Kevin Ryan

#2

2003

While this book is about written, it's also about clear thinking because in one sense writing is simply the physical representation of our thoughts on paper. Writing and speaking are the two primary ways we share our ideas and conduct business. Of the two, writing is not only the dominant form of business communication in the world, it's also a fundamental part of everyone's thinking process, which is why learning to write well also helps us become better thinkers.-from preface, p. vii.

#3

1934

On the day Joanne Kilbourn retires from her university teaching post, she has a dream about her first husband (murdered many years ago). Soon, she is forced to experience the truth of what, for most of her life, had just been a good closing line for a political speech. The night after Jo and Zack have dinner with Zack's colleague Margot and one of his law firm's biggest clients, the developer Leland Hunter, Jo and Zack's house is blown up. They're at the lake with daughter Taylor and their dogs, but the house is destroyed. And that is only the first of several terrible incidents. It isn't long before Joanne is witness to events far more distressing than even a destroyed home. She begins to understand what it's like to live in a world where she can count on nothing.