Black: A Celebration Of Culture

Deborah Willis compiles a book of photographs dating back a hundred years, depicting African American history through ordinary lives. The photos include musicians and painters, poets and scholars, and plain ordinary working wage-earners. All the photos in the book are positive, no shirtless tattooed gold-draped thugs or hopeless images. We see parents with their kids, Elks Club gatherings, religion, farming, and learning.

One of the displays I found most unusual was the one of Black College sports teams. There was a 1940 photo of the Howard University women’s rifle team, which shocked me, because shooting sports are not a stereotypically African American pastime. As for the era, I thought it even more unusual to see a shooting team composed of women at the time. Then again, WWII was approaching, so maybe this had to do with national defense? The Howard University boxing team also has a photo here. No tattoos or funny piercings.

Altogether, I saw it’s good to see something positive here. One of the photos was of a woman in New Jersey who had a backyard farm on her property for decades, growing her own food and selling it in nearby Philadelphia to make some extra money. The subject of African American farmers has been lost on the media, usually ignored in favor of hip-hop and Hollywood. But it’s good to see images of people prospering in their own way and enjoying the proceeds.

Sanctuary: Britain's Artists And Their Studios

London, 1999, Mark Leckey’s video Fiorucci Made Me Hardcore was shown at the ICA, with his footage of British youth subculture over the decades. He was part of the new British art scene, which was slowly making headway into the USA. The Young British Artists were creating a slow but steady sensation in New York, with the Saatchi collection generating controversy at the Brooklyn Museum. I was moderately familiar with British artists at the time, thanks to the Chapman Brothers 1997 show at the Gagosian. Rachel Whiteread, with her concrete house sculptures, had created some pieces in New York, one of which ended up on the roof of a NYC tenement. But these British artists had come along much later than the New York art scene. Economics had a lot to do with it.

Santuary’s first chapter, focusing on Iwona Blazwick, describes the role of studio space, not only for creation, but also for promotion. If the artist can’t get a gallery to show the work, the studio can be used for display. Who else would epitomize this than Andy Warhol, whose “factory” was an art studio, museum, party space, and a physical advertisement.  But Warhol had a lot more going for him than most British artists; New York City in the 1960’s was cheap, and Warhol had backing from wealthy patrons. He was an exception to how artists usually live and work.

Rachel Whiteread, probably one of the best known of the YBA, says she lived in a council flat when she was just starting out. She discusses how she did her drawings on a kitchen table in the winter, and used her unheated studio in the summer. This illustrates the issue behind the personalized studio, in that it effects the physical size of the art. Take for instance an artist who can’t afford a studio at all, so she does small drawing in her apartment. She won’t have room for big canvases, and in a residential building, she can’t use flammable paint or anything with a bad smell. You’d think this wouldn’t be a handicap, but it will be if the galleries want to show big paintings. Even more ironic is that in big cities, apartments are usually too small to display big art. Some of the best pieces in Whiteread’s studio are small ones, probably done on the average drawing pad from the local stationary store. Then again, maybe not, maybe they’re done on “special” paper that costs 50 pennies for a letter-size sheet? Either way, whatever artwork she’s been doing for the last 20 years required a large investment. She says her earliest works came as the result of grants. She should feel lucky to have gotten them.

One thing that would create a great dynamic in this book would be “rivalry dialogue,” where two artists critique each other. Since this book is about studios and not artwork, I would love to have seen Frances Bacon and the Chapman Brothers trash each other’s workspace. Bacon, Freud, Hockney, and a lot of the older British artists have charming studios, in little side street “mews” or country houses. But Whiteread and the Chapmans, despite their reputations for shock, have rather conservative space. The Chapmans’ studio looks like the inside of a warehouse, with white walls, concrete floors, and relatively little art displayed on the wall. It looks nothing like the celebratory image of Andy Warhol’s factory. As for Whiteread, her studio looks like a cramped graphic design firm, with lightboxes, long tables, and lots of things taped to the wall. Maybe this illustrates the British work ethic of these artists? When you don’t have the access to patronage and capital, as the New York artists did, you probably have to hustle. Turning your studio into a 24 hour party zone would be out of the question.

Looking back on my days in London (circa 1990) I remember the condition of the city; run-down neighborhoods, undesirable areas, and that should’ve meant plenty of space for studios. But at the time, Britain lacked one thing that the New York art world had, and that was capital patronage. The USA had millionaires; Rockefeller, Carnegie, Cooper, Hewitt, Pratt, Whitney, Guggenheim, and Vanderbilt, all competing to build universities and museums. The Guggenheims were huge patrons of the arts, and Pollock and De Kooning would’ve been nothing without their patronage. Britain didn’t have all the millionaire industrialists looking to promote the artists, so Britain’s art scene came in late. But in the last decade, even London’s art scene is being edged out by cheaper cities like Berlin. In fact most of the work at the Venice Biennial is probably made in Berlin, as discussed in the book Dark Matter. I wonder where the next one will be?

Maybe it’ll be Florida, where the housing is cheap and the weather is sunny? Then again, unlike New York City and London, Florida’s cities have never been a “culture capital.”

Theatre, Teens, and Sex Ed

 Since 1998, the play “Are We There Yet?” has been used in Canada to teach impressionable teenagers about sex. The reasons behind it are many; for starters, kids are having sex earlier than ever, and secondly, sex education in schools is often minimal. Some teenagers believe that you can’t get pregnant the first time you have intercourse, which we know is not true at all. Another problem is that if girls have sex before their organs are developed, they’re not going to get much pleasure out of it, and that can lead to unhealthy sex habits.

The authors stress that when teaching sex ed to kids, you need to both demystify the idea of sex, while at the same time removing the sensationalism of mass media. The average teenager girl looks nothing like the perfectly-figured women of TV shows, and real girls have acne, crooked teeth, messy hair, etc. Using the play AWTY, you can strip away the blockages of peer pressure, media, guilt, or cultural biases. One of the things the authors discuss as well is the high rates of teenage pregnancy and STD’s, including HIV, among aboriginal families. One interview subject describes how she grew up in a family where sex was a dirty topic, something you didn’t talk about. But she appreciated the way kids could go into the school gym and see a play about sex, in a way they could relate to.

In an age when internet porn is widely available, and children are being sexualized at an early age, it has become more important than ever to teach young people about sex. This book not only has great advice on using drama to teach kid about sex, it also comes with a CD to accompany the book. I would recommend this for educators who are implementing a high school sex ed program.

Faithful Bodies by Heather Miyao Kopelson

Kopelson, a professor at the University of Alabama, examines an issue of history that is often overlooked. She compares religious practices in three different American colonies, and how they shaped views on race and social class. Before I go further, I want to refer to the young adult classis “The Witch of Blackbird Pond.” Though a secondary source and a work of fiction, it illustrates a famous difference in colonial life; the carefree attitude of the West Indies versus the harsh practice of New England. It also illustrates the Puritans’ abuse of the Quakers. Anyone who has studied US history of the 17^th century will probably ask “why were the Puritans so afraid of the Quakers, when the Quakers were pacifists and unlikely to be a physical threat?

For starters, look at the portrayal of the relationship between Natives and the settlers, with regard to Christianity. The native tribes were encouraged to convert, often by force, while at the same time there was war. If the Protestant Anglo settlers, many of them Puritans, held the natives in low regard, why would they care if they became Christian? One possibility is that it was a way to pacify them and reduce their threat to the settlers, who encroached on the tribes’ lands. According to the author, the punishment for native-on-settler offenses were greater than if it were the other way around, so we know the relationship was unequal. So when the natives were pushed to convert, maybe it was a way to control them and keep them from gaining power.

Kopelson also discusses the way African slaves in Bermuda practiced Christianity and the way the white viewed it. There was no equivalent of King Philips War on the island, and less fear of slave rebellions in the 1700’s. This led to less paranoia about how the slaves (or freemen) worshipped. But there was still a paternalistic attitude towards their conversion to Christianity, and it was often used as a way to keep mixed-race children enslaved. White settlers would take in and raise mixed-race kids on the condition that they be raised Christian.

The economic dynamic of the New England colonies and the West Indian colonies was stark. You had the English planters in Bermuda with huge land grants from the King, using slave labor to grow sugar. In Massachusetts, in New England, however, you had cold weather, so there wouldn’t be any sugar plantations. Life was a bit tougher than the warm island of the Caribbean, and there was the constant threat of natives attacking you. The Puritans who settled the area were desperate to maintain absolute control, and no disagreement could be tolerated. This led to abuse of Quakers, whom the Puritans deemed rebellious and harsh punishments for “immoralities,” because the Puritans didn’t want anyone having too many rights.

Just because slavery was less common in the north, doesn’t mean there weren’t any human rights abuses. Things could be lousy up in the north as well as down in the south.

True Ghost Stories From America’s Most Haunted Neighborhood

The best ghost stories always come from neighborhoods with lots of old homes, so it’s no wonder that Louisville, Kentucky, has a record number of hauntings for a US city (Pluckley, England, has the world record.) David Domine starts with the Widmer House, which he bought and lived in, along with a noisy ghost named Lucy. It’s not a horror story; all she does is knock pictures off their hooks, and they pacify her by loudly asking permission and acknowledging that it’s “her” house.

One of the stories, about the “Witches’ Tree,” is obviously a silly rumor based on appearance. The tree in question is extremely ugly, dotted with massive knots that look like heads swirling up in a fire tornado. It’s just the kind of ugliness that makes you think of witches, and that idea is based on stereotyping as well. Witches are usually portrayed as old and ugly, with scratchy voices. If the witches were portrayed as attractive young women, with beautiful blonde hair and blue eyes, then they wouldn’t really be scary, would they?

Some of the ghost stories involve the city’s racist past, such as a gated private block that allegedly had a lynching tree. Others involve orphan homes, hotels, almost all of them located in the city’s well-preserved houses. Regardless of whether or not you’re a fan of ghosts and the paranormal, this book will make you want to visit Louisville on your vacation.

You Are The Placebo by Dr. Joe Dispenza

In an age of medications, fad diets, and quack self-help gurus, this book is an antidote to a whole lot of health scams. Dr. Dispenza refers to a British army physician Henry Beecher who used saline shots in place of morphine, deducing that the thought of being sedated was as good as the real thing. Perhaps the true effect was that the soldier’s anxiety and stress were reduced, making everything seem easier by comparison? Whatever the case, the facts are clear; self-hypnosis can have as great an effect as a whole lot of medications.

One of the chapters, titled “The Placebo Effect On The Body,” discusses age versus imagined age. In one study, some old men are asked to imagine they are 22 years old. They’re taken to a monastery, given magazines and TV from the era, and allowed to act as they did all those years ago. The results are reduced stress and blood pressure, improved hearing and eye sight, and general improvements in health. Lifestyle changes can be an obvious factor in health improvements, as it was in this case.

Dr. Dispenza’s book continues with case studies of people who manage their illnesses through meditation, exercise, and generally accepting their conditions. People with chronic pain tend to either medicate themselves, or they take out their frustrations on others, and that leads to misery. Take Howard Hughes as an example (he would’ve made a great case study in this book.) Today’s doctors agree that Hughes’ bizarre habits, like his nudist lifestyle, living in darkness, watching the same movies over and over again, his need for painkillers, were the result of chronic pain. Today there are better ways of pain management, like medication and exercise, along with healthy eating. You can train yourself to ignore the pain of a pinched nerve or a skin condition. It’s a lot healthier than doping yourself up and living on disability benefits.

The Creature Chronicles: Exploring The Black Lagoon Trilogy

If you’re a fan of The Creature From The Black Lagoon series, you’ll love this book, and if not, you’ll still love as a historical tome. The Creature Chronicles “chronicles” the actors, directors, and crew that worked on the films, at a time when the US film industry was losing out to television. Hollywood still used salaried stock actors, and it still filmed on the backlots, but the studios were making cheaper films that were once considered beneath their dignity.

One of the funniest chapters was on Benjamin Franklin Chapman, and little-known actor who played the “Gill Man” monster. He was a 6-foot-5 Tahitian transplant to California, and had two assets; his size and his swim.  After the film wrapped, he became a tour guide and real estate agent in Hawaii, and remained unknown until the 1990’s, when he entered his final career…as an autograph signer. He made a fortune on the conventions circuit, better known as an old man than when he made the movie. As for the costume, it turns out that the fin on the back was used to hide the stitches that held it together.

This book has biographies of all the actors, many of whom were also stunt doubles. Then we get the production story, which took place on a Hollywood backlot and in Florida. The composers of the soundtrack are covered as well, though the music was standard suspense. The author, a writer for horror magazines, details all the wonderful talent that went into this drive-in classic.

Every Last Crumb by Brittany Angell

The main idea of this book is that you don’t have to give up bread in order to lose weight. All of the famous paleo diets, where you’re encouraged to eat like a Neanderthal, say to avoid starch. But bread isn’t inherently bad, despite that fact that it’s man made. The Sioux and Blackfoot didn’t have bread, and they had marvelous physiques, but so did the Bedouin of Arabia, for whom bread was a huge part of their diet. However, the bread that the Bedouin ate wasn’t the kind we have today; it was made from barley and oat flour, and with less yeast. It was probably dense and thick, not the refined white flour seen in supermarket bread. It also lacked the enzymes used to keep it fresh, so I bet it was often eaten stale. Rough bread must have given them strong stomachs.

Let’s begin with the recipe for basic sandwich bread. What’s unique here is that instead of flour, it uses potato and coconut starch with eggs, and baking soda for a leavening agent. Almost all of these leave out the flour and replace them with potato, coconut, or ground almonds. The spinach lavash pancakes use psyllium husks (found in Metamucil) as the starch ingredient, along with the usual coconut and potato staples. Though not mentioned in this book, cassava can also be used to make bread, though you might find it hard to buy in most supermarkets.

One of the great things about this book is the ease of the recipes. They don’t require expensive ingredients, and the prep time is minimal. For those with gluten intolerance, or if you just want to diversify your diet, the recipes involve a lot of egg whites, dairy, and different kinds of fats and shortening. They allow so many different ingredients that they can accommodate just about every condition and allergy.

A recent National Geographic article on hunter-gatherer people told me something I hadn’t realized; hunters often went hungry for long stretches. The wooden spears and stones were NOT ideal for hunting big game, and small game are fast. It wasn’t like there were herds of animals lying around the African savannahs, waiting for you to bop them on the head and take them home; early man had to work hard to hunt, and their “hunting” might have consisted of using rocks to chase predators away from animals they’d killed. So essentially early man’s “hunting” was really just stealing from wild animals.

Eating bread doesn’t make you fat. It can be eaten as part of a balanced diet, along with eggs, cheeses, vegetables, fruits, herbs, and spices. Go ahead and eat bread, the Greeks ate it for centuries and still managed to stay thin.

The Cuban Table by Anna Sofia Pelaez

Food Writer travels through Cuba to gain insight on the nation’s unique foods. Not content to interview just the chefs, she also seeks ideas from baristas, food cart vendors, grocers, and regular home cooks in various regions of the country. Depending on where you are, the local cooking will involve fish, beef, poultry, or ingenious dishes with no meat at all. If you’re a vegan you will definitely love this book, because in a country where meat can be costly, the cooking is obviously going to develop without it.

What could be better than serving your guests a pot of “potaje de garbanzos” on a winter night? It’s a stew made of sausages, beans, chick peas, tomatoes, and wine, and you can make it with minimal salt. The Cuban Table is full of spicy dishes that can be made with fresh meats, vegetables, and fruits, and they don’t require huge effort or prep time. Take for instance the Calabaza con mojo, a dish made from steamed pumpkin and spicy oil with onions. I don’t know if American pumpkins can be steamed, you might have to use the smaller green ones, but this dish is easy to make and can be served as an appetizer. You simply steam the pumpkins, cook the onions in oil with garlic and pepper, then pour the onions and oil over them and serve.

Cuban cuisine, according to this book, consists of small-scale dishes and large communal ones. The small items, like fritters or fried fish, are the kind of thing you’d get from food carts or pre-fix lunch counters. The larger dishes, like the stews and meats, take longer to prepare and are probably served at night, when everybody’s home. This is true throughout the world, because lunch is eaten on the run in most countries (except maybe France) and when you’re pressed for time, you need to eat without a knife or fork. But for the bigger dishes of meat and vegetables, you can take your time, throw in more ingredients, and slow cook it.

As with any cookbook, the food has to look appetizing, and the dishes are lavishly photographed by expert food photographers Ellen Silverman. It captures not only the taste of Cuba, but the sight, sound and smell.

Fragile Connections by Donald Capps

Donald Capps, a theology professor, writes this book as a discussion on mental illness from a pastoral viewpoint. He begins with the story of Anton Boisin, who suffered from mental illness as an adult, yet became a chaplain at a psychiatric hospital. What makes this a great chapter is that it goes into detail about Boisin’s traumas as a child and how they would create a nervous strain on him. First it was his father’s death when he was a child, then he lost an eye during a confrontation with some local boys, then there were the disappointments that his grandfather and uncle had in their careers. The early 1900’s were an era when psychotherapy was not widely available, and if it was, who could afford it. For a child who’d been through difficulties, there was nobody to talk to except your pastor. Even then, how much help could you get.

Later chapters probe famous cases of mental illness, including the author William Styron, whose memoir Darkness Visible chronicles his battle with depression. It included bouts of incredible fear, irritability, and hopelessness. In all of these accounts, the author doesn’t go into great length about psychiatric treatment, but dwells on the person’s history. It is often the patient’s history that leads to psychiatric problems, not that trauma is the cause of schizophrenia, but it can certainly aggravate it. Take the famous movie about mental illness, The Snake Pit, where the patient’s history is detailed; her guilt over her father’s early death creates a strain on her.

It’s great to read a book like this, and I recommend it for anyone who intends to become a psychologist, social worker, or pastor. The patient’s life history always needs to be taken into account as part of their treatment, as it usually contains the root of whatever habits they’ve developed.

Walker Evans: The Magazine Work

I hadn’t seen all of these wonderful photos by walker Evans until this book came out. His more famous pieces were well known to me, from all the history books and museums. But this book contains the photos he did for magazines, many of them from the Works Progress Administration programs, and they document the nation’s dynamics of the time. His WPA era photos are of Southern sharecroppers, documenting the poverty of the South, but at the same time giving respect to the resilience of the people.

Included in this book are excerpts from Evans’ lectures and writing, full of subliminal advice for other photojournalists. In the chapter “A New Decade” he says “people out of work are not given to talking about the one thing on their minds.” Perhaps the lesson here is that in the Great Depression, the average American didn’t complain as much. It was an era before public assistance, so people didn’t expect anyone else to help out if they were hungry. It was great to have Evans’ own words as a primary source, because I always wanted to know how his attitude towards his own work changed after 30 years.

Walker Evans was a photojournalist, not a fashion photographer, and I think that’s one of the reasons his work is still renowned. When you photograph models for Vogue, your name doesn’t remain on peoples’ minds, because it isn’t about you. The viewer is only interested in the woman in the photo, not the story behind it. But when you do a photo essay, people tend to study it longer, and the story behind the photograph remains on their minds. Evans photographed fashion, but not to sell clothes; he photographed men on their lunch hour, to study how the clothes were worn, and document the “real” fashion.

The combination of Walker Evans photographs along with his writing and lectures on different eras creates a wonderful book. It’s a great way to study American history, particularly the shift from rural to urban (and eventually suburban life.) Included are studies on urban life in the 1950’s, a time when our cities were declining. Evans’ work juxtaposes the towering office buildings of Manhattan with crowded tenements, manicured suburbs, and rough farms. He also documented the slums in London, which I could barely distinguish from the Jacob Riis photographs on the Lower East Side; the apartments were filthy and crowded, and the children were dirty. Somehow the slums look the same no matter where they are.

It’s great to have a book like this to document a photographer’s work. Perhaps we’ll soon have another one like it for Robert Frank, among others?

Administering The California Special Needs Trust

Simple explanations for the use of special needs trusts are laid out here in simple language. The author makes clear that this is not a book of legal advice, but an introduction to the role of the SNT and the roles of the trustee and beneficiary. If you are the parent of an adult with special needs, or the adult son or daughter of elderly parent, the SNT is set up for their financial and/or physical care and you would be the “trustmaker” or “grantor.” The money can then be used for anything the beneficiary needs; food, health care, clothing, furniture, travel expenses, etc.

When it comes to using the money, there is wide leeway on what it can be spent on. However the trustee has fiduciary responsibility for the money, and he/she can get in trouble if the money is misspent or mismanaged. But mistakes can be made, especially when SSI payments are in question. The special needs beneficiary can have SSI payments reduced or Section 8 rent increased if the beneficiary has income. Caregiver expenses may be deductible, but in some cases they are not.

This book isn’t a legal guide, but it’s great if you are going to be the trustee of a SNT and want an overview of what you can expect. In an age when people are living longer than they did 30 years ago, the issue is more important than ever.

Russian Step By Step

Russian Step By Step is divided by reading, grammar, and speech exercises. It starts with listening to a recording of the alphabet while you read the letters, so you can start reading right away. Certain vowel-consonant combinations are not used in Russian, so this is made clear at the beginning.

Unlike most teaching books for foreign language, this one stresses reading as much as speaking. The essential first step is memorizing the pronunciations, so you can progress through further chapters. You get proper instructions for greetings, how to address different people, and the words for colors, foods, places, etc.

Criminal Procedure and the Constitution

One of the greatest things about this book is the selective inclusion of case studies. Rather than have a book full of opinions, the authors stick to leading court cases where the opinions are the rule. It is these ruling of the high courts that shape the practices of criminal law, because they set the standard for how we interpret the US Constitution.

The Constitution of the USA includes rules governing criminal procedure, such as the 5^th and 6^th amendments, all the way to more recent ones regarding the salaries of Senators. This book specifically shows how the Supreme Court interprets the Constitution’s effects on criminal trials. In the third chapter, on the subject of arrest, search, and seizure, we use the case of Herring v. United States (2009). The majority opinion was that the Exclusionary Rule (again, an interpretation of the law) didn’t bar evidence found during an arrest, even if the arrest was based on an invalid warrant. Any high school student who recently took US Government will probably say “but hang on, in Mapp v. Ohio, didn’t the court say that…..?” Given, the case of Mapp set up rules for searching houses, but Judge Roberts wrote that an arrest of a known criminal (Herring was well-known to the police) based on a mistaken warrant wasn’t “unreasonable.” Some examples are rather humorous, such as California v. Greenwood, which ruled that bags of garbage can be taken by the police and searched without a warrant. According to Judge Byron White, trash bags on the curb aren’t protected by privacy.

Further chapters include Supreme Court cases regarding pretrial confinement, confessions, interrogations, and even conflicts of interest in criminal defense attorneys. The book contains carefully selected Supreme Court cases, each one specific to the interpretation of part of the Bill of Rights. Anyone studying criminal law must use this book, because it goes to great lengths to explain how the courts interpret the law.

It's About Time: Planning Interventions and Extensions in Elementary and High School

One of the most overlooked needs of today’s students is time management, essential in adulthood as well as childhood. Unfortunately, students have a hard time learning to manage their own time because of the way their schooling is scheduled, especially for special-needs students. If the student requires intervention both during and after school, then scheduling can be even more confusing.

In the chapter “Looking In The Mirror,” the authors discuss the mistake a lot of educators make in teaching the way they were taught. We tend to teach kids the way our teachers taught us all those years ago, and it’s no longer guaranteed to work. Things like “lining up” and “sitting quietly during attendance” can waste time, so these things are often shortened. In today’s schools, kids raised on cable TV, video games, and the internet may never have been taught patience, so this may be a problem too.

Throughout the book, there is discussion on whether or not to “sweat the small stuff.” Should students be sent to the principal’s office if there’s a fight? Should they be written up for minor infractions? How do we differentiate between petty misbehavior, or what the Supreme Court refers to as “clear and present danger?” The last chapter suggests setting up a goal for teaching appropriate behavior, the same way you set up a goal or pacing guide for learning. In the first month of school, the teacher monitors the behavior, models the behavior, and coaches the students on how to follow the routine. As the year progresses, rules can be lightened. Breaking of certain rules can eventually be overlooked.

It’s About Time is a great addition to the library of books about teaching kids, a great addition to Harry Wong’s First Day of School, among others. It shows you how to set up a schedule that can keep the students on task and make classroom management easier for everyone.

Marketing Financial Services By Hooman Estelami

Estelami, a Fordham professor, states the most obvious problem with marketing, which is that you can’t visualize every product. Take financial services for instance; there’s no way to get a photo of a stock, mutual fund, or pension. He advises the reader to include the combination of three factors, and they are monetary input, time, and risk. This can be used to compare two different pensions or insurance policies.

A chapter is devoted to the different kinds of financial services and the factors that influence consumer choice. He covers the usual bank accounts, certificates of deposit, and loans, then breaks them down into categories for the different kinds of loans. For life insurance, he goes through everything that the salesman must consider when marketing the policy. First off, there’s the risk factor, such as the customer’s lifestyle and health, and profession. Does he/she have a hazardous job? Are there any dangerous hobbies, such as skydiving? Second comes the financial input, which will be influenced by how much the customer can afford to pay. Finally there’s the time frame, regarding how long the customer needs the policy, and whether or not it will eventually pay back any annuities.

This book is for serious financial marketing, and anyone currently working as a stockbroker, mortgage broker, or insurance salesman needs to read this book. It will eliminate the time wasted on pitching, and allow you to focus on serious customers who really are interested.

A Guide To Private Schools by Ann Dolin

Ann Dolin doesn’t push her opinions in this book; she leaves it for the parent to decide on the school for their child’s needs. She discusses the difference between traditional and progressive schools, or lecture versus discovery approach, and the role of the teacher in the classroom. Then she covers the issue of whether to allow children to skip grades or hold them back, and whether one should opt for day school or boarding school.

   In the chapter on the kids’ opinions, she has some funny anecdotes on what the students look for when they choose a school. One kid was attracted solely to the school’s golf trips, and another had his heart set on a school only because of their 3-D printer. Students might be interested in joining a wrestling team, or a boxing program, or getting a free Mac Book with wireless internet, and if the school has a rifle range, I guarantee some students will do anything to get in.

   There are many factors to consider in choosing  a private school for a child, including the cost, commuting distance, academics, activities, uniforms, and what the school expects. All should be considered.

Brain In Balance by Dr. Fred Von Stieff

Dr. Von Stieff, a physician specializing in detoxification, discusses the role of neurotransmitters in the brain and their effect on personality. He theorizes that persons with a history of addiction are really suffering from a chemical imbalance that leaves them open to cravings. These cravings can be for anything really, ranging from chocolates or salty foods to drugs, alcohol, and sex. It reminds me of something that another addiction expert, Dr. Abraham Twersky, mentioned about his own life. He said that he sees many addict traits in himself, such as procrastination and the craving for instant relief.

    Dr. Stieff convers many different cases of addiction, most of whom come from families with chronic addiction in one way or another. Their parents may be alcoholics, or they may be unable to break with routines. It has been proven that people with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome are more likely to become addicts, so we can assume that brain damage is the culprit. But Dr. Stieff discusses the specifics of it, such as the parts of the brain that control cravings, much like the way the tongue’s taste buds control our taste for certain foods.

This Is Your Brain On Sports by Drs. David Grand and Alan Goldberg

This is not a book on sports medicine, but on the psychological stresses you can get from sports. While athletics can help reduce stress and improve concentration, they can also lead to muscle, bone, and joint problems. The brain is an organ too, so it’s not unusual for the mind to develop a certain way when you’re an athlete. If you’re a baseball pitcher, you might develop tunnel vision, and if you’re a boxer, you might have an equilibrium problem from constantly moving to one side. But this book goes a step further; it discusses the trauma from sports pressure.

    In the first chapter, he discusses his therapy with Mets catcher Mackey Sasser, who was known for predictable and clumsy throwing. Opposing runners would time themselves to his predictable arm movements and steal bases, which didn’t help. But Sasser’s movements weren’t the result of injury; it was his memory of injuries that created a “block” to his physical movements. Constant injuries as a child, along with some emotional traumas, had left him phobic of doing certain things.

    Child athletes are also a major part of this book. I’m sure you’ve read more than one article on the fanatical sports parent, or perhaps the drill-sergeant coach who pushes adolescent boys to extremes. Child athletes are easily traumatized, according to Dr. Grand, because of the fear factor in children, coupled with “fight-or-flight” responses. Pressure to succeed can drive you, but only for a limited time, after which the pressure wears you out.

   Pressure in athletics has lead to steroid use, and the destruction of careers. But before we can criticize athletes for “cheating” with steroids, think of the other unfair advantages they have. Even in amateur sports, wealthy parents can afford personal coaches for their kids, while the less affluent can’t. The supposedly amateur US Olympic athletes are heavily sponsored, while I wonder if athletes from less prosperous countries?  Are training for an hour after work? What about the sportscasters, with their hair weaves, facelifts, capped teeth, and breast implants? Isn’t that a form of cheating too?

    I would recommend this book for anyone coaching little league or high school sports. It’s a great book on how to avoid the unnecessary and unhealthy pressures that ruin today’s young athletes.