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UCLA gears up for literary extravaganza

The annual Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, the West Coast’s premier literary event, comes to campus from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on April 24 and 25, with more than 400 authors, 300 booksellers and exhibitors, readings, panels and signings. UCLA faculty and staff authors will be well represented through live appearances and titles available for sale and perusal. Read below about new Bruin books and look for festival exhibits by the ASUCLA BookZone, Chicano Studies, Extension, External Affairs, Health Sciences, Information Studies and UCLA Library Associates. More about the festival: www.latimes.com/extras/festivalofbooks.

“Incoherent Empire” (Verso/W.W. Norton & Co., 2003) by Michael Mann

Sociology Professor Michael Mann won the prestigious Political Book of the Year prize from Germany’s Friedrich Ebert Foundation for this scathing critique of recent American foreign policy. Mann marshals examples from thousands of years of foreign intervention by former empires to illustrate the extent to which current U.S. policy outstrips the nation’s political capacities and economic resolve, diverging with long-cherished American values. “By overestimating American power, the new imperialists consistently generate blowback, or resistance coming as the unintended consequence of their own actions,” he writes. “The new imperialism creates more, not fewer, terrorists, more determined rogue states, and it weakens American leadership in the world.” Mann, who holds dual citizenship in the United States and Britain, decided to write the book after watching in horror how the two countries responded to the Sept. 11 attacks. “I saw my two countries embarking on what I thought was a disastrous course of action — misidentifying the war on terrorism and engaging in these invasions on Afghanistan and Iraq,” Mann said. “I hoped to dent their confidence a little bit.”

— Meg Sullivan

“The Happiest Toddler on the Block: The New Way to Stop the Daily Battle of Wills and Raise a Secure and Well-Behaved One- to Four-Year-Old” (Bantam Dell, 2004) by Harvey Karp with Paula Spencer

They’re ornery, headstrong and irresistibly charming, with an ability to put an instant lock on your heart. Toddlers can be a handful. If you want to do more than shout “no!” or “stop!” all day long to your toddler, Harvey Karp, assistant professor of pediatrics at UCLA, has come up with some novel perspectives on the phases through which toddlers progress. There’s insight here for any parent willing to learn the toddler’s own primitive language. Karp links the growth of children ages 1 to 4 to brain development that basically mirrors the evolutionary path of our prehistoric ancestors. Toddlers progress from chimp-child to Neanderthal to cave-kid and finally to early villager, Karp says. For example, at 12 to 18 months, your child is developmentally not much further ahead of chimpanzees. At this age, what matters more than what you say is how you say it. To translate any message into toddler-ese, Karp advises parents to use short phrases, lots of repetition, correct tone of voice, facial expressions and gestures. “People will tell you you need to be more strict or more lenient. But what you really need are skills designed specifically for impulsive, distractible, inarticulate, self-absorbed, primitive toddlers,” the pediatrician writes.

— Cynthia Lee

“Coach Wooden One-on-One” (Regal Books, 2003) and “Inch and Miles: The Journey to Success” (Perfection Learning Corporation, 2003) both by John Wooden

At 93, John Wooden is busier than ever, having completed two books last fall. “Coach Wooden One-on-One,” a collection of daily readings, and the richly illustrated children’s book “Inch and Miles: The Journey to Success,” appear to be completely different at first glance. Yet a closer look reveals that the message is the same: Be the best that you can be. “Coach Wooden One-on-One” is the brainchild of co-author Jay Carty, a traveling preacher and former Los Angeles Laker who spent three years on Wooden’s UCLA coaching staff. The book is a compilation of 60 devotionals, each beginning with a page of reflections from the wise and insightful Wooden, followed by a page of comments from Carty, many making use of biblical references. “They’re just my thoughts and feelings about what I consider to be important things in living,” explained the much-beloved basketball legend. “Inch and Miles,” co-written by Steve Jamison and Peanut Louie Harper, follows the journey of two friends whose teacher, an owl named Mr. Wooden, assigns them to discover the building blocks of the coach’s renowned Pyramid of Success. Wooden wrote the book at the suggestion of his granddaughter, a kindergarten and first-grade teacher who told him that children have a hard time grasping the meaning of his Pyramid. “My original definition of success — success is peace of mind which is a direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you did your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming — is a little too much for children,” Wooden said. “So I changed it to, success is happiness in your heart in knowing you did your best.” Wooden will sign books at the UCLA Store on April 25 from 1-4 p.m.

— Wendy Soderburg

“Write Screenplays That Sell: The Ackerman Way” (Tallfellow Press, 2003) by Hal Ackerman

Screenwriter Pamela Gray says that it was only after teacher Hal Ackerman obstinately insisted that she write a third draft of “The Blouse Man” that her class project metamorphosed into 1999’s wonderful “A Walk on the Moon,” starring Diane Lane. For aspiring Paddy Chayevskys who aren’t able to personally submit to Ackerman’s badgering in a UCLA screenwriting course, the adjunct assistant professor has penned this practical and inspiring guide. A veteran Hollywood scribe less known for his own work than for that of his students (“Gas Food Lodging,” “Soul Food,” “A View From the Top,” etc.), Ackerman takes readers step by step through the screenwriting process, from the slug line on the first page to the final “fade out.” The “Ackerman Way” is a physical as much as a mental process. His “Writers Gym Exercises” put readers through a tough series of thinking and writing workouts that will prepare them for the arduous task ahead. For those who fritter away writing time organizing their sock drawer, Ackerman’s most useful piece of advice is also the hardest to follow. “You can use pencil, typewriter, quill and foolscap, or DSL with eight trillion megabytes,” he writes. “But put the tush on the cush.”

— Anne Burke

“No More Clueless Sex: Ten Secrets to a Sex Life that Works for Both of You” (John Wiley & Sons, 2004) by Gail and Lewis Wyatt

A sex therapist and professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral science at UCLA, Gail Wyatt and her husband, an obstetrician/gynecologist at Cedars Sinai and UCLA medical centers, have put together a down-to-earth guide on how to achieve self-awareness and a clearer understanding of what sex is about — emotionally as well as physically — along with a game plan to achieve a more fulfilling sexual relationship. “This is our attempt to really set the record straight about where people need to focus their energy and concern when it comes to sex,” said Gail Wyatt, who was honored this year as 2004 Woman of the Year by the Los Angeles Commission for Women. “It’s not about techniques or performance. It has to do with learning who you are and what kinds of relationships you want.” The Wyatts count 10 patterns of clueless sex that keep partners from a loving relationship while also exposing the stark truth about quickies and how they can erode a relationship, about faking sexual pleasure and about the advantages and limitations of high-tech sexual aids. The authors also provide step-by-step prescriptions for healing low desire, forming better relationships and recovering from unwanted sexual outcomes.

— C.L.

Look for these other recently released Bruin titles: “Pocahontas: Medicine Woman, Spy, Entrepreneur, Diplomat” (HarperCollins) by Paula Gunn Allen, professor emerita, English and American Indian studies; “Thomas Jefferson: (American Presidents Series)” (Times Books) by Joyce Appleby, professor emerita, history; “Paul Tuttle Designs” (University of California, Santa Barbara, Art Museum) by Marla C. Berns, et al., director, UCLA Fowler Museum; “Moche Portraits From Ancient Peru” (University of Texas Press, Austin) by Christopher B. Donnan, professor, anthropology; “La Llorona on the Longfellow Bridge: Poetry y Otras Movidas” (Arte Publico Press) by Alicia Gaspar de Alba, associate professor, Cesar Chavez Center for Chicano Studies; “Passing It On -- A Memoir” (Asian American Studies Center) by Yuri Kochiyama, former visiting scholar; “The L.A. Shape Diet: The 14-Day Total Weight Loss Plan” (Regan Books) by David Heber, director, UCLA Center for Human Nutrition; “From One Root Many Flowers: A Century of Family Life in China and America” (Prometheus Books) by Virginia C. Li, professor, public health; “A Movement of Movements: Is Another World Really Possible?” (Verso) edited by Tom Mertes, administrative analyst, Center for Social Theory and Comparative History; “A Saint in the City: Sufi Arts of Urban Senegal” (UCLA Fowler Museum) by Mary Nooter Roberts, deputy director and chief curator, UCLA Fowler Museum, and Allen F. Roberts, director, James S. Coleman African Studies Center and professor, world arts and cultures; “Friendly Enemies: Maximizing the Director-Actor Relationship” (Watson-Guptill Publications) by Delia Salvi, professor, film & TV; “Autopsy of a Suicidal Mind” (Oxford Press) by Edwin Shneidman, professor emeritus, thanatology; “Expressive Form: A Conceptual Approach to Computational Design” (Spon Press) by Kostas Terzidis, assistant professor, architecture and urban design; “Among Stone Giants: The Life of Katherine Routledge and Her Remarkable Expedition to Easter Island” (Scribner) by Jo Anne Van Tilburg, director, Rock Art Archive, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA; “Bump” (Carroll & Graf) by Diana Wagman, UCLA Extension.