By Eve Ensler
Book review by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.
This is the first book by Eve Ensler that I have read, and I am unfamiliar with anything she has produced previously; thus, in my review I have depended on others to judge the book. I can say this about it: It is a short read and very provocative. By provocative I simply mean that it makes you think — deeply. It is full of poems, and some of them link together thoughts and ideas and words.
“The Compulsive Reader” from Big Rapids, MI, writes a terrific review of this book at Amazon.com. I am quoting the entire review here because I agree with the insights shared — completely:
“I Am an Emotional Creature is, quite simply, a book of diverse monologues, told by young girls all around the world. Whether these girls' stories are familiar or foreign to you, they all are confronting the complex issue of defining oneself in a world full of contradictions, where girls are told they must be polite and pretty and perfect to fit in, yet are encouraged to be strong and independent and to dream big at the same time. Every girl's story is unique and equally jarring, from the simple confrontation of peer pressure in the average high school to tales of girls sold for sex miles and oceans away. This book is filled with girl stories: those forced to undergo unwanted plastic surgery, working in far-away factories making Barbies, pregnant girls, anorexic girls, and girls just talking. Each story is surprising and alive.
I Am an Emotional Creature is a hybrid in the style in which it is told. Though most of the monologues are straightforward prose, poems and scripts are sprinkled throughout these fictional stories, made even more realistic by the many "Girl Facts" interspersed throughout the book. Ensler captures the essence of being a girl and being human without being trite or even touching on clichés, and the result is a bold, incisive, emotional, and achingly real testament to teen girls and their power and verve. This book will not only make you think, but also quite possibly change the way you think about teen girls today.”
The front flyleaf says this about the book: I Am an Emotional Creature is a celebration of the authentic voice inside every girl and an inspiring call to action for girls everywhere to speak up, follow their dreams, and become the women they were always meant to be.”
From the back flyleaf, “About the Author”: Ensler “is an internationally best-selling author and an acclaimed playwright whose works for the stage include The Vagina Monologues, Necessary Targets, and The Good Body . . . Ensler is the founder of V-Day, the global movement to and violence against women and girls. In the last decade, V-Day has raised more than $70 million for grassroots groups that work to end volence against women and girls around the world.”
Michael Dorenzo of Santa Cruz, California, wrote this on Amazon.com: “I ordered this book after listening to Ms. Engler's talk and performance of the piece, ‘I am an emotional creature" on TED Talks via You Tube. It was sent to me by one of my ‘girls’ on the east coast who works at Cornell University and who sent it to all her girls, both female and male. I quickly sent it to all of mine.
“I have mentored girls through my work at UCSC and in my community and family and it always brings me such joy to be around them...Hearing her perform the poem from which the book gets its name simply rocked my world. I couldn't wait to order the book.
“It addresses in the most direct way the girl in all of us...that most precious of resources that we tend to abandon, repress, abuse and disown in so many ways and in accordance with so many cultural directives. It is a beautiful articulation of the wild, creative, dangerous, indomitable feminine--both an affirmation and a call to action.
I'd like to give the book to all the girls I know.“
This book is available at Amazon.com: I am an emotional creature: The secret life of girls around the world
Monday, February 28, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Old is the New Young: Erickson's Secrets to Healthy Living
Book review by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.
There
are a number of things that make this book an excellent choice. First,
it is expertly written. Being direct and to the point, it talks
directly to readers as if the authors are in the same room, and the
writing style is comfortable, relaxed, and engaging.
The
second thing that makes this book an excellent choice is that sections
are short so that it can be read in brief moments when you don’t have
the time for a long, involved, and committed read.
The
third thing that makes this book an excellent choice is the brief,
interesting, and human-interest vignettes that are set apart in sections
that are gray in color. These segments are always relevant to the
material and useful.
The
fourth thing that makes this book an excellent choice is the practical,
specific advice. Throughout the book there are tips, suggestions,
questions, quizzes, activities, and scales for rating yourself. It
offers so many opportunities for readers to engage in self-assessment.
The
fifth thing that makes this book an excellent choice is the topics
covered. Topics include your health, keeping your body young, keeping
your mind young, engaging socially, financial advice, and your
retirement vision.
The
sixth thing that makes this book an excellent choice is all the
additional resources the authors provide at the back of the book.
Twenty-two pages of this 241-page book are devoted (in two appendices)
to resources. (Their bibliography is ten pages long.)
Overall, I am impressed with what the authors have put together here, and I highly recommend this book.
Get this book now at Amazon.com: Old is the New Young: Erickson's Secrets to Healthy Living
Monday, February 14, 2011
You say more than you think: A 7-day plan for using the new body language to get what you want
Book Review by Richad L. Weaver II, PhD.
I
have been reading and writing about nonverbal communication since 1971
(39 years ago!) since the publication of Julius Fast’s popular book,
Body Language — which was truly a novelty at the time. Having written
many chapters — and numerous updates — on the subject since the
publication of my first college textbook, Speech/Communication (Van
Nostrand, 1974), Julius Fast’s book was always considered by academics
as a “hack job” by an unqualified writer.
This
entire book of 216 pages has only 20 sources (pp. 215-216). The
subject, nonverbal communication, has been studied intensely in the
academic world for well over 25 years, and there are thousands of
available resources. Not one of her sources comes out of the
speech-communication discipline, and several come from Psychology Today
and one from the Calgary Herald.
I
found the pictures interesting but not particularly helpful. For those
not familiar with the nonverbal communication literature and not
particularly observant of all the nonverbal communication that occurs
around them, they may well find information here that is new or
insightful. I found, for the most part, the information to be common
sense.
The
portions of the book I found most interesting were the stories the
authors tell, the insights gained from all the training Janine Driver
has engaged in, and the many interpretations of nonverbal cues they
offer. She is the founder and president of the Body Language Institute,
and she has — according to the blurb on the inside back flyleaf —
“trained thousands of law enforcement officers to decipher fact from
fiction using the body language interpretation methods she writes
about.”
Another
enjoyable feature of this entertaining book (please consider it
entertainment only!) is the sassy approach the authors take toward many
of the topics discussed. It makes the writing fun: “If you don’t want
to give off a passive-aggressive vibe—bump up that one-handed broadside
display a notch and move to the more confident two-handed Superman pose”
(p. 122).
To
reveal (somewhat) the level of writing in this book, here is a
quotation: “Align your belly button to your teen’s, and you’ll be on the
path of open, respectful, and powerful communication” (p. 71).
Please
don’t think that the advice in the book is wrong or even that because
it lacks any evidential base that it is inconsequential, that is not my
point. My point is that so much of the interpretation of nonverbal
communication cues and gestures is based on the context or based on the
personalities of those involved, that interpretation can be
substantially off base. The 7 myths the authors discuss in Chapter 1,
“The New Body Language: What I’ll Tell You That Other Experts Won’t,”
are useful; however, the title of the chapter suggests that Driver is
truly an expert (she is not), and it reveals the unmitigated, bold,
self-assurance that should make every reader question the authors’
authority and credibility. If you know this as you approach the book,
it will help you take what the authors say as one interpretation, or one
approach, or one way of looking at nonverbal communication. As I have
said, as an entertaining read, this book is a winner.
This book is available at Amazon.com: You say more than you think: A 7-day plan for using the new body language to get what you want
Monday, February 7, 2011
Theodor SEUSS Geisel (Lives and Legacies)
Book Review by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.
From the English Department, Dartmouth University, website :
“Donald Pease, professor of English, Avalon Foundation Chair of the
Humanities, Chair of the Dartmouth Liberal Studies Program and winner of
the 1981 Distinguished Teaching Award at Dartmouth, is an authority on
nineteenth and twentieth-century American literature and literary
theory. In the summer of 1986 he brought the School of Criticism and
Theory to Dartmouth. In 1996 he founded the Dartmouth Institute in
American Studies and in 1997 he has also served as Academic Director of
the Alumni College program.”
Despite
his outstanding credentials, this is not an academic book. It is a
readable, factual, well-documented, thorough, and highly interesting
book.
These are the first two paragraphs of his biography, published at the website, “Dr. Suess National Memorial :
“Theodor Seuss Geisel, better known to the world as the beloved Dr.
Seuss, was born in 1904 on Howard Street in Springfield, Massachusetts.
Ted's father, Theodor Robert, and grandfather were brewmasters in the
city. His mother, Henrietta Seuss Geisel, often soothed her children to
sleep by "chanting" rhymes remembered from her youth. Ted credited his
mother with both his ability and desire to create the rhymes for which
he became so well known.
Although
the Geisels enjoyed great financial success for many years, the onset
of World War I and Prohibition presented both financial and social
challenges for the German immigrants. Nonetheless, the family persevered
and again prospered, providing Ted and his sister, Marnie, with happy
childhoods.”
The
only review of the book posted on Amazon.com when I wrote my review, is
this 5-star one by A. Nazaryan, who nicely sums up all that I have to
say about the book: “Highly readable, deeply informative, this is a
lively take on the life of our most famous children's author. Much less
academic - or heavy - than previous works on Seuss, it covers both his
life and work while unraveling aspects of his life readers probably
don't know much about: his relationship with his mother (who gave him
the name Seuss), his rowdy days at Dartmouth, his work for the New
Yorker, his first wife's suicide and, of course, how he came up with
some of the most memorable characters in all of literature.”
The book is fantastic, the additional illustrations are a terrific addition, and I highly recommend this book.
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