An impressive guide that will persuade readers to pack their bags.
This comprehensive work is both a trove of practical advice and a paean to the idea of travel.
To say that Axelrod is a world traveler (he is also a photographer) is a rank understatement. He has set foot on all seven continents, most much more than once. In fact, such is his passion that an alternate subtitle for the book could be “Live To Travel, Travel To Live.” Chapter headings include “No More Excuses,” wherein he knocks down all the standard reasons for not going on a trip and addresses Covid-19; “Flight School,” in which he guides readers through the Byzantine world of air travel (reservations, frequent flyer miles, bargain hunting, the impact of Covid-19, even seating); and “Food, Fun, and Freedom,” adventures at the destination itself. He is a font of pithy pronouncements: “Build your dream trip as if you were building your dream home”; “A well planned trip…integrates into, rather than interrupts, your life”; and—on souvenirs—“Please do not be that nincompoop who comes back from Puerto Vallarta with a giant sombrero.” And who else might seize on a Tourbillon watch as a metaphor for building an itinerary—or even know that there is such a thing. Naturally, there are anecdotes from some of his trips (Bosnia, Tahiti, Greece). And even though the sojourn in Tahiti was more disaster than delight, he manages to wring some pleasant recollections out of it. Positive thinking is an ineradicable part of Axelrod’s makeup, and readers will admit that it is infectious. In a “don’t take my word for it” gambit, he deftly backs his arguments with experts in the field of travel research, a real growth industry. The copious backmatter includes pages upon pages of reference notes—the man is a bear for research. Certain chapters, like the one on air travel, can be overwhelming if readers are not familiar with app culture, arcane websites, and the credit card shuffle. On the other hand, he often summarizes dense discussions with bulleted lists, a convenience for overloaded readers, and likes to set up and then torch straw men, a sprightly way of presenting arguments.
An impressive guide that will persuade readers to pack their bags. (Acknowledgements, references, index)Pub Date: Jan. 11, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5445-2549-5
Page Count: 286
Publisher: Lioncrest Publishing
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.
The veteran actor, comedian, and banjo player teams up with the acclaimed illustrator to create a unique book of cartoons that communicates their personalities.
Martin, also a prolific author, has always been intrigued by the cartoons strewn throughout the pages of the New Yorker. So when he was presented with the opportunity to work with Bliss, who has been a staff cartoonist at the magazine since 1997, he seized the moment. “The idea of a one-panel image with or without a caption mystified me,” he writes. “I felt like, yeah, sometimes I’m funny, but there are these other weird freaks who are actually funny.” Once the duo agreed to work together, they established their creative process, which consisted of working forward and backward: “Forwards was me conceiving of several cartoon images and captions, and Harry would select his favorites; backwards was Harry sending me sketched or fully drawn cartoons for dialogue or banners.” Sometimes, he writes, “the perfect joke occurs two seconds before deadline.” There are several cartoons depicting this method, including a humorous multipanel piece highlighting their first meeting called “They Meet,” in which Martin thinks to himself, “He’ll never be able to translate my delicate and finely honed droll notions.” In the next panel, Bliss thinks, “I’m sure he won’t understand that the comic art form is way more subtle than his blunt-force humor.” The team collaborated for a year and created 150 cartoons featuring an array of topics, “from dogs and cats to outer space and art museums.” A witty creation of a bovine family sitting down to a gourmet meal and one of Dumbo getting his comeuppance highlight the duo’s comedic talent. What also makes this project successful is the team’s keen understanding of human behavior as viewed through their unconventional comedic minds.
A virtuoso performance and an ode to an undervalued medium created by two talented artists.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-250-26289-9
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Celadon Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
PERSPECTIVES
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.
A charming bird journey with the bestselling author.
In his introduction to Tan’s “nature journal,” David Allen Sibley, the acclaimed ornithologist, nails the spirit of this book: a “collection of delightfully quirky, thoughtful, and personal observations of birds in sketches and words.” For years, Tan has looked out on her California backyard “paradise”—oaks, periwinkle vines, birch, Japanese maple, fuchsia shrubs—observing more than 60 species of birds, and she fashions her findings into delightful and approachable journal excerpts, accompanied by her gorgeous color sketches. As the entries—“a record of my life”—move along, the author becomes more adept at identifying and capturing them with words and pencils. Her first entry is September 16, 2017: Shortly after putting up hummingbird feeders, one of the tiny, delicate creatures landed on her hand and fed. “We have a relationship,” she writes. “I am in love.” By August 2018, her backyard “has become a menagerie of fledglings…all learning to fly.” Day by day, she has continued to learn more about the birds, their activities, and how she should relate to them; she also admits mistakes when they occur. In December 2018, she was excited to observe a Townsend’s Warbler—“Omigod! It’s looking at me. Displeased expression.” Battling pesky squirrels, Tan deployed Hot Pepper Suet to keep them away, and she deterred crows by hanging a fake one upside down. The author also declared war on outdoor cats when she learned they kill more than 1 billion birds per year. In May 2019, she notes that she spends $250 per month on beetle larvae. In June 2019, she confesses “spending more hours a day staring at birds than writing. How can I not?” Her last entry, on December 15, 2022, celebrates when an eating bird pauses, “looks and acknowledges I am there.”
An ebullient nature lover’s paean to birds.Pub Date: April 23, 2024
ISBN: 9780593536131
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Jan. 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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