![]() ![]() To ask why this is so would be a far more useful project. The world may be like this at times, but often it isn’t. We are told, for instance, to “be conspicuous at all cost,” then told to “behave like others.” More seriously, Greene never really defines “power,” and he merely asserts, rather than offers evidence for, the Hobbesian world of all against all in which he insists we live. While compelling in the way an auto accident might be, the book is simply nonsense. Quotations in the margins amplify the lesson being taught. Each chapter is conveniently broken down into sections on what happened to those who transgressed or observed the particular law, the key elements in this law, and ways to defensively reverse this law when it’s used against you. Each law, however, gets its own chapter: “Conceal Your Intentions,” “Always Say Less Than Necessary,” “Pose as a Friend, Work as a Spy,” and so on. These laws boil down to being as ruthless, selfish, manipulative, and deceitful as possible. This power game can be played well or poorly, and in these 48 laws culled from the history and wisdom of the world’s greatest power players are the rules that must be followed to win. We live today as courtiers once did in royal courts: we must appear civil while attempting to crush all those around us. ![]() The authors have created a sort of anti-Book of Virtues in this encyclopedic compendium of the ways and means of power.Įveryone wants power and everyone is in a constant duplicitous game to gain more power at the expense of others, according to Greene, a screenwriter and former editor at Esquire (Elffers, a book packager, designed the volume, with its attractive marginalia). The book contains vivid descriptions of what it feels like to be paralyzed and helpless and reveals the negative attitudes of some in health care toward patients with disabling injuries.Īn encouraging, heartwarming story about the strength of the human spirit. As a paraplegic, he had long been an admirer of Christopher Reeve, and a portion of the profits from his firm supports the work of the Christopher & Dana Reeve Foundation, an organization for which Clark serves as a national ambassador and fundraiser. Before his injury, Clark had worked at Harper’s Bazaar, and his contacts in the fashion world helped him promote his new company, Clark Botanicals. ![]() ![]() From this he got the idea of starting a company and developing a line of skin-care products. One of them, jasmine absolute, became the principal ingredient of a helpful cream, whose use soon spread to his father’s patients and to others. To alleviate them, he turned to his father, a doctor familiar with alternative medicine, and together they experimented with dozens of botanical extracts. Because the injury to his spinal cord cost him the ability to sweat, his skin began to have serious problems. Gradually, he recovered feeling in some parts of his body, and he continues to hope for further improvements. The author, who refused to give up hope, tried acupressure, chiropractic and hypnotherapy he researched innovative treatments, even going to China for stem-cell surgery and signing up for aggressive, inventive clinical trials. Years of physical therapy followed the accident, often with therapists who seemed to be urging him to accept his fate and to learn to live with his limitations. His story of recovery is full of grit, perseverance, resourcefulness and a lot of support from a loving family. Uplifting memoir by a young man determined to regain a full life after suffering a devastating spinal injury at age 24.Ĭlark, whose dive into the shallow end of a pool left him paralyzed from the neck down, is today, at age 30, running a thriving business whose profits are helping other victims of spinal-cord injuries. ![]()
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