PR for People® Reviews:
BOOKS:
This issue of The Connector focuses on making one’s mark – an inquiry that can lead in many different directions when it comes to books on the subject. There are volumes galore on how you can be the brightest, the fittest, the richest – all ways of making one’s mark– but perhaps to the point of exhaustion, rather than fulfillment.
As an alternative, let me recommend “A Path Appears,” by the husband-and-wife writing team of Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn.
In their previous books, such as “Half the Sky,” these Pulitzer Prize winners have focused on social justice issues. But “A Path Appears” goes beyond investigating the inequities in society. This book captures efforts around the globe that are attempting to correct some of those problems.
Kristof and WuDunn report from Madison Avenue to Mercy Ships, classrooms to clinics, Nashville to Nairobi. They talk to surgeons, yogurt sellers, teachers, entrepreneurs, and reformed gang-bangers. They tell of real people taking action, according to their particular abilities, to alleviate suffering, eliminate poverty, and create opportunity and hope. Granted, not all efforts are equally effective, and the authors could have been more vociferous in pointing this out.
The book is organized in three sections. The first part gives a broad sampling of ways that people have dedicated themselves to making a difference. The middle section evaluates (again, not always shrewdly enough) different approaches to providing help. The final third of the book explores altruism and the connections between one’s generous impulses and a sense of well-being.
A caution – too much of this philanthropic guidance in one sitting can be overwhelming. But taken in smaller doses, “A Path Appears” is both pragmatic and inspirational.
You want to have an impact? This book encourages you to take steps to do just that.
Barbara Lloyd McMichael is our ground reporter in South King County, Wash., and author of the syndicated book review column “The Bookmonger.” Her PR for People® Book Review is written exclusively for The Connector.
How you can
walk your talk
By Barbara Lloyd McMichael
A Path Appears
– Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn
Alfred A. Knopf
– 400 pp
- $27.95