Nonfiction Book Reviews
Page Three of FourMe: Five Years From Now: The Life-Planning Book You Write Yourself by Sheree Bykofsky
Hyperion, June 1999.Paperback, 205 pages.
ISBN: 078688391X.
Ordering information:
Amazon.com.
Anyone interested in planning the next
five years of their life should pick up a
copy of this reference and workbook.
Author Sheree Bykofsky
shows readers how to plan out their
lives by introducing them to life planning
tools and tricks, and by getting readers to
write their life plan themselves through
questions, outlines and fill-in-the blanks.
The workbook is divided into four main
areas: emotional and physical health,
family and relationships, home
and community and work and school.
Readers can isolate and work on one of
these specific topics or work through
the whole book. For each section
Sheree invites readers to identify
their problem areas, plan out a solution,
take action and then evaluate their progress.
By writing out their plans and problems many readers will be more likely to fulfill their goals. The book is also filled with practical and inspiring advice as well, including a forward by Richard Carlson, Ph.D. (author of Don't Sweat the Small Stuff) about using the book to discover self-actualization. As Dr. Carlson explains self-actualized people are "confident in their abilities. They do not rely on other to set goals for them, and neither do they depend on external validation a measure of success. They listen to their instincts and trust themselves." With both advice and self-help writing assignments, Me: Five Years From Now is an unusual self-help aide that many will find invaluable in helping them to set and reach their own goals.
The Morgan Stanley Dead Witter Guide to Personal Investing by Robert M. Gardner.
Plume, September 1999.Paperback, 217 pages.
ISBN: 0452281210.
Ordering information:
Amazon.com.
This investment guide offers financial
and investing advice to layman and
beginning investors. The book
provides instruction on the basics and
gives guidance to new investors.
The book begins with topics about starting
out in investing including: steps to investment
success, retirement planning, an introduction
to the stock market and a chapter about stock
brokers. The rest of the book covers specific
investment opportunities including: stocks, preferred stocks,
bonds, life insurance, annuities, collectibles,
mutual funds, derivatives, insurance,
CDs, options, futures and real estates.
Author Robert M. Gardiner is a senior advisor
to Morgan Stanley Dean Witter and
former chairman and CEO of Dean
Witter Financial Services Group.
In this financial aide he gives his expert
advice to novices who are just learning
how to invest and the basic principles of
what makes investing work. Practical
advice and fundamentals from a
high-ranking insider and coverage of
everything from bonds to real estate make
this investment guide a valuable find for
novice investors.
Nonfiction Reviews
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Return to the October 1999 issue of The IWJ.
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