IF YOU CAN TALK, YOU CAN WRITE

Author/narrator Saltzman has fattened a thin idea into a complete book and then abridged it again to fit four cassette sides. It's still mostly gristle. This is not to say that he's not amusing, or interesting, either as writer or narrator--or whether his prescription for learning to write works. He's an engaging speaker, and, in person, I bet he's a fine motivator. I even bet that as a seasoned performer he could work a live audience so that his repetitiousness, overstatement and condescension become invisible. On tape, however, you have to listen a lot to glean very little. Y.R. © AudioFile, Portland, Maine [Published: DEC/JAN 00]