageless. He is a wise cracking ex-cop
who has been involved with Susan for a quarter of a century and even with all the novel revealing
so
much about him, readers still learn something new with Robert B Parker's latest fun tale. Widow's
Walk is funny, entertaining and action packed, a joy to read.
The Wheat Field
Steve Thayer
Putnam
$24.95, 304 pp. ISBN 0399148418
In 1960, Kickapoo Falls, Wisconsin is a small bucolic town with a comparatively smallsized small
sheriff's department to match the low crime rate. Deputy Pennington reveres his boss Sheriff
Fatts,
the man who hired him, trained him and believed in him ever since he was brought on board just
after World War II. The job is Pennington's whole life although the ex military sniper is in love
with
Maggie Butler who is married to Michael. Pennington feels a deep rage when he comes across
Michael and Maggie dead and nude in Farmer Gutterson's wheat fields. The sheriff wants to call it
a
murder-suicide but his deputy knows instinctively it's a double homicide and goes about gathering
evidence, which leads him to one of the town's most powerful citizens, a man running for the US
Senate seat. Before this case is over or he is dead, Pennington will be betrayed, shot at and
imprisoned by the elite infrastructure. Steve Thayer, author of one of this reviewer's favorite
thrillers
(see The Weatherman), has written another exciting work that stars a flawed and brooding hero
who
captures the attention of the audience from the very first page. The historical police procedural is
cleverly designed to bring out the era yet provide an exciting who-done-it investigation. Readers
will
hope that there will be more works staring this protagonist because he is atypical law enforcement
official.
A Murder Of Promise
Robert Andrews
Putnam
$24.95, 336 pp. ISBN: 0399148329
When Susan Boukedes is murdered, hardly anyone takes much notice of the "Greek in the Creek"
so
not surprisingly it ends up as a "Cold Case". However, when renowned Washington Post
investigative reporter Mary Keegan is killed, the media latch on because one of their own was
violated. The two most experienced homicide detectives in the Washington DC police
department,
partners for twenty-five years, Franklin Kearney and Josephus Phelps are assigned the
investigation.
The press sees the similarities between the two Georgetown homicides especially the severed little
finger on both victims so quickly they howl serial killer. Frank and Jose make inquiries into both
deaths, however, though the clues between the two cases seem alike, they never quite fit together.
Though diligent and professional, Frank and Jose seem to lag behind the killer. Both know that if
Mary were as prestigious as Susan was this investigation would also have been a cold case. A
Murder Of Promise is a tremendous police procedural that enables the audience to not only
observe
modern investigative techniques, but also failed procedures. Readers see two police teams in
action
with Frank and Jose kicking over every rock including one involving the Deputy Secretary of
State
to find the culprit; the original team on the "Greek in the Creek" case just went through the
motions
before closing the case as unsolved. Robert Andrews provides one of the genre's best tales not
because of a complicated twisting who-done-it, but because his cast of characters brings alive law
enforcement investigation.
Henderson's Spear
Ronald Wright
Henry Holt & Company
$25.00, 368 pp. ISBN: 0805069968
In April 1990 from a jail cell on Tahiti, Olivia Wyvern writes a letter to the daughter she placed
for
adoption years ago. Olivia tries to explain what happened that led to her current "home". Liv's
father
Jon was a Royal Air Force pilot who survived Hitler, but vanished during a Korean War mission
leaving behind a grieving family of three women and Lord Jim the parrot. Though neither the
plane
nor his body was found his family always sought news on Jon. In 1988, while Liv lived in
Vancouver
and her sister in London, Lord Jim dies and a few days later, mother passes away too. The two
sisters go through two centuries of family stuff when Liv finds an 1899 journal written by Frank
Henderson telling his adventures with Queen Victoria's grandsons Princes Eddy and George. This
leads Liv to come to Tahiti to learn about Jon's disappearance. Instead she's arrested on phony
murder and spy charges. While lingering in her cell, Liv learns about her own daughter, a product
of
a seducer who promised her information on Jon and never delivered. Henderson's Spear is a
complex historical tale that never loses its path while entertaining the audience. Though the
narrator
Liv tells the story late in the twentieth century, she relates her present predicament with the 1899
Henderson diary and the Korean War vanishing of her father without either account losing steam.
The two subplots tie brilliantly back together as Ronald Wright proves he has the right stuff with
a
forceful twentieth century triumph that genre fans will appreciate.
The Millionaires
Brad Meltzer
Warner
$25.95, 479 pp. ISBN: 0446527297
Brothers Oliver and Charlie Caruso work at the exclusive banking firm of Greene and Greene
where
client entry begins at two million dollars. However, the siblings soon learn that a boss Henry
Lapidus
is destroying Oliver's career. Already in major debt, The Caruso brothers decide to embezzle a
three
million-dollar inactive account owned by a dead client that no one in the firm or the deceased's
family seems to realize exists. However, the smooth felony fails as hidden strings attached to the
loot
ring alarms to various players. To the sibling's fear and bewilderment, the cash abruptly multiplies
one hundred times. The Secret Service, the Disney Corporation, and a thug or two chase after the
lads. Desperate Oliver and Caruso flee to Florida in an attempt to get out of this mess by
following
up on the only lead available, the dead client's daughter. The Millionaires is a wild financial thriller
that takes the audience on a strange but interesting trip into the world of not so real but somehow
spending money. The story line is fast-paced though marred from the seesawing between past and
present tense that at times jars the reader out of the plot. The Caruso brothers gain fan empathy as
their one attempt at crime ends up as a Mad Hatter ride leading to
