The television adaptation of ‘The Terminal List’ premieres on Amazon Prime Video on July 1, 2022. Photo: amazon
Jack Carr is a #1 New York Times bestselling author and former Navy SEAL. He is the author of “The Terminal List,” “True Believer,” “Savage Son,” “The Devil’s Hand,” and “In the Blood.” He is also the host of the Danger Close Podcast. In his debut novel “The Terminal List,” a Navy SEAL has nothing left to live for and everything to kill for after he discovers that the American government is behind the deaths of his team in this ripped-from-the-headlines political thriller. It has been adapted into an action thriller television series and will premiere on Amazon Prime Video on Friday, July 1, 2022. It stars Chris Pratt and consists of eight episodes. (amazon, 2022)
“The Terminal List” – On his last combat deployment, Lieutenant Commander James Reece’s entire team was killed in a catastrophic ambush. When those dearest to him are murdered on the day of his homecoming, Reece discovers that this was not an act of war by a foreign enemy but a conspiracy that runs to the highest levels of government. Now, with no family and free from the military’s command structure, Reece applies the lessons that he learned in over a decade of constant warfare toward avenging the deaths of his family and teammates. With breathless pacing and relentless suspense, Reece ruthlessly targets his enemies in the upper echelons of power without regard for the laws of combat or the rule of law.
‘The House Across the Lake’ is Riley Sager’s new psychological/supernatural thriller. Photo: amazon
Riley Sager is The New York Times bestselling author of six novels, most recently “Home Before Dark” and “Survive the Night.” His first novel, “Final Girls,” has been published in 30 countries and won the ITW Thriller Award for Best Hardcover Novel. His latest book is “The House Across the Lake” was named a most anticipated summer book by USA Today, People, E! News, Cosmopolitan, PureWow, CNN.com, CrimeReads, POPSUGAR, The Nerd Daily, BookTrib, Mystery Writers of America, Bookish, and Distractify. (amazon, 2022)
“The House Across the Lake” – Casey Fletcher, a recently widowed actress trying to escape a streak of bad press, has retreated to the peace and quiet of her family’s lake house in Vermont. Armed with a pair of binoculars and several bottles of bourbon, she passes the time watching Tom and Katherine Royce, the glamorous couple living in the house across the lake. They make for good viewing—a tech innovator, Tom is powerful; and a former model, Katherine is gorgeous.
One day on the lake, Casey saves Katherine from drowning, and the two strike up a budding friendship. But the more they get to know each other—and the longer Casey watches—it becomes clear that Katherine and Tom’s marriage is not as perfect as it appears. When Katherine suddenly vanishes, Casey immediately suspects Tom of foul play. What she does not realize is that there is more to the story than meets the eye—and that shocking secrets can lurk beneath the most placid of surfaces.
Packed with sharp characters, psychological suspense, and gasp-worthy plot twists, Riley Sager’s “The House Across the Lake” is the ultimate escapist read . . . no lake house required.
Kelly Sokol is the author of “Breach” and “The Unprotected,” which was featured on NPR and named one of Book Riot’s 100 Must-Read Books of Pregnancy, Childbirth and Motherhood. She is a Pushcart Prize-nominated author and MFA creative writing graduate. Her work has appeared in Alpinist, UltraRunning Magazine, The Manifest-Station, Connotation Press, and more. She teaches creative writing at The Muse Writers Center. Her new book “Breach” is an unflinching and timely gaze into the marriage of an enlisted special operator and his wife.
“Breach”– Marleigh Mulcahy grew up in a boxing gym, the daughter of hard-drinking parents who did not keep a stable roof over her head. The story begins as she is working at her grandfather’s gym. In the cinder-block Box-n-Go, amidst the sweat and funk, she meets Explosive Ordnance Disposal specialist Jace Holt, a highly and expensively trained bomb diffuser with three successful deployments behind him. With a heady mix of hope, carelessness, and a ridiculous amount of courage, they begin a family. They have plenty in common because they both have unstable parents and they are determined to do better. In between the pressures of a growing family and responsibilities, their relationship grows strained. When Jace returns to active duty, a roadside bomb resurrects ghosts from the couple’s past and threatens the life they have built.
It is common knowledge that the life of a military wife is challenging but it is rare to read a book that chronicles these challenges. This is where ‘Breach’ comes in and not only fills the void but excels at shining the light on the ups and downs of a military family. This book is an unwavering look at the reality of what it means to be a military wife and struggling to keep it together. With down to earth language, it is fast paced and an easy read and will keep readers turning pages to find out what happens to Marleigh in the end as her life begins to unravel. The characters are relatable and well developed and the action is mostly dialogue driven. Although it contains a few graphic sex scenes, it serves to cement the couple’s relationship and does not take away from the focus of the overall story. Marleigh and Jace’s story may be heartbreaking but it ends on a hopeful note that there is always light at the end of the tunnel. ‘Breach’ by Kelly Sokol is a reminder that it takes a village to raise a family and that we all need the support of friends and family. It is easily this year’s beach read and is recommended for fans of military family life fiction as well as women’s fiction.
“Marleigh awoke in the dark, each night, a running tally of debt in her mind. Food, school for the boys, diapers for Max, gas for the car, car insurance. Did she have room on either of her credit cards? Health insurance cancellation notices.”
*The author received a copy of this book for an honest review. The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to her.
The fifth book in the Project Adventure series, ‘Portrait of a Robbery’ will be released June 28, 2022. Photo: Robert Konrad
David Konrad is an adventurous dad who shares his love of storytelling with middle-grade children around the world. While traveling internationally and raising his young family, he found inspiration to write his books and fulfill his mission: making a difference in the lives of children. The ProjectAdventure children’s book series is action-packed, fun-filled, and driven by characters that young readers seeking their next favorite mystery will cherish. International author David Konrad releases “Portrait of a Robbery,” the fifth book in his popular children’s books series, Project Adventure. Just in time for summer, the pre-teen mystery book promises to be a hit with young readers. “Portrait of a Robbery”launches June28, 2022. (David Konrad, 2022)
The Project Adventure series begins with “The Heart of the Island,” in which Friends, Ethan and Matt seek to find a lost diamond. The next three books include “Rumble at the Zoo,” in which the boys meet Lisa, who joins the team for the rest of the series, “The Courtside Mystery” and “The Scrapyard Shakedown.” In each book, the heroes’ friendship, love for adventure and mystery- solving skills help save the day.
In the latest, “Portrait of a Robbery,” Ethan, Matt, and Lisa embark on a train journey to the small town where Matt’s grandmother caters to her valuable art collection on her beautiful estate. After being caught in a terrible storm that sets the garage ablaze and almost kills them, the detective team discover clues that bring them closer to solving the mystery of the missing Van Gogh.
Of the series, author David Konrad says, “Project Adventure is, of course, fiction and should be viewed as that. But I believe that kids today are a bit overprotected, and that a little bit of adventure, even if it is only on pages, is great for them. It might influence them to take more of an ‘active’ approach in life. To be accountable. To sometimes take chances. To be brave and self-confident, and to believe that things will work out in the end. I think that might be the most important message Project Adventure is trying to deliver.”
“Portrait of a Robbery” by David Konrad is currently available for pre-order on Amazon. Price: $3.99 ebook, $8.99 paperback Publish date: June 28, 2022
‘Tao Calligraphy To Heal and Rejuvenate Your Back’ is the first book in the series by world-renowned healer, humanitarian, spiritual master, and #1 New York Times bestselling author Dr. & Master Zhi Gang Sha. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
Tao Calligraphy is a revolutionary healing art based on an ancient form of one-stroke calligraphy from China. Dr. & Master Zhi Gang Sha now brings this healing frequency to everyone through a new book series. The first book in the series, “Tao Calligraphy to Heal and Rejuvenate Your Back” offers relief from back pain, a problem all too familiar to many Americans. According to Georgetown University’s Institute for Health Care Research and Policy study, nearly 65 million Americans report a recent episode of back pain. (Tao Calligraphy, 2022)
Below is an excerpt from “Tao Calligraphy”
Why Do People Have Challenges in Health, Relationships, Finances, and Every Aspect of Life? by Dr. & Master Zhi Gang Sha, Author of Tao Calligraphy to Heal and Rejuvenate Your Back
Millions of people suffer from sickness in the physical body, including all kinds of pain, inflammation, cysts, tumors, cancer, COVID-19, and many other sicknesses.
Millions of people suffer from sickness in the emotional body, including anger, depression, anxiety, worry, grief, fear, guilt, shame, loneliness, and more.
Millions of people suffer from sickness in the mental body, including poor concentration, diminishing memory, negative thinking, judgment, ego, and many mental disorders, such as schizophrenia, OCD, PTSD, and more.
Millions of people suffer from sickness in the spiritual body because the soul can carry negative information. In fact, as we have seen in the Universal Law of Shen Qi Jing, negative information is the root cause of all kinds of sickness in the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual bodies.
Millions of people have relationship challenges, including with partners, parents, children, siblings, other relatives, friends, bosses, employees, colleagues, organizations, and more.
Organizations, belief systems, cities, countries, and more could also have relationship challenges with each other.
Millions of people have environmental challenges, including polluted air, water, or land, inadequate shelter, unhealthy food, lack of healthcare, and more.
Millions of people have financial challenges.
Why do we have so many challenges in every aspect of life?
What is the key to understanding all of these challenges?
Is there a solution for these challenges?
If so, what is the solution?
I wrote this book to answer these four questions. Above all, I wrote this book to serve you, humanity, and Mother Earth.
In one sentence:
Humanity has all kinds of challenges in health, relationships, finances, the spiritual journey, and every aspect of life because of negative information, energy, and matter (negative shen qi jing).
What is the key to understanding all of these challenges? In one sentence, the key is that the heart and the soul are affected and influenced by negative information, energy, and matter.
Is there a solution for these challenges? In one sentence, the solution to all challenges in health, relationships, finances, the spiritual journey, and every aspect of life is to apply positive information, energy, and matter (positive shen qi ing) to transform negative information, energy, and matter.
Positive Information, Energy, and Matter
Tao Science states that information, energy, and matter can be positive or negative. This revolutionary insight helps us deeply understand sickness, healing, and transformation. What are positive information, energy, and matter? Positive information, energy, and matter are any information, energy, or matter that promotes order, connection, and harmony. Positive information, energy, and matter can heal and transform sickness, prevent sickness, rejuvenate, prolong life, harmonize relationships, boost finances and business, and enlighten one’s spiritual journey.
There are ten qualities that carry the most-positive information, energy, and matter: greatest love, greatest forgiveness, greatest compassion, greatest light, greatest humility, greatest harmony, greatest flourishing, greatest gratitude, greatest service, and greatest enlightenment. I will explain these ten greatest qualities in more detail in chapter eight.
Because these ten greatest qualities are the most-positive information, energy, and matter, they can transform every aspect of life. They are the highest wisdom. At the same time, they are the highest practice. They carry the highest power.
In ancient wisdom, shu yi zai Dao 书以载道, which means calligraphy is used to carry Tao. In this book, I share two Tao Calligraphies I have written to carry some of the ten greatest qualities to serve you, as well as to serve families, humanity, organizations, cities, countries, and Mother Earth.
Tao Calligraphy is Tao Source Oneness writing. It is art. It is art beyond art that can heal and transform health, relationships, finances, the spiritual journey, and every aspect of life. I will teach you how to practice in the Tao Calligraphy Field to transform every aspect of life. The practices are simple but profound. Practice is vital for you to receive the greatest possible benefits that I wish you and every reader to receive.
In one sentence:
All good health, harmonious relationships, flourishing finances and business, and enlightened spiritual journeys are due to positive information, energy, and matter.
Negative Information, Energy, and Matter
What are negative information, energy, and matter? Negative information, energy, and matter are any information, energy, or matter that promotes disorder, disconnection, and disharmony. Negative information, energy, and matter cause sickness, relationship challenges, and financial challenges. Negative information, energy, and matter block one’s spiritual journey. Negative information, energy, and matter create blockages in every aspect of life.
A human being has physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual bodies.
In the physical body, any lack of energy, vitality, or stamina; any pain, inflammation, cysts, tumors, or cancer; and all other sicknesses are negative information, energy, and matter.
In the emotional body, anger, depression, anxiety, guilt, shame, worry, grief, fear, and more are negative information, energy, and matter.
In the mental body, confusion, mental disorders, poor concentration, poor memory, ego, and more are negative information, energy, and matter.
In the spiritual body, not understanding or realizing the importance of the soul journey, which is the spiritual journey, getting lost on one’s spiritual journey, creating mistakes of hurting and harming others and the environment, and more are negative information, energy, and matter.
For relationships, any disharmony in any kind of relationship is negative information, energy, and matter.
For finances, all blockages in any aspect of finances are negative information, energy, and matter.
For a business, any challenge in any part of the business is negative information, energy, and matter.
In one sentence:
All challenges, blockages, and failures in health, relationships, finances, and the spiritual journey are due to negative information, energy, and matter.
How to Transform Negative Information, Energy, and Matter
To transform all challenges in health, relationships, finances, the spiritual journey, and every aspect of life is to transform negative information, energy, and matter to positive information, energy, and matter.
I am delighted to offer a Tao Source practical tool to help you, families, society, organizations, humanity, and Mother Earth. This practical tool is named Tao Calligraphy.
Tao Calligraphy creates and carries an Ultimate Source most-positive field, which could transform negative fields in all life, including health, relationships, finances, and the spiritual journey. Health includes four bodies: physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual.
Dr. and Master Zhi Gang Sha is the author of thirty-one books, including eleven New York Times bestsellers and bestsellers on the lists of the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and Amazon. He brings ancient wisdom to modern times to help people reach optimal wellness and greater happiness.
Dr. and Master Sha offers a guide for enhancing many aspects of life through soul secrets, wisdom, and simple, practical techniques. As a doctor of both Western and traditional Chinese medicine and acupuncture and a master of several Eastern arts, he brings decades of study and experience to help people discover their own power to heal and uplift their lives.
His books help people to understand the “soul” and how to connect with their own soul power and the science of soul healing to align the relationship between the soul, heart, mind, and body. He explains the all-important Law of Shen Qi Jing (Information, Energy, and Matter), where shen (information) includes soul, heart, and mind; qi is energy; jing is matter. This law reveals that soul leads heart, heart leads mind, mind leads energy, and energy leads matter. Throughout his work, he shows people how to effectively transform their negative shen qi jing to positive shen qi jing to heal and transform their lives.
Some abbreviated titles of Master Sha’s books include Soul Mind Body Medicine, The Power of Soul, Soul Healing Miracles, Soul Communication, Soul Wisdom, Tao Song and Tao Dance, Soul over Matter, Tao I and Tao II, Greatest Love, Greatest Forgiveness, Tao Science, and Tao Calligraphy Healing Field. Through his books, ancient and new Tao wisdom are made accessible for modern times. The power of unconditional love, forgiveness, and other key virtues flow and are embraced as methods for healing and transformation. Ancient wisdom from traditional Chinese medicine such as Five Elements Theory is made easy and applicable through practical healing techniques. The transformative art of Tao Calligraphy and the wisdom of Tao Science and quantum physics empower people to heal and manifest their dreams.
Providing guidance for every aspect of life, whether from an earlier book or one of his most recent and comprehensive books, Tao Calligraphy Healing Field: An Information System with Six Sacred Tao Techniques to Empower You to Heal and Transform Your Life, Dr. and Master Sha provides the tools and the wisdom for living optimally and creating the purposeful and fulfilling life you imagine.
‘Down to the River’ is Anne Whitney Pierce’s new novel. Photo: amazon
Anne Whitney Pierce is a life-long Cantabrigian and the author of two books, “Galaxy Girls: Wonder Women” (1993) and “Rain Line.” (2000) She has taught in the graduate writing program at Emerson College in Boston. Her short fiction has appeared in the Virginia Quarterly Review, The Chattahoochee Review, The Boston Globe Magazine, Kansas Quarterly, Crosscurrents, TheSouthern Review, among others. Her work has been included in the O’Henry Prize Story Collection and has won several awards, including the Nelson Algren Award, the Willa Cather Fiction Prize, the Paterson Fiction Prize, New Voices Award and a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Award. Her new book “Down to the River” is a family saga set in the late 1960s in Cambridge, Massachusetts against the backdrop of the Vietnam War. (amazon, 2022)
“Down to the River” – Whitney Pierce has set this novel in a time similarly turbulent to our own. It tells the story of how the Potts family, bred from privilege, falls to their knees amongst the revelries, riots, and raging uncertainty of the 60s. It is a family that hides deep secrets, as dark and murky as the Charles River which divides Cambridge and Boston. The town of Cambridge is a city so storied and distinct it becomes a living, breathing character.
Twin brothers, Nash and Remi Potts, have grown up as entitled, Harvard-educated, golden boys, heirs to an old, but dwindling family fortune. With the passage of time, the gold veneer of prosperity begins to chip away, and their lives begin to falter. It is 1968, and they are in their mid-forties and partners in a sporting goods store in Harvard Square. The twins’ marriages are in trouble. Their youngest children, Chickie and Hen, are coming of age during the turbulent urban wilderness of the late 1960s— school bomb threats, racial tensions, war protests and demonstrations at Harvard and beyond. With all hell breaking loose at home, and any semblance of “parenting” hanging ragged in the wind, the two cousins are left largely to their own devices. Suddenly freed from old rules and restrictions, they head out onto the streets of Cambridge, which become their concrete playground, tumbling headlong into a world of politics, sex, drugs, rock and roll.
‘We Were Dreamers’ is Simu Liu’s new memoir; now available everywhere. Photo: google
Simu Liuis an actor and writer best known for his work on Marvel Studios’ Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, in five seasons of the beloved family sitcom Kim’s Convenience, and for manifesting his dreams into existence with a Tweet. He wishes he had tweeted for something a bit better – like world peace, or for his parents to finally say “I love you.” His new book “We Were Dreamers” is more than a celebrity memoir – it is a story about growing up between cultures, finding your family, and becoming the master of your own extraordinary circumstance. (Barnes and Noble, 2022)
“We Were Dreamers”– The star of Marvel’s first Asian superhero film, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, tells his own origin story of being a Chinese immigrant, his battles with cultural stereotypes and his own identity, becoming a TV star, and landing the role of a lifetime. In this honest, inspiring and relatable memoir, newly-minted superhero Simu Liu chronicles his family’s journey from China to the bright lights of Hollywood with razor-sharp wit and humor.
Simu’s parents left him in the care of his grandparents, then brought him to Canada when he was four. Life as a Canuck, however, is not all that it was cracked up to be; Simu’s new guardians lack the gentle touch of his grandparents, resulting in harsh words and hurt feelings. His parents, on the other hand, find their new son emotionally distant and difficult to relate to – although they are related by blood, they are separated by culture, language, and values.
As Simu grows up, he plays the part of the pious child flawlessly – he gets straight As, crushes national math competitions and makes his parents proud. But as time passes, he grows increasingly disillusioned with the path that has been laid out for him. Less than a year out of college, at the tender age of 22, his life hits rock bottom when he is laid off from his first job as an accountant. Left to his own devices, and with nothing left to lose, Simu embarks on a journey that will take him far outside of his comfort zone into the world of show business. Through a swath of rejection and comical mishaps, Simu’s determination to carve out a path for himself leads him to not only succeed as an actor, but also to open the door to reconciling with his parents.
The Black Phone, from Joe Hill’s ’20th Century Ghosts’ has been adapted into a movie and will be released in theaters on June 24, 2022. Photo: amazon
Joe Hill is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the novels “The Fireman,” “NOS4A2,” “Horns,” and “Heart-Shaped Box;” “Strange Weather,” a collection of novellas; and the acclaimed story collections “Full Throttle” and “20th Century Ghosts.” He is also the Eisner Award–winning writer of a seven-volume comic book series, “Locke & Key.” Much of his work has been adapted for film and TV, including NOS4A2 (AMC), Locke & Key (Netflix), and In the Tall Grass (Netflix). The Black Phone is a short story in his “20th Century Ghosts” collection and has been adapted into a major motion picture from Universal Pictures and Blumhouse Productions. It stars Ethan Hawke and will be released in theaters on Friday June 24, 2022. (amazon, 2022)
The Black Phone – Jack Finney is thirteen, alone, and in desperate trouble. For two years now, someone has been stalking the boys of Galesberg, stealing them away, never to be seen again. And now, Finney finds himself in danger of joining them: locked in a psychopath’s basement, a place stained with the blood of half a dozen murdered children.
With him in his subterranean cell is an antique phone, long since disconnected . . . but it rings at night anyway, with calls from the killer’s previous victims. And they are dead set on making sure that what happened to them doesn’t happen to Finney.
“The Black Phone” is one of fifteen stories in Joe Hill’s first story collection, originally published as 20th Century Ghosts—the inventive and chilling compendium that established this award-winning, critically acclaimed, and bestselling author as “a major player in 21st-century fantastic fiction” (Washington Post).
‘Lilith and the Psychopath’ by Johnny Malapert is available on Kindle through amazon. Courtesy photo, used with permission.
You should be warned that the book you are considering was written by a renegade; a social misfit who has been ostracized by contemporary polite society. Johnny Malapert started out as a high school gang banger. He went on to work in the trades (construction, contracting, transportation) and later the professions (law, finance, education). He also enthusiastically joined many social groups (athletic, religious, charitable) and traveled extensively around the world, especially Western Europe. Although he found these endeavors initially exciting, and educational in a piratical way, and was usually quite good at the activity, none was personally fulfilling and each became boring as time went on. He is now a defrocked university professor working to debunk the social prejudice of “personality disorders,” as defined by psychology. (Johnny Malapert, 2022)
The common public perception of psychopath as evil and despicable is prejudicial and unjustified. His personal passion is to challenge the pervasive, mindless discrimination against psychopathy and help these often abused, but resilient and intrepid, men live freely in society. His proclamation: that the pseudoscience of psychology is wrong and the modern psychopathic man has the potential to achieve an elevated, satisfying, fulfilling, and often socially beneficial, way of life within the norms of modern Western society. If for any reason you think you may be a psychopath, his book ‘Lilith and the Psychopath,’could change your life—for the better. Alternatively, if you are not a psychopath, this book will give you a better understanding of psychopathy and allow you to accept these maligned individuals into society, like any other law abiding citizen. It is a fantastic story based on a hodgepodge conglomeration of places, people, events and ideas that the author has experienced over the years.
‘Lilith and the Psychopath’ – The modern, healthy psychopath, referred to by some as ‘psychosapien,’ is not the stereotypical, mindless, and often violent criminal sensationalized in folklore and the media. He is more typically intelligent with a character matrix that makes him exceptionally suited to function successfully in today’s multifaceted social environment. He is hard-wired against the often personally enslaving and destructive social pressures of conformity, doublethink, self-doubt, docility, and guilt. He is adventurous, self-confident, and often charming; an aggressive calculating risk-taker who is willing to challenge the status quo. He is the guy you want to be with in a fight and, if he is on the other side, the guy that causes you to give up and go home. The psychosapien is a gift of social evolution to his friends, family, kingship, and to free-minded people everywhere. He is a curse on the mindless, communalist demagogues that populate the upper echelons of every society throughout all of history, spouting exaggerated political promises and mindless slogans to dishonestly solicit loyalty, support, and compliance from the duped masses of underlings. The modern psychosapien has thrown off the shackles of social stereotyping and prejudice that have marked him as a mentally ill societal misfit, and has emerged as an authentic, happy, healthy, self-actualized individual.
Who is Johnny Picaro? If you ask his brother, the prison psychiatrist, and the beach psychologist, Johnny is an incorrigible psychopath, sociopath, or both. Hiscollege psychology professor agrees but adds that he is also the epitome of a healthy psychopath: a psychosapien. His sister sees him as an anti-Christian heathen; his dad confesses Johnny’s delinquent childhood behavior kept them from bonding but he still is very proud of the successful businessman Johnny became. His ex-fiancée who dumped him as a convicted felon and the superior court judge both agree he will always be a loser, but his surfing buddies acknowledge him as the leader of the pack and as tough as a junkyard dog. The soup kitchen nun sees Johnny as a shifty, social chameleon but also as a charming, resourceful, compassionate guy. The enslaved Ukrainian orphan girl knows him as the hero who helped when no one else would. The ruthless Barrio 13 drug honcho and his autistic brother hate Johnny and see him as an impediment to their business model who they intend to brutalize again and then eliminate. His wealthy, aging social-lite employer recognizes him as the tough, smart fighter she clearly needs right now. His renegade girlfriend sees Johnny as the perfect mate who is highly intelligent, self-confident, and energetic; a fearless risk taker who ignores arbitrary authority. What would Johnny say? “Kinda stupid question to ask someone. Who cares what other people think?”
‘Nailing It: How History’s Awesome Twentysomethings Got It Together’ by Robert L. Dilenschneider. Photo: amazon
Robert L. Dilenschneider has hired more than 3,000 successful professionals and advised thousands more. He is founder of the Dilenschneider Group, a corporate strategic counseling and public relations firm based in New York City. Formerly president and CEO of Hill & Knowlton, he is the author of the bestselling books “The Critical First Years of Your Professional Life,” “Power and Influence,” “A Briefing for Leaders,” and “Nailing It: How History’s Awesome Twentysomethings Got It Together.” The latter is an inspiring and encouraging book that provides 25 fascinating and diverse profiles of iconic men and women at or near age 25 and how they built their legacies. (amazon, 2022)
‘Nailing It’ begins with a foreword from U.S. Ambassador Donald Blinken where he writes that Robert L. Dilenschneider focuses on these men and women when they were aged 25 or so, what they did to gain a spot in history, and how they did it. He also mentions that the target demographic is those coming of age right now, but also older people who care about them and want them to succeed. In the Introduction, the author shares that the idea behind the book is to inspire young people and hopes they realize that they can make a difference. In general, he wishes people realize that there are many paths to greatness and not all of them are smooth sailing. The book is made up of twenty three chapters and each focuses on one of these 25 people, including Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Albert Einstein, Coco Chanel, Golda Meir, and more. More than just biographies, each chapter reveals where they were in their lives in their mid-twenties and the choices that made them who they are.
At first, seeing a list of history’s greatest might be intimidating but it serves to remember that each one of them encountered and defeated their own difficulties in life. Even if you do not know every one of the people profiled in this book, all their stories are inspiring. Since each chapter is a different person, readers can take their time and even go back and re-read previous ones. With easy to understand language, the author takes readers deep into the lives of each of these individuals and shares the good and the bad in the hopes of inspiring everyone to dream big, but most of all, to put in the effort and work necessary to achieve success. Most importantly, this book is a reminder that it is ‘never too late to make an impact.’ It is hard to choose a favorite profile, but Mary Shelley (Chapter 2) stands out due to her being a notable literary figure, best known for her masterpiece Frankenstein. By the time she was 25, she had already written what could be considered a best-seller, but she had also suffered more than most young women, starting with the death of her mother when she was only ten days old. ‘Nailing It’ by Robert L. Dilenschneider is an inspiring collection of notable historical figures that would make an excellent addition to any personal library. It is recommended for readers who appreciate biographies and books on career advice and self-improvement.
“The world is full of timid souls and idle dreamers who never really go after what they want. Don’t be one of them. Work to stand out and use the lessons you’ve learned from this book. If you take that approach and stick with it, it will change your life for the better.”
*The author received a copy of this book for an honest review. The views and opinions expressed here belong solely to her.
