March 21, 2023
As a medical student questioning whether she was on the right path, Alicia Blando yearned for what she called a “rule book for life.” Four decades later, she’s written that rulebook, based on astrology and titled Open for Interpretation.
Blando writes that she was first attracted to astrology as a teenager, when she discovered horoscopes […]
February 14, 2023
In this exciting and exceedingly well-written book, Gilbert E. Mulley illuminates how a host of problems humankind faces today are connected and proposes a credible (if not imminent) framework to address them.
Mulley, a retired writer-editor, succinctly describes sources of problems like diminishing natural resources, pollution, poverty and racism. While most of his examples come […]
February 21, 2022
Jerry Schaefer’s latest book Isn’t It Kind of Funny That… includes questions and comments intended to spark personal reflection.
The book is a mix of elements. Some pages ask a question that takes its cue from the title, such as “Isn’t it kind of funny that…we do not take seriously someone who is smiling or […]
December 6, 2021
With Journey’s End, editors Victoria Brewster and Julie Saeger Nierenberg offer a valuable sourcebook on death and dying.
The editors begin by offering context to the subject, with chapters discussing: how people experience the process of death, hospice and palliative care, what constitutes a “good death,” and the COVID pandemic.
These are followed by essays […]
February 2, 2021
In 1989, Winston Perez had a revelation. While reviewing a new design for a newspaper he published, he discovered the basis of a discipline he calls Concept Modeling. Concept Modeling takes any idea—be it a new product or a movie franchise—and breaks it down to the underlying conceptual building-blocks that define it. His book provides […]
January 4, 2021
Funny Thing Is, by philosopher and playwright Stephen Evans, is a witty, insightful look at what constitutes and characterizes comedy. With its accessible style and straightforward approach, it follows in the vein of Harry Frankfurt’s popular philosophy work On Bullshit but hews closer to the literary style of continental philosophy than the anglophone analytical tradition […]
January 4, 2021
This inspiring book comprises short, engaging stories about dozens of black families’ reunion traditions, as well as a “how-to” guide any extended family can use to plan a lively event and strengthen its bonds.
Dr. Ione D. Vargus is affectionately known as the “Mother of Family Reunions,” having founded the Family Reunion Institute in 1990 […]
November 30, 2020
In a society awash in narcissistic self-absorption, Simeon W. Johnson offers an alternative: In You’re A Worthwhile Person, he seeks to bring attention and appreciation to “the unsung heroes of everyday life.”
The author focuses on the people who work behind the scenes to make our lives easier. His book is broken down into 11 […]
May 13, 2019
The 2008 recession was the greatest economic crisis since the 1930s. In Shell Game, M.K. Hoffman asserts that neither banks and investors nor Freddie and Fannie were to blame. It was something apparently unrelated to mortgages: oil prices.
The rise in oil prices following 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, Hoffman writes, proved that consumers would […]
December 24, 2018
With this book, Dr. Muhammed Khalid Syed targets a niche audience: those preparing to take pediatric surgical exams. “I realised there is a shortage of MCQ (multiple-choice question) books that provide specific, in-depth knowledge of paediatric surgery,” he writes in his Preface. “To fulfill the needs of candidates, I decided to write a MCQ book […]