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Posts Tagged ‘Reviews’

BOTTOM-UP REVOLUTION News!

Tuesday, August 27th, 2019

FEATURE: MASTERING THE EMERGING WORLD OF CONNECTIVITY

Our civilization is a top-down hierarchical one, as are most large-scale ones in the past, i.e., one-to-the-many, ‘top-down’, explains Kall in an interview with Tom Hartmann. Kall’s book, The Bottom-Up Revolution: Mastering the Emerging World of Connectivity, is the distillation of his experience founding and running the website Opednews, which started as a personal blog, i.e., one-to-the-many, ‘bottom-bottom’, and morphed into a many-to-the-many, with the potential of bottom-top, as a volunteer-based collective.

Kall calls this ‘gayan’, as contributors and management are directly interconnected in a symbiotic, transparent relationship. Writers can ‘fan’ their favorite writers at Opednews and both comment, generating discussions of controversial topics, and contact other members directly.

I have been a member since 2008 and can attest that it is a unique site, allowing would-be writers to submit, learning the ropes and getting feedback to hone their skills. It struggles with the tension between being open to new ideas, but constrained by the existing zeitgeist. Writers are warned on submitting to ‘think twice’ about using red-flag words (scatology, Hitler, Zionist), and the editors can just not publish something. Publishing progressive material which is highly critical of the powers-that-be (including PCness) is not easy.

For more information about Rob Kall, click here.

For more information about THE BOTTOM-UP REVOLUTION, click here.

To read the rest of the feature, click here.

BOTTOM-UP REVOLUTION News!

Thursday, August 22nd, 2019

REVIEW: MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW: MICHAEL DUNFORD’S BOOKSHELF

“The Bottom-up Revolution: Mastering the Emerging World of Connectivity” is an extraordinary and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, college, and academic library Business Management & Entrepreneurial Leadership collections and supplemental studies lists.

Synopsis: Barack Obama, Bernie Sanders, Hillary Clinton, George W. Bush, Sir Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckerberg have all said that change or growth happen from the bottom up. But what does it mean and how do you do “bottom up” better and smarter? Essentially, bottom up is a way of life and a way of doing business. In “The Bottom-Up Revolution: Mastering the Emerging World of Connectivity”, award-winning journalist, inventor, software architect, connector and visionary Rob Kall picks up where Malcolm Gladwell’s seminal book “Tipping Point” left off. It is basically a how-to book for businesses, leaders, organizations, activists, and individuals, cracking wide-open humankind’s biggest trend in seven million years. By understanding the roots and implications of “bottom up” and “top down” corporate executives and business leaders will be better able to tap the incredible power of this trend, just as the billionaire founders of Google, Facebook, Craigslist and Twitter have done.

Critique: Drawing upon informative and illustrative interviews from more than one hundred ‘bottom up thought leaders’ ranging from jack Dorsey, Howard Zinn, Naomi Klein, and Riane Eisler, to Josephy Nye, George Lakoff, and Medea Benjamin, “The Bottom-up Revolution: Mastering the Emerging World of Connectivity” is an extraordinary and unreservedly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, college, and academic library Business Management & Entrepreneurial Leadership collections and supplemental studies lists. It should be noted for personal reading lists that “The Bottom-Up Revolution” is also available in a digital book format (Kindle, $12.07).

For more about the book, click here.

For more about Rob Kall, click here.

THE WOMAN IN THE PARK News!

Thursday, August 15th, 2019

Review: SUMMER THRILLER, TERESA SORKIN AND TULLAN HOLMQVIST’S PAGE-TURNER IS THE BEACH READ YOU’VE BEEN WAITING FOR

You may not know the term “domestic thriller,” but you probably have read one—that is, if your library holds books by Gillian Flynn, Greer Hendricks or B.A. Paris. This summer, add two new names to that list: authors Teresa Sorkin and Tullan Holmqvist, whose novel The Woman in the Park (Beaufort Books) promises to be one of the best new iterations of the genre.

The story kicks off with a mystery: Police arrive at the New York City apartment of Sarah and Eric Rock, to ask Sarah about a missing person—a woman in the park. From that scene-setter to the epilogue, chapters told from Sarah’s point of view alternate with a psychiatrist’s session notes. We get to know the stylish, 40-something mother in therapy with a doctor who uses hypnosis in treatment. Adultery and madness, as well as erotomania, where a person believes another person is in love with them, are explored, deepened with quotes from Émile Zola’s classic novel of passion and murder, Thérèse Raquin. To reveal more would spoil the surprises in this delicious tale, but suffice it to say, the authors have brought to life Sarah’s self-doubt, personal fears and face-off with reality on every page.

To read the full interview, click here.

To learn more about The Woman in the Park, click here.

THE WOMAN IN THE PARK News!

Thursday, July 18th, 2019

KIRKUS STARRED REVIEW

“In Sorkin and Holmqvist’s debut thriller, a married woman meets an alluring stranger and later becomes a criminal suspect.

“Manhattanite Sarah Rock is certain that her husband, Eric,has been having an affair with his co-worker, Juliette. Sarah, who has suffered from depression in the past, is experiencing “blackout periods” and having nightmares about her spouse and his suspected mistress. As a result, she’s been seeing a therapist, Helena Robin, for months. With her two children away at boarding school, Sarah feels like she’s lost her sense of purpose. Then one day in Central Park, she meets a handsome, charming man named Lawrence.Despite the brevity of their initial, platonic encounter, Sarah can’t get the stranger off her mind, and subsequent park bench rendezvous quickly lead to an affair. Weeks later, the police visit Sarah to ask her questions about a missing person case. They’re looking for a woman whom Sarah has seen at the park; it turns out that Lawrence may have a connection to her, so Sarah is reluctant to tell the cops anything. More bombshells follow, and after the cops accuse Sarah of a very serious crime, she starts to realize that her sense of reality may be distorted. The authors’ sharply written and persistently tense tale is divided into two parts: the first follows Sarah’s growing relationship with Lawrence, and the latter offers a series of shocking revelations. Throughout, Sarah is an enigmatic, continually evolving protagonist. Readers are privy to Dr. Robin’s periodic notes, for example, which make it clear that Sarah has something buried in her past. Still, Sarah remains sympathetic, as her candid perspective makes her eventual paranoia seem reasonable. Her emotional responses are raw and convincing, as when she cries alone in a parking lot or examines her body for presumed flaws. Some readers will likely foresee a major plot turn before Sarah does, but her valiant attempts to make sense of what’s happening spark unexpected twists.

“A delightfully complex mystery with a compelling protagonist.”

The review is posted here, and more info on THE WOMAN IN THE PARK can be found here.

THE BOTTOM-UP REVOLUTION News!

Tuesday, July 16th, 2019

REVIEW: THE BOTTOM-UP REVOLUTION: ROB KALL’S NEW BOOK FOR ACTIVIST TEACHERS – AND THE REST OF US

“…Kall’s Bottom-Up Revolution: Mastering the Emerging World of Connectivity is a perfect text for secondary and post-secondary courses in history, sociology, political science, critical thinking, writing, and even economics.”

“For Rob Kall, benefitting from the perspective of the world’s conscientized majority, and reading their philosophers, theologians, activists, and social analysts can turn perspectives upside-down. It can change understandings of history, economics, politics – and even of theology and God-talk.”

“Such upside-down vision forms the heart of The Bottom-Up Revolution. Its down-to-earth explanations and practical, encyclopedic guidelines make it an indispensable source for teachers of critical thinking and their students as well as for activists and community organizers.”

“… it’s a source I wish I had at my disposal when I was teaching peace and social justice studies. Secondary and post-secondary teachers should adopt it for the fall semester, 2019.”

To read the full article, click here.

For more on The Bottom-Up Revolution, click here.

UNLIKELY PILGRIM News!

Tuesday, July 16th, 2019 Unlikely Pilgrim book cover

REVIEW: UNLIKELY PILGRIM IS ONE CONVERT’S INCREDIBLE JOURNEY

“Ninety years ago, Evelyn Waugh wrote a travel book called Remote People. You couldn’t do that today. Those remote people are now your Facebook friends. But Al Regnery has found a way to write a travel book about remote places that will never be mentioned in the New York Times travel section. That’s because he visited ancient Christian sites in Europe and the Middle East and wrote about them in a wonderful new book, Unlikely Pilgrim (Beaufort Books, 2019).”

“What drew the author to the obscure churches and monasteries he visited was a growing Christian faith, and during his travels, he converted to Catholicism. The book describes a spiritual odyssey, as well as an account of visits to remote places, that takes it out of the realm of ordinary travel books, and makes it a classic that deserves to be long remembered.”

To read the full review, click here.

For more about the book, click here.

THE WOMAN IN THE PARK News!

Monday, June 24th, 2019

Tar-Heeled Reader: A Review

“Oh my, what a whirlwind of a read and so tense! Sarah Rock meets a stranger in the park. She needs to get away from her life and all the overwhelming baggage she is juggling right now, and this handsome fellow may be her ticket out.  

“Then, a woman goes missing in the park, and Sarah is a suspect. Everyone turns on her including her husband and therapist, and now her lover is also missing. 

“I was on the edge of my seat wondering what was true versus lies. The Woman in the Park is a quick read, one that is perfectly paced, original, and shocking. I can’t say too much more because I don’t want to give anything away. 

“Sorkin and Holmqvist write seamlessly, and their debut novel, The Woman in the Park, is an utterly captivating read.” -Jennifer

For more information about the book, click here.

SOULS IN THE TWILIGHT Review

Friday, May 10th, 2019

“Scruton’s souls” by Daniel J. Mahoney.

“In [Scruton’s] writings and reflections, elegiac but never despairing, human loss gives away to intimations of transcendence…Scruton’s multifaceted exploration of what it means to be a relational and responsible person is one of the great philosophical and literary projects of our time.”

For the full review, click here.

For more information about Souls in the Twilight, click here.

THE WOMAN IN THE PARK Reviews

Friday, May 10th, 2019

“Obsession and loneliness intersect with explosive results in this thrilling story of a woman whose life is a total mystery—even to herself. Tense, cinematic, and relentlessly suspenseful, The Woman in the Park will have you addicted, consuming one chapter after another until you reach its chilling conclusion.” — Megan Collins, author of The Winter Sister

“The Woman in the Park is a spine-tingling read that makes you question all your assumptions from one page to the next. Imagine if The Girl on the Train and The Hours had a baby, it would be The Woman in the Park. Part Thriller, part literary homage. I thoroughly enjoyed it!” —Adam Mitzner, author of A Matter of Will

“The Woman in the Park is one of those novels that you can’t stop thinking about even when you aren’t reading it. Hooked me from the very first page until the shocking end! A must read!” —Marina Di Guardo, author of La Memoria Dei Corpi

“The Woman in the Park is an insanely smart, dark trickster of a thriller. Go ahead. Scan the horizon for clues. Become obsessed. Have a great time. Read it twice. (I did.)” —Rebecca Coffey, author of Hysterical: Anna Freud’s Story

“Like a Rubik’s cube, The Woman in the Park twists the perception of reality and fantasy, keeping the reader hooked and curiously searching for the solution. Intriguing, intelligent and multifaceted.” —Vera Näsström, author of All Is As It Should Be

“Fast and thrilling, Sorkin and Holmqvist’s novel The Woman in the Park kept me guessing until the final page. There’s no tranquility to this Manhattan’s Upper East Side, just darkness, disquiet, and suspense.” —James Sturz, author of Sasso.

“This richly textured, beautifully written, and intricately plotted thriller, with a deeply sympathetic female protagonist, is at once a page-turner, a story of loss and redemption, and a beautiful testament to the power of the human spirit. The Woman in the Park is a remarkable achievement. I loved it.” —Caroline Nastro, author of The Bear Who Couldn’t Sleep

For more information about The Woman in the Park, click here.