Book Reviews

A collection of new interviews with key figures of 1990s dance music, James Arena's new book, 'Stars of 90s Dance Pop' is well-rounded and entertaining.

'The Well Life' by Briana and Dr. Peter Borten is a guidebook for anyone who wants to chart a new path or a seasoned traveler who is just looking for some new trails.

We're not as innovative as we think we are — our primitive aversion to risk gets in the way. But a new book by three innovation and strategy experts, 'Outsmart Your Instincts: How the Behavioral Innovation Approach Drives Your Company Forward,' by Adam Hansen, Ed Harrington and Beth Storz, can help us get over it — and get creative.

'Homeward Bound: The Life of Paul Simon' by Peter Ames Carlin fails because in the end we don't know who Paul Simon is.

'Death of the Dying City' by Matthew Taub challenges the reader to believe in something good when the world around gives no reason to do so.

"I Was Saved by the Bell" by Peter Engel is far more than a trip down memory lane to Bayside High. It show you a man who dedicated his life and his talents to making the world a better place and how we are all better people because of it.

'Lose Your Final 15' is revolutionary new book on weight loss by Dr. Rovenia M. Brock, the famed nutritionist who helped Sherri Shepherd ('The View') drop over 40 pounds, and has coached a whopping 5 million pounds off countless others.

While not asking for a neatly tied-with-a-bow, mea-culpa ridden ending from the characters or the author, in 'Leopard at the Door' Jennifer McVeigh could have given her readers a sense of character redemption and evolution, which sadly never happens.

In 'Assassin's Creed: Heresy' by Christie Golden we are taken into the past in the most interesting of ways. Using technology to connect both the past and present, Golden gives us a riveting story behind the legend of Joan of Arc.

In 'Leaving Blythe River' by Catherine Ryan Hyde, we meet Ethan Underwood, a 17-year-old who has been unable to come to terms with his parents divorce. He is small for his age afraid of almost everything.