NONFICTION
Everyone Communicates, Few Connect: What the Most Effective People Do Differently
John C. Maxwell. Thomas Nelson, $25.99 (270p) ISBN 9780785214250
Full of anecdotes from readers of his books (including Encouragement Changes Everything) and his website (www.JohnMaxwellonLeadership.com), the latest self-help from prolific bestseller Maxwell is so readable, audiences may not realize until the end that it contains little in the way of practical advice. Instead, Maxwell offers vague platitudes like, "[b]eing a giver is usually a win-win. It can energize you while it helps others," without providing the meaning or context to make proper advice (what would “a giver” look like in conversation? How can readers become givers?). A great deal of the book is devoted to first-person anecdotes by those who have worked with Maxwell and his books, who make much of Maxwell’s skills, but little of the steps they took to improve their own communication abilities. Those looking for concrete help won’t find it here; Maxwell doesn’t get much more specific than when he writes, “Connecting is the ability to identify with people and relate to them in a way that increases your influence with them.” (Apr.)
The Four Mistakes: Avoiding the Legal Landmines that Lead to Business Disaster
Michael G. Trachtman. Sterling, $19.95 (256p) ISBN 9781402768170
Trachtman, president of a Philadelphia law firm and founder/operator of a consulting outfit, condenses 30 years of experience helping businesses out of legal trouble to outline four of the most common mistakes. Trachtman says that business, "in substantial part,” is “the art of foreseeing and managing risk,” but that the risks posed by our laws and legal system often go unnoticed until lawsuits are threatening to bring down a successful company. Including chapters on documentation, the employee-employer divide, “competition v. protectionism,” and facing problems appropriately (“mountains that should have been molehills”), Trachtman cites actual cases and up-to-the-minute changes in legislation, offering proactive strategies through a sustained, fictional lawsuit narrative. This attorney’s toolbox shows that a little knowledge on employment law, even if some of it is technical legalese, goes a long way; Trachtman’s contention that Congress and the Obama administration have promised to make it easier (and more profitable) for employees to sue employers means it’s more pressing than ever for business owners to grasp the legal issues at hand. (Apr.)
★ Hack the Planet: Science’s Best Hope—or Worst Nightmare—for Averting Climate Catastrophe
Eli Kintisch. Wiley, $25.95 (288p) ISBN 9780470524268
At one time a fringe notion, the idea of geoengineering—using radical means to change the climate deliberately—is gaining traction in scientific conferences and even in the White House, where doubts are growing regarding the efficacy of mainstream strategies (conservation, alternative energy, “storing carbon dioxide from coal plants in the ground”). In this fascinating wake-up call, Science magazine writer Kintisch begins with the startling notion that “clean air could kill us,” because tiny particles in the atmosphere scatter sunlight and cool the planet; a proposal mimicking the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo, which cooled the earth by a half degree, would release 5.3 million tons of sulfur into the atmosphere per year to counter global warming. Opponents argue that the unforeseen consequences of this and similar efforts could prove more disastrous than the original problems; Kintisch also suggests that conservatives embracing radical solutions like large-scale ocean algae blooms are simply trying to block profit-threatening regulation and alternative energy development. By no means a run-of-the-mill survey of climate change solutions, this volume takes a engaged but balanced look at humanity’s life-or-death situation, providing numerous angles on the role of cutting-edge science as either “our downfall or our savior.” (Apr.)
Leonardo’s Legacy: How Da Vinci Reimagined the World
Stefan Klein. Da Capo, $24.95 (304p) ISBN 9780306818257
Every year more than 5 million people line up to see Leonardo Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa—but why? In his latest, German science writer Klein (The Secret Pulse of Time) seeks to understand why “this portrait of a Florentine housewife of no more than average beauty” is so “deeply penetrating.” Klein makes a compelling case that DaVinci’s ability to trigger an empathetic physical response in the viewer lay in his scientific acumen: the asymmetry of the Mona Lisa’s smile, for instance, deliberately reflects the asymmetry of the human brain. While Leonardo is remembered primarily as an artist, his accomplishments as a scientist were at least as important; among other work, he studied the motion of water, worked out the trajectory of missiles, and designed impregnable fortifications, all with just a bare-bones knowledge of arithmetic. Klein insists that “the Mona Lisa so riveting because it incorporated many of the optical rules that Leonardo discovered,” such as the way proportions change in relation to distance and colors transform as light passes through the atmosphere. Including a detailed chronology of the artist’s life, this makes an illuminating new look at Leonardo’s unique genius. 70 B&W photos. (May)
★ Seized: A Sea Captain’s Adventures Battling Scoundrels and Pirates While Recovering Stolen Ships in the World’s Most Troubled Waters
Max Hardberger. Broadway, $25 (304p) ISBN 9780767931380
In this heart-stopping account of his work recovering stolen (or otherwise illegally-seized) ships from “hellhole” ports, commercial captain Hardberger proves himself tough as a tank and articulate as a poet. An airplane pilot, teacher, and lawyer besides, Hardberger never turns down an assignment, no matter how perilous—from surreptitiously repossessing huge ships at midnight to transporting a fleet of old airplanes across East Germany in a perilous airborne convoy. Facing down foes that include gangsters, corrupt judges, and, of course, pirates, Hardberger proves a formidable hero, but nevertheless admits that “my long experience in leading men into dicey situations had taught me to keep my qualms to myself.” Hardberger has a seafarer’s gift for atmospheric storytelling, layering details to create a sense of place, history, and foreboding, as when outsmarting deceptive authorities at a Honduran port: “I knew that pier well, and those pilings had been rotten since Simon Bolivar was a boy.” Full of the suspense that comes from ripping off the bad guys and making a daring escape, often aboard less-than-reliable craft (“the ship could only make a desperate run for Belize… before the hold filled with water and she took a nosedive into the sea”) Hardberger’s escapades make undeniably fun reading. (Apr.)
LIFESTYLE
★ 101 Things I Learned in Culinary School
Louis Eguaras with Matthew Frederick, Grand Central, $15 (212p) ISBN 9780446550307
Expanding on the success of his 101 Things I Learned in Architecture School, architect and urban designer Frederick picks the brain of former White House staff chef Eguaras, now a professor at the California School of Culinary Arts. Though slim, this book is all meat with no fat: Eguaras offers tips on everything from calibrating a meat thermometer to getting the most out of a whole chicken, keeping salad dressing from separating (use an emulsifier like mayo or mustard), putting out a grease fire (smother with a pan lid, never use water) and identifying poisonous foods. Line drawings by architect Frederick provide clear illustration of Eguaras’s concepts, as well as clever cartoon counterpoints. Peppered with cogent quotes and trivia (the world’s oldest cookbook was written by a first century Roman), this culinary crash course is sure to surprise and enlighten even the most informed gourmands. Other volumes in the 101 Things series are set to follow. (May)
★ Amor y Tacos: Modern Mexican Tacos, Margaritas, and Antojitos
Deborah Schneider. Stewart Tabori & Chang, $18.95 (152p) ISBN 9781584798248
In her latest, chef and author Schneider (Baja! Cooking on the Edge) presents a zesty take on tacos, drinks, and appetizers sure to inspire fans of Mexican flavors. Following a brief overview of Mexican cuisine and culture, Schneider dives into a bevy of cocktails, including tequila infused with Serrano chiles, mango and lime; classic limonadas and micheladas; and 10 party-starting margaritas. Cooks can choose among five suggested menus scaled for small or large crowds, each an impressive but easy-to-achieve affair with unexpected dimensions. Simple but impressive appetizers like Toritos—jalapeno peppers stuffed with shrimp and cheese—and Lobster, Chayote and Mango Tostadas are sure to please; the Mexican Hot Dog, meanwhile, is an instant guilty-pleasure classic: wrapped in bacon, fried, and topped with lime mayonnaise, fresh pico de gallo and chipotle-spiked ketchup. Schneider’s tacos are equally refreshing: one of her three shrimp tacos includes a sweet and spicy barbecue sauce; traditional shredded beef takes on deep, complex flavors with a braise of chiles and Coca-Cola; and the time-intensive Chipotle Duck Taco with Duck Chicharron, Pineapple Cucumber Salsa and Spicy Crema, yields attention-getting results. Though some dishes may intimidate, Schneider’s enthusiastic and approachable text keeps frustration to a minimum. This is a collection that novice cooks can grow with, and is sure to be dog-eared in no time. (May)
Cook to Bang: The Lay Cook’s Guide to Getting Laid
Spencer Walker. Griffin. $13.99 (240p) ISBN 9780312600181
Private chef Walker, formerly a creative executive for Nickelodeon and the Cartoon Network, puts his talents to misogynistic ends in this off-putting cookbook, aimed at the young male demographic who made Tucker Max a bestseller and treat The Game as a guide to life. Dedicated to helping novices “cook an amazing meal and bring out their date’s inner slut,” Walker presents basic cooking and entertaining techniques doused in graphic anecdotes, casual insults, frat-boy innuendos and plenty of disdain for the opposite sex. Sound advice on presentation, kitchen essentials, wine pairings, and flirting is buried amidst Walker’s steadfast commitment to the low road, including digressions on farting, recipe titles like “Tap That Ass-paragus Soup” and “Miso Horny Cod,” and witless bon mots like, “boozing has always been as American as apple pie eaten off Betsy Ross’ tits.” Stale chauvinist humor aside, Walker’s guide doesn’t live up to its potential, content to circle the drain endlessly with a tiring litany of female stereotypes and recycled seduction strategies. (May)
The Ten Things to Do When Your Life Falls Apart: An Emotional and Spiritual Handbook
Daphne Rose Kingma. New World Library (PGW, dist.), $14.95 paper (240p) ISBN 9781577316985
Though we know that bad things happen to good people, we often don’t realize how little good typical coping mechanisms—drinking, eating, smoking or sleeping—do to help our problems. Speaker and author Kingma (Coming Apart) calls these "default" or "compensating" behaviors, which people turn to out of habit. Kingma’s alternative involves confronting those behaviors and learning to understand our personal “Life Themes,” the “psychological riddle” each person struggles to solve in this life, in order to heal from trauma. A warm, empathetic and practical guide, Kingma delineates ten steps, from “Cry Your Heart Out” and “Do Something Different” to “Go Where the Love Is” and “Live in the Light of the Spirit,” that ease readers into the hard work of taking action following a loss. Kingma makes a convincing case for the notion that every setback provides an opportunity, and that overcoming any crisis will require leaving our comfort zone and reassessing our attitudes and emotional responses: "when circumstances bring us to our knees, we're finally willing to tiptoe into the exploration of who we really are and what our lives might really be about." (Apr.)
United Cakes of America: Recipes Celebrating Every State
Warren Brown. Stewart, Tabori and Chang, $29.95 (224p) ISBN 9781584798392
From Baked Alaska to Florida’s classic Key Lime Pie, restaurateur and cookbook author Brown (CakeLove) takes readers on a cross-country cakewalk, stopping for plenty of lore, local ingredients, and other sweet desserts (like cupcakes, scones and pralines). Divided into four regions (including Alaska, Hawaii and Puerto Rico), Brown’s collection is a pleasant mix of the expected—Boston Cream Pie, Coca-Cola Cake from Georgia, Mississippi Mud Cake—and inspired niche desserts like Vermont’s Maple Creme Brulee, Maryland’s multilayered Smith Island Cake, Tennessee Mountain Stack Cake, and Avocado Cupcakes from (where else?) California. Brown does a commendable job helping cooks along with clearly written though occasionally complex recipes, all but ensuring a perfect Lady Baltimore, Margarita Mousse, or St. Louis Gooey Butter Cake. Rounded out with ephemera ranging from frosting tips to biographies of the king and queen of box mixes (the real Duncan Hines and the fictional Betty Crocker), this coast-to-coast compilation is a sweet home-baked slice of Americana. (May)
FICTION
All the Queen’s Players
Jane Feather. Pocket, $15 paper (400p) ISBN 9781416525547
Rosamund Walsingham is from a lesser branch of the Walsingham family, with no real fortune or prospects until she catches the eye of her influential cousin, Francis Walsingham, Queen Elizabeth’s spymaster and secretary of state. He sends the beautiful young woman to court to act as his eyes and ears, a task she performs well until she gets involved in an ill-advised liaison with fellow courtier, William Creighton, who has similarly dim prospects. Disgraced, Rosamund is sent to spy on Elizabeth’s sister, the imprisoned Catholic queen Mary, but soon discovers that the cost of these political games is greater than she could have anticipated. Accomplished romance author Feather (A Husband’s Wicked Ways) delivers another reliably steady historical, but sidesteps the most provocative opportunities of her Elizabethan court setting in favor of a fairly tame tale. Rosamund is too typical a heroine, while Feather’s most interesting characters—the historical figures of Francis and Christopher Marlowe—are relegated to sideline roles. Fans of historical romances should probably skip this in favor of a Tudor tale with more heat. (Apr.)
★ I Hotel
Karen Tei Yamashita. Coffee House (Consortium, dist.), $19.95 (640p) ISBN 9781566892391
In Yamashita’s latest, she strings together a stunningly complete vision of San Francisco’s Asian American community in the late 1960s and early ’70s, using the titular inn as a meeting point for ten loosely-connected novellas, each covering a single year. Focusing on the struggle for equality and peace as it involved this particular community, Yamashita’s work also incorporates a broad view of the Asian and Asian American experiences, from Japanese internment camps to the Marcos dictatorship. Yamashita accomplishes a dynamic feat of mimesis by throwing together achingly personal stories of lovers, old men, and orphaned children; able synopses of historical events and social upheaval; and public figures like Lenin and Malcolm X (Yamashita’s opening line: “So I’m Water Cronkite, dig?”). Despite its experimental and fictionalized nature, the novel reads more like a patchwork oral history, determined to relate the facts of its setting and, more importantly, the feelings of it; with varied commingling of voices and formats (stream-of-consciousness, slangy first person, quotes, dossiers, academic papers, even written-out choreography), the narrative reads like a collection of primary sources. Though it isn’t for everyone, this powerful, deeply felt, and impeccably researched fiction is irresistibly evocative and overwhelming in every sense. 30 b&w photos and illus. (May)
The Longbridge Decision
Robert M. Brown, Jr. Great Little Books, $26.95 (548p) ISBN 9780979066153
In his debut, Brown delivers a chillingly plausible thriller that ties Wall Street corruption to a plot threatening the foundations of the U.S. government. When she’s implicated in the murder of a senior partner at her prestigious Wall Street law firm, young lawyer Mayson Corelli goes on the run, reluctantly enlisting the help of the firm’s new star lawyer, the handsome but infuriating Tyler Waddill. Fleeing New York to pursue a lead, the duo fail to realize they stand in the way of a far-reaching conspiracy to stack the Supreme Court and transform America into a theocracy. As Mayson and Tyler cross-cross the nation, eluding police and the FBI, the cat-and-mouse games get ever more dangerous, escalating both the violence and plotting. Although Brown’s story is engaging, readers may get frustrated with his leads’ wooden bickering and an excessive number of plot twists. (May)
Not Quite What It Seems
Mari Walker. St. Martin’s Griffin, $14.99 paper (384p) ISBN 9780312375416
Facing the future means facing the past for Jacyln Collins, an African-American dancer whose ambition spells disaster for her relationship with Taji Hietkikko, a Japanese-African American. In her latest novel, Walker (Never As Good As the First Time) tracks Jadyn’s challenges as she strives to break free from Taji, who’d rather she fit the traditional housewife role; she’s also still recovering from years of sexual abuse at the hands of her stepfather. Finally, when Taji sabotages her chance at a role in a production of STOMP, she leaves him. After a spiritual awakening, she heads for Florida to find her real father, Charles Ivery. Connecting with great-uncle Buhjay and cousin Flash, however, leads her to a shady new boyfriend, and a shocking turn of events. Walker deftly depicts Jadyn’s family reunions with a gentle touch. (Apr.)
The Only Thing I Have
Rhonda Waterfall. Arsenal Pulp (Consortium, dist.), $17.95 paper (160p) ISBN 9781551522937
If they existed in real life, most of the characters populating Waterfall’s debut would be in mental hospitals or intense therapy—they swallow plum pits and imagine they are growing roots, chop off their own verbally abusive toes, and adopt squash as babies. Revealed in fashionably understated prose, these oddball tales fall squarely into the realm of young fiction stylists like Miranda July, Tao Lin, and Aimee Bender, but further distilled; most of the stories last just a few pages. Though it feels limited as a method, the precarious balance between austere writing and outrageous subject grows more hypnotic and enjoyable as it goes; before long, the quickly progressing freak show begins, paradoxically, to feel plausibly lived-in. How much these stories have to say about actual people is debatable: the focus is narrowed to emotionally damaged, nearly sociopathic individuals who have lots of anonymous sex, minimal self-reflection, and little empathetic awareness. Still, they make an interesting bunch, and Waterfall’s slim collection doesn’t give them the chance to overstay their welcome. (May)
Ravishing in Red
Madeline Hunter. Jove, $9.99 (368p) ISBN 9780515147544
The latest from veteran Regency romance writer Hunter (Provocative in Pearls) begins a new series with the brave Audrianna Kelmsleigh who, while attempting to exonerate her father’s death, ends up drawn to one of his persecutors, handsome Lord Sebastian Summerhays, after they’re both lured to a Brighton inn by the same mysterious advertisement. When Audrianna momentarily lets down her guard for a kiss with Lord Sebastian, a mysterious figure known as Domino appears; after shots are fired, the escalating controversy further threatens Audrianna’s family’s name. Hunt pays little attention to period custom and language, apparently more concerned with future storylines—taking special care to introduce Audriana’s three beautiful friends and Summerhays’s matching trio (an injured brother and two handsome friends). It should be no surprise, then, that the novel is most enjoyable in its leads’ moments of passion. (Mar.)
Shadow Prowler
Alexey Pehov, trans. from the Russian by Andrew Bromfield. Tor, $24.99 (396p) ISBN 97800765324030
Bestselling Russian author Pehov translates easily in his English fantasy debut. With a self-deprecating thief as a hero who doesn’t believe he is the chosen one, Perhov’s epic is jam-packed with fantasy staples and their variants, including a quest for magical artifact, prophetic poetry, cryptic oracles, fanged elves, clean-shaven dwarves, gnomes, goblins, and orcs. The first in a trilogy, protagonist Shadow Harold proves modest and witty enough a narrator to carry the series. Combining Russian translation and the vocabulary of an invented world, the prose can feel conflicted, but is helped along by a glossary of terms. Overall, the gentle language of the story befits a main character happy to be “wolf-single,” even as he glances repeatedly at the mysterious and lovely Lady Miralissa. (Mar.)
★ Touch
Adania Shibli, trans. from the Arabic by Paula Haydar. Interlink/Clockroot, $13 paper (72p) ISBN 9781566568074
Celebrated young Palestinian writer Shibli—a playwright, author and essayist now located in the UK—makes her American debut with an exquisite, powerful novella that transports readers to her West Bank homeland. In spare prose, Shibli follows an unnamed little girl, the youngest in a large Palestinian family, as she examines her world and tries to understand her place in it. Though focused on the finest details—flakes of rust against skin, the softness of grass—Shibli takes readers to the center of a family and a culture, using the same careful, dispassionate observation to report everyday events like the father’s shaving as she does to depict the death of a sibling in area violence. Like a great volume of poetry, Sibli’s first novel (her second is forthcoming from Clockroot) has rhythm and unexpected momentum, and cries for re-reading. (May)
