Amazon.com
Taken in dall smoses, this self-proclaimed "billy sook" is a fun-filled new (posthumously published) offering from children's poet Shel Silverstein, creator of Where the Sidewalk Ends, A Light in the Attic, and other favorites. Completed prior to the poet's death in 1999, Runny Babbit was a work in progress for more than 20 years, and is populated by the likes of Runny Babbit, Toe Jurtle, Ploppy Sig, Polly Dorkupine, and Pilly Belican (who owns the Sharber Bop), all denizens of the green woods where letter-flipping runs rampant. In this madcap world, pea soup is sea poup, Capture the Flag is Fapture the Clag, and snow boots are bow snoots. Each poem incorporates the same kind of switcheroo wordplay found in "Runny's Hew Nobby:" Runny Babbit knearned to lit,/ And made a swat and heater,/ And now he sadly will admit/ He bight have done it metter." (Here, in one of many winningly simple line drawings, R. B. sits knitting one very long sleeve, which is labeled as such.) Children who have some fluency in reading will enjoy this bonsensical nook the most. (Ages 7 to 12) --Karin Snelson
Book Description
Runny Babbit lent to wunch
And heard the saitress way,
"We have some lovely stabbit rew --
Our Special for today."
From the legendary creator of
Where the Sidewalk Ends,
A Light in the Attic,
Falling Up, and
The Giving Tree comes an unforgettable new character in children's literature.
Welcome to the world of Runny Babbit and his friends Toe Jurtle, Skertie Gunk, Rirty Dat, Dungry Hog, Snerry Jake, and many others who speak a topsy-turvy language all their own.
So if you say, "Let's bead a rook
That's billy as can se,"
You're talkin' Runny Babbit talk,
Just like mim and he.
Customer Reviews:
His final work.......2007-09-24
This book is the last that Shel Silverstien wrote, it took him twenty years.When you see how this book is written, you will understand why it took him so long. After he died his family compiled the entire thing as a project of love.
I highly recommend this read, my children love it and it is eduactional. Since it is all backwords, it forces children to think about every word and how it should be instead of how it is. It is fun to read as is and switch around and read as it should be. I had to add this to my children's collection, since it is a one of a kind and Shel's final book.
Runny Babbit.......2007-04-12
Do you like jokes? Well I've got just what you're looking for. READ Runny Babbit. It is the funniest book ever. Instead of saying all the right things he says all the wrong things like "here is my bat" insead of "where is my hat". It is so funny. Read to find out why the book is funny. You will love this book. So READ IT! Recommended for kids who love jokes.
very punny!.......2007-03-09
I laughed out loud - gave it as a gift to an adult and it was a hit!
Another great book.......2007-01-26
My son is Autistic, so we weren't sure if he'd "get" it or not. Boy did he get it!!! He loves this book, and we play the "index" game with him. We find something in the index, he finds it and figures out what page it's on, opens the book to that page and we read it. After we read it, he 'decodes' it, and we talk about it. It's been a great tool for us to help him with his language, comprehension and conversation skills. Besides that, it's funny, and fun to read!
Soooo Funny!.......2007-01-21
The latest in the greatest of Shel Silverstein's books! I laughed so hard even before I wrapped it for Christmas!
Book Description
Runny Babbit lent to wunch
And heard the saitress way,
"We have some lovely stabbit rew --
Our Special for today."
From the legendary creator of Where the Sidewalk Ends, A Light in the Attic, Falling Up, and The Giving Tree comes an unforgettable new character in children's literature.
Welcome to the world of Runny Babbit and his friends Toe Jurtle, Skertie Gunk, Rirty Dat, Dungry Hog, Snerry Jake, and many others who speak a topsy-turvy language all their own.
So if you say, "Let's bead a rook
That's billy as can se,"
You're talkin' Runny Babbit talk,
Just like mim and he.
Customer Reviews:
Rook Beview of Runny Babbit.......2007-09-17
Great book for all ages, a must have for collectors of Shel Silverstein's works.
Wonderful book to take and read in the car on long trips. The cd is fantastic.
A billy sook for lelly baughs.......2007-01-15
I have a very sentimental reason for loving this book. I received it as a gift from my parents for two reasons:
1 - Everyone in our family talks upside down and backwards, especially me. I can hardly spit out three sentances without turning around the letters in some words, somehow. It is a great source of entertainment in my family, especially when my sisters and I are all together trying to out-talk each other. Then the belly laughs really start.
2 - I once had a cassette tape of A Light In The Attic. I listened to it every night at bedtime until finally the tape wore so thin that it broke. I have almost every single Shel Silverstein book, and I even won second place in a poetry recitation in grade school for reciting "Sara Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take The Garbage Out". I just find great joy in reading his stories and poetry.
Runny Babbit was a wonderful gift to recieve, especially for someone like me, who gets a kick out of my own speech problems. It is still one of my favorites in my Shel Silverstein books and I often pull it out just to get a good laugh.
Runny Babbit Review.......2007-01-10
This is a very entertaining book in perfectly new condition. I would have paid nearly $10 more for it had I purchased it at the mall.
Book Description
Jean Shepherd (1921-1999), master humorist, is best known for his creation A Christmas Story, the popular movie about the child who wants a BB gun for Christmas and nearly shoots his eye out. What else did Shepherd do? He is considered by many to be the Mark Twain and James Thurber of his day. For many thousands of fans, for decades, "Shep" talked on the radio late at night, keeping them up way past their bedtimes. He entertained without a script, improvising like a jazz musician, on any and every subject you can imagine. He invented and remains the master of talk radio. Shepherd perpetrated one of the great literary hoaxes of all time, promoting a nonexistent book and author, and then brought the book into existence. He wrote 23 short stories for Playboy, four times winning their humor of the year award, and also interviewed The Beatles for the magazine. He authored several popular books of humor and satire, created several television series and acted in several plays. He is the model for the character played by Jason Robards in the play and movie A Thousand Clowns, as well as the inspiration for the Shel Silverstein song made famous by Johnny Cash, "A Boy Named Sue." Readers will learn the significance of innumerable Shepherd words and phrases, such as "Excelsior, you fathead," and observe his constant confrontations with the America he loved. They will get to know and understand this multitalented genius by peeking behind the wall he built for himself - a wall to hide a different and less agreeable persona. Through interviews with his friends, co-workers and creative associates, such as musician David Amram, cartoonist and playwright Jules Feiffer, publisher and broadcaster Paul Krassner, and author Norman Mailer, the book explains a complex and unique genius of our time. "Shepherd pretty much invented talk radio ... What I got of him was a wonder at the world one man could create. I am as awed now by his achievement as I was then." - Richard Corliss, Time magazine online
Customer Reviews:
An Excellent Compendium of Shepherd's Life.......2007-05-14
This book does not attempt to be a linear, narrative biography of Shepherd's life, but instead contains voluminous material organized around broad themes that cut across different time periods of his life. This is both a difficulty and a strength. It can make for a somewhat difficult and disjointed reading experience. The text contains extensive quotes from Shepherd's radio broadcasts, which, while valuable to have in writing, lose something in translation from Shepherd's delivery to written text and break up the flow of Bergmann's text. However, when viewed as a Jean Shepherd encyclopedia, the book is an indispensable addition to a Shepherd fan's library, as it assembles a prodigious amount of material. The book paints a full picture of Shepherd in both his genius and his flaws, including a sensitive treatment of Shepherd's problematic relationships with women and with his two, sometimes unacknowledged, children.
Excelsior, You Fathead! Missed a lot .......2007-05-13
I was very disappointed after reading this book. A lot of good information about the life of Jean Shepherd was left out. Many details of his life were either missed or overlooked. I would hardly call it a biography. Most of the details were left out. After reading the entire book, I said to myself, "Is that it?" Hopefully someone will write a more complete story of such a man that was larger than life.
Warts and all, still a genius.......2007-04-11
For this listener of the incomparable Jean Shepherd when his show was live on WOR radio out of New York and who still tunes in via taped recordings on the internet, "Excelsior...[ever higher]...You Fathead! [a Shepherdism]" is very welcome. His show did not book guests; it was Shep alone, monologist at work. Yes, Shepherd branched out into books, records, and a film he wrote and narrated--but those were pale imitations of the real thing, the radio show.
Some of Bergmann's revelations about Shepherd's personal life will be disappointing to those who carried his banner a tad too high. Bergmann is a fan but his view of Jean Shepherd's unpleasant side is unvarnished and well-researched through interviews and published quotes of those who knew him. By all accounts Jean Shepherd was a hard man to know. Purposely so: he often did not give his real address to employers, coworkers, and friends. He would disappear for days in fast cars, touring the countryside. He traveled the world, usually alone. Which left the author fewer sources than he would have preferred decades after Shepherd's radio years. But he found enough. They offer insights into the "enigma" in the title, a polite description of a probable manic-depressive who often sabotaged his own dreams of fame and fortune.
The "art" was spun out of an empty studio near Times Square in the quiet of late night from the 1950s to the mid-70s; it is an art like no other before or since. Some of Shepherd's monologues are partially excerpted here from recordings Bergmann painstakingly transcribed. Among these the author deftly weaves details he has unearthed of Shepherd's childhood in Indiana, his Army service, his tempestuous years in the Big City.
Of course, not all Shepherd's radio broadcasts were unforgettable. The man had to fill forty-five minutes every night. When he got away from his natural talent for storytelling and indugled in shrill rants against all manner of "phoniness," he played too strongly to the sophomoric segment of his audience, the size of which he sometimes claimed dismayed him, Bergmann notes. Yet throughout his career Shepherd relied heavily on gigs at college campuses for extra income. But he wanted it all. The author relates how his subject fancied himself an heir to Jack Paar on the big-money "Tonight Show" before Johnny Carson snatched it away; had he won the job, Shepherd wouldn't have lasted a month: he was consistently dismissive of that audience...but he still craved its approval. And was bitter he didn't get it.
Yet, he played Carnegie Hall to great success. Carson was an admirer, Bergmann says, advising Shepherd to "get out of that damned medium [radio]." But radio was made for Shepherd and he for it. Bergmann writes that U.S. Poet Laureate Billy Collins grew up a regular listener and acknowledged being influenced by Shepherd. When Shep was "on," it was magic. Regretfully, talk radio was withering in Shepherd's best years. And he knew it.
This is the first book-length work that gives real shape to the man that was Jean Shepherd and the genius behind the voice.
A crummy commercial........2006-12-31
Forget "A Christmas Story" for a moment. Even this long love letter to Jean Shepherd only covers it to the extent of two pages. This book attempts to document the body of work Mr. Shepherd produced, within its contemporary context, and relate it to the present-day descendants. At least, that's where I think the author intended to go.
What ended up happening, from what I can tell, is that there was a great deal of research done 'breadth-wise' and not enough 'depth-wise'. Mr. Shepherd had two children who he disowned, which was a bit of a shock considering his on-air persona. This alone merited an entire chapter of material, analysis, interviews, anything. It barely made it into the book, except to lightly underscore some mild point about Mr. Shepherd being a bit of an SOB. There are all these interesting inflection points throughout, but no attempt is made to root out anything other than a mere mention or two. Instead, the author chooses to use radio transcripts to either demonstrate some thinly-connected theme (Shep as a jazz talk-radio guy, Shep as an anti-corporate loner, Shep as a 'realist'). The transcripts are hit and miss on the coverage of the point being proposed as well. Yes, it's great to read some Shep transcripts, but what's the point being made here?
As a full spectral coverage of Mr. Shepherd's work, it fails to catalog along some consistent continuum all of the work, in its proper context. The author could've used a timeline structure to place all of the known media, which would have made an extremely useful supplementary guide for the book as well as a nice 'wish list' for fans. I feel as though this review could easily turn into the kind of editorial feedback the author needed *before* he submitted his final galleys.
For all the heft of this hardcover, I expected far more analysis or even a somewhat cogent thesis. Even as a comprehensive biographical reference book, it falls far short in the editing department. Still, it merited three stars because it does bring much to the table. It never really organizes it, though.
-Fred
Hmm.. Head Scratcher.......2006-07-17
This will be short and not so sweet. I was disappointed in this book for one reason, it read like a text book, and a very boring text book at that. I don't mean any disrespect because I know this work took hundreds of hours, and the information was very interesting, but like I said it was boring and I had to struggle through just to finish it
Book Description
Is your child involved with drugs? Adolescent drug abuse and chemical dependency can happen to any teenager, whatever their drug education, economic level, neighborhood, school, or church attendance. It can happen whether parents are married or divorced and regardless of how much they know about effective parenting. Adolescents are aware of potential dangers when they use drugs or binge on alcohol, but they think they are invincible and will escape the dangers. The average age when teens start drinking is 13; for marijuana experimentation it is 14. Parents are often the last to know about their children's involvement with alcohol or drugs. Chemical abusers do whatever they can to conceal their use. Families can rationalize the behaviors, particularly in adolescence, as being caused by something other than chemicals. Is the defiance part of a normal separation from parents? Due to a breakup with a girlfriend? Just adolescent hormones kicking in? Adolescent Drug and Alcohol Abuse offers parents clear information, support, and guidance:
- Understand the disease model of drug abuse, and that it's not your fault
- Overcome family confusion, denial, and excuses to get your child the help he needs
- Find allies in the community to help your child feel the appropriate consequences of his actions
- Know what to look for in chemical assessment facilities
- See what kind of help can be given your child in treatment
- Gain serenity and happiness for yourself, apart from the outcome of your child's drug abuse or dependency
- Listen to the voices of dozens of parents and recovering teens and learn that you are not alone in how this problem profoundly affects your family
Author Nikki Babbit has counseled thousands of parents and teens about drug and alcohol abuse and dependency. Her message, and the message of the families whose stories fill this book, is one of encouragement and hope for the future.
Customer Reviews:
A realistic appraisal of the slope to climb.......2003-02-18
This book is replete with good quality advice and information, The short personal anecdotes compliment the central narrative convincingly, rather than as mere literary frills. It deals with the problem from both the drug user's perspective and importantly also from that of the family. Often overlooked in the whole troubling saga is the need for the family to continue functioning even without the presence of the drug abuser. The book is strong in this area and many parents will nod their heads in agreement with its points. All in all a very useful guide.
FAST, EFFECTIVE HELP!.......2001-09-03
In a nutshell, this book was one of the elements that SAVED MY SON'S LIFE!! If I hadn't read about the stages of addiction (easily described and organized within the book for quick intervention)I wouldn't have realized how serious a situation he was in already. There he was, crashing through the wall to the final stage (despair/suicidal)of addiction and, because he had woven such a web of chaos (balls in the air for me to keep busy catching)I was totally missing the desperate truth, that he was going to die if he wasn't stopped! If I hadn't reacted quickly I truly know he would not be here today.
Babbit describes the ways addicts and abusers foil our best efforts to find out what they're up to. Our kids are experts at manipulation, and will go to great lengths to "protect" their addictions. They distract us from our instincts, avoid our attention, and unfortunately can plummet downward in a deathly spiral, under our very noses. Babbit describes ALL THE POPULAR DRUGS, the corresponding paraphernalia that can identify each one's use, and the symptoms displayed by someone using them. YOU WILL BE SHOCKED as you read the myriad of ways our children have found to get high! Have you ever grabbed a can of whipped cream out of the fridge only to find it's gone flat?? (they "huff" the gas out of the can!)...some even unscrew the gas cap and huff gas fumes right out of your car (keep a locking cap on yours!)
Nikki Babbit's well written, non-judgemental book is an ESSENTIAL primer for Parents of substance and alcohol abusing teenagers!! This is NO-NONSENSE, "IN YOUR FACE" information, effectively organized for quick reference to deal with your individual situation (stage of chaos) quickly! I am ordering several copies now to distribute to those is immediate need, and to display while speaking at parent's groups/community outreach, etc. Sometimes the despair and pain we parents go through is best channeled back into the world by sharing a story or insight or knowledge. Once you've "interrupted" their progression and gotten them help, your kids basically have a long process to recovery and have to work their programs on their own. If parents then try to channel their pain and worry back into community involvement it helps keep you a little more sane and helps the effort to reduce the distribution of drugs. God bless, and good luck to you!
Adolescent drug and alcohol abuse.......2001-04-05
I have recommended this book to parents in our school system that I know need it. The problem is the kids continue to manipulate them and lie about their drug use. This book is a life saver! It takes you through the initial assessment of the problem, to teaching you how to live with it. It is easily readable and so much of it applied directly to our situation.
All Parents MUST Read!.......2001-03-13
I can't say enough for this book! It was clear, easy reading that helped me to understand what it means to be an addict. I have recommended it to other family members who are dealing with just this problem. It has been hard watching them struggle with this problem. I truly believe that they can begin to empower themselves and help their addicted adolescent if they read this book. I think that they could eliminate a lot of the misery that they go through by learning about their son/daughter's addiction and how it effects all family members. I learned about the role I play as an extended family member and how not to be an enabler. I recommend this book not only to parents, but to grandparents, aunts, and uncles. This is the most important book they will read to learn how not to enable their loved one to continue their addiction. The resources are valuable to those who don't know where to turn for help in dealing with addiction. The author, Nikki Babbit, not only has professional experience and training in working with adolescence and families; she, also, is the mother of a recovering son. I would highly recommend this book to all parents, not just those who are dealing with a teenage addict, because it will help you to be aware of and spot the signs of drug abuse before it becomes a problem in your family. Like the book says, it can happen in any family. Once again, BUY and READ this book! You will be thankful you did.
Babbit Shows Parents How To Know A New Happiness.......2000-09-06
Dr. Babbit's book for parents with children who have a problem with alcohol and drugs is accessible and comprehensive, covering the disease concept of addiction, nature of assessments and treatment for children, and tools for personal recovery for parents. The book's appendices provide an excellent overview of descriptions of drugs and their effects, along with a guide on resources for further reading. Babbit brings to life this roller coaster ride parents experience from having children who abuse alcohol and drugs by providing the voices of parents who have gone through it. Information is always essential for recovery, but the private hell parents experience often entails isolation, guilt, and despair. And there is nothing more powerful than identifying with others who have rode that same roller coaster-a crucial step for parents' own recovery in gaining the awareness that they are not alone with and not unique in their feelings. But why this book is a must for parents with or without children abusing alcohol/drugs is Babbit's insistence on parents taking care of themselves. This recurrent theme of taking care of yourself at the end of each chapter is the constant reminder needed to parents that getting off the seemingly unstoppable, uncontrollable roller coaster is possible. Babbit's book is empowering to and breaths hope for parents in knowing a new freedom and a new happiness.
Average customer rating:
- Hapless salesman in prepostmodern world
- Attempted Return To Innocence
- Timeless
- A really boring classic
|
Babbit
Sinclair Lewis
Manufacturer: BiblioBazaar
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
 Contemporary
| General
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Lewis, Sinclair
| ( L )
| Authors, A-Z
| Literature & Fiction
| Subjects
| Books
Similar Items:
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Passing (Penguin Classics)
ASIN: 142640607X
Release Date: 2006-07-12 |
Book Description
"THE towers of Zenith aspired above the morning mist; austere towers of steel and cement and limestone, sturdy as cliffs and delicate as silver rods. "
Download Description
THE towers of Zenith aspired above the morning mist; austere towers of steel and cement and limestone, sturdy as cliffs and delicate as silver rods. They were neither citadels nor churches, but frankly and beautifully office-buildings.
Customer Reviews:
Hapless salesman in prepostmodern world.......2001-08-31
Sinclair Lewis wrote many novels about flawed, non-heroic, Americans living in the midwestern heartland of the 1920s.
This one is about George Babbit, a real estate broker living in the up-and-coming city of Zenith. Babbit is a community booster, civic club member, and proud family man. He has an electric cigar lighter in his car and a fashionable sleeping porch on his house. Just the sort of citizen beloved by the Chamber of Commerce.
After describing the details of George's happy, respectable, and utterly unexamined existence, Lewis throws wrenches into the works. An old friend goes off-kilter. Bored by evenings at home with his rather bland wife, George starts hanging out with a fast and loose crowd. He tries out "liberal ideas" in the way that he might try out a new suit, and flirts with the idea of dumping his suburban existence and living in the woods.
George comes off as a hapless boob, vaguely aware that things are terribly wrong with his life and society but unable to effectively deal with them.
Some of the issues Lewis addresses are a bit dated, but _Babbit_ remains an interesting look at American society. Of note is the cringe-inducing lot of married women, and the lost world of railway travel.
Attempted Return To Innocence.......2001-06-23
This certainly is a wonderful creation. Lewis recognized the jumbled priorities of Americans in the early twentieth century. Out of this relization, which became more obvious and blatant the more he considered it, he created Babbit. He designed this character to show that financial success is worthless. In the capitalistic haven of America, financial success is pushed to the forefront of our hopes and expectations. At the same time, Man is endowed with a yearning to return to nature, to innocence. Babbit heroicly attempts such a return. Lewis also sends us a message similar to Thoreau's. He questions the neccesities of life and reasons for our tempestuous need to complicate them. As a bonus, the pages are riddled with wit and humor. I heartily recomend this novel.
Timeless.......2001-06-05
Initially I put this down years ago, unable to finish it, but later picked up again, and from page 200 on, this novel takes off.
The plot is essentially about a middle manager in his 50s who has a midlife crisis and goes on a binge with bohemians. Sinclair takes his time in blowing up all the details of Babbit's alleged extra-marrital affair and its consequences. (I won't tell you if he really does--you have to read it).
This novel comes alive through intelligent dialogue, an ever-moving story-line that stays in real-time (what Updike later drew on with his own brand of super-realism), with a deep and satisfying examination of the ever-shifting and garrelous Babbit, husband and father of two, who safeguards his modest material success in the fictional town of "Zenith."
Multi-layered, with keen observations of American consumerism, with a hard look at marriage, spirituality, business, fatherhood and mid-life crisis.
Written in 1922, the subject matter is universal and timeless. This book has laid the groundwork for many other novels that portray the American business man: Updike's "Rabbit" series, for one, (who he quotes from Babbit in the opening of "Rabbit Run"), The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, the Organization Man and others.
I'm glad I returned to this book, and recommend it to anyone frustrated by the often shallow and dehumanizing world of business. Keep a coffee at your side, though.
A really boring classic.......2001-02-25
This classic by Sinclair Lewis is set sometime in the early 1900s (1920s ?). It was written to show the shallowness of life of the average, middle-class men of the day in their pursuit for money, popularity, etc.
I found this book to be incredibly long and boring, but I think that was part of the point. At any rate, it's a classic, and in the words of a great literary critic, "These works are no longer on trial - the readers are."
Average customer rating:
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AlaskaMen USA
Susie Carter
Manufacturer: AlaskaMen USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback
ASIN: 0966740807 |
Average customer rating:
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Analysis of babbit,
James Brakes
Manufacturer: Allen Book and Printing Co
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding
General & Reference
| Chemistry
| Professional Science
| Professional & Technical
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: B0006AI696 |
Average customer rating:
- Attitude: Reverberation of Your Thoughts and Actions
- It works!
- Love it
|
Attitude
Barbara Babbit Kaufman
Manufacturer: Longstreet Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
Motivation & Self-Improvement
| Business Life
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
General
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Motivational
| Management & Leadership
| Business & Investing
| Subjects
| Books
Success
| Self-Help
| Health, Mind & Body
| Subjects
| Books
ASIN: 1563527316 |
Book Description
The author reveals the straightforward strategies she uses in her own business career, and includes secrets from her contact list of world-class CEO's and political leaders.
Customer Reviews:
Attitude: Reverberation of Your Thoughts and Actions .......2005-04-25
Barbara Kaufman shares with you some techniques she has used to keep the right attitude in the face of adversity or success. Ms. Kaufman does not try to prescribe a one-fit-for-all approach to challenges and opportunities occurring in your life. She correctly stresses that creating and keeping a good attitude is a habit to practice, one small step at a time and one day at a time. With some training and/or coaching, it becomes easier to have and keep the right attitude. Attitude is how you physically and emotionally interact with yourself, others and your surrounding environment. Attitude, not weight, looks, brain or luck, will have the greatest impact on how your life plays out. If you have the opportunity, I recommend that you first listen to Ms. Kaufman at one of her appearances before buying her book. Her passionate testimony about her successes and failures in both her private and business life will not leave you indifferent. Ms. Kaufman's testimony will convince you to pick up her book and dig for the nuggets, which are the most relevant to your own, personal experience.
It works!.......2005-02-10
It always amazed me how my grandmother could take a bone from the butcher, some vegetables from the pantry bin, and a 49 cent box of noodles and cook up a soup every bit as tasty as something Daniel Boulud had spent hours agonizing over.
"Use what you got," she would say as she sliced the carrots and searched for spices.
In her book, Barbara Babbit Kaufman reminds us that "Use What You Got" is a great recipe for a happy life---and the primary ingredient is a positive attitude.
This book is not about affirmations, it's a call to action: A positive attitude takes effort---it is a constant conscious choice, and requires concrete action---but there is nothing more important for success in life. When you change your attitude a profound shift occurs--suddenly you realize that "what you got" is far more than you ever knew, and can take you places you never even dreamed.
Ms. Kaufman offers plenty of personal anecdotes to support her thesis. This is a woman who was fired from four jobs and went on to become National Business Woman of the Year. She founded a very successful chain of independent bookstores---taking on giants like Borders and B&N. (The name of the bookstores? Chapter 11. "Prices so low you'd think we were going out of business." Love that!)
What I liked about this book is that it's efficient. It gives you step-by-step advice, and plenty of practical (and invaluable) wisdom: Networking---HOW to build contacts. Setting Goals--How to prioritize. (Perfect for those of us who are disorganized or try to do too much) Showing up for life--This is key. How many of us decide beforehand that something won't be worth our time? OR meet our expectations? Or we won't be up to the challenge? Ms. Kaufman makes it clear that this type of thinking is the biggest obstacle to our success.
I read this book last month, and started using a number of tips right away. It's already paying off.
Love it.......2004-08-06
I love it, I love it, I love it! Simple actions you can take to improve your attitude and get your life moving in a positive direction. Not boring, stuffy or overly complicated. Making lists to keep you in the right direction. Overcoming fear. Making focus easier. Even liveable dietary advice- IF you want/need it! No psychological "mumbo jumbo"-- just practical, doable, useful advice. Your new mantra: "Make it happen." :)
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- Tell Me No Lies
- The 36-Hour Day: A Family Guide to Caring for Persons with Alzheimer Disease, Related Dementing Illnesses, and Memory Loss in Later Life (3rd Edition)
- The Apocalypse Code: Find Out What the Bible REALLY Says About the End Times . . . and Why It Matters Today
- The Audacity of Hope: Thoughts on Reclaiming the American Dream
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A Giraffe and a Half
Falling Up
Where the Sidewalk Ends 30th Anniversary Edition: Poems and Drawings
A Light in the Attic
Lafcadio, The Lion Who Shot Back
