'Trump: Think Like a Billionaire'
By Donald J. Trump with Meredith McIver
Random House, $21.95.
Subtitled "Everything You Need to Know About Success, Real Estate and Life," this book by billionaire Donald Trump is arrogant enough to tell us we should succeed in everything — even though his own business dealings have had ups and downs.
He does not reveal the secret of his bizarre hairstyle (toupee?) anywhere in this volume. But he does share lots of information about assessing the value of property, as well as buying, selling and securing a mortgage. He suggests ways of cutting costs, how much risk to assume in investments and how to balance a portfolio.
He has advice about how to impress everyone you meet, how to "effectively" criticize someone and how to know if your friends are loyal. Finally, he tells the reader how to spend the money once he has it — from wine to golf clubs to engagement rings. If you doubt his advice, just remind yourself how many times the word Trump is used in our society — Trump Tower, Trump International Hotel & Tower, Trump Park Avenue and Trump Building at 40 Wall Street. He also owns numerous lush golf courses on both coasts.
But how long can he do it? — Dennis Lythgoe
'Do Elephants Jump?'
By David Feldman
HarperCollins, $19.95.
David Feldman has written numerous odd little books, such as "Why Do Clocks Run Clockwise?" "When Do Fish Sleep?" and "Do Penguins Have Knees?"
This is what people do when they have master's degrees in popular culture from Bowling Green State University in Ohio.
Like his other efforts, "Elephants" is lightweight but funny. Feldman concentrates on small mysteries that consistently confound people, such as "Why is peanut butter sticky?" or "Why do pianos have 88 keys?" He includes answers — with the help of many contributors — to about 100 of these imponderable.
"Why don't the silver fillings in our mouth rust?" The answer, according to Feldman, is that "there is no iron or steel in the amalgam of 'silver' fillings. Without iron there is no rust." Then he adds that the "constant exposure to air and water ought to produce corrosion." It doesn't because "there is silver in silver fillings, but it isn't the dominant component. Most amalgam fillings consist of approximately 50 percent mercury, with the rest silver, tin, copper and zinc. Depending upon the alloy; the silver content can range between two and 35 percent, usually on the higher end of the scale." — Dennis Lythgoe
'Running with the Bulls'
Valerie Hemingway
Ballantine, $24.95.
Now a free-lance writer living in Bozeman, Mont., Valerie Hemingway is a native of Dublin, Ireland. She met Ernest Hemingway, the legendary novelist, in 1959 in Spain. She was only 19 and soon became his personal secretary.
In this book, subtitled "My Years With the Hemingways," she recounts how she became familiar with the unique Hemingway lifestyle — dancing in the streets of Pamplona, cheering bullfighters at Valencia, negotiating hairpin turns in Provence — and enjoying the panorama of Paris in her attic room in the Ritz.
In Cuba, she spent days and nights typing the final draft of "A Moveable Feast" as Fidel Castro's revolution closed in.
When Hemingway committed suicide, she attended his funeral in Idaho and met his youngest son Gregory, whom she married five years later. (They remained married for 21 years.)
Her portrait of Hemingway is up close, personal and well-written. — Dennis Lythgoe