In the Yikes! Zone: A Conversation with Fear

Ski instructor, novelist (Same Blood) and leader of fear workshops Mermer Blakeslee teaches readers to accept fear ""as a habitual acquaintance in an imaginative, meaningful life"" in In the Yikes Zone: A Conversation With Fear. Using skiing as a metaphor, she argues that surrendering and ""letting go"" are an essential part of any creative process one must plunge down that mountain or dive into that new job. While the analogy of the slopes may cloud her advice for nonskiers, there's plenty of encouragement (and examples of folks who've succeeded) in these pages. (Dutton, $23.95 240p ISBN 0-525-94638-1; Feb.)