Bumblebees Can't Fly: A Practical Guide to Making Everything Work

Jane Heath teaches psychology at Ryerson Polytechnical University in
Toronto.

This book attempts to outline what are referred to as the “simple yet
shrewd strategies” of common sense. The seven strategies are “doubt
the obvious, let your reach exceed your grasp, know yourself, transform
information into knowledge, embrace the unexpected, stay on course,
[and] don’t be afraid to change horses in midstream.”

A guide that successfully enables readers to translate such homilies
into practice would indeed be a welcome and valuable addition to the
self-help literature. This one does not. Numerous anecdotes that often
seem only tangentially related to the strategy discussed, coupled with
confusing and obscure analogies, make this book frustrating to read.
Those who are looking for some practical and inspiring guidelines on how
to introduce control and direction into the confusion of life would do
well to look elsewhere.