Hungry Planet, 117 pp./115 pp., 2006,
$9.99 each, hungryplanet.net
Geared toward a post-high school audience, The Art of the First Date and The Art of Rejection are written as practical guides that offer strategies for initiating and ending relationships. While both resources have some helpful tips and content, it is difficult to get past the unmistakable self-promotion for their other book, Marriable, and its corresponding Web site. For example, lines such as, “For more on this topic, read the chapter ‘How Being Just Friends Is a Waste of Time’ in our book Marriable,” are common throughout both books. The reader is also left wondering how “tested” the authors’ ideas are because they offer little grounding or explanation beyond personal stories. Rather than being $10 books, these tools may have been better suited for incorporation into the marriable.com Web site. As a result, if you are looking for resources on dating, you may want to look elsewhere.
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Review by: Joe Cilek, program manager, Fuller Theological Seminary in Colorado.
