Emphasizing personal style, Joan Barzilay Freund’s Defining Style is a freeing, inspiring and extremely innovative look at interior design.
Emphasizing personal style, Joan Barzilay Freund’s Defining Style is a freeing, inspiring and extremely innovative look at interior design.
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Looking for gift books that are quirky and clever, but won’t break the bank? This holiday season, table the coffee-table tomes and ponder the powers of mock and droll. From curious anecdotes to far-out-and-funky facts, these four irreverent reads offer plenty of yuk for your buck. The ideal book for the burned-out academic, The Ig Nobel Prizes: The Annals of Improbable Research, documents a dizzying array of dubious accomplishments. From research probing the blissful state of ignorance to a study proving toast does indeed fall more often with the buttered side down, author Marc Abrahams offers amusing anecdotes to make readers cackle and chortle, and perhaps even scratch their heads and think. Learn how Professor Andre Geim of the Netherlands and Sir Michael Berry of Bristol University in England employed magnets to levitate a frog, a reptilian rendering that earned them the Ig Nobel Physics Prize in 1997. Flare your nostrils over the awarding of the Ig Nobel Biology Prize to the inventor of airtight underwear complete with a replaceable charcoal filter to remove bad-smelling gases before they escape. (One hopes the demonstration for that one was at least ahem brief.) As editor and cofounder of the science humor magazine Annals of Improbable Research, Abrahams is clearly up to this brain-straining task. A resident of Cambridge, Massachusetts, and an applied mathematics graduate from Harvard, he is father and master of ceremonies of the Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony, the university’s annual honoring of the dishonorable.

You know that saying, “You had to be there?” Now you can be there without all the hassles. In What It Feels Like (Three Rivers, $12.95, 144 pages, ISBN 0609809768), the editors of Esquire have gathered gripping accounts from citizens who’ve swallowed swords, been attacked by swarms of killer bees, or walked on the moon. By turns “grizzly” (“What It Feels Like to Be Attacked by a Bear”), devilish (“What It Feels Like to Undergo an Exorcism”), and debauched (“What It Feels Like to Participate in an Orgy”), this slim volume of the vicarious renders the heights and depths of human experience, bringing readers up close and personal with a plethora of precarious states. Ever wonder how to detect counterfeit bills, make snowshoes from tree branches and strings, or put together a radio from scratch? Tap into those transformative powers with Cy Tymony’s Sneaky Uses for Everyday Things (Andrews McMeel, $10.95, 176 pages, ISBN 0740738593). Author of three books and a regular on ABC’s AM Chicago, Tymony has been creating high and low-tech inventions all his life. A cross between MacGyver and the professor from Gilligan’s Island, he’s penned a compelling collection of clues for getting out of a jam or just passing time on a dull winter day. From changing milk into plastic to constructing a compass without a magnet, this celebration of fascinating gadgets and gizmos is the perfect marriage of techno-geek and tongue-in-cheek. Everyone (well, almost everyone) knows that the chance of getting struck by lightning is 576,000 to 1, but what are the odds of achieving sainthood or dating a supermodel? From the likelihood of winning the lottery to achieving matrimonial bliss with a princess or prince, ponder the finer points of fate with Life: The Odds and How to Improve Them (Gotham, $20, 256 pages, ISBN 1592400337). In this compulsively readable gathering of fascinating stats, figures and facts, anything’s fair game: the glorious (Being Awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor), the gratuitous (Striking It Rich on Antiques Roadshow), and the fortuitous (Avoiding an IRS Audit). Harvard Law School graduate and finance expert Gregory Baer indulges his frivolous side in this breakdown of bona fide chances, from getting away with murder (about 2 to 1 odds) to garnering a Rhodes Scholarship (37,500 to 1).

Looking for gift books that are quirky and clever, but won't break the bank? This holiday season, table the coffee-table tomes and ponder the powers of mock and droll. From curious anecdotes to far-out-and-funky facts, these four irreverent reads offer plenty of yuk for your…
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A salty little music sampler, Squeeze My Lemon: A Collection of Classic Blues Lyrics is a compilation of choice outtakes from some of the most soulful songs ever captured on wax. These sound bites, culled from tunes by the likes of Willie Dixon, Robert Johnson and Sonny Boy Williamson, have all the spirit and sass of the South. Full of lively metaphors, they’re brief and simple yet surprisingly profound, tackling timeless topics like death, religion, and love gone wrong. Squeeze My Lemon was edited by Randy Poe, a former executive director of the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame. He’s grouped the lyrics into revealing categories (“Women-The Good, the Bad and the Ugly,” “Blues and Booze”) that reflect the tough lives and world-weary attitude behind the music. The rootsy anthology also features a discography of recommended albums and a selection of wonderful black-and-white photographs of major blues figures, including Ma Rainey, Muddy Waters, Big Joe Turner and Howlin’ Wolf. With a foreword by B.B. King, this bouncy book will spice up your holiday season.

 

A salty little music sampler, Squeeze My Lemon: A Collection of Classic Blues Lyrics is a compilation of choice outtakes from some of the most soulful songs ever captured on wax. These sound bites, culled from tunes by the likes of Willie Dixon, Robert…

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Heralded as the worst conflagration to assail a city in peacetime, the 1906 San Francisco fire was responsible for the deaths of 3,000 people and the destruction of 522 city blocks, according to firefighter turned writer Dennis Smith in his new moment-by-moment chronicle of the fire, San Francisco Is Burning: The Untold Story of the 1906 Earthquake and Fires.

Smith’s book argues that bureaucratic bungling allowed the fire to spread much further and wreak more havoc than it had to. Even in an age when emergency water arrived by way of horse and wagon, the fire could have been contained, Smith believes, but for gross errors in municipal leadership. Dynamite, for instance, could have been used to create fire breaks. Instead, untrained personnel blew up burning buildings, disseminating embers that started new fires nearby. Smith blames the entire destruction of Chinatown on this practice. Perhaps the most unfortunate domino in the chain of destruction was the demise of Fire Chief Dennis Sullivan, who was fatally injured in the initial earthquake. For years, Sullivan had warned his superiors in government that the availability of water for firefighting was not up to par. With water pressure low and fire wagons traveling by hoof, his department’s hoses weren’t even capable of watering the top floors of the emerging skyscrapers. Smith challenges the popular mythology of a runaway fire unstoppable by merely human forces. In fact, the fire spread relatively slowly, he thinks, and could have been minimized in the presence of competent leadership. Unfortunately, with the death of Sullivan, such knowledge was absent.

Heralded as the worst conflagration to assail a city in peacetime, the 1906 San Francisco fire was responsible for the deaths of 3,000 people and the destruction of 522 city blocks, according to firefighter turned writer Dennis Smith in his new moment-by-moment chronicle of…
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Check out Jim Cramer's Stay Mad for Life: Get Rich, Stay Rich (Make Your Kids Even Richer). You may know Cramer from his high-energy appearances on CNBC's Mad Money. A former hedge fund manager, he's intense and passionate about making your money do the most for you. In Stay Mad, he targets the financial novice who invests in a 401(k) to save money for retirement but wants his or her money to do more in the long run. Some of what Cramer preaches isn't exactly revolutionary: He stresses the evils of carrying credit card debt and urges readers to create a budget and to purchase health insurance if they don't get it through their employer because medical expenses are the number one cause of bankruptcy today. Besides the economic nuts and bolts, Cramer gives practical suggestions with solid evidence to back up his arguments on what to do with your 401(k): Only invest what your company matches and don't invest in the company stock (which could deliver a double whammy if you're laid off due to a business downturn). Cramer offers a list of 50 great stocks with long-term potential, weighted heavily toward energy companies as well as American favorites like McDonald's and Pepsi. This is the kind of book you'll want to keep in your home library.

A 21st-century powerhouse
A great provocative read is A Bull in China: Investing Profitably in the World's Greatest Market by Jim Rogers. Part of the enjoyment in reading this book is getting the backstory on Rogers, who co-founded the Quantum Fund with George Soros. Rogers retired at the age of 37 and rode a motorcycle across China almost 30 years ago. His book gives the American investor specific advice on which Chinese enterprises are worth investing in (power, energy and transportation, for example), along with an economic forecast on where each company is headed in the coming decades. Rogers writes that while the 19th century belonged to England and the 20th to America, the 21st will see China's turn as the economic powerhouse of the world. He even urges parents to teach their children Chinese. Time magazine nicknamed Rogers the Indiana Jones of finance, and those willing to heed the advice of this world traveler may find China to be a monetary risk worth taking.

A richer life
If talk about striking it rich makes you a bit squeamish, author David Wann offers a different approach. In Simple Prosperity: Finding Real Wealth in a Sustainable Lifestyle, he argues that you don't necessarily need more money to live a fulfilling life; rather, you need a new approach to what defines happiness. Wann says that by taking care of your health and investing in social interaction, you can help to keep medical costs at bay, which means more money for you. He also points out that by going slightly green (planting a tree near your house) you can save money by using less air conditioning. Simple Prosperity is a dense, information-packed read that helps us rethink everyday choices to shape our ultimate prosperity.

Check out Jim Cramer's Stay Mad for Life: Get Rich, Stay Rich (Make Your Kids Even Richer). You may know Cramer from his high-energy appearances on CNBC's Mad Money. A former hedge fund manager, he's intense and passionate about making your money do the most…

Black, with a dash of red
Cathie Black, the president of Hearst Magazines, wants to help you lead the 360&anddeg; life a balanced existence in which personal happiness isn't trumped by the pursuit of professional success. Black is an excellent resource for such advice: During her 40-year (and counting) career, she's been the first woman publisher of New York magazine; president and publisher of USA Today; president and CEO of the American Newspaper Association; and is now overseer of 19 big-name magazines, including Esquire, Good Housekeeping and O, The Oprah Magazine. Her insight will prove useful even for those with less extensive resumes. She shares personal stories including ones about her own missteps and career counsel in Basic Black: The Essential Guide for Getting Ahead at Work (and in Life), and urges the reader toward a focus on a happy life vs. the largest paycheck, the nicest office or the most power.

Magazine-philes will delight in insider information about the likes of Rupert Murdoch, Tina Brown and Atoosa Rubenstein. There are strategies for handling criticism and adjusting to staffers' individual styles, plus job-seeker how-to sections that offer useful if not groundbreaking advice (use spell-check, don't lie on your resume, invest in quality paper). Basic Black is a clever hybrid of autobiography and career guide; the author's straightforward, knowledgeable voice makes it an engaging read and a valuable resource. Another nice touch is the use of red ink throughout for chapter headings and major points it's a perfect expression of the flair Black brings to the boardroom.

The dangerous book for career girls
Caitlin Friedman and Kimberly Yorio waste no time in The Girl's Guide to Kicking Your Career Into Gear. On page one, they cite a 2005 Harris Interactive poll that indicated 41 percent of U.S. workers were dissatisfied with their jobs. Their prescription for joining the other 59 percent? Acknowledge that you deserve a fulfilling career and start planning for it now. The authors, who also wrote The Girl's Guide to Starting Your Own Business and The Girl's Guide to Being a Boss (Without Being a Bitch), are the founders/principals of public relations firm YC Media. Their media savvy provides a strong foundation for their message: It's time for readers to conduct their own promotional campaigns by mapping out a plan, networking and increasing awareness, and keeping an eye out for new opportunities. The authors' advice is attuned to current trends in addition to typical interview-preparation tips, they suggest careful editing of MySpace profiles and recommend covering up tattoos. Real-life tales feature women in all sorts of jobs; quizzes and lists help with soul-searching; and the confronting coworkers will not kill you section should prove invaluable. One caveat almost all the profiles are of women who work in or near Manhattan. If readers can get past the city-centrism, they'll find lessons that apply to workers nationwide.

You may just want to quit
Brian Kurth's Test-Drive Your Dream Job: A Step-by-Step Guide to Finding and Creating the Work You Love is excellent for dreamers looking for ways to become doers. Kurth went through his own career transformation when, in 1999, he realized he was a living, breathing Dilbert. Although he enjoyed his job and was paid well, it wasn't exciting anymore but starting a company for people who wanted to try out their dream jobs certainly was. Today, Vocation Vacations is in full swing; clients spend one to three days with mentors in jobs ranging from cheesemonger to sword-maker (there are more traditional jobs, too, such as architect and veterinarian). Test-Drive Your Dream Job is both an engrossing chronicle of Kurth's journey to creating his own dream job and a sourcebook for those who can't afford a mentoring fee or would prefer to set up a test-drive themselves. The book delivers by offering lists of questions to ask potential mentors; charts to help in establishing an action plan; and reality-checks about money, health insurance and the impact a life-change might have on your relationships. Anecdotes about successful dreamers are inspiring, while profiles of those who needed a dream-adjustment demonstrate the importance of taking action: Regardless of the result, you'll have useful experience and information. Kurth notes that many of us accept the ordinary because we've been conditioned to, but it's OK to want something different or better. Really.

What if your job is boring and your coworkers are annoying? You've got security and a steady paycheck, right? Think again, Dan Miller says in today's volatile workplace, there are no guarantees. And, he explains, the moment you realize that meaningful, purposeful and profitable work really is a possibility . . . all of a sudden, complacency and Ôcomfortable misery' become intolerable. The author of 48 Days to the Work You Love also works as a career coach, speaker and Internet radio-show host. He made mistakes en route to the busy business-life he enjoys now, and shares an important lesson: You have to create your own definition of success, or you're not going to be happy for long. To that end, he offers probing questions, Revolutionary Insights, anecdotes about passion-pursuers famous and unknown, and a healthy dose of tough love in his latest book, No More Mondays: Fire Yourself and Other Revolutionary Ways to Discover Your True Calling at Work. Might you have overlooked an opportunity while you were waiting for the perfect situation to find you? And who's making you stay at that job you hate, anyway? (Hint: look in the mirror.) There are strategies for readers who don't want to quit their jobs just yet, and straight talk about finances. Establishing a timeline is key, as is doing lots of reading the books, websites and articles in his Resources section are a good start. Approaching the usual in unusual ways can lead to solutions, Miller writes, including, presumably, eradicating the dreaded Monday blues.

Black, with a dash of red
Cathie Black, the president of Hearst Magazines, wants to help you lead the 360&anddeg; life a balanced existence in which personal happiness isn't trumped by the pursuit of professional success. Black is an excellent resource for such advice: During…

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Self Magazine's 15 Minutes to Your Best Self by Lucy Danzinger et al. presents multiple New Year's resolutions in one gorgeous little package. This brilliant compilation of 573 hip tips helps even the most harried but health-conscious woman catch up on topics like health, nutrition and fitness, style and beauty, happiness, sex, money, relationships and home by tackling them in tasks that only last from one to 15 minutes. Need to buy shoes for this summer's marathon but want to save time in the store? Wet the bottom of your foot, step on a paper towel and the imprint will tell you what kind of foot you have. Got another minute? Soothe morning moods, make your sex life brighter, figure out if you have a cold or allergies, and make even veggies healthier. Got three minutes? Become sun smart or find your ideal dog or yoga style. Ten minutes? Find the right winter boots. Fifteen minutes? Check for skin cancer and discover secret ways to save. The book also includes amusing to don't lists on various subjects and 10 things lists on topics from eating your way to slender happiness to looking stylish every time you leave the house.

BUT WHAT TO EAT?
If you've resolved to work more healthy foods into your lifestyle, get all the inspiration you need in 101 Foods That Could Save Your Life. This fascinating look at food as therapy is an A-Z guide to common nuts, seeds, fruits, vegetables, herbs, and grains with uncommon powers. Author David Grotto, R.D. L.D.N., contributing writer to Prevention magazine and president of Nutrition Housecall, a family nutrition consulting firm, bases his research on ancient medicine and scientific studies. He reveals the history, lore and uses for super foods that have boosted health and helped heal diseases and chronic complaints for centuries, including avocado (helps decrease gingivitis), cherries (anti-inflammatory, relieves arthritis pain), cardamom (helps heal ulcers), cumin (more effective than some diabetes medications), sardines (more calcium than a glass of milk) and wasabi (shown to inhibit growth of breast cancer cells). Simple, healthful and imaginative recipes by guest chefs and nutritionists make it easy to incorporate the foods into daily meals, including Cranberry Pear Salad with Curried Hazelnuts, Spicy Japanese Mint Noodles, Steamed Artichokes with Lemon Wasabi Sauce and Carob-Walnut Cake. The book includes vitamin and mineral counts, buying and storage tips and fun facts that make remembering items you've previously overlooked at the supermarket easier.

Prevention magazine is must-reading for a healthy lifestyle, and their new Prevention's 3-2-1 Weight Loss Plan: Eat Your Favorite Foods to Cut Cravings, Improve Energy and Lose Weight is the right antidote to eating endless bowls of cabbage soup. Written by Joy Bauer, M.S., R.D., C.D.N. (Yahoo.com's nutrition and weight-loss expert and Self magazine's monthly weight-loss columnist and author of the best-selling Joy Bauer's Food Cures), the book contains dependable information, backed by scientific research, designed to help dieters adopt good nutrition principles for a lifetime and drop pounds without hunger or cravings. The 3-2-1 plan of three meals, two snacks and one sinfully delightful treat each day is presented in three phases: changing habits, losing weight and maintenance. Each phase has its own health and nutrition information that includes meal plans broken out by calories, treat and snack lists and dozens of healthful recipes, plus illustrated workout routines using a mat and dumbbells. Every aspect of achieving a healthy weight is covered, from why bother to how to keep it off, making the book an excellent companion for those longing to finally shed a lifetime of excuses, fads and excesses.

TRAINING WITH THE STARS
Celebrity trainers are a dime a dumbbell, but Steve Zim manages to put a Hollywood gloss on ordinary workout circuits in The 30-Minute Celebrity Makeover Miracle. Zim (6 Weeks to a Hollywood Body), is a fitness expert on the Weekend Today show, and runs a gym in Southern California, where everyone wants to be a star whether in the next box-office blockbuster or their own life. Our microwave culture calls for instant results, however, so Zim designed a combined cardio-weight training program that promises to raise metabolism, burn fat faster and sculpt muscles in just 30 minutes a day, three times a week for 10 weeks. Of course, you don't get Taye Diggs' biceps or Nicole Kidman's colt-like legs without some serious sweat and this program does require a huge dollop of dedication. Walking, marching and jogging phases blend intense workout circuits of strength training using dumbbells and a balance ball (illustrated with black-and-white photos) interspersed with cardio moves, and Zim also presents a brief but good nutrition plan. While those easing into activity could be discouraged by this program, Zim's promises of Hollywood looks on a mere mortal's schedule will certainly motivate those who find themselves in a fitness rut.

More than 40 percent of women ages 55-74 are unable to lift 10 pounds, according to celebrity trainer Kacy Duke (whose clients include Julianne Moore, Denzel Washington, Bruce Willis and Gwen Stefani). That women accept this as a natural part of aging is B.S. according to Duke, who busts out the sistah moves to get self-esteem as well as weak muscles whipped into shape in The Show it Love Workout: Celebrate the Body You Have, Get the Body You Want, co-written with health and fitness writer Selene Yeager. Presenting her signature Woman Warrior Workout with its I Am, I Can, I Do philosophy, Duke's refreshingly up-front advice refashions a workout into a three-part boot camp for emotions, body image and diet, as well as physical self.

I Am looks at the power of the mind-body connection (Duke highlights a study that demonstrated merely thinking about exercising a muscle actually made it stronger). I Can gets the motivation mojo working and I Do focuses on movement after the mental foundation has been established. Pictures of Duke doing the workout moves appropriate for each stage (some brandishing a staff) are also included along with sensible nutrition advice (go on, call Dr. Godiva when needed) and some healthful recipes. The daily get through anything guide at the back keeps the newly-fit on track with short workouts for stressors like the post-baby blues, getting dumped or fired, having a bad day or feeling bored. The entire program can be done in a living room or the gym, and Duke excels at encouraging women to find what they love whether that's a treadmill, gymnastics or flamenco dancing and pushing beyond comfort to a new belief, motivation and strength.

Self Magazine's 15 Minutes to Your Best Self by Lucy Danzinger et al. presents multiple New Year's resolutions in one gorgeous little package. This brilliant compilation of 573 hip tips helps even the most harried but health-conscious woman catch up on topics like health, nutrition…

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