Fall 2002

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Good Reads

A person must be special to be the inspiration for "the greatest love story ever told."

That's the honor given to Jodi Slansky Brodsky, ADV 1976, who helped her husband Richard write the book called Jodi, published by Trebloon (2001).

Their true story led to appearances on shows hosted by Sally Jesse Raphael and Howard Stern. As the press release states:

"Imagine having it all; the perfect wife and family, a successful architectural career and a marathon runner. Then imagine having to tell your wife that your life is a myth … and that you are not only bisexual but HIV positive."

Jodi closes the book by saying, "Find passion in this lifetime because a lifetime without passion is not worth living."

They have three teenage daughters.

A lifetime of bicycling is the basis for Ed Pavelka, JM 1969, and his book, Bicycle Commuting for Fun & Profit (2002). A magazine article he wrote in 1990 on bike commuting turned Pavelka, 55, into an evangelist preaching the gospel of bicycling to work.

The book "answers the 21 most common concerns new commuters would have," he said. "You don't have to make time to ride your bike; it's an automatic part of each day."

The ebook is available at www.RoadBikeRider.com.

Working at home and not commuting is the subject of Jeff Zbar, JM 1986, in his fourth book, Teleworking & Telecommuting: Strategies for Remote Workers & Their Managers (Made E-Z Products, 2002).

It is a collection of columns and articles written on home, remote and virtual officing that Zbar wrote for three magazines-NetworkWorld, Home Office Computing and Small Business Computing.

Not surprising, Zbar works from his home in Coral Springs. He and his wife, Robbie, have three children.

College Alumna of Distinction Sharyl Thompson Attkisson, TEL 1982, is the co-author of Writing Right for Broadcast and Internet News from Allyn & Bacon, Longman this fall (but with 2003 publication date). "The approach is different," Attkisson said. "Very nuts-and-bolts, practical and written in the style we're trying to teach: clear, concise and conversational."

The former CNN reporter/anchor who joined CBS News in 1993 and is based in Washington, D.C. also notes the book is different in that it integrates Internet writing throughout the book, an area usually left to print journalists.

Attkisson serves on the UF Telecommunication Advisory Council. She and her husband, James, have a daughter, Sarah, 7.

Another "how-to" book is by Jennie Hess, JM 1982, a freelance writer living in Orlando. It is Fodor's travel book Around Orlando with Kids (2002).

Hess and her husband, Walter Benjamin, have two sons-Nathan and Sam.

Historical works are featured by two College grads, including James Srodes, JM 1962, whose six biography--Franklin: The Essential Founding Father-was published this spring and is already in its second printing. His previous book, Allen Dulles: Master of Spies, was named the best intelligence book of 2000 by the Association of Former Intelligence Officers. Srodes spent 35 years as a journalist in Washington.

Clint Johnson, PR 1975, is the author of a new book -- Bulls-Eyes and Misfires: 50 People Whose Obscure Efforts Shaped the American Civil War (Rutledge Hill Press, 2002). Civil War generals have also been the topic of a series of his books. This year he goes In the Footsteps of Stonewall Jackson (Blair Publishers, 2002), which followed Robert E. Lee last year. J.E.B. Footsteps is due out next year and, if sales remain strong, he hopes to start a series on Union generals in 2004.

If saving the environment is your passion, you might want to check out Susan Cerulean's The Book of the Everglades (Milkweed, 2002). It has chapters by three familiar College grads-Al Burt, JM 1949; Jan Godown, JM 1974; and Carl Hiaasen, JM 1974. Burt is a retired Miami Herald columnist and Hiaasen continues as a Herald columnist and fiction author. Godown is a writer who lives in Tallahassee.

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