The Adventures of Herbie Cohen
World's Greatest Negotiator
ISBN10: 1250867142
ISBN13: 9781250867148
Trade Paperback
240 Pages
$18.00
CA$24.00
Meet Herbie Cohen, World’s Greatest Negotiator, dealmaker, risk taker, raconteur, adviser to presidents and corporations, hostage and arms negotiator, lesson giver and justice seeker, author of the how-to business classic You Can Negotiate Anything. And, of course, Rich Cohen’s father.
The Adventures of Herbie Cohen follows our hero from his youth spent running around Brooklyn with his pals Sandy Koufax, Larry King, Who Ha, Inky, and Ben the Worrier (many of them members of his Bensonhurst gang, “the Warriors”); to his days coaching basketball in the army in Europe; to his years as a devoted and unconventional husband, father, and freelance guru crossing the country to give lectures, settle disputes, and hone the art of success while finding meaning in this strange, funny world.
This book is an ode to a remarkable man by an adoring but not undiscerning son, and a treasure trove of hilarious antics and counterintuitive wisdom. (Some of this stuff you can use at home.) It’s a bildungsroman, a collection of tall tales, the unfolding of a unique biography coiled around Herbie’s great insight and guiding principle: The secret of life is to care, but not that much.
Reviews
Praise for The Adventures of Herbie Cohen
"[A] treat of a new book . . . Rich Cohen writes lovingly of his father’s 'love of bull—.' But the accumulated wit and wisdom of Herb Cohen scattered through the book reveals instead a keen grasp of human frailty and a gift for aphorism no less valid for its glibness . . . It’s essentially the saga of a remarkable man who’s fond of saying 'The meaning of life . . . is more life' and knows what he’s talking about."—Edward Kosner, The Wall Street Journal
"[A] wildly entertaining story of a man with boundless energy and philosophical pizazz."—Rick Kogan, The Chicago Tribune
"[Rich] Cohen, who has written about baseball, football, Jewish gangsters, and kids hockey, offers an affectionate portrait of his remarkable father, as amusing as it is tender . . . A thoroughly entertaining combination of memoir and biography."—Kirkus Reviews
"Wry and affectionate . . . This is a rich and beguiling homage to a larger-than-life father."—Publishers Weekly
Reviews from Goodreads
BOOK EXCERPTS
Read an Excerpt
No. 1
My father did a lot of instructing, but we did not always take away the lesson he intended. He taught us in both ways: by example and by counterexample. The most helpful instruction might come via a side remark or gesture, the...