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Fiction

Three acclaimed writers offer shimmering collections

Feature by bookpagedev

Short stories are often the vehicle of choice for young writers seeking to make their mark on the literary world, so it’s refreshing when established authors choose to work in the genre. These collections display the skills of three well-known writers from diverse backgrounds, each with a unique take on contemporary life. 

Perspectives on Native American life
In War Dances, his fourth collection (which features a dozen poems along with its 11 stories), National Book Award winner Sherman Alexie enhances his stature as a multitalented writer and an astute observer of life among Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest.

In the title story, a middle-aged Spokane Indian confronts the tension between traditional tribal culture and modern life as he watches over his alcoholic and diabetic father in the hospital while undergoing his own health crisis. “Breaking and Entering” tells the heartbreaking tale of a Native American film editor who commits an act of fatal violence in self-defense and must live with the consequences. And “Salt,” the story that ends the volume, is the moving portrait of teenage boy from the reservation who learns about life and death when he’s called on in his summer job at the local newspaper to write the obituary of the paper’s obituary editor.

Not all of the stories feature Native-American protagonists. “The Senator’s Son” is a modern morality play, as the son of United States senator is involved in an incident of violence against a gay friend, in the process exposing his father’s expedient ethical judgment. In “The Ballad of Paul Nonetheless,” the narrator is a seller of vintage clothes, a lover of pop music and a serial philanderer, “a small and lonely man made smaller and lonelier by my unspoken fears,” a status he shares with several of Alexie’s male characters in this edgy and frequently surprising collection.

The eternal appeal of music
Best known for novels like The Remains of the Day and Never Let Me Go, Kazuo Ishiguro offers a collection of five pensive tales in Nocturnes: Five Stories of Music and Nightfall, that succeed in expressing music’s seductive power.

In “Crooner,” a chance meeting in Venice between an itinerant guitarist (a talent Ishiguro shares with his creation) and an aging Tony Bennett-like singer leads to an emotional encounter with the crooner’s wife as he offers a swan song for their marriage. That woman, Lindy, resurfaces in the story “Nocturne,” a meditation on the vagaries of fame, where she and a jazz saxophonist named Steve share a bizarre recuperation in a Beverly Hills hotel after plastic surgery at the hands of a celebrity doctor.

Ishiguro skillfully blends humor and melancholy in “Come Rain or Come Shine.” Its narrator, Ray, visits college friends in London whose relationship is imploding. The story veers wildly from broad comedy to pathos as Ray struggles to save his friends’ marriage. “Malvern Hills,” the story of a singer-songwriter and his encounter with two fellow musicians in the English countryside, and “Cellists,” the tale of an unorthodox music teacher and her enigmatic student, round out the collection.

Women and their discontents
Jill McCorkle’s Going Away Shoes concentrates on the plight of mostly middle-aged women struggling with the consequences of their flawed relationships. McCorkle is an acute observer of the foibles of domestic life, and in stories like the title tale, in which a woman is yoked to her dying mother as a caretaker while her younger sisters carp at her from a distance, or “Surrender,” where a grandmother must suffer the childish cruelty of her late son’s five-year-old daughter, she blends empathy for her characters’ predicaments with an unsparing take on those grim circumstances. 

Still, McCorkle’s stories don’t lack for humor, as in “Midnight Clear,” where a single mother gets a new outlook on life from a septic tank philosopher who answers her distress call on Christmas Eve, or “PS,” a sardonic farewell letter from a woman to her family therapist. 

The collection builds to a powerful climax in “Driving to the Moon,” as former lovers reunite while one faces death from cancer, and “Magic Words,” which features interwoven narratives of a married woman about to embark on an affair, a troubled teenage girl and a retired school teacher. Both stories are impressive demonstrations of McCorkle’s ability to infuse short fiction with an almost novelistic scope.

Harvey Freedenberg writes from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Short stories are often the vehicle of choice for young writers seeking to make their mark on the literary world, so it’s refreshing when established authors choose to work in the genre. These collections display the skills of three well-known writers from diverse backgrounds, each with a unique take on contemporary life.  Perspectives on Native […]
NonfictionEssays

Review

Review by bookpagedev

ew Yorker wit and wisdom “Everybody talks of The New Yorker‘s art, that is its illustrations, and it has just been described as the best magazine in the world for a person who can not read,” Harold Ross, the magazine’s founder and editor, wrote in a 1925 letter. Oh, how times have changed. Although it’s now a cultural institution, the magazine made a somewhat lackluster debut in February of 1925 and would have folded a few months later had it not been for Ross. A bluff, determined Westerner sometimes at odds with the Eastern elite, the editor fought hard to find a focus for his weekly. Rallying writers in the ’20s and ’30s many of them from the renowned Algonquin Round Table he created a forum that would publish some of the most memorable journalism of the 20th century. The magazine may be named for New York, but its span exceeds the city’s limits. Its list of contributors is long and illustrious John Cheever, Eudora Welty, James Baldwin and William Trevor, to name a few and the number of books written about it or featuring the work of its writers and artists gets bigger every season. Worthy titles crop up regularly we counted eight in the past six months alone and a few of the most recent releases are highlighted here.

One of America’s greatest humorists, New Yorker cartoonist James Thurber was an artist who could, with a few shapely, articulate lines, produce quibbling siblings, bickering spouses and, of course, canines dogs of all shapes and sizes, dispositions and breeds. His big, bumbling mutts were creatures that didn’t know the difference between man and beast, that dragged their owners whither they would and did things only humans could went snow-skiing, say, or got psychoanalyzed. These and other Thurberesque absurdities are collected in The Dog Department: James Thurber on Hounds, Scotties, and Talking Poodles, an endearing anthology, edited by author Michael Rosen, of the artist’s dog-centered writings and drawings. Comprised of New Yorker shorts and unpublished archival material, along with selections from the book Thurber’s Dogs, this delightful, amply illustrated volume is filled with humor, advice and reflection Thurber-style on man’s best friend.

In the 1930s, as a reporter for The New Yorker, John McNulty frequented Costello’s Irish saloon on Third Avenue, a boisterous gin mill filled with cabbies, horseplayers and bums on the make that he immortalized in the pages of the magazine. The results are collected in This Place on Third Avenue, a group of slice-of-life stories brimming with humor and drama that feature the saloon, its habituŽs and their pungent, city-steeped dialect. This is the low life writ large, no fringe, no frills. McNulty calls ’em as he sees ’em, and the titles tell all: “Atheist hit by truck.” “Man here keeps getting arrested all the time.” Though a skyscraper now stands at the site of Costello’s, thanks to McNulty, the spirit of the place and the era lives on.

The Fun of It: Stories from The Talk of the Town brings together the best of the magazine’s trademark “Talk” essays, those succinct journalistic gems, full of crystalline reportage and plainspoken prose, about the everyday and the remarkable, the little man and the big. Spanning nine decades, The Fun of It opens with selections from the 1920s and features contributions by some of the magazine’s best writers, from E. B. White to Jamaica Kincaid to John McPhee. Edited by long-time staff member Lillian Ross, who chose from thousands of pieces, the volume is studded with standouts. Especially memorable are antic essays on the city from a young John Updike, and Jane Kramer’s visit with Samuel Beckett and Buster Keaton.

Another collection of classic profiles by Joseph Mitchell, McSorley’s Wonderful Saloon was included in his anthology Up In the Old Hotel but has not existed as a separate volume since it was first published in 1943, when it became a bestseller. Offering a gallery of unforgettable characters oystermen, barkeeps and street-walking eccentrics, a gypsy king and a true-blue bearded lady McSorley’s is vintage reporting from the man The New York Times once called “a listener of genius.”

ew Yorker wit and wisdom “Everybody talks of The New Yorker‘s art, that is its illustrations, and it has just been described as the best magazine in the world for a person who can not read,” Harold Ross, the magazine’s founder and editor, wrote in a 1925 letter. Oh, how times have changed. Although it’s […]
NonfictionHumor

Review

Review by bookpagedev

ew Yorker wit and wisdom “Everybody talks of The New Yorker‘s art, that is its illustrations, and it has just been described as the best magazine in the world for a person who can not read,” Harold Ross, the magazine’s founder and editor, wrote in a 1925 letter. Oh, how times have changed. Although it’s now a cultural institution, the magazine made a somewhat lackluster debut in February of 1925 and would have folded a few months later had it not been for Ross. A bluff, determined Westerner sometimes at odds with the Eastern elite, the editor fought hard to find a focus for his weekly. Rallying writers in the ’20s and ’30s many of them from the renowned Algonquin Round Table he created a forum that would publish some of the most memorable journalism of the 20th century. The magazine may be named for New York, but its span exceeds the city’s limits. Its list of contributors is long and illustrious John Cheever, Eudora Welty, James Baldwin and William Trevor, to name a few and the number of books written about it or featuring the work of its writers and artists gets bigger every season. Worthy titles crop up regularly we counted eight in the past six months alone and a few of the most recent releases are highlighted here.

One of America’s greatest humorists, New Yorker cartoonist James Thurber was an artist who could, with a few shapely, articulate lines, produce quibbling siblings, bickering spouses and, of course, canines dogs of all shapes and sizes, dispositions and breeds. His big, bumbling mutts were creatures that didn’t know the difference between man and beast, that dragged their owners whither they would and did things only humans could went snow-skiing, say, or got psychoanalyzed. These and other Thurberesque absurdities are collected in The Dog Department: James Thurber on Hounds, Scotties, and Talking Poodles, an endearing anthology, edited by author Michael Rosen, of the artist’s dog-centered writings and drawings. Comprised of New Yorker shorts and unpublished archival material, along with selections from the book Thurber’s Dogs, this delightful, amply illustrated volume is filled with humor, advice and reflection Thurber-style on man’s best friend.

In the 1930s, as a reporter for The New Yorker, John McNulty frequented Costello’s Irish saloon on Third Avenue, a boisterous gin mill filled with cabbies, horseplayers and bums on the make that he immortalized in the pages of the magazine. The results are collected in This Place on Third Avenue, a group of slice-of-life stories brimming with humor and drama that feature the saloon, its habituŽs and their pungent, city-steeped dialect. This is the low life writ large, no fringe, no frills. McNulty calls ’em as he sees ’em, and the titles tell all: “Atheist hit by truck.” “Man here keeps getting arrested all the time.” Though a skyscraper now stands at the site of Costello’s, thanks to McNulty, the spirit of the place and the era lives on.

The Fun of It: Stories from The Talk of the Town brings together the best of the magazine’s trademark “Talk” essays, those succinct journalistic gems, full of crystalline reportage and plainspoken prose, about the everyday and the remarkable, the little man and the big. Spanning nine decades, The Fun of It opens with selections from the 1920s and features contributions by some of the magazine’s best writers, from E. B. White to Jamaica Kincaid to John McPhee. Edited by long-time staff member Lillian Ross, who chose from thousands of pieces, the volume is studded with standouts. Especially memorable are antic essays on the city from a young John Updike, and Jane Kramer’s visit with Samuel Beckett and Buster Keaton.

Another collection of classic profiles by Joseph Mitchell, McSorley’s Wonderful Saloon was included in his anthology Up In the Old Hotel but has not existed as a separate volume since it was first published in 1943, when it became a bestseller. Offering a gallery of unforgettable characters oystermen, barkeeps and street-walking eccentrics, a gypsy king and a true-blue bearded lady McSorley’s is vintage reporting from the man The New York Times once called “a listener of genius.”

ew Yorker wit and wisdom “Everybody talks of The New Yorker‘s art, that is its illustrations, and it has just been described as the best magazine in the world for a person who can not read,” Harold Ross, the magazine’s founder and editor, wrote in a 1925 letter. Oh, how times have changed. Although it’s […]
NonfictionHumor

Review

Review by bookpagedev

ew Yorker wit and wisdom “Everybody talks of The New Yorker‘s art, that is its illustrations, and it has just been described as the best magazine in the world for a person who can not read,” Harold Ross, the magazine’s founder and editor, wrote in a 1925 letter. Oh, how times have changed. Although it’s now a cultural institution, the magazine made a somewhat lackluster debut in February of 1925 and would have folded a few months later had it not been for Ross. A bluff, determined Westerner sometimes at odds with the Eastern elite, the editor fought hard to find a focus for his weekly. Rallying writers in the ’20s and ’30s many of them from the renowned Algonquin Round Table he created a forum that would publish some of the most memorable journalism of the 20th century. The magazine may be named for New York, but its span exceeds the city’s limits. Its list of contributors is long and illustrious John Cheever, Eudora Welty, James Baldwin and William Trevor, to name a few and the number of books written about it or featuring the work of its writers and artists gets bigger every season. Worthy titles crop up regularly we counted eight in the past six months alone and a few of the most recent releases are highlighted here.

One of America’s greatest humorists, New Yorker cartoonist James Thurber was an artist who could, with a few shapely, articulate lines, produce quibbling siblings, bickering spouses and, of course, canines dogs of all shapes and sizes, dispositions and breeds. His big, bumbling mutts were creatures that didn’t know the difference between man and beast, that dragged their owners whither they would and did things only humans could went snow-skiing, say, or got psychoanalyzed. These and other Thurberesque absurdities are collected in The Dog Department: James Thurber on Hounds, Scotties, and Talking Poodles, an endearing anthology, edited by author Michael Rosen, of the artist’s dog-centered writings and drawings. Comprised of New Yorker shorts and unpublished archival material, along with selections from the book Thurber’s Dogs, this delightful, amply illustrated volume is filled with humor, advice and reflection Thurber-style on man’s best friend.

In the 1930s, as a reporter for The New Yorker, John McNulty frequented Costello’s Irish saloon on Third Avenue, a boisterous gin mill filled with cabbies, horseplayers and bums on the make that he immortalized in the pages of the magazine. The results are collected in This Place on Third Avenue, a group of slice-of-life stories brimming with humor and drama that feature the saloon, its habituŽs and their pungent, city-steeped dialect. This is the low life writ large, no fringe, no frills. McNulty calls ’em as he sees ’em, and the titles tell all: “Atheist hit by truck.” “Man here keeps getting arrested all the time.” Though a skyscraper now stands at the site of Costello’s, thanks to McNulty, the spirit of the place and the era lives on.

The Fun of It: Stories from The Talk of the Town brings together the best of the magazine’s trademark “Talk” essays, those succinct journalistic gems, full of crystalline reportage and plainspoken prose, about the everyday and the remarkable, the little man and the big. Spanning nine decades, The Fun of It opens with selections from the 1920s and features contributions by some of the magazine’s best writers, from E. B. White to Jamaica Kincaid to John McPhee. Edited by long-time staff member Lillian Ross, who chose from thousands of pieces, the volume is studded with standouts. Especially memorable are antic essays on the city from a young John Updike, and Jane Kramer’s visit with Samuel Beckett and Buster Keaton.

Another collection of classic profiles by Joseph Mitchell, McSorley’s Wonderful Saloon was included in his anthology Up In the Old Hotel but has not existed as a separate volume since it was first published in 1943, when it became a bestseller. Offering a gallery of unforgettable characters oystermen, barkeeps and street-walking eccentrics, a gypsy king and a true-blue bearded lady McSorley’s is vintage reporting from the man The New York Times once called “a listener of genius.”

ew Yorker wit and wisdom “Everybody talks of The New Yorker‘s art, that is its illustrations, and it has just been described as the best magazine in the world for a person who can not read,” Harold Ross, the magazine’s founder and editor, wrote in a 1925 letter. Oh, how times have changed. Although it’s […]
Business & Finance

Business reading for uncertain times

Review by bookpagedev

For market watchers, these are uncertain times. The market boom, so spectacular in its sunrise, has faded to pale twilight. Reassessment is the watchword at many major American companies as terms like e-commerce, e-venture and Internet-driven fade from glory. Surely those concepts will re-emerge in a short time, dusted, retooled and remodeled. In the meantime, a period of corporate reflection settles over American business. This month we look at three books and an audiotape whose ideas seem relevant for this reflective era. Beginning with a book about the Federal Reserve and how it drives the markets to an exploration of new research on customer value and marketing, each title reflects new ideas American businesses must consider as the post-New Economy world reconsiders itself.

The Fed: The Inside Story of How the World’s Most Powerful Financial Institution Drives the Markets by Martin Mayer is a powerful book written with rare insight and aptitude by a longtime business journalist. Much has been made of Alan Greenspan, and much has been attributed to his acumen as the chief of the Federal Reserve. Mayer expands that view, giving us a historical account of the Fed’s role, from the 1920s through the1970s banking regulation to the 1987 crash and into the present century. Well-cited and carefully researched, Mayer’s book warns that while Fed policy has supported the past weight and inequities of the U.

S. banking system, like Atlas holding the earth, it "may not support tomorrow’s" problems. He calls for the Fed to bring the hidden maneuverings and derivatives dealings of the markets into public view, but says, "the Fed has never believed in sunshine as a disinfectant." Historically significant and timely, The Fed is an eye-opening reminder that the future of the markets is not always in our hands.

Game, Set, Match: Winning the Negotiations Game by Henry S. Kramer describes the "game we all play." Whether we’re talking about haggling over the price of a car, the outcome of a job raise or the sale of one corporate entity to another, negotiation is a prime activity for anyone entering the marketplace. Why is it important to plan a strategy for successful negotiation? What are the legal and ethical pitfalls of managing a negotiation? Kramer, an attorney and professor of negotiations simulation classes, argues you will not "end up where you want to be" if you do not prepare to ask for and creatively negotiate for the things you want. In an uncertain era, Kramer says "commercial and labor relations transactions involve fairly large sums of money, in which even the terms won by a good negotiator in a single negotiation may well reach six or seven figures . . . A good negotiator can be a real contributor to the bottom line." Clearly written with helpful tips, Game, Set, Match defines a new watchword as businesses look at new ways to reduce costs.

ValueSpace: Winning the Battle for Market Leadership by Banwari Mittal and Jagdish N. Sheth argues that a new paradigm is emerging in marketing. While most marketing programs rely on price points in the marketplace, Mittal and Sheth show real-market examples where the 3 Ps of marketing (price, performance and personalization) combine to create what they call ValueSpace.

ValueSpace, simply put, is a whole package of values customers want when they shop among major brands, services or products. Currently, many marketing managers focus on offering the lowest price for their product to win market share. Mittal and Sheth say successful brands offer more than low prices, they also offer great performance (think of the constant Palm Pilot innovations) and great "personalization" (Microsoft Outlook is appealing because it works easily with other computer programs). At core, the authors say, ValueSpace energizes quality and innovation practices within a corporation. From Xerox to Hilton to 3M, the authors document ValueSpace initiatives at many major American companies, highlighting innovation and quality control as key company components. For innovative companies, these ideas are nothing new; for everyone else, they will be keys to the future.

Free Agent Nation by Daniel H. Pink has just been released on audiotape. Pink’s fast-forward approach to the changing nature of employment is de rigeur listening. Termed "dis-organization" men and women, the ranks of 21st century employees may well include a mom-preneur, a consultant with flexible work hours or a freelance technology guru. Talented workers don’t need company loyalty, don’t expect it and are having a great time fending for themselves in the great wide world. Read by the author, a 30-something willing to challenge the status quo, Pink describes the coming work generation to a frightened corporate hierarchy and hopes Free Agent Nation will shake up corporate America.

Briefly Noted: The Customer Revolution by Patricia Seybold highlights another future trend a return to valuing the customer. Seybold delivers a straightforward message: your current customers are the backbone of your business; get to know them and why they are important to your business. Seybold shows how to create a great customer experience, drawing examples from hundreds of innovative and customer-motivated corporations. No marketing manager should miss this book.
The Future of Leadership edited by Warren Bennis, Gretchen M. Spreitzer and Thomas G. Cummings could be just another book on leadership principles, but it isn’t. Instead, the 18 essays reflect on the role of leadership in years to come. How will our concepts of leadership change? Particularly insightful are chapters on the promise of today’s youth as leaders and an essay on why we tolerate bad leaders. Required bedside reading for future CEOs.

 

For market watchers, these are uncertain times. The market boom, so spectacular in its sunrise, has faded to pale twilight. Reassessment is the watchword at many major American companies as terms like e-commerce, e-venture and Internet-driven fade from glory. Surely those concepts will re-emerge in a short time, dusted, retooled and remodeled. In the meantime, […]
Children's & YA

Review

Review by bookpagedev

, click, read Many young people complain that history is nothing more than dates, times and places. But young skeptics, aged 8-12, will undoubtedly be thrilled with the connectivity between printed page and real world experience offered through two recent series: The Hourglass Adventures and Dear Mr. President. These Winslow Press books illustrate how well the Web enhances the reading experience. Each book is augmented by interactive activities and curriculum, games, hot links, book reviews, author and illustrator sites, while focusing on international events and U.S. history. It’s a unique approach.

The Hourglass Adventures series, by Barbara Robertson, takes the reader on adventurous, action-packed journeys back in time. The international settings of bygone eras introduce readers aged 8-10 to well-researched historic events, different cultures and lifestyles, producing a true sense of the past. The first two books transport the readers to Berlin in Rosemary Meets Rosemarie and to Paris in Rosemary in Paris. Interactive Web prompts provide detailed information about a variety of subjects woven into the stories, like the Franco-Prussian War in a totally teen, totally cool way.

Also kid-engaging is the Dear Mr. President series that brings history to life through fictitious correspondence between a president of the United States and a young person. Although the letters were not actually written, the content is based on meticulous historical research that gives voice to America’s past through heartfelt exchange. The latest in the series, Abraham Lincoln: Letters from a Slave Girl, journals in heart-wrenching prose the horror of slavery and a president’s painful dilemma. Written by Andrea Davis Pinkney, Web prompts add depth, such as the causes of the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation. Thomas Jefferson: Letters from a Philadelphia Bookworm and Theodore Roosevelt: Letters from a Young Coal Miner, both by Jennifer Armstrong, are two other titles in this set that encourage interactive exploration for readers 9-12.

Both series are a marvel at integrating the printed word with Web resources, certain to entertain and inform a technology-savvy generation of young Americans. This fall, keep an eye open for additional and equally teen-absorbing titles.

, click, read Many young people complain that history is nothing more than dates, times and places. But young skeptics, aged 8-12, will undoubtedly be thrilled with the connectivity between printed page and real world experience offered through two recent series: The Hourglass Adventures and Dear Mr. President. These Winslow Press books illustrate how well […]
Business & Finance

Business reading for uncertain times

Review by bookpagedev

For market watchers, these are uncertain times. The market boom, so spectacular in its sunrise, has faded to pale twilight. Reassessment is the watchword at many major American companies as terms like e-commerce, e-venture and Internet-driven fade from glory. Surely those concepts will re-emerge in a short time, dusted, retooled and remodeled. In the meantime, a period of corporate reflection settles over American business. This month we look at three books and an audiotape whose ideas seem relevant for this reflective era. Beginning with a book about the Federal Reserve and how it drives the markets to an exploration of new research on customer value and marketing, each title reflects new ideas American businesses must consider as the post-New Economy world reconsiders itself.

The Fed: The Inside Story of How the World’s Most Powerful Financial Institution Drives the Markets by Martin Mayer is a powerful book written with rare insight and aptitude by a longtime business journalist. Much has been made of Alan Greenspan, and much has been attributed to his acumen as the chief of the Federal Reserve. Mayer expands that view, giving us a historical account of the Fed’s role, from the 1920s through the1970s banking regulation to the 1987 crash and into the present century. Well-cited and carefully researched, Mayer’s book warns that while Fed policy has supported the past weight and inequities of the U.S. banking system, like Atlas holding the earth, it "may not support tomorrow’s" problems. He calls for the Fed to bring the hidden maneuverings and derivatives dealings of the markets into public view, but says, "the Fed has never believed in sunshine as a disinfectant." Historically significant and timely, The Fed is an eye-opening reminder that the future of the markets is not always in our hands.

Game, Set, Match: Winning the Negotiations Game by Henry S. Kramer describes the "game we all play." Whether we’re talking about haggling over the price of a car, the outcome of a job raise or the sale of one corporate entity to another, negotiation is a prime activity for anyone entering the marketplace. Why is it important to plan a strategy for successful negotiation? What are the legal and ethical pitfalls of managing a negotiation? Kramer, an attorney and professor of negotiations simulation classes, argues you will not "end up where you want to be" if you do not prepare to ask for and creatively negotiate for the things you want. In an uncertain era, Kramer says "commercial and labor relations transactions involve fairly large sums of money, in which even the terms won by a good negotiator in a single negotiation may well reach six or seven figures . . . A good negotiator can be a real contributor to the bottom line." Clearly written with helpful tips, Game, Set, Match defines a new watchword as businesses look at new ways to reduce costs.

ValueSpace: Winning the Battle for Market Leadership by Banwari Mittal and Jagdish N. Sheth argues that a new paradigm is emerging in marketing. While most marketing programs rely on price points in the marketplace, Mittal and Sheth show real-market examples where the 3 Ps of marketing (price, performance and personalization) combine to create what they call ValueSpace.

ValueSpace, simply put, is a whole package of values customers want when they shop among major brands, services or products. Currently, many marketing managers focus on offering the lowest price for their product to win market share. Mittal and Sheth say successful brands offer more than low prices, they also offer great performance (think of the constant Palm Pilot innovations) and great "personalization" (Microsoft Outlook is appealing because it works easily with other computer programs). At core, the authors say, ValueSpace energizes quality and innovation practices within a corporation. From Xerox to Hilton to 3M, the authors document ValueSpace initiatives at many major American companies, highlighting innovation and quality control as key company components. For innovative companies, these ideas are nothing new; for everyone else, they will be keys to the future.

Free Agent Nation by Daniel H. Pink has just been released on audiotape. Pink’s fast-forward approach to the changing nature of employment is de rigeur listening. Termed "dis-organization" men and women, the ranks of 21st century employees may well include a mom-preneur, a consultant with flexible work hours or a freelance technology guru. Talented workers don’t need company loyalty, don’t expect it and are having a great time fending for themselves in the great wide world. Read by the author, a 30-something willing to challenge the status quo, Pink describes the coming work generation to a frightened corporate hierarchy and hopes Free Agent Nation will shake up corporate America.

Briefly Noted: The Customer Revolution by Patricia Seybold highlights another future trend a return to valuing the customer. Seybold delivers a straightforward message: your current customers are the backbone of your business; get to know them and why they are important to your business. Seybold shows how to create a great customer experience, drawing examples from hundreds of innovative and customer-motivated corporations. No marketing manager should miss this book.

The Future of Leadership edited by Warren Bennis, Gretchen M. Spreitzer and Thomas G. Cummings could be just another book on leadership principles, but it isn’t. Instead, the 18 essays reflect on the role of leadership in years to come. How will our concepts of leadership change? Particularly insightful are chapters on the promise of today’s youth as leaders and an essay on why we tolerate bad leaders. Required bedside reading for future CEOs.

For market watchers, these are uncertain times. The market boom, so spectacular in its sunrise, has faded to pale twilight. Reassessment is the watchword at many major American companies as terms like e-commerce, e-venture and Internet-driven fade from glory. Surely those concepts will re-emerge in a short time, dusted, retooled and remodeled. In the meantime, […]
Children's & YA

Review

Review by bookpagedev

, click, read Many young people complain that history is nothing more than dates, times and places. But young skeptics, aged 8-12, will undoubtedly be thrilled with the connectivity between printed page and real world experience offered through two recent series: The Hourglass Adventures and Dear Mr. President. These Winslow Press books illustrate how well the Web enhances the reading experience. Each book is augmented by interactive activities and curriculum, games, hot links, book reviews, author and illustrator sites, while focusing on international events and U.S. history. It’s a unique approach.

The Hourglass Adventures series, by Barbara Robertson, takes the reader on adventurous, action-packed journeys back in time. The international settings of bygone eras introduce readers aged 8-10 to well-researched historic events, different cultures and lifestyles, producing a true sense of the past. The first two books transport the readers to Berlin in Rosemary Meets Rosemarie and to Paris in Rosemary in Paris. Interactive Web prompts provide detailed information about a variety of subjects woven into the stories, like the Franco-Prussian War in a totally teen, totally cool way.

Also kid-engaging is the Dear Mr. President series that brings history to life through fictitious correspondence between a president of the United States and a young person. Although the letters were not actually written, the content is based on meticulous historical research that gives voice to America’s past through heartfelt exchange. The latest in the series, Abraham Lincoln: Letters from a Slave Girl, journals in heart-wrenching prose the horror of slavery and a president’s painful dilemma. Written by Andrea Davis Pinkney, Web prompts add depth, such as the causes of the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation. Thomas Jefferson: Letters from a Philadelphia Bookworm and Theodore Roosevelt: Letters from a Young Coal Miner, both by Jennifer Armstrong, are two other titles in this set that encourage interactive exploration for readers 9-12.

Both series are a marvel at integrating the printed word with Web resources, certain to entertain and inform a technology-savvy generation of young Americans. This fall, keep an eye open for additional and equally teen-absorbing titles.

, click, read Many young people complain that history is nothing more than dates, times and places. But young skeptics, aged 8-12, will undoubtedly be thrilled with the connectivity between printed page and real world experience offered through two recent series: The Hourglass Adventures and Dear Mr. President. These Winslow Press books illustrate how well […]
Children's & YA

Review

Review by bookpagedev

, click, read Many young people complain that history is nothing more than dates, times and places. But young skeptics, aged 8-12, will undoubtedly be thrilled with the connectivity between printed page and real world experience offered through two recent series: The Hourglass Adventures and Dear Mr. President. These Winslow Press books illustrate how well the Web enhances the reading experience. Each book is augmented by interactive activities and curriculum, games, hot links, book reviews, author and illustrator sites, while focusing on international events and U.S. history. It’s a unique approach.

The Hourglass Adventures series, by Barbara Robertson, takes the reader on adventurous, action-packed journeys back in time. The international settings of bygone eras introduce readers aged 8-10 to well-researched historic events, different cultures and lifestyles, producing a true sense of the past. The first two books transport the readers to Berlin in Rosemary Meets Rosemarie and to Paris in Rosemary in Paris. Interactive Web prompts provide detailed information about a variety of subjects woven into the stories, like the Franco-Prussian War in a totally teen, totally cool way.

Also kid-engaging is the Dear Mr. President series that brings history to life through fictitious correspondence between a president of the United States and a young person. Although the letters were not actually written, the content is based on meticulous historical research that gives voice to America’s past through heartfelt exchange. The latest in the series, Abraham Lincoln: Letters from a Slave Girl, journals in heart-wrenching prose the horror of slavery and a president’s painful dilemma. Written by Andrea Davis Pinkney, Web prompts add depth, such as the causes of the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation. Thomas Jefferson: Letters from a Philadelphia Bookworm and Theodore Roosevelt: Letters from a Young Coal Miner, both by Jennifer Armstrong, are two other titles in this set that encourage interactive exploration for readers 9-12.

Both series are a marvel at integrating the printed word with Web resources, certain to entertain and inform a technology-savvy generation of young Americans. This fall, keep an eye open for additional and equally teen-absorbing titles.

, click, read Many young people complain that history is nothing more than dates, times and places. But young skeptics, aged 8-12, will undoubtedly be thrilled with the connectivity between printed page and real world experience offered through two recent series: The Hourglass Adventures and Dear Mr. President. These Winslow Press books illustrate how well […]
Children's & YA

Review

Review by bookpagedev

The cover of this gorgeous, fat, new book for children boldly claims “with 1,000 recommended Web sites,” and they aren’t kidding. Every page is garnished with wonderful further references for kids to pursue on the Web. This book is as much a fun browser book as it is a helpful reference source. I couldn’t stop turning pages, and I’ve been an adult for some time now.

In 450 packed, oversize, full-color pages, the many authors and contributors manage to cram a pretty fair index of the myriad of scientific topics out there confusing and delighting us. Kids will find well-written, lucid sections on flowerless plants, animal senses, locomotion, reproduction, the nervous system and just about everything else animal or botanical. But the book doesn’t stop with living things. There are beautifully illustrated explanations of the planets of the solar system, the geology of earthquakes, our current notions of the early earth, and the physics of motion. Not surprisingly, such a book includes a nice explanation of how the Internet actually works. Excellent “See for Yourself” sections offer simple, clear experiments and research that keep the book from being “merely” a reference or browser book. It is both hands-on and virtual, a perfect combination for the millennial reader.

The cover of this gorgeous, fat, new book for children boldly claims “with 1,000 recommended Web sites,” and they aren’t kidding. Every page is garnished with wonderful further references for kids to pursue on the Web. This book is as much a fun browser book as it is a helpful reference source. I couldn’t stop […]
LifestylesHealth & Fitness

Review

Review by bookpagedev

Staying on track At first glance it looks something like a proud parent’s “Baby Book.” But appearances can be deceiving The Cancer Patient’s Workbook: Everything You Need to Stay Organized and Informed by Joanie Willis is actually an excellent resource for the cancer patient who prefers a hands-on approach to dealing with illness. Well illustrated (it even has cartoons) and thoughtfully designed, the workbook supplies readers with information on treatments, healthful eating and more questions to ask oncology, radiation and surgery experts than one would ever think of on one’s own, not to mention a place to record the answers. Some cancer writers counsel developing a spirit of detachment and observation. The Cancer Patient’s Workbook (complete with a cover that can be removed along with any outer reference to cancer, so you can carry it anywhere) certainly offers the wherewithal to achieve some measure of objectivity. It also provides inspirational material, even jokes (unrelated to cancer) to lift the spirit. However, be warned, this workbook skips nothing! It also has sections on writing obituaries and wills, planning funerals and bequeathing one’s precious things to others. Still, the overall air of the book is hopeful, courageous and enabling and by the end even the little cartoons that seem incongruous at the start have turned into familiar icons for doing what must be done to survive trouble with grace and dignity.

Staying on track At first glance it looks something like a proud parent’s “Baby Book.” But appearances can be deceiving The Cancer Patient’s Workbook: Everything You Need to Stay Organized and Informed by Joanie Willis is actually an excellent resource for the cancer patient who prefers a hands-on approach to dealing with illness. Well illustrated […]

Review

Review by bookpagedev

Red, white and blue business Just in time for the Fourth of July and summer reading, a collection of essays by John Steele Gordon beats with a patriotic undertone. The business historian and author culled the best of his monthly columns from American Heritage magazine to create a splendid summer reading diversion, The Business of America. These thought-provoking, deceptively simple, yet amusing columns combine to create a powerful history of the American landscape as well as the American economy. Gordon includes his well-known essay "The Tragedy of the Commons," a classic look at the economic policy that imperils the ocean and its resources. Serious fun erupts, however, as he relates the story of the creation of Liederkranz cheese, one of America’s three indigenous cheese creations. (Do you know what the other two are?) Gordon writes with humor and a sharp eye for the details of American commerce. He imbues these essays, however, with an unerring sense of history and a careful accuracy. I’d be surprised if you, like I, did not want to read more about the stories he tells. Fortunately, he includes a wonderful bibliography for each essay that encourages the budding historian in all of us to read on.

Sometimes, Gordon says "economic history like economics is . . . thought to be deadly dull. But . . . I have always loved the tales of adventure and daring to be found in economic history and fascinating men (and, now, increasingly women) who made it." After reading this book, business maven or not, you will agree with Gordon that the business of America is a fascinating topic.

 

Red, white and blue business Just in time for the Fourth of July and summer reading, a collection of essays by John Steele Gordon beats with a patriotic undertone. The business historian and author culled the best of his monthly columns from American Heritage magazine to create a splendid summer reading diversion, The Business of […]
Travel

Review

Review by bookpagedev

Anchors aweigh! Have you ever wanted to chuck out all bills, meetings, deadlines, traffic and try a more rewarding lifestyle? One California couple, Eva and Ron Stob, had the courage to do just that, and they’ve written a guidebook for other dreamers who want to follow in their wake. Honey, Let’s Get a Boat . . . explains how the Stobs managed to quit their jobs, put their house up for rent, buy a boat and take off on a year-long cruise through America’s Intracoastal Waterway. "Many people talk about following their dreams, and don’t," the Stobs write. "We were intent on putting our Nikes on and doing it." With almost no boating experience between them, the couple spent more than a year learning everything they would need to know to purchase and pilot a suitable boat. When they found a 40-foot trawler (which they christened Dream O’ Genie), they borrowed money, cashed in their savings accounts, sold their truck and were off on a great adventure. Their 6,300-mile route on the Great Loop took them from Florida to New York, Canada, the Great Lakes, the Mississippi and Ohio rivers, the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway and finally through the Gulf of Mexico back to Florida. The Stobs’ entertaining and honest account of this remarkable trip will leave you laughing, doubting, cheering and perhaps inspired to try such a journey yourself.

Anchors aweigh! Have you ever wanted to chuck out all bills, meetings, deadlines, traffic and try a more rewarding lifestyle? One California couple, Eva and Ron Stob, had the courage to do just that, and they’ve written a guidebook for other dreamers who want to follow in their wake. Honey, Let’s Get a Boat . […]

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