Young Michelangelo: The Path to the Sistine / John T. Spike - Book Review

The biography Young Michelangelo: The Path to the Sistine (Vendome Press;

ISBN: 978-0-86565-166-8) covers the years in which Michelangelo was striving for public recognition of his artistic genius, so should be of interest not only to all those interested in Renaissance art, but also to all up and coming young professionals. In those days, prior to our current unprecedented levels of mass media hype, how did one gain widespread publicity and attain elevated levels of self-promotion? How, in brief, did one make a name for oneself? Starting by drawing over his master’s drawings so as to improve the latter and challenging the older students in the sculpture studio was not bound to win him any popularity with either his instructor, or with members of his peer group, though it did start Michelangelo on his way to greatness. In short, he was lacking neither in talent, nor in ambition, having much in common with many of our modern-day winners of “Idols”. After the initial rejection of some of his early work, most notably that of a Bacchus reeling from drink, he restores his own credibility by unleashing the virile David from a ruined block of marble. His obsession with the telling of his own story is also not unique to his time – how many aspirant hopefuls are not obsessed with the telling of their own tale? Underwriting Ascanio Condivi’s biography of his life, as well as two editions of Giorgio Vasari’s The Lives of the Artists, sounds all the more familiar in the modern age of ghost writing and vaunting by publicists of the greatness of artists’ work.

However, the truth will out, and that is exactly where John T. Spike’s biography excels. Through painstaking research and a determination to get to the bottom of things, he reveals the reality of both the life and times of the young Michelangelo. His writing exposes to us the vulnerability of the great man, as well as the fallacies and foibles of his age – a heady experience. Spike also does not stint on illustrations of Michelangelo’s work in this fascinating 312-page biography, containing 60 illustrations, many of which are in color. His 17-page bibliography attests to the extent of his research and to the depths of his insight into the life and early artistic emanations of this master of the Italian Renaissance. As critic, curator, and art historian, Dr. John T. Spike is eminently suited for the task of unraveling the intricacies of the past. With more than twenty culturally significant books on Renaissance, Baroque, and contemporary art to his name, and a career during which he has lectured at Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Oxford, Spike has established himself as a leading expert in the field. Not only that, but he’s also a damn fine writer too, who will have you glued to the page from start to finish.

Labeled by Rosa King, author of Brunelleschi’s Dome and Michelangelo and the Pope’s Ceiling as “one of our most astute and readable authorities on the Italian Renaissance…[who] approaches the artist through a compelling blend of solid scholarship, animated storytelling, and shrewd insight”, Spikes does merit to the artist and his work.  Young Michelangelo: The Path to the Sistine should be prescribed reading for all with an active interest in Renaissance art, whatever their level of knowledge and expertise on the subject.   

Life in the Hothouse: How a Living Planet Survives Climate Change / Melanie Lenart - Book Review

Award-winning ex-journalist turned academic, Melanie Lenart sets out in Life in the Hothouse: How a Living Planet Survives Climate Change (The University of Arizona Press; ISBN: 978-0-8165-2723-6) to see what lessons from the past, including from the two especially hot periods of the Cretaceous and the Eocene, can teach us about our present-day situation and about how we can prepare ourselves for our future on what promises to become an increasingly hot planet. Her intention is to show how we can work with the planet to limit some of the potentially disastrous impacts of global warming. Though she is convinced that life on Earth will survive, no matter what humans do to it, Lenart’s key concern is that many species and individuals might not.

True to her previous role as an investigative reporter, Lenart relates personal experiences of those affected by natural disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina. She includes quotes from interviews conducted with leading experts in the field, as well as excerpts from relevant e-mail exchanges. Her skill in expressing the most scientific and complex phenomena enables her to convey her message so clearly that even someone with only a very basic knowledge of how the planet functions will be able to understand what she has to say. No surprise, then, that Lenart also teaches environmental writing at the University of Arizona (check out her webpage on their site, which contains details of her schedule), as well as conducts workshops in her field. 

In this comprehensive and entertaining text, Lenart helps to bring contemporary thinking in America in line with the age-old thinking of the Native American people, citing many of the latter’s strongest voices. She shows her humane side as a scientist by revealing anecdotes of how her own life has been affected by climate change, whether it has meant cowering under an overturned couch during a hurricane or sweating profusely on an unexpectedly muggy July day.

Though she refers to leading bodies that are concerned with monitoring climate change, such as to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), she does not overwhelm one with countless names. After all, this is not an academic treatise, but rather a text that sets out to explore the implications of global warming for the average person. In straightforward, jargon-free prose, Lenart simply and objectively tells of life-threatening climate changes, such as that of rising winter temperatures in Alaska, which is leading to the need to relocate entire river-side towns.

By assuming that the average reader has sufficient intelligence to be able to understand the implications of what she has to say, Lenart establishes a certain rapport with her audience, which makes her arguments all the more convincing. She contextualizes the writings and work of those researchers to whom she refers, citing many popular articles than can be found in such magazines as Science and the New Scientist, which are widely available. Those who find that they wish to read further on the topics that she covers can, therefore, easily do so.

Life in the Hothouse does have some failings. The chapters could have been better signposted with subheadings, replacing the curlicues that currently are used between the subsections of each chapter. The text might appear daunting, as it contains no illustrations, which are always a powerful way of communicating any message, but specifically one that is scientific in nature. (Witness, for example, the transformation of the once print-dense National Geographic magazine over the years into a medium that is currently dominated by illustrations. In an age in which sound bites have become the desired mode of communication, it would be wise to follow their venerable example.)

I also found the index not to be as comprehensive as it should be. For example, it omits any reference to the Tribal Lands and Climate conferences and to the MIT, as well as to some of the researchers whose research is briefly described in the body of the text.

However, overall this work is highly relevant, especially given the chaos that can occur due to the onset of unanticipated and unprecedented climate-related events. Witness the five-day grounding of all air traffic throughout Europe that occurred in April 2010, due to the clouds of volcanic ash spewing from a volcano that erupted under one of Iceland’s larger glaciers. The publication of Life in the Hothouse could not have been timelier.

Almanac: Poems / Austin Smith - Book Review

As we all know, the best of poetry transcends the immediate to become universal in its scope, not only of its imagery, but also of its essential poetic spirit. Such universality can be found in Austin Smith’s debut collection of poems, entitled Almanac: Poems (Princeton University Press; ISBN-13: 978-0-691-15919-5). Though grounded in the earthy, rugged landscape of the rural Midwest, in keeping with the poetic instincts of his own father, Smith reaches out to the communal human spirit that has so much to do with the mutual sharing of experiences that are united across both time and space.

Smith’s narrative poetry has a power and a cogency that not only leads the reader along the path of everyday life on a northwestern Illinois dairy farm, but which also empowers, while, at times, fringing on the nostalgic. The poignancy of personal revelation and recall shared with others comes across strongly, for instance, in “The Key in the Stone”, with Grandma Mary “staring out the window with such immense / longing at the snow falling into the lake”.

The virility of the farming landscape can be seen in such poems as “The Silo,” with the immediacy of childhood fears and traumas centering on “a great hook” from which slaughtered game was hung. The ghastliness, and yet, obversely, the sanctity, of it all is rivetingly conveyed in the final lines of the poem: “I found tracks / where deer had stepped gingerly / around this blighted ring like children / who knew not to walk on graves.” That Smith’s background was not pure farm boy is evocatively conveyed through his comparison of the ritualistic hanging of the lifeless and despoiled carcass to Mark Antony’s hoisting aloft of the “blood-stained wax effigy” of the once mighty Caesar “so the crowd could see / his twenty-three wounds and believe him / dead”.

Smith’s close familiarity with the everyday tragedies of our human existence is recorded in diction that is readily accessible to the average reader, but which has a depth that is capable of resounding through the hearts and souls of his audience, facilitating their response, even if they come from an essentially non-poetic background. When river waters flood through people’s homes, leaving devastation in their wake, he personifies such an elemental force, piling images of this intrusive behemoth one upon the other, so that one comes to feel that one’s own self is ravaged by the irresistible power and momentum of the catastrophe: “that it had thumbed through the diaries of their daughters, / that it had drunk all the liquor and replaced it with sand, / that it had put on the women’s clothes like a cross-dresser”.

For any reader who is sensitive to the nuances of the changing rural landscape, Smith’s Almanac: Poems should not only help you relive half-buried memories, but also help to rouse you to greater awareness of your present surroundings. Smith’s work is well worth investing in, so do consider acquiring yourself a copy—he is clearly a modern-day poet who deserves your attention. 

Making Your Wisdom Come Alive: A Guide to the Source of Your Wisdom and Joy / Michael Gluckman - Book Review

Making Your Wisdom Come Alive: A Guide to the Source of Your Wisdom and Joy (Light Up Your Life; ISBN: 978-1-4507-2240-7) is divided into two sections. The first, which deals with self-discovery, mainly consists of a series of questions and answers, relating to where you can find happiness (the answer, unsurprisingly, is “inside”), how you can turn suffering into freedom, exploring your own self-nature, and how to recognize and question assumptions. In the second section of the work, Gluckman, with the aid of quotes from a range of sages who lived at different times in different places and cultures, shows how wisdom is reasonable and experiential. In order to encourage the reader to meditate, Gluckman suggests that we read just a little of this section each day, and attempt to come to an understanding of the true significance of the words for our lives. In this way, we should come to grow in our awareness of our own being and happiness.

 

Starting with an introduction to the Buddhist Masters, who specialize in telling stories, Gluckman proposes that we begin our meditation with self-discovery and not with self-purification. In this respect, he covers the Sutra of Hui Neng; Bankei, The Unborn, which deals with the life and teachings of Zen Master Bankei; the Shurangama Sutra; the Sutra of Flawless Purity; the Zen teachings of Huang Po; and an excerpt from Milarepa, The Song of a Yogi’s Joy. In order that we might approach our essence more closely, Gluckman then takes us through excerpts from the following Hindu masters: Shankara; Nisargadatta Maharaj; Kabir; and Anandamayi Ma. Before exploring aspects of Sufi wisdom, Gluckman provides some quotes from Tao Te Ching by Lao Tsu. He then rounds off this section with excerpts from the Christian masters, for which he provides a few guidelines on how to unravel their meaning. Gluckman ends his work with supportive words of inspiration that serve to reinforce the message that he has conveyed throughout the book.

 

Illustrated throughout with black-and-white photographs of the sages and their works, Making Your Wisdom Come Alive should be a worthwhile investment for anyone who is interested in exploring their full potential as a loving and caring creature of God, no matter who he or she is conceived to be. Ultimately, the true answer lies in self, to which one can only have access if one is prepared to put a great deal of effort into the exercise. As a starting point for those who are interested in exploring their innermost being, the work is an ideal launch pad to growing self-awareness.

How Dare You Say How Dare Me! / Pat Cooper; as told to Rich Herschlag and Steve Garrin

Pat Cooper’s sensitivity and insightfulness shine out from behind his ostensibly brash and offensive style in this memoir of six decades and more in show business. As he says, “When I’m standing in front of a microphone, I may seem angry, but I’m not in a hate mode. I’m angry because of the sadness. There’s so much of it, and most of it is what we do to each other. When I’m ranting and raving up there, I’m releasing sadness. I’m saying that if we talk about it—or yell about it—maybe we can turn that sadness into laughter.”

 

Just as with the great Lenny Bruce, Pat Cooper’s presentation may initially strike one as acerbic and overly in your face, but Cooper has strength and vision that go far beyond his rapid-fire answers and his smart aleck “Don’t try to put me down, ’cos I’ll put you down first.” His snappy rejoinders are legendary, and, yes, he doesn’t hide the uglier side of show business. But he’s no whiner, and fights back to his last monosyllable. Guts? Cooper has plenty of them, and they sometimes do spill. But he’s also a survivor, and I admire him greatly.

 

In How Dare You Say How Dare Me! (Square One Publishers; ISBN: 978-0-7570-0363-9), Cooper shares both the ups and downs of being an Italian comedian in a profession in which he was often thought to be Jewish. Having to mask his identity with a name change from Pasquale Caputo was one of the least of his problems. Surviving life surrounded by the Mafiosi seems sometimes to have been a greater challenge, not that many such were not close to him—the family connections come with the territory! His memoir reads a bit like a Who’s Who of Show Business since the mid-20th century: Tony Martin, George Burns, Bobby Darin, Tony Bennett, Anthony Quinn and Robert De Niro being but some of those with whom he worked.

 

The great Jerry Lewis, in his brief foreword to this raconteur’s dream of an autobiography, sums up Cooper’s talent in the following words: “he has this fantastic capacity to challenge the art form [of comedy], and has done so with an exquisite approach to the human condition.” What makes this memoir stand out, though, is its raw honesty. Cooper never minces his words and sure ain’t no patsy, although, on occasion, his kindness and generosity have been taken advantage of. For those who aren’t shy of reading a gut-wrenching biography that pulls none of its punches, try How Dare You Say How Dare Me! Believe me, you won’t be sorry.   

Christian Encounters: Winston Churchill / John Perry - Book Review

Based largely on Winston Churchill’s own writings, Christian Perspectives: Winston Churchill (Thomas Nelson; 

ISBN: 978-1-59555-306-5) describes Churchill’s life and times from a Christian perspective. Ranging from what appeared, to all intents and purposes, to have been his premature birth, though many doubts have been raised in that regard, to the posthumous summation of her father’s outlook on life by Churchill’s younger daughter, Mary, Lady Soames, the biography relates the most significant moments of his political career, as well as of his home life and religious convictions (despite his overt lack thereof). 

Though born into an aristocratic setting, emotionally Churchill was neglected by his parents as a child. Asserting himself against such odds, he came to lead Britain through the most devastating onslaught that that nation has had to experience in modern times. Overcoming a speech impediment and a scholastically faltering career, his oratory was responsible for buoying the spirit of a people who refused to give in, even when all the odds seemed to be against them. Although Churchill often insisted that he did not believe in God, he often called upon Him in times of crisis. His persistence and moral rectitude, even when at odds with his own people, the British nation, won him widely given respect. Churchill’s devotion to his nation even limited the time that he spent on publicly grieving the death of his own daughter, Marigold. Despite being ill towards the latter end of his life, he persisted in his role as prime minister until he was voted out of office at the end of the Second World War.

Christian Encounters: Winston Churchill reveals the emotions and thoughts of one of the greatest heroes of all time. Perry’s biography is informative and accessible, providing much food for thought. His text contains many quotations and excerpts from writings both on, and by, Winston Churchill. Perry’s insight into Churchill’s approach to Christianity is striking, ranging from his perception that his reading and analyzing the works of such great historians as Edward Gibbon, Thomas Macaulay, Blaise Pascal and Charles Darwin must have prompted him to ask himself probing questions about religion, to Perry’s consideration of the assertion made by Winston’s younger daughter that he considered himself to be a Christian.

In addition to extensive notes on all the chapters, the biography ends in a two-page bibliography, including references to the works of many other of Churchill’s biographers, including Martin Gilbert and John Lukacs. A Reading Group Guide to Christian Encounters: Winston Churchill is also available at http://www.thomasnelson.com/rgg.

John Perry has also published biographies of Charles Colson, Gov. Mike Huckabee, Booker T. Washington, George Washington Carver, and Sgt. York.

Don’t Change the Channel: Make the World a Better Place / Jenn Snyder & Betsy Thorpe - Book Review

This ennobling text was written, according to its author, Jenn Snyder, “to help inspire people to seize moments in their lives to help others. In one moment, you can change someone’s life forever. In one moment, you can change the world.” Don’t Change the Channel : Make the World a Better Place (Foot Soldier Publishing; ISBN: 978-0-9830782-03-3) tells of how Snyder had an epiphany watching CNN coverage of how a two-and-a-half-year-old boy, Blake, was found by his grandmother alone in his house after the disappearance of his pregnant mother. When the news conference revealed that his mother’s body had been found, and that her boyfriend, Blake’s father, was being charged with double murder, she felt compelled to spring into action. As she describes it, Snyder “heard the call, felt the conviction and that there was no turning away. There was no going back to my busy life without making an attempt to alleviate some of this family’s suffering.”

 

Based on such an outpouring of empathy rose Snyder’s commitment to the cause of Don’t Change the Channel, which is a movement for promoting awareness of the importance of engaging in community-enhancing projects for every age, from pre-school through retirement. Snyder has clearly felt the call not only to become involved in social upliftment projects on a personal level, but also to help inspire others to respond to needs that are so evident in our society today. Part of her response has involved the writing of this book. Don’t Change the Channel is a clarion call to those of us who have, up until now, felt the occasional twinge of conscience that we are not doing enough for our communities, but who, until now, have put off such feelings by telling ourselves that we are just far too busy to do anything more.

 

Most of us really have to be honest with ourselves and admit that if we sacrificed some of the time that we spend watching TV or participating in some other form of leisure activity could be spent on helping others, which does, after all, ultimately help us as well. The reduced levels of anxiety and the boosted sense of self-esteem that almost inevitably result  from showing that we care for people other than our nearest and dearest, which also makes our own lives much more meaningful, are rewards in themselves. One of the most inspiring aspects of this work is that Snyder points out, most cogently, that you are never either too old nor too young to impact positively on those around you.

 

Don’t Change the Channel is clearly written and powerfully presented, illustrated with real-life anecdotes and black-and-white photos of people’s involvement in a range of programs and activities. The chapters are carefully signposted throughout with helpful headings and short excerpts from the text given in bold. Snyder ends the work with a list of online resources for each of the chapters concerned. This work is ideal as a starting-point for those of us who feel that we really could do more, if only we knew how.  You could make a start by reading her pointers on “5 things you can do today” that she includes with each chapter. Come on, now, you really have no more excuses…   

Guide to France for History Travellers / Bob Fowke - Book Review

Wish to obtain insight into the history of France sans the tedium of wading through the copious minutiae of detailed tomes that provide you with way too many dates, let alone barely pronounceable names of people and places? Bob Fowke, in his latest ebook in the series Guides for History Travellers, may just fulfil your desire. Guide to France for History Travellers (YouCaxton Publications; ASIN: B008657Y64) provides a painless introduction to the history of this grand and imposing country in just 141 pages. With a style that disguises erudition with a lively and raconteurish approach, he supplies the reader with an overview of the illustrious nation’s history that has its first traces back in 90,000BC, up until the time of its latest bling-bling Nicholas Sarkozy (bringing the scandalous overconsumption of the French court, which is notorious for the overindulgence practised by such royals as the Sun King and Louis XVI, right up to date).

Fowke’s lighthearted approach to centuries of history enables him to convey a great deal of information without leaving his audience feeling drained of any wish to hear more. In fact, he whets the appetite, so that one tends to yearn for added details. The author has been criticised for not citing his sources, but he clearly did not wish to weigh down the smooth flow of his text with unnecessary allusions that might merely have served to alienate some of his audience. Fowke has journalistic-type banter down to a fine art, as befits a columnist for the Guardian Online. His clear intention of writing with the tourist in mind is borne across by the subtitle to this book: “The perfect travel guide and rough history for tourists who like their guides and histories short and entertaining, with travel tips on places of interest.”

In addition to the narrative text, Fowke includes guide tips for the different regions of France that are of particular relevance to the tale that he tells. He includes not only numerous amusing line drawings, but also outline maps of the areas concerned. For each section of the text, Fowke provides travel guide timelines for the period covered. Appended are a list of the rulers of France, divided up into their respective dynasties (Merovingians, Carolingians, etc.), and a list of important dates, stretching from prehistoric times up to 2002, when the Euro replaced the franc.

Bob Fowke, renowned author and illustrator, is surprisingly modest and unassuming, considering his prolific output of over sixty largely science and history books, the majority of which have been published by leading British publishers. He is also amazingly versatile, as, in addition to the previously mentioned accomplishments, he is also an entrepreneur with a keen interest in the cause of those who wish to become self-published, having started up the YouCaxton venture a year ago in order to assist fellow writers with preparing their books for self-publication.